Hundreds of people have improved their communication and leadership skills abilities throughout the Kitowin Toastmasters' 50-year history in Red Deer.
That half-century of history was celebrated on Saturday, Jan. 27 during a reunion event at Sunnybrook United Church, which is the site of the nonprofit club's bi-weekly meetings. Both past and present members of the club attended the event.
The mission of a Toastmasters club is to provide a mutually supportive and positive learning environment in which every individual member has the opportunity to develop oral communication and leadership skills, which in turn foster self-confidence and personal growth.
"It's so important for everybody to get better at speaking," said Joep van der Ende, the club's sergeant at arms.
"This is a place where people can safely learn how to pull people in when you're telling your story or delivering a presentation."
Van der Ende has been with the club for about nine years.
"I joined Toastmasters when I had to speak in front of 12 people. I was soaking wet from sweat and I realized I had to overcome this," he said.
"Nine months later, I spoke in front of 500 people, and I wasn't nervous for a second. Last year I spoke in front of 1,400 people in Vancouver and it was fun. At first, it was a little intimidating, but after you get going, you are able to utilize all of the skills from Toastmasters."
The Kitowin Toastmasters first launched in 1973 with about 20 members. Over the years, the club typically had 15-20 members in any given point in time.
"After COVID, we were actually considering shutting it down because there were only two of us left," he said.
"We advertised and worked to pull some more people in. Slowly it's starting to get better again. ... On average, we have 13 to 15 people here for each meeting. It's fun. I'm a little bit more seasoned, so I can help people coming in for the first time and explain what we're doing. A lot of people are nervous at first, but they get more comfortable over time."
Kitowin Toastmasters meets from 7:30-9:30 p.m. on the first and third Wednesdays of each month at Sunnybrook United Church. For more information on the club, visit kitowin.toastmastersclubs.org.
