Under valued and under utilized Boitanio Park in Williams Lake is now home to the rock climbing Boulder Park. This boulder park allows people of all ages and backgrounds to experience a new type of activity which had not been available in the region. This climbing structure is the first of many intended projects to help promote outdoor healthy living in the community free of charge.
Rotary Club of Williams Lake Daybreak, and its President Andrew Sandberg, led the process to fund and develop the $120,000 rock climbing park for the 12,000 local residents and those who may be visiting from nearby, smaller communities such as Horsefly, Likely, 150 Mile House and Wildwood.
Sea to Sky Community Services Society (SSCS) helps thousands of children, youth and adults through more than 40 community services and programs in BC’s Sea to Sky corridor, from Squamish up to Pemberton.
In 2019, the Society consulted with community members, including youth, to consider a new centre for youth, as an integrated, inclusive, non-judgmental space for young people, providing them access to a variety of supports.
In 2020, the Society received partial funding to replace a dilapidated (condemned) Youth Resource Centre with a new youth centre – the $2.2 million, 5,000 sq ft Foundry Sea to Sky -- where young people aged 12-24 can access mental health, primary care, substance use intervention, peer support, and social services, all under one roof.
Many people in Prince George depend on food banks. The ever increasing cost of fresh fruits and vegetables adds to this already serious need in the community. Local Rotarians and Rotaractors aim to achieve more self sufficiency in growing fruit and vegetables and provide healthy food to those in need.
Prince George residents who do not have their own garden space can now grow their own fruit and vegetables if they rent a plot at the new Rotary Community Garden completed in the Fall. The Garden may contribute in part to the supply of fruit and vegetables at local food banks.
The Rotary Clubs of Prince George Yellowhead, which led the project, Prince George Nechako and Prince George Downtown plus Prince George Rotaract contributed the majority of funds, with support of a $10,000 District Grant, to the $76,450 project, along with other sponsors.
For the 250 students at Pemberton Secondary School, who participate in outdoor learning, sails to provide shade for those learning spaces have come as welcome relief in hot weather common in spring and early summer.
The school’s Parent Advisory Committee led the $12,694 project. It had the shade sails – to withstand wind and weather year-round – installed in 2021 over the outdoor classroom/gathering space which the School District had constructed in 2020. In the midst of COVID this project to support outdoor learning became a priority.
Rotary supported 30% of the project, including $2,500 from the Rotary Club of Pemberton and $1,250 from a Rotary District Grant. A gaming grant and community sponsorship provided another 30%.
On International Women's Day, March 8th, Rotary International celebrates all our dynamic, people of action who are women leading us in service above self here at home and around the world.
Canada’s ambassador to Japan, who started life in Kamloops and Penticton, began his career journey as a Rotary exchange student. Ian McKay’s career path has run like a superhighway through some of the world’s most important cities: New York, London, Tokyo. It has led him to the highest reaches of finance, politics, and global diplomacy, culminating in his current role as Canada’s ambassador to Japan.
When asked the secret of his success, McKay credits his foresight in learning Japanese, his keen interest in finance, and his understanding that high-level negotiations often work best away from boardrooms and summits. But the underlying answer is simpler. “It all started with Rotary,” he says — and later adds: “I can’t overstate that the critical part of that whole journey was Rotary." -- photo: Ambassador McKay with Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in September 2023 at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Indonesia.
Jackson Wenesayo, of Yambio, South Sudan and now a Rotary Peace Fellow, in Peacebuilding & Conflict Transformation studies at Makerere University, in Kampala, Uganda, has expressed his gratitude to District 5040 for reviewing and endorsing his 2024 Rotary Peace Fellowship application. His appreciation was sent to the Rotary committee representing the three Prince George Rotary Clubs, Prince George Rotaract Club and Quesnel Rotary Club for their recommendation and then to the required District review panel who endorsed his application to compete at the final world level review where he was approved as a successful recipient. -- photo: Jackson Wenesayo, with Makerere University Vice Chancellor Professor Barnabas Nawangwe
What drives you? What is your passion? What do you bring to the world? video (2:34) -- courtesy of Rotary Club of Silverdale, WA. Any Rotary club can use this video for its website and any communications using the link of embed code.