HUNDREDYEARS ROTARYBC
One person can make a difference. Together we can change the world.
CARE
WA
What’s inside: Pg. 2 HOW TO JOIN ROTARY PHOTOS OF ROTARY IN ACTION Pgs. 6/7 Pg. 11 ROTARY EXCHANGE STUDENTS Pg. 13 INTERACT INVOLVES YOUTH Pg. 14 ROTARY ERADICATING POLIO
SPA PARK
IUM STATD ER
NLD E PO IO
PRIMAROYL
C B SCHOOLS
SCHO
S L A T I P S O H
KIDS
ROTA PLAST Clubs serving the Comox Valley: Rotary Club of Courtenay Rotary Club of Comox Rotary Club of Strathcona Sunrise Rotary Club of Cumberland Centennial
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100 YEARS OF ROTARY
THURSDAY, MARCH 28, 2013 • COMOX VALLEY RECORD
www.comoxvalleyrecord.com
Interested in Rotary? Here’s who you should call Record Staff The Comox Valley has four Rotary clubs, all of which contribute much to the community and all of which welcome members of the community to join them. • The Rotary Club of Comox – hosts of the Ducky 500 held every Canada Day weekend at Lewis Park – meets Thursdays at 6:30 p.m. at d’Esterre House, 1801 Beaufort Ave. in Comox. The Comox Rotary Club’s charter night was held in May 1974 with 26 members. Over the years the club has contributed significantly to the Comox Marina Park, Brooklyn Creek Salmonoid Enhancement, Mack Laing Park, Comox Marina Walkway and a host of other projects. Their most notable project was the d’Esterre House
Seniors Centre, which was completed in 1976, and a subsequent major extension completed in 1994. • The Rotary Club of Courtenay was formed in 1936. With “service” as its motto, the club inaugurated a long history of community involvement and activity when it participated in sending a carload of fruit and vegetables to drought-stricken areas of the Prairies. Known today for such activities as its annual online auction and Books for the Cure, the Courtenay club meets Tuesdays at noon at the Best Western Plus Westerly Hotel at 1590 Cliffe Ave. in Courtenay. • The Rotary Club of Strathcona Sunrise meets Wednesdays at 7 a.m. at the Best Western Plus Westerly Hotel at 1590 Cliffe Ave. in Courtenay. The club is involved in
activities such as the Royal LePage Snow to Surf Relay Race, Shoreline Orthodontics Tri-K and the Highland Interact Talent Show & Silent Auction. • The Rotary Club of Cumberland Centennial meets Tuesdays at 7 a.m. at Carmie’s Cafe & Catering, 2699 Dunsmuir Ave. in Cumberland. Chartered in 2005, the club’s first project was to equip the Cumberland Volunteer Fire Department with a thermal imaging camera. In 2012, the club partnered with the Dolly Parton Imagination Library to provide a new book every month until the children start school for 100 Cumberland children. Complete information on all four Comox Valley Rotary clubs can be found online by Googling them.
Combined our team has Rotary has given me the opportunity to be part of an international community. Helping children Over 50 Years in the Comox Valley and around the world of Rotary Service.
BELONGING TO ROTARY means you get to make the community a better place, as these members of the Strathcona Sunrise club did when they built Rotary Skypark for children with limited mobility.
Proud to be part of Rotary’s global Polio Eradication campaign
HAPPY
100 YEARS
of Rotary in BC Maureen, Dale, Paula and Molly Tel: 250-871-7737 | #7 - 625 Cliffe Avenue, Courtenay | www.robertsnotary.com
100 YEARS OF ROTARY
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COMOX VALLEY RECORD • THURSDAY, MARCH 28, 2013
A century of giving in province
Rotarians raise funds prolifically
CHRIS OFFER
Rotary clubs in British Columbia raised $8.5 million for charitable work in their communities and for international humanitarian work in 2012 a new report states. For the first time a survey was conducted of the 147 Rotary clubs in the province to estimate the total amount of money received in one year for community projects and humanitarian work. Rotary clubs are semi-autonomous and therefore do not generally report their fundraising. “I knew the amount raised by clubs was high but never thought that it would reach $8.5 million,” states the author of the report, Chris Offer from Delta. “This report demonstrates the oftenunreported impact of volunteer fundraising in our communities.” Locally, a Rotary club is a small philanthropic organization that contributes to a variety of local and international commu-
nity humanitarian and educational projects. Provincially, at $8.5 million, Rotary is in the top tier of charities in B.C. Globally, Rotary raises conceivably $1.5 billion every year in the nearly 33,000 Rotary clubs in 200 countries and geographic areas. This makes Rotary one of the world’s largest charities. The study illustrates the impact of charitable fundraising done by groups that are not registered charities and do not issue income tax receipts. “Charity in recent years has been controlled by the large professional charities,” Offer says. “We forget about the numerous volunteer groups that raise funds with raffles, 50-50 draws, dinners and auctions. Groups that do not issue tax receipts are not counted in official statistics.” Find out more about Rotary’s history and structure at: www.Rotary. org.
