This has been a year like no other! Soon I will be joining the PDG Line. Our DG class has an ongoing joke as we are the Pandemic District Governors hence “PDG”. We have overcome many challenges and we continue doing so. I did not get the chance to visit our clubs in the normal way where Governors visit clubs in person and attend their functions. However, this year has opened to us new opportunities to communicate with clubs in different ways.
The last two Rotary International Conventions have been cancelled due to the pandemic. The Canada/US border has been closed since last year and I was forced to make my visits virtually. The health restrictions have forced us to pivot and meet virtually. In a way this opened the opportunity for me to meet with clubs on many different occasions. Many clubs were and continue to be creative in running their fundraisers online and made the best of it. In Rotary we became creative and discovered many ways to do our fundraisers. From anniversaries to foundations, you name it. We discovered how to do Rotary in different ways to accommodate the restrictions.
The Rotary Club of Brockville celebrated its 100th anniversary on 1 May 2021. Rotarian Dale Elliott, a Brockville-based media site owner, a veteran videographer sent along this video about the Brockville Club. Please click the link below to watch it.
After viewing the video, please send them congratulations by leaving a message on their "Club Runner"site. Scroll to the bottom and leave a message of Congratulations!
Happy 90th Birthday to the Rotary Club of Gananoque
To celebrate ninety years is a very special birthday
And here in Gananoque we are so proud to say
That the Rotary Club has been a very big part of our Town
They give of themselves constantly; they never let us down
Sharing and caring for others is what they do the best
When it comes to a service club, Rotary passes every test
Not only do they deliver in kind, word and deed
But when it comes to beauty, Rotary Club has taken the lead
Confederation Park brings added beauty to behold
Sculpture Park is like a tiny nugget of pure gold
Our local craft fairs have been a sheer delight
And there among the crowd are those blue shirts cheery and bright
The students in Gananoque benefit every day
Through Rotary’s generosity they help in many ways
They have founded a high school club called “Interact”
Instilling love for others and with kindness to react
But their work stretches far beyond the borders of our Town
This wonderful organization has become world renown
There is a four-letter word for me that comes to mind
The Rotary Club represents “Hope”; they are truly one of a kind
They signify the many who give of themselves every day
Not only do they work hard but they also know how to play
They make up a perfect balance of hard work mixed with pleasure
The Rotary Club of Gananoque is a group we truly do treasure
President-elect Shekhar Mehta's vision is "Serve to Change Lives," I thought to myself, how do I bring you this message from Sekhar. You are already committed to serving; this why you are here. So, I thought, let me look at the word Serve and what it says.
Code of Policies General Principles regarding Travel, Meetings and Events
· The health and safety of all participants in Rotary programs, meetings, and events is of paramount importance.
· All conveners and organizers of Rotary meetings and events shall fully comply with all health and safety rules in effect in that location.
· No in-person Rotary meeting or event shall be mandatory for any participant who may feel uncomfortable attending because of the pandemic.
· All conveners and organizers of Rotary meetings and events are strongly encouraged to consider all health concerns in deciding whether to hold in-person meetings.
· All travelers must adhere to all risk mitigation protocols required or recommended by local authorities.
Jaime D’Souza is a young environmentalist who majored in Human Environment and minored in Urban Studies at Concordia University. She recently graduated from the University of Ottawa with a Masters in Geography.
She spoke to the Rotary Club of Westmount about how polar bear viewing in Churchill, Manitoba (the polar bear capital of the world) could influence climate change, and the implications of and impacts from climate change for tourism in Churchill, Manitoba.
Posted by Martha Pritchard Spear (elle), Lake Placid
The English version is below.
Traditionnellement, le mois de juin est connu sous le nom du mois de la Fierté, ou communément ‘le mois de la Fierté gaie’. C’est une célébration annuelle de la joie d’être gai, lesbienne, bisexuel, transgenre, en questionnement, en transition, non-binaire, asexuel, intersexe ou ‘autre’, quelques-unes de la merveilleuse variété des sexualités qui composent notre communauté humaine. Un bon vieil adjectif de mon époque d’activiste dans les années 80 et 90 est ‘queer’, un mot que je me sens confortable d’utiliser pour moi-même.
