The Rotary Club of Guelph

Interested in becoming a Rotarian? Contact our Membership Secretary at info@rotaryguelph.ca

Service Above Self

We meet Fridays at 12:15 PM
Italian Canadian Club

135 Ferguson Street
Guelph, ON N1E 1L4
Canada

Phone:

(519) 821-3863

Email:

May 24, 2019 Rotary Meeting - KidsAbility

Rotary Club of Guelph offsite meeting at KidsAbility

On Friday, May 24, 2019, our Rotary Club held its weekly meeting offsite at the new KidsAbility Guelph hub on Imperial Road. The purpose was to provide our members with an update on KidsAbility, and the opportunity to tour their new hub which was opened in 2018, allowing KidsAbility to bring their various services under one roof, in a space designed for their specific needs. It was a fabulous visit for us! Read more about their Guelph hub here.

After brief welcomes by Linda Kenny, CEO of KidsAbility, and Lisa Talbot, Executive Director of the KidsAbility Foundation, the key presentation was by Erin, mother of six year old Walter, this year's KidsAbility Ambassador.

Erin explained how KidsAbility had come into her family's life around the time Walter turned one and was failing to reach normal milestones in his development. She gives credit to KidsAbility for helping Walter to reach his sixth birthday. He has Leigh's Syndrome, a severe and fatal neurological disorder. Walter stood by patiently while his mum spoke, sporting a fancy hairstyle for Crazy Hair Day at school!

Read more about Walter's story here.

President Paul Dredge presented our Rotary Club's cheque for $4,000 to KidsAbility. Young Walter seems a bit unsure about the big guy standing alongside his mum! Also in the picture are Lisa Talbot, Linda Kenny, and Walter's sisters.

Rotary has supported KidsAbility from its very start back in 1957, and continues to be a major supporter throughout Waterloo Region and Wellington County. KidsAbility extends their huge thanks to Rotary in this short video which can be viewed here. Please watch it!

We are very grateful to KidsAbility for their remarkable help given to children and families needing specialized support in our communities. We also thank them for hosting our club's offsite meeting. It was great!

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May 17, 2019 Rotary meeting - Induction & Classification

New member inducted - IRENE SZABO

May 17, 2019

The Rotary Club of Guelph is delighted to welcome Irene Szabo to its membership, introduced by Tracey McGrath.

Before pursuing her passion to help people through real estate, Irene promoted real estate training and personal development seminars and provided one-on-one life coaching. After owning and managing rental properties, Irene dedicated herself to the real estate industry, starting as a realtor assistant and, in 2008, becoming a fully licensed agent.

Born and raised in Winnipeg, Irene spent several years in Toronto and now calls downtown Guelph her home. She invests her time and energy into building a strong community of friends, families, and businesses through volunteer initiatives. Irene is a voracious book reader, enjoys interior decorating, and loves to travel.

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Classification Talk by DEREK MATISZ

May 17, 2019

Derek joined the Rotary Club of Guelph in July 2018, and entertained us today with his lively and humorous classification talk.

He clarified that his last name is pronounced "Mattiss" and not "Matteez". He also shared that one of his greatest challenges and accomplishments in life has been overcoming stuttering - a surprise to all of us who have never heard him stutter once! He is an accomplished public speaker.

A life-long Guelphite, Derek attended GCVI before attending Wilfrid Laurier University for political science and history. He received his Master’s degree in Public Policy & Administration from a joint program between McMaster University and the University of Guelph.

Derek is senior vice-president of platform operations at Maru/Matchbox, a consulting firm that uses public opinion data to solve problems for companies.

Prior to joining our club, Derek was a member of the Rotary Club of Toronto for a couple of years.

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A NEW INITIATIVE: Integrated Youth Services Network Model

May 1, 2019

An Integrated Youth Services Network Model for Guelph and Wellington County

Rotary has a long and proud history of helping to make good things happen in communities. The Rotary Club of Guelph is now facilitating a significant local project - to make youth services more accessible by providing youth with a centralized system to gain access to everything from employment counselling to mental health and addiction help.

The Challenge

We are fortunate to have many wonderful health and wellbeing services in our area, but they are spread out and independent from each other, making it difficult (often impossible) for individuals to find and access the right resources in a timely way when needed. This challenge is especially true for young people needing help, with mental health and related concerns topping the list.

So … what if we could change this situation, and somehow make it easier for young people and their supporters to “navigate the system” and get friendly, knowledgeable, speedy help through a one-stop shop? A place that is attractive, warm and welcoming so youth want to be there?

A grassroots community initiative towards this aim is well underway in Guelph-Wellington, led by the Rotary Club of Guelph.