Preceded by the first Rotary Club in Canada, in Winnipeg, by several years, the first Rotary Club in British Columbia, the Rotary Club of Vancouver, was chartered on April 22, 1913. From that start, Rotary has grown throughout B.C. to encompass the many current Rotary clubs and several districts. There are 147 Rotary clubs in B.C. with a total membership of 6,744. There are approximately 700 Rotary clubs in Canada with a total membership of 25,000. The Courtenay Rotary Club was the first in the Comox Valley and led to the creation of the Sunrise Strathcona, Comox and Cumberland Centennial clubs. All Rotarians in the province are celebrating this year, the 100th year of Rotary in B.C. What is Rotary? Rotary International is a volunteer organization of business and professional leaders who provide humanitarian service, and help to build goodwill and peace in the world. There are approximately 1.2 million Rotary club members belonging to 34,000 Rotary clubs in more than 200 countries and geographical areas. Founded in Chicago in 1905, Rotary celebrated 100
PROUD TO BELONG TO SUCH A GREAT ORGANIZATION
years of service in 2005. The Rotary Foundation has awarded more than US$2.1 billion in grants, which are administered at the local level by Rotary clubs. What is the purpose of Rotary? Rotary clubs exist to improve communities through a range of humanitarian, intercultural and educational activities. Clubs advance international understanding by partnering with clubs in other countries. Rotary also encourages high ethical standards in all vocations. What do Rotary clubs do? Rotary clubs address critical issues at home and abroad by providing health care and medical supplies, clean water, food, job training, youth development, and education to millions of people in need. Examples of Rotary’s focus areas include: • Polio eradication. In 1985, Rotary International created PolioPlus — a program to immunize all the world’s children against polio. To date, Rotary has contributed more than US$1 billion and countless volunteer hours to the protection of more than two billion children in 122 countries.
Rotary is currently working to raise an additional US$200 million toward a US$355 million challenge grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. These efforts are providing much-needed polio vaccine, operational support, medical personnel, laboratory equipment and educational materials for health workers and parents. In addition, Rotary has played a major role in decisions by donor governments to contribute over $6 billion to the effort. With its community-based network worldwide, Rotary is the volunteer arm of the global partnership dedicated to eradicating polio. • Peace In an effort to educate tomorrow’s peacemakers and ambassadors, up to 110 Rotary World Peace Fellows are sponsored each year to study at one of the eight universities for International Studies in peace and conflict resolution. Since 2002, 431 fellows from over 75 countries have participated at a cost of more than $23 million. • International education Rotary is the world’s largest privately funded source
of international scholarships. Each year, about 1,000 university students receive Rotary scholarships to study abroad. Rotary clubs also coordinate a high schoolaged student exchange program that has sent nearly 8,000 students abroad for three months to a year. • Humanitarian projects Rotary clubs initiate thousands of humanitarian service projects every year. These volunteer-driven projects address the root causes of conflict, such as hunger, poverty, disease and illiteracy. • Literacy Rotary clubs work to improve literacy rates worldwide. A unique, Rotarypioneered approach called the Concentrated Language Encounter (CLE) has proven very effective in resourcestrapped developing countries. It was so successful in Thailand, that the Thai government adopted the program nationwide. • Water management Recognizing the importance of clean water, many Rotary clubs help to install wells and develop water treatment and distribution systems to increase access to fresh drinking water for communities in need. For more information, visit www.rotary.org. — Rotary International
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100 YEARS OF ROTARY
THURSDAY, MARCH 28, 2013 • COMOX VALLEY RECORD
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Cumberland Rotarians not just cheque-writers Scott Stanfield Record Staff Since it was chartered in 2005, the Rotary Club of Cumberland Centennial has raised about $300,000 for numerous projects. They include the Cumberland Marching Band, Comox Valley Hospice, BCAA Foundation car seats, weather gear for the paramedic volunteer bike squad, literary programs, thermal imaging cameras for the fire department, transit shelters, the BMX track, bicycle lockups and coal cart benches. “The list is quite extensive,” said club president Robert Neal, whose one-year term ends in June. “Our club is becoming more active. We’ve partnered with a lot