Afin de célébrer le mois de la Fierté cette année, j’ai parlé avec trois rotariennes transgenres afin d’en savoir plus sur leur expérience et leur relation avec le Rotary. Les trois femmes sont blanches et de trois pays de l’occident. Chacune de ces rotariennes a transitionné d’un corps mâle à la naissance vers leur vraie nature de femme.
It is important that your club’s member information is up-to-date, because Rotary cannot change the club invoice after it has been generated or accept membership updates with your payment.
Report all new or terminated members and 2021-22 club officers no later than 1 July 2021.
Members with admission dates of 1 July 2021 or before will be counted for the July 2021 club invoice.
Members with termination dates of 1 July 2021 or before will not be counted for the July 2021 club invoice.
Submit or verify:
The names of your club’s 2021-22 president, secretary, executive secretary/director, treasurer, Rotary Foundation chair, and membership chair, as well as their contact details, such as mailing addresses, email addresses, and phone and fax numbers
Your club’s meeting details - place, address, day, and time
Your club’s contact information: a permanent phone number and, if you have them, a permanent email address and mailing address where all club officers can receive mail, as well as your club website.
April and May were busy months for Rotary in Kingston as our Centennial celebrations ramp up. We held our official birthday party, prepared our Butterfly Garden and assisted our community with the distribution of Rapid Test Kits.
Check out the Rotary in Review for 14 May for another activity that we did.
Our official birthday celebration occurred on April 1st marking the anniversary date of our charter (Note: Our club was sponsored by the Rotary Club of Ottawa). The celebration began with a congratulatory message from RI President Nominee Jennifer Jones. We invited guests celebrating their centenaries from Wellington, New Zealand, Peterborough and Brockville. They shared their projects and plans and congratulated us on our own efforts. We also received congratulations from DG Hadi and DGE Fay who both praised the Kingston clubs' activities this year. The scene shifted to downtown Kingston where a small group unveiled a plaque commemorating our very first meeting at the (then) Frontenac Hotel. Club Historian Paul Van Nest recounted the events of the inaugural meeting.
Posted by Heather Taylor & Katlin Massie, DRR 20-21
We are excited to announce the 2021-2022 District Rotaract Representatives! Please welcome Mustafa and Auriane!! They are an enthusiastic duo, with extensive Rotaract and Rotary experience. Their talents and passion will be an invaluable asset to the district during the upcoming year!
For some Rotary clubs, the funding assistance provided by District Simplified Grants and District Matching Grants has meant that projects were enabled that could not have happened without the assistance of the funding from our Rotary Foundation. 25% of the money that clubs contributed to the Annual Fund in 2017-18 was made available to the District for qualified clubs to use to help them undertake small local or international projects of a humanitarian nature.
In spite of Covid-19, we had a busy year with most local projects helping to support activities that were made more important and timely because of the restrictions and hardships by the pandemic.
Let’s look at how clubs have used these funds here in D7040 communities.
Last fall the Perth Rotary Club undertook to observe Rotary’s World Polio Day by planting 265 special tulips in our Rotary Gardens in Stewart Park, downtown Perth.
The End Polio Now tulip was a special creation of some Dutch Rotarians who led a most unique program to benefit our fight. In 2013, they purchased the rights to name and develop a new variety of tulip bulbs. The idea has “blossomed” into an internationally successful fundraiser, with more than 1.5 MILLION bulbs being sold, and so far, generating more than $2 MILLION (US) to Rotary International’s End Polio Now campaign in 2019. To date, Switzerland, Germany, France, and the USA have joined with Holland, and Canada is now in its second year.
Our Club purchased the bulbs and a volunteer - Elaine Hook (wife of Rotarian Ray Hook) - spearheaded this initiative to “spruce up” our own Rotary Garden in Perth. The bulbs were planted in late October by five keen Club members, led by Elaine. We visited the gardens in mid-May (masked and distanced), and we were quite pleased with the results of our work.
The Club plans to expand the sale of these tulips to the Perth Community this summer. Not only are the tulips lovely and will enhance people’s gardens, but every box sold results in a direct contribution from the supplier (in our case – Veseys Seeds based in Charlottetown PEI) to RI for our End Polio Now campaign.
And, this initiative certainly falls within and supports Rotary’s newest area of focus – protecting the environment.
