As I read my old “President’s Newsletters” I feel an ache in my gut. It seems like ages ago. We were all knit together in a recession, a recession that was tough on many of us. And yet the fellowship was real.
At the same time we were still beginning a new club with the youngest Rotarians I had even seen. My children were all at home yet and they were smaller than me. Other members of the club were having babies. We were concerned about the cost of being a Rotarian – could the membership afford the yearly total.
In our board meetings we had the greatest discussions. I remember one in particular. It was in the dark, book-lined boardroom of Smith Smith Gazzola & Sansom. As the somber portraits of past partners solemnly smiled down at us, we engaged in the issue of lottery tickets and our club’s potential participation. What I noticed was that everyone had an opinion and also that each person felt the freedom to express it.
Another issue that we often discussed as a board was attendance. Some club members felt that the onus of regular attendance was onerous, leading some people to consider resigning. Others felt that any attendance requirements were a thing of the past – but what to do about those “rules”?
The board members included:
Vocational Cam Skipper, Vice-President
Club Service Cynthia Robinson
Betty Kashur
Community Service Larry Henderson
Ash Kapur
International Chas Povey
Past-President Joanne McAuley
Secretary Diane Squires
Treasurer Dorothy Carroll
Due to the younger age of our members, I noticed a lack of “polish” in our introductions of and thanks to the guest speakers. Therefore I devoted a half page of a President’s Newsletter to educating ourselves on properly introducing and thanking.
This is the year we began the Bingo at the Ellington (thanks to Bruce Macpherson), our participation at Canada Day (thanks to Bruce Folkard and others). Also, this is the year we participated in the renovations for the House for 4C’s (thanks to Joanne McAuley). Our annual Auction/Garage Sale was held at Centennial High School (thanks to Ralph Marziano and several others).
We participated in Riverboat (at the former Eaton Centre). The Food Barrel made its’ appearance at most of our meetings. We selected students for Adventures in Citizenship and for the Fred Black Scholarship.
We had our annual Halloween Party.
This is the year that Hospice Wellington (Virginia Robinson was our member with a heart for hospice) submitted their idea to the Diamond Jubilee Committee for (successful) selection in 1995 as the banner project to celebrate Rotary’s 75th anniversary in Guelph. This turned out to be a very beneficial project for all concerned in our community.
Our project in Nepal was forever on our minds and the committee at the time deserved a gold medal for their fervor in seeing the project through the difficulties encountered to a successful operation, a model of excellence.
And, I guess that’s what impressed me the most about Rotary; the humbling experience of being surrounded by models of excellence, people that I could (and still do) look up to.
I’d like to end this memory with a quotation from my newsletter in September, 1993: “This summer has been super. The weather was, well, erotic. It has been easy to fall in love with life itself. The mood of the masses has become guarded optimistic. And the people we encounter and converse with, I think, have become more inspired with a passion for helping others…”