of clubs and organizations. Smaller clubs tend to do that ...Two or three clubs will partner on a project, or we may donate a small amount to a larger project.” An early project provided automatic defibrillators to recreation and seniors’ facilities. The club has provided the Cumberland Lodge with a flat-screen TV and touch screen computers. As well, Rotarians landscape and engage in activities. In recent months, the club has held monthly dinners with a group of residents who don’t often venture beyond the facility’s doors. “They get to choose what kind of food they’d like, and we buy it locally at one of the restaurants. Very suc-
cessful. The residents really enjoy it,” Neal said. “We like doing hands on. We don’t like to be just a cheque-writing club,” added Neal, noting a Rotary principle of “vocational service” encourages members to use job skills to benefit the community. “Rotary is trying to evolve away from just giving things away. They want sustainability.” The club is branching out around the world. For example, it supported employment training in Peru to teach people how to start a business, mainly raising chickens. “We try to balance it with community and international. A lot of Rotary members start with a keen eye towards community, and
SHELTERS FOR BUS passengers represent one of many projects by the Rotary Club of Cumberland Centennial. then often they learn what a small amount of money in certain countries doing certain things can accomplish.” He said Rotary is “narrowing its focus” towards water and sanitation projects, along with education, and maternal and child health.
“They all go together,” Neal said. Through its Adventure in Citizenship program, the club sends a student each year to Ottawa to meet officials and learn how government works. Cumberland Rotary also sends students to leadership seminars, and
supports participation in the Youth Exchange Program. The club meets Tuesdays at 7 a.m. at Carmie’s Cafe & Catering, 2699 Dunsmuir Ave. Visit www.clubrunner.ca/Portal/Home. aspx?accountid=1891. reporter@comoxvalleyrecord.com
Congratulations to Rotary for 100 years of Community Service in BC
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‘Feel-good thing’ drives Rotarians Renee Andor Record Staff “It’s a feel-good thing.” Rotary Club of Courtenay president Rod Hunter gives this simple answer when asked why he, like many other Rotarians, chooses to dedicate so much of his time to improve the community and the world. “Our motto is service above self,” points out Hunter, adding there are just over 80 members in the Courtenay club. “The president is just one person, I mean the amount of stuff that Rotarians do is just amazing, people would just be blown away. There’s stuff you never even hear about.” Hunter notes the club has donated money and goods
to various local projects and organizations, such as giving 12 computers to the Nala’atsi Program, $4,000 to the Comox Valley Lifelong Learning Association and providing scholarships to students, among many other things. But those aren’t even the big things, says Hunter. Courtenay’s club raised a whopping $35,000 in November from its annual book sale, Books for the Cure. According to Hunter, much of that money has yet to be handed out to worthy recipients, but about $5,000 has gone to the Vancouver Island Lodge, a place for people to stay in Victoria while receiving cancer treatment.
ROTARY CLUB OF COURTENAY president Rod Hunter (left) works on the Courtenay Rotary Trail with director Neil Havers. PHOTO BY DAVE REGEHR
“They’re purchasing queen-size beds,” Rod says as he explains how the money will help the lodge. “They’ve had situations where a couple, say the husband, gets cancer and at the cancer ward — you know, they’ve been together for a gazillion years and then
Congratulations
ROTARY
they might get down there in separate beds and they’re used to being together.” Meanwhile, the Rotary Trail in Courtenay has been a big ongoing project for the club, says Hunter, adding it’s a combined venture with the City of Courtenay and the Island Corridor Foundation.
Phases one and two are now complete and the trail starts at Fifth Street and extends to 17th Street along the E&N Rail Corridor. Hunter says the third phase will bring the trail to 26th Street. Courtenay Rotary holds an online auction each year
for the month of April, and Hunter notes the auction is an important fundraiser for the Rotary Trail work. “People can go to the website (www.clubrunner.ca/ courtenay) for the auction and they can bid on different items,” he says. writer@comoxvalleyrecord.com
ROTARIANS
for
contribute so much to our community.
Thank You & Congratulations
1OO YEARS OF SERVICE
ON YOUR 1OO YEAR MILESTONE IN BC!
