President's Message                            

Last week I dropped by Larry and Teresa Elsbury’s home in Waupoos to present Larry with a card signed by all our members and the Club’s Certificate of Appreciation. Larry was very happy to receive these from our Club and he expressed his thanks to all the members.

Our joint Wednesday meeting with Quinte Sunrise and Wellington Rotary hosting DG Mark Chipman and AG’s Brenda Hellyer and Kimberly Hulsman went very well; I will be sending out Mark’s presentation in a separate email.  Using ZOOM will make it a lot easier to arrange a “return visit” with Mark. 

Part of the meeting’s discussion covered how ZOOM enables us to invite guest speakers that wouldn’t be able to attend an in-person meeting. For example, the Quinte Sunrise Club has “beamed-in” a Rotary president from Russia. This really opens the field for us since there are many District or RI level speakers of interest that we could consider inviting, not to mention, countless other interesting people outside of Rotary. Put your thinking caps on and let’s see if we can augment our guest speaker list with some guests that normally couldn’t visit our Club. 

One more item for this week, on Sunday October 18th, our District is hosting its annual Foundation Walk. Lana had a great idea that we do a local walk for our members and their spouses/partners and expand it into a social get-together at a venue like Domain Darius. A topic for Tuesday’s meeting! 

President Howard Ziedenberg
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Last Week:

DG Mark Chipman's Speech (Via Zoom)

There was no club meeting on Tuesday, but a special joint meeting with Rotary Club of Quinte Sunrise was held where District Governor Mark Chipman addressed the attendees.   President Howard will be sending out the meeting presentation material, but here are some highlights:

• DG Mark Chipman was the president of Whitby Sunrise in 2012.
• District 7070 is comprised of 55 clubs and 9 Rotaract clubs, from Etobicoke to Belleville. There are 1900 members.
• To quote Sun Tzao, "In the midst of chaos, there is also opportunity".   The pandemic has accelerated by 5 years our adoption of technology.  Zoom video conferencing has offered opportunities to  access speakers from around the world at our club meetings. Will hybrid meetings (where some people are online and some are onsite) continue after the pandemic?  The technology and current circumstances has increased our collaboration.  Rotary membership in North America is declining whereby membership in Africa and Asia is increasing.
• Paul Harris: "If Rotary is to realize its proper destiny, it must be evolutionary at all times, and revolutionary on occasion".  Are circumstances urging us for a revolutionary change?   Rotary vision statement:

 

Upcoming District Events:

• Tuesday Talks:  every 2nd Tuesday of the Month.  September 8th:  "Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion"
• Foundation Walk.  October 18th.  
• District Bottle & Food Drive.
• District Conference.  April 9 - 11, 2021. @Toronto Pan Pacific Hotel

Rotary Heroes and Champions:  "Every Rotarian is a Super Hero".   Liz Bosma and Kim Lee from Wellington Rotary were recipients of the Rotary district 7070 Heroes and Champion award.

 

 

Secretary Lyn McGowan

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Wellington Rotary Memorial Garden

The Rotary Memorial Garden at the foot of West Street, where the road meets the Millennium Trail and where the Rotary kiosk and comfort station is located, is virtually complete.  The last coat of stain has been applied on the Arbour, and all the remaining debris and stones and limestone screening material has been cleaned up.   The Memorial Garden is intended to honour Wellington Rotarians who have passed, and respective memorial plaques will soon be attached to the arbour uprights.  An opening ceremony will be scheduled shortly.  The spot has quickly become a welcome rest-stop for community members and tourists and cyclists using the Millennium Trail.   Last Sunday, as we were putting on the final coat of stain on the arbour,  many people passing by expressed their appreciation and approval of the new Rotary Memorial Garden.