John Potter, the new Grand Worthy President, joined the Calgary Aerie in 1977. He
has been a very loyal and active member since, serving as Trustee, Chaplain and
Conductor for the Grand Aerie. He was also Provincial Secretary for Alberta/Saskatchchewan
and President of the Mountain Region.
In my last enewsletter communication, I want to extend a heartfelt thank you to
the membership for helping make this year tremendously successful. I especially
want to express my gratitude to my committees and committee chairmen, the Grand
Aerie officers, Grand Aerie employees and the Grand Auxiliary. It has been an honor
to work with all of you.
For me, the Disaster Relief Project was the highlight of the year. I appreciate
your efforts to make this dream a reality within a short period of time. When we
launched this project, my goal was to have one trailer stocked and ready to go by
the 2008 Grand Convention in August. Now, it appears we will have 13 or more trailers
ready by that time!
The final tally showed dog tag sales—which benefited the Disaster Relief Project—topped
$82,000. At the time this letter was written, donations for the entire project exceeded
$300,000—including the trailers that were contributed. Again, thank you and congratulations!
During my travels, many of you said you would like to help with the Disaster Relief
Project as volunteers distributing supplies or as drivers (must have current commercial
driver’s license). Unfortunately, A.N. “Sarge” Sargent, the project’s national director,
has not received the names of all possible volunteers.
If you would like to volunteer, please send Sarge your name (disasterrelief@foe.com)
and contact details, which will help in creating a national data base. It will also
assure that you are contacted when your local trailer is sent to a disaster site.
During the coming year, I encourage you to continue to recruit new members and support
your local Auxiliaries. It has been a great privilege to work with Grand Madam President
Margaret Cox this past year—we had a wonderful working relationship. I recommend
that you focus on communication and foster a spirit of cooperation with your local
Auxiliary because everyone benefits.
Lastly, I request that you show Jim Roberts, the new Grand Worthy President, and
Pat Durham, the new Grand Madam President, the same dedicated and enthusiastic support
you provided Margaret and me during the past year. As we traveled the countries,
you proved again and again that by working together, we can make incredible progress
as “People Helping People.”
Thanks again for a wonderful year—and God bless you.
Yours in brotherhood,
John Potter