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THURSDAY, MARCH 28, 2013 • COMOX VALLEY RECORD
100 YEARS OF ROTARY
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PAST AND PRESENT The Courtenay Rotary Club was founded in 1936 with Charter Night in the Native Sons Hall. Sept. 13, 2010 marked the opening of the Rotary Skypark (below), an ambitious project undertaken by the Rotary Club of Strathcona Sunrise, which addressed the lack of a place for kids with mobility challenges to enjoy a playground with their friends. Comox Rotarians Sig Jensen and Doug Newson (left) work on the Comox breakwater walkway.
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100 YEARS OF ROTARY
COMOX VALLEY RECORD • THURSDAY, MARCH 28, 2013
ROTARY IN ACTION A Kenyan child draws clean water (above) thanks to a Strathcona Sunrise project. Clockwise from upper right, Comox Rotarians attract a huge crowd each year with their popular Ducky 500 race, Courtenay Rotarians gathered for their 75th anniversary and the Cumberland club provided benches for residents.
CONGRATULATIONS
ROTARY BC
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100 YEARS OF ROTARY
THURSDAY, MARCH 28, 2013 • COMOX VALLEY RECORD
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Younger members wanted Erin Haluschak Record Staff Looking to familiarize himself with the community, Garry Steele joined the Rotary Club of Comox when he and his wife first moved to the Valley and quickly realized how connected they would become. “Being part of the community is to establish and determine the greatest needs in the community,” explained Steele, who is the president of the Rotary Club of Comox. “It’s truly service above self — we felt honoured to be members — not only in the Valley but worldwide.” Steele explained the Rotary Club of Comox was chartered in 1974 and sponsored by the Courtenay club. Currently, it has around 60 members, and hopes to grow to 75, added Steele,
who said one of the goals moving forward is to appeal to a younger demographic. In total, the club has contributed to 22 different projects in the Town of Comox alone, including being the general contractor for the d’Esterre House, creating walkways, fish ladders and gazebos. Steele said they also work with other community organizations in the Comox Valley including the Salvation Army, L’Arche, the Beaufort Association and the Filberg Park Petting Zoo. In addition to working on local projects, members of the Rotary Club of Comox also work on international projects, including student exchanges and well programs. Steele said as part of the Tegucigalpa Market Children Program, members from Comox built 6,000
desks for children. Members have also assisted with creating wells and improving sanitation to another community in Honduras. Locally, Steele said one of the more popular fundraisers in the Comox Valley — the Ducky 500 — is completely run and organized by the Comox club. “We are quite successful in raising money,” he noted, and added they also host a club auction, sell smoked salmon in the winter and host the annual Comox Valley Whiskey Fest in February. The club also assists with local Interact and Roteract clubs for younger members interested in joining Rotary. “A huge part of Rotary is giving back, and we want to help the new generation and focus on young people,” said Steele. On May 9, the Rotary
THE ROTARY CLUB of Comox co-ordinates the annual Ducky 500 fundraiser every Canada Day in the Comox Valley. Club of Comox will be hosting a ‘Club in a Club’ night, which is, “to encourage potential Rotarians to come
out and give them an idea of what Rotary is all about,” added Steele. For more information on
the Rotary Club of Comox, contact Garry Steele at garrydsteele@gmail.com. photos@comoxvalleyrecord.com
CONGRATULATIONS FOR
1OO YEARS
OF SERVICE IN BC
Congratulations to ROTARY on your celebration of 100 Years of service in BC
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Sunrise club has been very busy Renee Andor Record Staff Strathcona Sunrise Rotary Club president Terry Nielsen says the past year has been a busy one in terms of projects. “It’s been a big year for us with a lot of work in Kenya and a lot of work in India and then locally, I think the Scout’s (Canada) Camp Gilwell,” says Nielsen. Camp Gilwell is an 11-hectare camp that has been in the Comox Valley for 30 years, according to Nielsen, who adds other groups use the camp as well, but it’s very popular for scouting activities. Strathcona Sunrise Rotary led a $50,000-renovation project at the camp. While he notes the project was made possible thanks to contributions from various other community groups,
Strathcona Sunrise chipped in over half the cost. The camp received a new kitchen building and septic field, and some dangerous trees were taken down.
groups this year. “We’ve got a project going on in India as we speak doing training of organic farming practices,” adds Nielsen, noting the tea
You just look out the window and see all ❝ the Rotary projects that are key landmarks in the Valley, and you just know that they were done with lots of love and lots of integrity.
