It is a privilege and honour to be President of the Rotary Club of Guelph-Trillium for the 2000-2001 Rotary year. We have a great club and we pride ourselves on Rotary‘s mission “Create Awareness – Take Action”.
As a club of 54 members, we have accomplished the following results during the first half of my Presidency:
§ Involved with Canada Day festivities selling ice cream, pop, bottled water and “glow in the dark” items,
§ Conducted third annual successful Ribfest, netting $45,000,
§ Kick started Ribfest by donation $10,000 to Guelph Fire Services Department for purchase of a defibrillator, $5,000 to Dr. Jim Thompson for an International Project and $2,500 to the Hospice of Guelph and Wellington,
§ Two offsite fellowship events – one at the Boathouse in Guelph and the other at the Seagram’s Lofts in Waterloo,
§ Mentorship program was improved and a detailed summary was prepared,
§ Attendance is high and membership is increasing,
§ Featured in Guelph’s Santa Claus parade for the first time. Received third prize in the service club sector,
§ Preparing for the 10th Anniversary President’ Night on Saturday May 5th, 2001,
§ In addition to $1,000 given to Action Read (a book is donated on behalf of each guest speaker), we also gave $2,000 to Action Read for a computer system,
§ Supported Walkerton and El Salvador disasters with donations of $500 each,
§ Paid our respect to two “ribbers” who passed away in December by giving a memoriam of $500 each,
§ Supported a family at Christmas via Family and Children’s Services and enjoyed a Christmas family potluck with our very own Santa Claus,
§ Heard from many varied guest speakers at our regular business meetings,
§ Continued to enjoy bingo nights at the Ellington,
§ Banner made to display banners received from other clubs,
§ Collected monies and non-perishable food items and toys for the Salvation Army, and
§ Birthday gifts or monies (if forgot gift) brought in by Rotarians on their birthday and given to Marianne’s Place.
In the second half of my year as President, we hope to achieve the following:
§ Additional bingo opportunity at Heritage House,
§ First-time commitment to the “fixing up homes” projects,
§ Up-dating of the web-site details,
§ Expanded potato drive,
§ Continued involvement with RYLA and Camp Enterprise,
§ Write a history of our club, and
§ Family event with other Guelph clubs at Sportsworld.
Special thanks to the Board of Directors: Gregg Mitchell (President-Elect), Ken Boyd (Secretary), Nancy Wood (Treasurer), Sam Anderson-Coats (Vocational Service), Laura Peer and Mark Grainger (Community Service), Ross Irvine (Club Service), Peter Moore (International Service) and Betty Kashur (Past-President).
My thanks, as well, to Committee Chairs and all members for their dedicated support to Rotary and to myself as we learned, laughed and achieved our mission together.