The Vision

To establish an Integrated Youth Services Network for Wellington County and the city of Guelph, where youth (age 12 – 26) are at the centre of services that are available in our community, and youth have equal access to a continuum of services from employment to mental health and addiction services. Our vision includes service providers working together to enhance the integration of services and build a system to better meet the needs of youth in our community.

Indigenous Awareness Committee

2019 Indigenous Youth Award presented by the Rotary Club of Guelph

The Rotary Club of Guelph has great pleasure in announcing Alexis Hamilton as the winner of the 2019 Youth Award at the annual “Turtle Island Heritage Festival” in Wellington County. The Award Certificate was accompanied by a $500 cheque from Rotary to help Alexis further her education.

The annual Turtle Island Heritage Festival celebrates Indigenous history and culture. The event is hosted by the Wellington County Museum and Archives in coordination with the Upper Grand District School Board (UGDSB), the Grand River Métis Council, and other representatives from the community.

Each April, the museum invites both high school and elementary school groups to spend a day at the museum participating in interesting and informative workshops. With about 300 students attending per day, this year’s festival was attended by some 1,200 local students over a four-day period.

Alexis Hamilton receives her award from Rick Le Feuvre,

Chair of the Indigenous Awareness Committee at the Rotary Club of Guelph

Each year, the organizing committee of the Turtle Island Heritage Festival selects a student of Indigenous ancestry to receive Rotary’s annual Indigenous Youth Award for demonstrating leadership qualities in the community and in the promotion of Indigenous culture.

Alexis Hamilton, this year’s Award Winner is 16 years old and a grade 11 student attending College Heights Secondary School (CHSS).

Alexis is the daughter of a 60's Scoop survivor, and has become a key member of her Anishinaabe Community. She is a part of the Community Health Centre Indigenous Healing Advisory, the UGDSB First Nations, Métis and Inuit (FNMI) Council, and has attended many ceremonies with Nancy Rowe at the Kinomaagaye Learning Lodge. Last year she also helped orchestrate the Guelph Walkout in protest of Doug Ford's curriculum changes to Indigenous Curriculum. During this protest, Alexis made an impassioned speech addressing identity problems concerning Indigenous Youth. Alexis has also created presentations on the Indigenous Water Crisis, and Social Justice Issues in Indigenous Communities, and has presented to many different classes at CHSS.

Alexis has participated in three Sweat Lodge ceremonies as well as the 13 Moon Teachings Ceremonies at the Kinomaagaye Learning Lodge. She attended the Pow Wow at Conestoga College. She has also attended many Indigenous Workshops at the Guelph Community Health centre, e.g. beading, moccasin making, and shaker making.

The Rotary Club of Guelph is proud to honour exceptional students such as Alexis, and sincerely hopes she will one day become a Rotarian as she continues to live up to Rotary’s global motto of“Service Above Self”.

Rotary Forest 2019

UPDATE TO THIS ARTICLE:

Despite the weather turning out to be freezing cold with high winds on our Rotary Forest Day, about 400 volunteers still showed up and planted a whole bunch of trees!

12th annual tree planting at Guelph's Rotary Forest on Saturday, April 27, 2019

This year, a total of 6,800 trees will be planted by volunteers in the Rotary Forest at Guelph Lake Conservation Area

April 22, 2019 by: GuelphToday Staff

Several Girl Guides and Sparks groups came out to plant during the 2018 tree-planting event at Rotary Forest at Guelph Lake Conservation Area. Tony Saxon/GuelphToday file photo

Rain or shine, a total of 6,800 new trees will be planted this spring as part of the Rotary Club of Guelph’s legacy project that seeks to plant a total of 60,000 trees by 2020.

The Rotary Club of Guelph is partnering with the Grand River Conservation Authority and Grand River Conservation Foundation for its Rotary Forest tree-planting event on April 27.

“We are calling on environmentally-minded citizens to help transform a 40-hectare area, across from the Guelph Lake Nature Centre, into a wonderful new resource for our community, with trees that will clean our air and link nearby forest habitat to create a corridor for wildlife,” said the Rotary Club of Guelph in a press release.

Now in its 12th year, the Rotary Forest tree-planting began as a legacy project to celebrate the Rotary Club of Guelph’s one-hundredth anniversary, which will occur in 2020.

This year, participants will create a ‘pioneer species’ grove, which will include the planting of species that are traditionally first to populate abandoned fields or previously-forested areas destroyed by fire. The 28 species being planted this year will include white birch, trembling and largetooth aspen, eastern cottonwood and balsam poplar.