❞
— Terry Nielsen Internationally, the club just paid tuition for boarding school for three boys in Kenya, which covers their books, uniforms and everything else they need to attend. “We put in a total of 58 protected springs in Kenya, which provides clean water to 14,000 rural Kenyans,” continues Nielsen as he lists projects the club has completed along with other
industry is huge in India and farmers can be tempted to use strong pesticides in an effort to keep up with the stiff competition. Back home, the club finished its second Have a Heart fundraiser in February, which brought in about $18,000. The event featured three dinner theatres, and Nielsen notes they were all successful, with sold-out shows.
About $6,000 will go to the club’s local projects, $6,000 will go to the United Church, and $6,000 to the Comox Valley Hospice Society. Strathcona Sunrise Rotary Club has nearly 60 members, and Nielsen notes members’ organizational and business skills, plus their involvement in other community groups, allows them to work efficiently to complete projects. “It feels great to move from Comox to Cumberland and you look out the window and see all the Rotary projects that are key landmarks in the Valley, and you just know that they were done with lots of love and lots of integrity,” he says. For more information on Strathcona Sunrise Rotary visit www.rotarystrathconasunrise.org. writer@comoxvalleyrecord.com
PRESIDENT TERRY NIELSEN of the Rotary Club of Strathcona Sunrise and his wife Tanya Harmon, a fellow club member, work on renovations at Camp Gilwell.
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100 YEARS OF ROTARY
THURSDAY, MARCH 28, 2013 • COMOX VALLEY RECORD
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COMOX ROTARIANS BUILT the Marina Park bandshell in 2005.
Congratulations
ON 100 YEARS OF SERVICE
Comox club looking ahead Despite a record of exceptional service to the community and to the world, the story of the Rotary Club of Comox is not about history, it is about the future. The vision of Comox Rotary is to have a good time following the basic principle of the Rotary movement, Service Above Self. Approximately 60 Comox Rotarians meet weekly on Thursday evenings at the d’Esterre Seniors’ Centre on Beaufort Avenue. This does not reflect the age of Comox Rotarians, merely recognition of one of the many public use structures throughout the Comox Valley which exists because of the efforts of Comox Rotarians. Shortly after the Comox Rotary Club was inaugurated in the spring of 1974, the club began building. Since that time, Comox Rotary has built everything from fish ladders on Brooklyn Creek (saving a threatened run of salmon), to a bridge in Simms Millennium Park, a display in the Cumberland Museum, walkways and access along the Comox harbour, buildings at Marina Park, Forbidden Plateau, Therapeutic Gardens and seemingly wherever needed
to assist youth, seniors, the environment or the disadvantaged. As well as building, the Comox Rotary Club has been a huge supporter of socially necessary local organizations, including providing the seed money and initial impetus for the Dawn to Dawn Action on Homelessness Society. The Comox Rotary Club tends to put their muscles where their money goes, so they don’t just support Dawn to Dawn — they have spent many volunteer hours refurbishing old recreation vehicles for Dawn to Dawn to house the homeless. Comox Rotary has given similar aid to the Child Development Centre, the Comox Bay Care Society (Care-a-van) and others. The majority of the funding for Comox Rotary local projects comes from the world-famous Ducky 500 race on Canada Day at Lewis Park in Courtenay. Other fundraising by Comox Rotary includes the annual Comox Valley Whiskey Fest presented by the Best Western Plus Westerly Hotel. Comox Rotary also works around the world by partnering with Rotary clubs in disadvantaged areas of the
globe. The current major project involves drilling water wells, providing sanitation and replanting deforested areas around villages in Honduras. Comox Rotarians have travelled to Honduras to evaluate the need and in the future more Comox Rotarians will return to deliver the assistance. Other Comox Rotary International projects have included building a water system that serves five valleys in the Matopos area of Zimbabwe, sending containers loaded with educational and medical supplies to Zimbabwe, starting a microlending program in Ethiopia and numerous smaller programs. Comox Rotary is looking to the future by encouraging young leaders, both through Rotary youth programs such as the Interact club at Mark Isfeld, the new Comox Valley Rotaract Club and through development of young leaders within the Comox Rotary Club itself. If you are interested in becoming a member of the Comox Rotary club, contact president Garry Steele at 250-331-0445 or garrydsteele@gmail.com. — Rotary Club of Comox
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ROTARY YOUTH EXCHANGE students billeted throughout District 5020 pose in front of Hot Chocolates in Courtenay, their last stop on a downtown scavenger hunt in February.
