View from the North
By Chris Offer, Chair Rotary Canada Advisory Board
Rotary Canada -- January 2010
O n a flight from Vancouver to Regina last week, I took a 1985 copy of Rotary in Canada – 75 Years of Service Above Self with me to read.
It is fortuitous that a visit in 1910 by P.A.C. McIntyre from Winnipeg to his cousin in Chicago led to lunch with Paul Harris and Ches Perry. That lunch led to the first Rotary meeting in Canada.
The legacy of that first meeting is more than 700 Rotary clubs across Canada committed to numerous diverse service projects, helping youth, promoting ethics, and just having fun.
Nationally we will celebrate 100 years of Rotary in Canada with a commemorative stamp from Canada Post; a DVD about the history of Rotary in Canada, edited by the staff of Rotary International with help from Canadian Rotarians; the construction of a school in Afghanistan; and, of course, the RI Convention in June, when we will host the Rotary world in Montréal.
I expect every Rotary club in Canada will celebrate our 100 years of success and service. This year is an opportunity to leave a legacy through a local project, have a birthday party for Rotary at your club, and tell your community about Rotary.
Canadian Rotarians care about ethics, improving our communities, and being socially responsible. For 100 years, these values have been the benchmark for Rotarians in Canada and around the world.
In 2005, I received a Rotary Foundation grant to volunteer in Bacolod City, Philippines. A group of Canadian clubs shipped several large sea containers of educational and hospital equipment to the area. We assisted in distributing and setting up the equipment and planning the next phase of the project. I had the opportunity to give a walker to an elderly lady in a squatters camp. She had lost her leg because of an untreated infection and was unable to walk. This used equipment changed her life. A simple gift, yet life altering. That is what 100 years of Rotary in Canada represents.