A ceremonial white birch will be planted during the event. Rotary Club of Guelph notes the white birch is an iconic northern tree, used by Indigenous groups in the building of birch bark canoes, as well as a wide variety of other uses.

The Rotary Forest is in the process of transforming a 40-hectare area across from the soon-to-be-built Guelph Lake Nature Centre into a new resource for the community. When it is completed in 2020, a total of 60,000 trees will have been planted.

Participants are encouraged to wear boots and learn how to plant trees between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. while having fun with friends, family and neighbours.

Parking is available at Lakeside Church on Conservation Drive, with a shuttle bus to drive participants to and from the planting site.

A shuttle bus will also leave Guelph Central Station every hour on the hour from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. from platform 15. The downtown shuttle will make one stop at the corner of Woodlawn Road West and Victoria Road at 15 minutes past the hour.

Refreshments and food will be available to purchase. Participants are asked to bring their own containers.

Wild Ontario will be on site with demonstrations of birds of prey and musical entertainment will be provided by Terry Van Dreumel.

What it means to be a Rotarian

Our member, Ruth Thatcher, shares these wonderful reminders that were sent to her by a Rotarian friend in Scotland.

A ROTARIAN IS SOMEONE WHO, THROUGH THEIR EFFORTS:

Digs wells from which they will never drink

Restores eyesight for those they will never see

Builds houses they will never live in

Vaccinates children they will never meet

Plants trees they will never sit under

Educates children they will never know

Feeds hungry people, regardless of colour, race, or politics

Knows real Happiness

Thanks for sharing, Ruth!

ClubRunner Instructions

Remembering Bill Winegard

Our beloved Rotarian friend and highly esteemed Guelphite, Dr. Bill Winegard, passed away peacefully on January 31, 2019 at the age of 94.

Our club dedicated the following Friday's weekly meeting to Remembering Bill, with many touching tributes from far and wide.

Videos

This video featuring Bill, made in 2017 as part of Guelph's Canada150 stories, is well worth watchng.

https://youtu.be/Sj_Y88ER2pY

This 90-second video shows our MPP, Mike Schreiner, paying tribute to Bill in the Ontario Legislature, a few weeks after Bill's passing.

https://youtu.be/YNX64T_ws8I

Memory Basket

Many Rotarians shared their special memories of Bill Winegard and placed them in our “Memory Basket” as we celebrated his life at our special meeting on February 8^th. Some of the common themes were:

His love of Canada and meaningful /thoughtful reflections he shared at Remembrance Day Services
Wisdom, strength, compassion
Always willing to lend a helping hand to those in need
His passion for teaching
Reading to elementary school children at the Tytler and Winegard schools for many years
Advice shared with others in public service to always cherish their families and loved ones
Service to the federal government in many capacities always carried out with class and dignity
Amazing sense of humour
Generous, peaceful, a willing mentor
His favourite quote: “As one person I cannot change the world but I can change the world of one person”
His frequent words of wisdom to other Rotarians starting up new projects : “Keep Going!”

Special thanks to all who shared memories. May all these memories be held tenderly in our hearts.

WASRAG Newsletter Jan 2019

What to expect at the Hamburg Water And Sanitation Rotary Action Group meeting this year.

2018 Christmas Luncheon

See the photos.

2018-12-25 $9,000 contribution to PolioPlus

At this kind and giving time of year, it is wonderful to learn that our Area Cluster of Rotary Clubs is helping the PolioPlus Fund to grow by $9,000!

This splendid result dates back to the Cluster Host Hospitality Event held on June 25, 2018 at Country Heritage Park in Milton, in celebration of the Rotary International Convention that was being held in Toronto during that week. At that time, $500 was donated by each of the six clubs in our Guelph-Wellington-Fergus-Elora Cluster.

We anticipate that this $3,000 will be matched 2:1 by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, resulting in a total of $9,000 for the PolioPlus Fund. How wonderful!

Our local "cluster" of six Rotary Clubs includes the following. Here's a New Year's Resolution suggestion - attend a meeting at each of these local clubs in 2019! Rotarians are always welcomed at any Rotary Club meeting, anywhere in the world. Visiting "local" is very informative and inspiring as well.