Rotary exchange students ‘taking huge bite out of life’ Scott Stanfield Record Staff Thirty-six Rotary Youth Exchange (RYE) students from 28 countries gathered in the Comox Valley for a five-day conference dubbed Comox Valley Rendezvous. The students explored the Valley, visited residents at The Views at St. Joseph’s General Hospital, participated in K’ómoks First Nation traditional dances and skied at Mount Washington, among other activities. The visitors also discussed the
RYE program and the opportunities it provides with Grade 9 classes at Vanier Secondary. The students then returned to their host communities on Vancouver Island and parts of Washington State for the second half of their year-long exchange. “It’s such an amazing experience to see these young people who are so eager to represent their community, their Rotary club, their school, their country,” said Joanie Chestnut, youth exchange committee
member with Courtenay Rotary. “They’re like junior ambassadors.” Rotarians in the Comox Valley are part of District 5020, which includes Rotary clubs from Vancouver Island and Washington State. RYE students spend up to a year living with host families and attending school in a different country. Outbound students departing in August recently attended an orientation weekend in Victoria. By the end of the weekend, students were onstage
introducing themselves and reporting about their host country in the host language. “These 16-year-olds were up there ready to take on a year-long exchange, navigating through a different culture, living with three different host families, attending school in a different language. Just ready to take this huge bite out of life that’s being offered to them,” Chestnut said. Students, in effect, become part of another family during their stay — like
an extra child for a year. “They really integrate into a different culture and see it all with eyes wide open,” said Chestnut, whose involvement in Rotary was spurred by daughter Arlie Christie, who was an exchange student. “It’s opportunities for leadership and for finding out who you are, and how you can make it through some difficult times,” Chestnut said. “It’s a lot for a young person to take on. When they come back, they are so grown up.”
The orientation weekend included Rebound students, who have completed a yearlong exchange. If possible, these students continue participating the year after their exchange, and help select and train outbound students. “They bring a candid, firsthand, fresh experience to the proceedings,” said Chestnut, noting a girl in the Czech Republic who recalled a time she fell asleep on a bus and woke up in Hungary. reporter@comoxvalleyrecord.com
Congratulations on the
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THURSDAY, MARCH 28, 2013 • COMOX VALLEY RECORD
100 YEARS OF ROTARY
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“service above self” PROUD
Rotarian Since 2008
In the Comox Valley ~
I N D E P E N D E N T LY O W N E D & O P E R AT E D
CHILDREN IN KENYA gather water from a completed spring made possible by the Helping Hands project. PHOTO SUPPLIED
Sunrise helping others In our part of the world those born with birth defects, afflicted by disease or injured in accidents are cared for and rehabilitated. In many other countries this is not the case. There are literally thousands of Indian people with missing limbs, due to accidents or congenital causes, or with withered limbs due to polio or other diseases. Many of these can be helped at a relatively low cost. Most of them come from families that are very poor — they have trouble earning enough to pay for food and shelter, let alone medical treatment. Others are from remote rural backgrounds where help is not available. Without help, they have little hope of living a satisfying and productive life, but instead remain a financial and physical drain on their families. Those who are rehabilitated, educated and given job training are often able to overcome their disability, earn their own living and live decent lives. In 2001 the Strathcona Sunrise Rotary Club, under the leadership of Chip Ross, launched a project in Chennai, India, which would blossom into a major Inter-
national effort. Partnering with the Rotary Club of Chennai-Kilpauk, and later with Rotary clubs from England and Alberta, local Rotarians designed and funded a program called Helping Hands, which holds medical screening camps, funds corrective surgeries, and provides prosthetics, mobility devices and remedial education to the afflicted in the area of Chennai. Over the years this program has helped several thousands of India’s poor to achieve a standard they would never have reached without Rotary’s help. There are three main parts to Helping Hands: • The rehabilitation phase provides locally manufactured braces, artificial limbs, mobility aids such as wheelchairs, and surgeries to repair damaged or atrophied limbs. Corrective surgeries are performed where necessary, as are physiotherapy treatments. • Education is the next phase — handicapped children are often ‘written off’ and not educated at all. Our education funds are used for paying school fees, providing books and supplies, and giving special instruction
where required. • The final phase is teaching vocational skills and helping the handicapped to get established in jobs or small businesses. Helping Hands is carried out or supervised by Rotarians. They conduct the screening camps, oversee the construction and fitting of prosthetics and mobility aids, and are involved in the education process. The costs of providing artificial limbs, education and vocational support for the handicapped are much more reasonable than one would expect. Because the program is run by Rotarians the costs are kept to a minimum, with all funds being used to help the handicapped. Donations to Helping Hands become part of the seed money for Rotary Foundation grants, which see local donations matched at a 1:2.5 ratio — thus $100 donated locally becomes $350 by the time it reaches the recipients. For further information about Helping Hands, please contact Rotarian Chip Ross at Chip.Ross@Shaw.ca or 250-336-8377. — Strathcona Sunrise Rotary Club
c: 250-703-6119 o: 250-334-3124 #121-750 Comox Road, Courtenay
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Learning to make the world a more positive place Erin Haluschak Record Staff They deal with exams, projects and sports, but students from Grades 8 to 12 also find the time to give back to their communities. Interact is Rotary International’s service club for young people aged 12 to 18, and each high school in the Comox Valley has a club sponsored by a local Rotary club. “The students learn to make the world a more positive place,” explained Highland School Interact sponsor-teacher Tami Jerome, who helps co-ordinate the group of around 30 students for their weekly lunchtime meetings, along with a representative from the Rotary Club of Comox. Jerome said the students, who meet from September to June, work primarily on two projects — one local and one international. She noted the club is working with Free the Children and collecting food for We Scare Hunger, along with their international project to help improve clean water in Kenya. “(Interact) is a positive place and gives students the opportunity to give back to their community,” she said. On April 18, the Highland Interact Club will host a variety night featuring singing, spoken word, dancing
and offering dessert and a silent auction to raise money for their clean water project. Tickets are $10 per person, or $20 per family.
