Speaking to the many thousands of Rotary members from around the world, attending the Rotary International Convention in Singapore, May 25 to 29, 2024, John Hewko, Rotary International General Secretary and CEO, said the 2023-24 Rotary year brought a number of firsts.
John said, "India celebrated its first decade of being polio-free. We opened our first Rotary Peace Center in the Middle East. And the first ever Rotaract-sponsored global grants were awarded. These accomplishments are just examples of our collective efforts to increase our impact, expand our reach, provide a memorable membership experience, and adapt to a changing world."
Speaking to the Convention, Rotary International President 2023-24 Gordon McInally said of Rotary, "...our common humanity and our shared desire to build a more peaceful and compassionate world, especially in the times of greatest peril. World peace is a perilous, difficult journey, and we are experiencing some trying moments right now."
The Rotary Foundation created the Brazil Flood Response Fund in response to devastating flooding in the country's southern region, affecting more than 1.45 million people. The fund will support disaster response grants for member-led projects that provide relief supplies to people in the state of Rio Grande do Sul who have been displaced from their homes, or lack power and access to clean water.
Loaders and excavators are at work on renovations of the Supertrak BMX Club in Prince George's Carrie Jane Gray Park to widen the corners and build up the hills to make it a faster ride thanks to $100,000 which the Rotary Club of Prince George Downtown and the Prince George Community Foundation contributed. The donation will cover the entire cost of redeveloping the track by early June to better enable the club to host provincial and national events in Prince George. -- story courtesy of the Prince George Citizen story by Ted Clarke
The 2,500 residents of Pender Harbour now have a place to mount plaques for family and friends who have been cremated. The platform for the plaques is a slab of basalt stone in Forest View Cemetery. The Rotary Club of Pender Harbour Madeira Park contributed $2,000 to the project and a District Grant from The Rotary Foundation provided an additional $987 for purchase of the stone plus a memorial bench and pots for flowers.
Hundreds of children and youth in four elementary schools and one high school in Whistler, BC, who were arriving at school without adequate good food to sustain them through the day are benefitting from a Children's Lunch Program. Whistler Community Services Society, which has been serving the local community for 35 years, provides the program to the schools.
The Society identified the need for additional refrigeration to support the school lunch program and two others – Food Rescue and Outreach -- with safe delivery and storage of perishable food, and Rotary stepped in to help the Society to co-fund the school program, in conjunction with Breakfast Club of Canada. With support of a District Grant of $3,000 from The Rotary Foundation Whistler Rotary covered the cost of the equipment as a way to contribute to the wellbeing and nutrition of local youth and children in schools.
As an outcome of the collaborative effort among Rotary members from the Skeena Valley and Prince Rupert, demonstrating strong community and inter-club relationships in the Rotary network Rotary Club of Kitimat has inducted five new members. This growth in membership helps restore the Kitimat club’s ability to serve the community as it has done over many years. It also demonstrates the collective commitment to Rotary's mission of humanitarian service and ethical leadership and active participation from the community and neighbouring clubs. District Governor Shirley-Pat Gale, who inducted the new members on May 21st, expressed her enthusiasm and congratulations to the new members, emphasizing the importance of Rotary's role in community service and global peace-building.
The three Prince George Rotary clubs held the community's first Hoop-A-Thon on June 8th at the Jumpstart Multi Sport Court. In collaboration with the University of Northern British Columbia (UNBC) Timberwolves basketball team, and sponsored by Canadian Tire, this Hoop-A-Thon was a basketball free-throw challenge. Players sink as many free-throws possible in one minute. Pledges and donations are gathered and all funds stay in the local community. -- photos by Chuck Nisbett, Prince George Citizen; video by Ron Davis