Canadian Royal Purple Society to host 8th AGM meeting in Strathmore
By John Watson Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Members of the Canadian Royal Purple Society (CRPS) will soon be gathering in Strathmore for their eighth national annual meeting.
During this AGM, which is scheduled for July 17 in Strathmore, the CRPS will be announcing its newly adopted cause, “brain injury awareness and prevention.”
Barb Bambrick, national president for the CRPS, said the team is excited to feature Wilfred Laurier University researcher, Lin Haang, who will speak to the intersection of brain injuries and interpersonal violence at a “lunch and learn” on July 19 also in Strathmore.
“She is one of the amazing researchers who has done a ton of research on the intersection of brain injury and interpersonal violence,” said Bambrick.
In addition, the CRPS will be announcing its first national Purple Thursday day, as the third Thursday in October. The occasion will be modelled after a similar event acknowledged in the United States.
“We have probably 85 per cent of our lodges participating and at that time, they will be filling care bags for local women’s shelters to help those women who may have escaped or left home without very much to go into shelters,” said Bambrick. “(These women) have had some interpersonal violence in their life, or for some reason they need to get to a shelter and need help. So, we’re going to try and provide some of the necessities they may need in these care bags.”
As it is Alberta’s turn to host the AGM meeting for the CRPS, Strathmore was chosen as the gathering location due to its proximity to the airport, ease of access and central location within the province.
Ultimately, as will be similarly described by Haang, the goal of the initiative will be to raise awareness of brain injury, interpersonal violence and the intersection thereof.
“Lynn is going to be giving us ideas and thoughts about and to be aware of, or to create awareness of what brain injury may look like,” said Bambrick. “It could be someone has a hearing loss because they’ve had too many hits to the head. So, she’ll be trying to explain what that can look like and how it impacts their life going forward.”
The plan for raising awareness is for local CRPS lodges within host communities to ask for donations, for aid to fill the care bags, or to let the community know that they’re doing care bags for women in need.
“The National Board for Canadian Royal Purple agreed to the cause this year of Brain Injury Awareness and Prevention and were looking for something that we could do nationally to bring all of our largest together on one day,” explained Bambrick.
More information regarding the initiative, as well as attendance to the Lunch and Learn is available through the CRPS website.