••• At G. P. Vanier, Interact co-ordinator Ed Walker said his group of around 30 registered students work on projects throughout the year in conjunction with the Rotary Club of Courtenay. He said while students might not be familiar with Rotary, word spreads about the good things Interact does throughout the school and the larger community. “Students who join usually stay (throughout high school). You usually see the same students year after year.” Every year, the club sells poinsettias in November with proceeds used to support the children of Nate’s Place — an orphanage in Haiti established in memory of two Vanier students, Nate DaSilva and Nate Smith. Locally, through bake sales, bagging groceries and car washes, students support a variety of organizations including the Comox Valley Transition Society, Therapeutic Riding and the Comox Valley Food Bank. “Students gain an understanding of responsibility and building a stronger community,” added Walker.
••• At Mark Isfeld, Interact
G.P. VANIER STUDENTS display some of the food they collected for the Comox Valley Food Bank, one of the many fundraising drives they, and other Interact clubs, contribute to in the Valley and beyond. members have been busy working on two campaigns — an Anti-Drinking and Driving Campaign along with Free the Children’s We Scare Hunger. Members of the Rotary Club of Comox are also working with the students, helping them to fundraise for a well to be built in Honduras as part of their Dollar for Water campaign. On Halloween night, members went door to door
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seeking food donations rather than candy, which turned into a successful project with many boxes of food being sent to the Comox Valley Food Bank. For their international project, the club is asking Comox Valley residents to donate $1 in drop boxes around the area to build one well by June and another five within the next two years. Six communities to ben-
efit are located around the city of Comayagua, Honduras.
••• Interact clubs are sponsored by individual Rotary clubs, which provide support and guidance, but they are self-governing and selfsupporting. Club membership varies greatly. Clubs can be single gender or mixed, large or small. They can draw from the student body of a single
school or from two or more schools in the same community. Each year, Interact clubs complete at least two community service projects, one of which furthers international understanding and goodwill. There are more than 10,000 Interact clubs in 109 countries, with almost 200,000 young people involved. photos@comoxvalleyrecord.com
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100 YEARS OF ROTARY
THURSDAY, MARCH 28, 2013 • COMOX VALLEY RECORD
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Rotarians socking it to polio globally If we don’t end polio now, experts say the disease could rebound to 10 million cases in the next 40 years. Eradicating polio is achievable. There is no cure for polio, but the polio vaccine successfully prevents cases. Success in polio eradication sets the stage for the next big global health initiative. The world has invested $9 billion so far toward polio eradication and an independent study published in the medical journal Vaccine estimates the net economic benefits at US$40 to $50 billion over the next 20 years, a savings that can be put toward fighting other diseases. The infrastructure for polio immunization also
strengthens the systems for other health interventions. This is our chance to make history by wiping out the second human disease ever. There are only three countries where the wild poliovirus has never been stopped: Afghanistan, Nigeria and Pakistan. Because there is no cure for polio, the best protection is prevention. For as little as US$0.60 worth of vaccine, a child can be protected against this crippling disease for life. Polio anywhere is a risk to children everywhere. The Global Polio Eradication Initiative is committed to fighting the disease until every child is safe. Since the global initiative
RAMESH FARRIS SPEAKS to Comox Valley youth about the effects of polio at the Simms Millennium Park Pavilion during last summer’s Sock It To Polio event put on by all Rotary clubs in the Comox Valley. The Simms Millennium Park Pavilion was built by the Courtenay Rotary Club. began more than 25 years, Rotary and its partners have reduced polio cases by more than 99 per cent worldwide. Rotary has raised more
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than US$1 billion and committed countless volunteer hours to fight the disease. Polio is a crippling and potentially fatal infectious
disease. Polio (poliomyelitis) still strikes children mainly under the age of five in countries in Asia and Africa. Polio can cause paralysis
and sometimes death. It can cause paralysis within hours, and polio paralysis is almost always irreversible. — Rotary International
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of Cumberland MUNICIPAL OFFICE CONGRATULATIONS, Village 2673 Dunsmuir Ave., Cumberland, BC V0R 1S0 Phone: (250) 336-2291 & THANK YOU FOR BEING A PART OF OUR COMMUNITY. info@cumberland.ca
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Rotarians send Best to Ottawa
ROTARY CLUB OF Comox member Stan Gaskarth, went to Tegucigalpa, Honduras to see the school desks that were locally made from the money the club sent them from fundraising efforts. He has also participated in the building of wells sponsored by Rotary International and the Comox club.
