The Rotary Club of Prince Albert unveiled their final Peace Pole adjacent to the Rotary Trail at the Alfred Jenkins Field House on Saturday morning.
The unveiling took place before the fourth annual Ride for Refuge. The unveiling marks the completion of the Rotary project.
Etched in multiple languages, the pole carries the message “May Peace Prevail on Earth.” Lisa Bos-Atchison Past President of the Rotary Club of Prince Albert explained that it was her choice as a project.
“The Peace Pole project was the service project that I chose, obviously, in my presidential year. That obviously takes a little bit of work and we wanted to work with the community and organizations on the placement of the poles and how that would work best, so this kind of brings everything to a conclusion,” she said.
Bos-Atchison and new Rotary President Erica Bailey did the unveiling ceremony to a large crowd before the Ride for Refuge.
“I stated in my speech, now that this part is complete, now we can take the rest of that into action and look at ways on how we move forward as a community and in peace,” Box-Atchison said.
The Peace Poles all have a connection to past Rotary projects such as the Rotary Little Red Adventure Park and Rotary Trail.
“I wanted to make sure that we were appreciative of all the work the Rotarians have done in the past on things that build and bring the community together,” Bos-Atchison said. “The Little Red Adventure Park, the Rotary Trail, and so this is just kind of another just marker of our commitment to the community.”
Bos-Atchison announced the Peace Pole project at the 20th Annual Rotary Lobsterfest in May. The Peace Pole is designed to be a symbol of the Rotary Club’s commitment to planting seeds of kindness, compassion and respect.
She noted that the work of Catholic Family Services that the Ride for Refuge was in support of connects nicely to the message of the Peace Poles.
“With Catholic Family Services and the work that they do I think it’s really fitting as we talk about peace and that’s not just on a larger global scale, it starts at home,” she said. “It’s not just the absence of conflict, but it is in fact a global movement.”
Bos-Atchison said that it was nice to reveal the final Peace Pole before the start of Ride for Refuge
“(It) brings a nice conclusion to the project,” she said. “I’m excited to see what we can accomplish in our rotary here with Erica as president.”
Bos-Atchison was happy to have the project concluded in such a positive way.
“We’re glad to bring it to the conclusion here today and to kick off the Ride for Refuge.”
michael.oleksyn@paherald.sk.ca
