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Rotary Club of Kitimat

Rotary Connections

ROTARY CONNECTIONS

June 27^th saw us opening the door to invited like-minded people, some past Rotarians, Rylarians, and active community people who share our Rotary enthusiasm for service.

This sign says it all. We are looking to create a masterpiece. Cheryl Rumley facilitated the evening. Thoughts and ideas flowed, answers to questions were shared. It was a beginning as we look to shape the Rotary Club of Kitimat’s vision moving into the future.

Here is R.i.’s new vision.

Together, we see a world where people unite and take action to create lasting change - across the globe, in our communities and in ourselves.”

Rotary International’s new vision statement

DG Darcy Long visits our club

It’s a tradition! Every year our Rotary District 5040’s District Governor travels our area visiting the 51 clubs that are included. This covers a significant distance, north to Mackenzie, Bowen Island in the south, Prince Rupert and ourselves in the west. 100 Mile in the east (an attempt to ‘pick’ smaller communities). It was with pleasure that we hosted DG Darcy Long and her husband Doug at a BBQ on August 28^th.

Their hometown is in Sechelt, population similar to ours 10,000 people. Darcy shared their story, one built on random acts of kindness. Why Rotary? They saw the devastation after the tsunami hit Thailand. What could they do to help? There was a huge sign, six Rotary Clubs of Phuket working together to rebuild the local fishing fleet. A fleet meant small boats, rather like dugout canoes. From this a door opened, the way to help was answered. Rotary helps.

Be the inspiration is this year’s Rotary theme. Darcy is an inspiration. We’ve been invited to be at Sun Peaks for this year’s convention, to continue our efforts with Polio Plus, and encouraged in our efforts to grow Rotary in our hometown.

Many thanks go to Robin’s wife Melanie, our hostess for the evening. Everyone pitched in to make the evening special but the big credit goes to her for such a nice evening. The setup on the deck was so inviting! We were joined by guests, like-minded people who have done and continue to do good in our world. Particularly delightful were the children, Jonathon and Melissa's, having fun in the play area that Robin and Melanie have for their granddaughter Elsie.

Darcy says she has been inspired making these visits. She will be taking many things to do ideas back to Sechelt to try.

Lucy Borges, an inspiring woman

It is possible to have a vision, believe in it, and have it realized. The director at Delta King Place has proven this! Lucy's dream was always to see their residents having home-cooked food at every meal. This meant a significant upgrade to the facility's kitchen. Past president of our club, Gareen Ball, recognized this before she presented our contribute to this work. Using our theme for this year Be the Inspiration, she commented on Lucy's 'perfect fit' when it comes to the meaning behind the words. Always smiling and caring, Lucy exemplifies its message. Congratulations to you Lucy and to the members of the Delta King board's members. Well done. Pictured above, a few of us along with some members of the board as Gareen is about to present the check (rolled up in her hand).

Visit to Delta King Place

This kitchen is seasoned with love

(The words above the pass through into the kitchen)

Monica Gonzalez, cook at Delta King Place, will soon be able to enjoy air conditioning in the newly renovated Delta King Kitchen. Without question, we know what a difference this is going to make when it comes to summer heat! It's easy to see how delighted and proud she is as she works in her new surroundings. We feel good about this and know the staff at Delta King and all of its other residents do too. This project was a 'fit' for Rotary, something we could support that mattered here in Kitimat. For us to pull of what we wanted to do we asked for help. Delta King staff members came out to give us a hand at our Annual Online Rotary Auction, and we did something we have never done before, all the proceeds from it were to go to Delta King. We will be presenting our check for $20,000 to the Delta King Place Housing Society on Friday, August 3 , sometime between 11.00 a.m. and 1 p.m., at the Annual Barbeque fundraiser hosted by Skeena MP Nathan Cullen. Do come out, and cheer on Gareen Ball, our check presenter. Just $5 for a hot dog or burger, pop and bag of chips.

Rotary Scholarships winners

An impressive evening. These students were recognized as outstanding scholars at Mount Elizabeth Secondary School recently. (photo credit Jerry Leibel)

Rotarian Linda Campbell presented our two Rotary scholarships To Cedrick Verreault and Amy Lane. They both have been honor roll students through all their years at MEMSS.

Lynda Hammerstrom Rocha Scholarship

Cedrick is the Prime MInister of the Student Council. A young member of the NDP for three years, he founded the MEMSS Social Justice Group. He will be returning to his hometown in Quebec City to study political science at Universite Laval in the fall. He chose to use a quote to begin his application for the scholarship, "Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for."

Kitimat Rotary Scholarship

Amy is the artist, winner of the Innovative Design Bridge Building Award, the Art Award, on the Principal's List, awards in metal work and social studies. She is an active volunteer at her church, at the food bank, and a Girl Guide. While she would love to pursue further studies in art, her primary focus will be becoming a pilot. Her career goal is to become a Rotary wing commercial pilot.

Each scholarship is for $1000.00.

5040's new executive installed

A big day for those of us in Rotary District 5040. Here you see our own Dean Rohrs (Langley) , right, installing the 2018-19 Governor of our 51 Rotary clubs in District 5040, from Greater Vancouver up the coast to Prince Rupert. Next to her, our new leader, 2018-19 Governor Darcy Long (Sechelt), and (l to r) Governor Elect Bala Naidoo (Burnaby), Governor Nominee Dave Hamilton (Delta) and Governor 2017-18 Don Evans (Vancouver). The ceremony took place in Gibsons, BC, on June 16, 2018.

Foundation Dinner

Always a night to remember, this year's Foundation Dinner was no exception! We rocked the night away, cheered on by Skeena Valley's president Kristen Riley. So much fun in the room, enthusiastic bidding during the auction and the dinner was exceptional. Here are a couple of pictures that certainly show we were in the mood!

District Assembly April 7, 2018

Our incoming District Governor, Darcy Long, walked us through District 5040's vision for 2018-19, some interesting, inspiring and enthusiastic directions for us to use in our clubs. All clubs in our area were represented at the assembly. Darcy did an excellent job sharing the many topics presented, bringing us all into the activity. We will be in good hands under her leadership.

Here we are busy at work during the day.

Later, many of us had to leave quickly. Here are a few of us on the steps outside the school board office as we were leaving. You'll see Jo and Eleanor in this picture, attending for our Rotary Club of Kitimat

DG Don Evans joined us at our April 3rd meeting

We were pleased to embrace changing times by having our District Governor Don Evans come and join our club in a healthy dialogue on moving forward. We look forward to growing our club and continuing to do Rotary service in Kitimat and the world.