Rosebud Fellowship Day hosts successful work bee

Laureen F. Guenther
Times Contributor

 

Sixty volunteers attended Rosebud Fellowship’s Work Bee on June 13. Many came from Rosebud, Strathmore, Rockyford, Standard, Calgary, Drumheller and Three Hills.
One former student of Rosebud School of the Arts, with his two daughters, traveled all the way from Yellowknife, N.W.T.
Maki Van Dyke, Rosebud School of the Arts’ (RSA) registrar, said volunteers worked on six projects around the village, including assembling picnic tables, demolishing a sagging porch, cleaning up old theatre sets, gardening in public spaces and adding wings to the Festival Stage.
The day’s biggest project was constructing a picnic shelter overlooking the river. LaVerne Erickson, RSA founder, wrote in an email that the shelter is a gift back to Wheatland County who permitted it to be built on municipal land, and whose Community Enhancement Grant paid for the materials.
“It was a great day in our town,” said Ray Wall, pastor of Rosebud Community Church. “So good to see so many involved in the various projects!”
Erickson and others had volunteered over 168 hours in preparation for the day, Van Dyke wrote in an e-mail, and volunteers donated 320 more hours on the day of the bee. In the weeks following, local volunteers continued giving much more time to complete the picnic shelter.
“The theme of the day was Fellowship – an old English word depicting the joy of working together as a demonstration of shared values showing their love of God and community,” Erickson wrote in the e-mail.
Volunteers enjoyed a breakfast provided by Rosebud School of the Arts, and the Rosebud Lions provided lunch. Many volunteers took advantage of the volunteer discount and attended The Wizard of Oz at Rosebud Theatre together that evening.
“They didn’t want the fun to end,” Van Dyke said.
Twenty-five people attended the annual general meeting of the newly-revived Rosebud Fellowship that afternoon.
“The aim of the Rosebud Fellowship is support the artistic endeavours of Rosebud and be a positive presence in the community,” said Van Dyke. “It enables friends and donors of Rosebud Schools of the Arts, as well as its graduates, to stay plugged into Rosebud and offer their help to the School and the community they love.”
The Fellowship elected a new nine-member board and has received 37 new and renewed members.
RSA alumni, staff and friends of Rosebud – anyone “who wants to see this little hamlet prosper and be a rural home for guests from everywhere,” said Erickson – is welcome to become a member.
You may contact them at fellowship@rosebudschoolofthearts.com.