Dear Editor:
Lest we forget.
Hal Rogers had been a war veteran prior to founding Kin Canada. At the age of 17 he had enlisted; anxious to get into the front lines; he had fought at Vimy Ridge, Lens, Hill 70 and Ypres. After being wounded in Amiens front line, he returned home in 1919.
Missing the camaraderie of army life, Rogers decided to create the Kinsmen club that started with a small group of like-minded men gathered for a dinner meeting on Feb 20, 1920 and formed the Canada’s first Kinsmen Club in Hamilton with the purpose to Serve the Communities Greatest Need. By 1940 there were clubs formed all across Canada.
During World War 2, there was an appeal for milk for British children, where Hal Rogers rallied Kin members across Canada to raise funds to purchase powdered milk. By the end of the campaign Kin Canada supplied more than fifty million quarts to Britain, and Rogers was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire.
Today, with more than 6,000 members belong to approximately 450 Kin clubs with the purpose to Serve the Communities Greatest Need.
Yorkton Kinsmen Club thrives on continuing to Serve our Community Greatest needs by providing youths with scholarships, parks, funding and service work.
The Yorkton Kinsmen Club, would like to honour our Heroes, to remember their achievements, their courage and their dedication, and to say thank you for their sacrifices, to those who are here and to those who are in spirit. We would like to thank you for answering the call of duty. You have made our armed forces the most respected in the world.
Yours Truly
Sunil Shah
President of Yorkton Kinsmen Club
(George Flunder, Sunil Shah, Marley Hanishewsky)