Rotary Club of Guelph(Friday lunch club)
Rotary Club of Guelph Trillium(Wednesday breakfast club)
Rotary Club of Guelph South(Thursday breakfast club)
Rotary Club of Guelph Wellington(Monday dinner club)
Rotary Club of Centre Wellington (Thursday breakfast club)
Rotary Club of Fergus-Elora(Tuesday lunch club)

2018-12-19 Spotlight on Fred Neufeld

Posted by Rosemary Clark

Spotlight on Fred Neufeld

Interviewed by Rosemary Clark

Camp Enterprise 2018 Report

Another successful year for Rotary Camp Enterprise

From May 1-3, 2018, 46 lucky high school students, from grades 10, 11 and 12 had the opportunity, at no cost, to attend a 3-day immersive camp at the University of Waterloo focused on business and entrepreneurship. Rotary Camp Enterprise is a unique cooperative effort of Rotary Clubs in the ‘Golden Triangle’ region surrounding Kitchener, Cambridge, Guelph, Waterloo and Fergus in Rotary District 7080. The program, sponsored by 11 Rotary Clubs across the region, costs approximately $15,000 and is paid fully by Rotary.

World Water Day is Almost Here!

Posted by WASRAG

A WASRAG SPECIAL BULLETIN

World Water Day Competition - Your club could win $500!

What is World Water Day?

World Water is fast approaching! Your club and district can help celebrate World Water Day. It focuses on the approximately 1.8 billion people worldwide who must rely on water contaminated with feces, putting them at risk of contracting cholera, dysentery, typhoid, polio and other waterborne diseases.

The UN's Sustainable Development Goals, launched in 2015, include a target to ensure everyone has access to safe water by 2030, making water a key issue in the fight to eradicate extreme poverty. In 1993, the UN General Assembly designated March 22nd as World Water Day. It is now a globally recognized event.

$$$$$ - What can you win?

Two prizes will be awarded:

$500 US for the best project (i.e. the one with the most impact)

$500 US for the most innovative project

What must you do?

Whatever works best for your community! In some areas March 22nd is in the middle of a dry season - or a monsoon. In the north, rivers may be frozen until Spring. The choice is yours! All we ask is that the project improve the quality of water and/or level of awareness of it in YOUR community. You could, for example:

Clean up debris along a waterway, lake, creek, pond, stream, or other water source.
Prevent erosion by planting trees and native plants along a water source.
Build awareness in your community - encourage students to write essays on the importance of water and what THEY can do to protect it.
Encourage farmers in your area to use eco-friendly chemicals that will not damage fragile water systems.
If your community's water source is safe, eliminate plastic water bottles. If they are a necessity ensure they are collected and recycled appropriately.

Use your imagination! The bottom line is to educate your community on the importance of protecting its water sources. Get them involved!

Whenever possible, please consult with your local water or conservation authority to ensure that your efforts are compatible with conditions in your area! For example, cleaning a watercourse during spawning season could have a negative impact.

Need Ideas?

A good place to look is the World Water Day website. You will find a wealth of ideas to kick-start your project.

Share your story

Please use your project to celebrate World Water Day. You can promote it at your regular club meeting closest to March 22nd, 2018. WASRAG will share some of them in its monthly newsletter. And - why not tell your story to the Rotary world yourself? Go to the RI website and post it on Rotary Club Central and/or Rotary Showcase!

Who will judge the entries?

The members of WASRAG's Membership Satisfaction Team, including Chris Etienne - USA (Chair) and Tom Bos - USA, Ada Cheng - Hong Kong, Rich Churchman - USA, Toro de Silva - Brazil, V.N. Singh - India, Ndukwe Chukwu - Nigeria and Rob Crabtree - New Zealand will review all applications and submit a short-list of finalists to WASRAG's Operations Team.

How do you enter the competition?

Submit a brief description of your project, including what you have done, the target audience and the expected impact of the project. Remember to tell us your Club name and District number and give us a contact name, email address and phone number. Some projects will be showcased on the WASRAG website.

DEADLINE: Please submit all entries by May 1st, 2018.

AWARDS: Winners will be notified by May 31st, 2018. The awards will be presented at WASRAG's Annual General Meeting on Saturday June 23rd, 2018.

Please send all entries to WorldWaterDayChallenge

How it all started!

Many of you will have read the fantastic story of the Rotary Club of South Ukiah (California) District 5130's "Cleaning the Rivers of the World" program in WASRAG's October 2017 Newsletter.

Spearheaded by passionate water champion, Salvador Rico, the South Ukiah club challenged Rotary clubs around the world to clean up rivers in their communities.

Inspired by Salvador and his club's efforts - WASRAG now invites you and your club to get involved in water - and maybe win some funding for your water projects!

DON'T FORGET ABOUT WASRAG's WORLD WATER SUMMIT 10!

Have you registered for WWS-10? Stay tuned for more news on the exciting speakers and events we have planned for June 22, 2018 at Toronto's Delta Hotel, right next to the Convention Centre, the day before the Rotary International Annual Convention. Go to REGISTER NOW......