This bulletin covers the past three meetings so there's lots to catch up on.
LOOKING AHEAD … NOTE THESE DATES
Friday, May 8, 2026 - Science Fair Winners will attend our Friday club meeting to share details about their winning projects.
Friday, May 8, 2026 - Info session at the ICC after our club meeting, about volunteering as a Classroom Facilitator on May 13 at JF Ross high school for a Career & Education Council event
Friday, May 8, 2026 - The Guelph Lecture On Being, part of the Arts Everywhere Festival, featuring author Cory Doctorow . Details and tickets here.
Wednesday, May 20,2026 - Rotary Unite For Peace webinar at 7pm. Go here for details and registration. https://portal.clubrunner.ca/50077/sitepage/2026uniteforpeace
Friday, May 22, 2026 - Tom Funk Memorial Tribute at our club meeting
Saturday, May 23, 2026 - Kids Bike Rodeo & Safety Day - 2pm - 4pm in the parking lot of Harcourt Church. See details further down in this bulletin.
SAVE THE DATE!Saturday, October 24, 2026 - a club fellowship outing is being planned to the Stratford Festival, by bus, for a matinee performance to see “Something Rotten”. More details coming later from Noma Vales.
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EDUCATIONAL LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Our club believes it is important to have a Land Acknowledgement at every meeting.
Recently, instead of someone reading out a formal statement, our fellow Rotarian Rick Le Feuvre has conversationally shared something informative about Indigenous culture and practices.
Thank you, Rick, for creating so much interest and growing our awareness about the Medicine Wheel. We look forward to learning more insights.
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LOCAL COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS FACILITATED BY ROTARY
On April 23rd, three Rotary Clubs in Guelph (Guelph Trillium, Guelph South and Guelph) hosted a wonderful event bringing local non-profits and charities together to build connections and collaboration. Read details in this story on our website.
Our guest speaker on Friday, February 27, 2026 was Peter Sovran, Director of the Upper Grand District School Board. His fascinating talk addressed the impact of Artificial Intelligence in education. On a side table, he displayed a number of interesting books so Lawrie Jones reached out to ask for a list of titles. Here it is:
Superminds - Thomas W. Malone
AI in the Classroom - L.J. Brenner
Brave New Words - How AI Will Revolutionize Education (and Why That's a Good Thing) - Salmon Khan
The Anxious Generation - Jonathan Haidt
The Worlds I See - Dr. Fei-Fei Li
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KIDS' BIKE RODEO AND SAFETY DAY - CAN ROTARY HELP EXPAND THIS IN GUELPH?
Two retired Rotarians visited our club on Friday, May 1, 2026 to share information about the upcoming bike riding and safety event shown in this poster.
Our welcome guests were Dorothe Fair and Jim Rooney, both proving that “Once a Rotarian, Always a Rotarian” as they are both actively help with community events such as this, and also Guelph's “Good Games - Where Everybody Comes to Play”.
They pointed out that in many communities, the local Rotary Clubs are the key organizers of bike safety events such as this, together with local sponsors, police services and the City, and they want to explore the possibilities of the same happening in Guelph for local kids.
Dorothe has commitment from another Rotary Club to share their “model” so we would not have to design this event from scratch.
Dorothe is calling for volunteers to join an exploratory committee (two meetings only) to look into this. Send your name to Marva or Terrie to connect with Dorothe and Jim about this.
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UPDATE ON MARGARET TRAINOR MEMORIAL AT WYNDHAM HOUSE
After our dear friend Margaret Trainor passed away in January 2026, our club wanted to do something in her memory. Our club's Children & Youth Committee was asked to come up with proposals which have since met Board approval and are now in progress, overseen by the project committee including Terrie Jarvis, Marty Fairbairn, Liz Sandals and Paul Dredge.
Margaret was passionate about the work of Wyndham House, Guelph's long-standing charity that provides shelter and a path forward for youth. She was particularly pleased to learn that Wyndham House was creating Guelph's first foster home for six young people who would no longer need to be sent away from Guelph to a distant group home at the very time they need the most wraparound support from our community. This future home will be named the “Suffolk Care Collaborative” (in a house located on Suffolk Street) and is due to open by the end of this year. At this location, Margaret's memory will be remembered through:
An interactive wall mural near the entrance. Rotarian and artist Ben McCarl is gathering information and developing some creative concepts in conjunction with the project committee, Margaret's family and Wyndham House. The mural will be produced off-site in Ben's studio and installed at Suffolk just before the official opening there. During the actual production of the mural, it is hoped that individuals might have a chance to literally “have a hand” in its creation. Funding for this project has so far come from donations from family and friends, including from the Rotary London North Club where Margaret had previously served as Club President four times.
Funding of two key areas in the new home is coming from our club's Charitable Foundation for furnishing and equipment in the planned Sensory Room and two Study Corners at the Suffolk Care Collaborative.
Any queries regarding the above can be sent to the project committee c/o Terrie Jarvis.
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OUR RECENT CLUB PROGRAMS
Friday, May 1, 2026: Justine Richardson, Director of the Guelph Arboretum
Justine shared updates about excellent developments at our wonderful Arboretum, especially about making the trails more accessible, and updating the Taylor Nature Centre. She also highlighted the old “Rotary Grove” within the Arboretum, which not many current Rotarians know about, and the possibility of bringing this back to its former glory with Rotary's help. Read more on our website here.
By young, we mean very young! He published his first novel at the age of 17 while still in high school, and his second a few years later. Now 24, he is working on the third book in this trilogy. His main genre is Teen/Young Adult (YA) fantasy, adventure and action especially for 12-18 year olds.
He soon learned that writing and publishing was one thing, but that it requires a lot of promotion and marketing to get books known, so he visits many organizations and schools to promote not just his books but READING by young people in general. He calls himself an “authorpreneur”. His compelling talk drew attention to the need for educators and families to promote reading over screen time, and to provide reading material that meets today's SIP requirements (Short, of Interest, fast Paced) for today's shorter attention spans.
As a gift to us, Tyler has shared his list of “15 Books Every Reluctant Reader Should Have On Their Bookshelf”. It can be downloaded here.
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Friday, April 17, 2026: Jordan Phelps, Bee City Program Coordinator for Pollinator Partnership Canada, interviewed by our MPP Mike Schreiner
What a treat for the many Rotarians and guests in attendance to hear this wonderful “chat” between Mike and Jordan! It was a perfect lead-in to the coming week of Earth Day celebrations.
We learned a lot more about the critical role of bees as pollinators for food crops, the impact of pesticides and parasites, the issue of mono-cultures all having the same limited “food window” for pollinators, the loss of farmland and natural areas, the impact of climate change, and more. It was emphasized that we can each help by planting and encouraging pollinator gardens.