The Rotary Adventure in Citizenship Program will celebrate its 63rd anniversary this year. This spring, 220 outstanding high school students from across Canada will spend four days, from April 28 to May 1 in the national capital in a program designed to develop their potential as leaders in their communities and in Canadian society. Alanna Best, a Grade 11 student at G.P. Vanier Secondary School in Courtenay, has been selected for sponsorship by the Rotary Club of Cumberland Centennial. Students who have
CUMBERLAND ROTARIANS CHRISTINE Dickinson and Linda Oprica congratulate Alanna Best on her selection to attend the 63rd annual Adventure in Citizenship. Best will be hosted by a Rotary family from the Rotary Club of Ottawa. The Cumberland club will cover all of the costs to get her to and from Ottawa to participate in the program from April 28 to May 1. attended in the past have described the program as a life-changing experience. Part of the event will include a visit to the House of Commons, where
the Speaker will explain aspects of Canada’s government. The group will also participate in a Citizenship Court where they will witness new Canadi-
ans becoming citizens. A variety of other activities will keep the students busy during their time in Ottawa. — Rotary Club of Cumberland Centennial
CONGRATULATIONS ROTARY ON YOUR 1OO YEARS 320 - 5th Street, Downtown Courtenay • 250-334-2611
Congratulations on the Rotarian’s 100th Anniversary!
Don McRae, MLA Comox Valley
Constituency Office 437 5th St., Courtenay BC V9N 1J7 Phone: (250) 703-2422 Fax: (250) 703-2425 Email: don.mcrae.mla@leg.bc.ca Monday to Friday, 9AM - 4PM
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100 YEARS OF ROTARY
THURSDAY, MARCH 28, 2013 • COMOX VALLEY RECORD
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Help extends overseas Earle Couper Record Staff Along with their many efforts supporting their local communities, the Comox Valley’s Rotary clubs are involved in a number of international projects. The Rotary Club of Courtenay has focused its international efforts over the past 10 years on Orissa, one of the poorest states of India. They have also established a daycare in Calcutta for children of sex trade workers. Steve Elman, a past-president of the Courtenay club, looks after the details of the projects in India. He notes the local club partners with the Rotary Club of Visakhapatnam, where Courtenay Rotarian Kell Frandsen lives for most of the year. Elman notes the local club has provided a diesel water pump, reservoir and
goats to a village in Orissa that has allowed residents to farm 60 acres instead of the former one-acre tract. The club has built four fish ponds that are used to raise tilapia fish and for irrigation. “We’ve done wells and water systems in one village that provided running water to about 25,000 people,” Elman noted. The club has just completed two water purification plants that turns brackish water into safe water and sells it for a nominal rate. “That affects about 20,000 people,” said Elman. The club recently installed a water system and sewage system at a girls’ school and Elman said the club’s next project will include doing the same at five more girls’ schools. “What we’re trying to do is break poverty cycles
DOUG ANTE Proudly a Rotarian Since 1997
instead of just giving them stuff,” said Elman, adding that the projects over the past 10 years have been very successful.
••• On the international scene, the Rotary Club of Cumberland Centennial has helped fund school equipment in a poor region of Mexico, funded wells and protected springs in Kenya to provide a safe source of potable water to 25,000 villagers, and supported Rotaplast in its mission of providing corrective surgery to children and adults with cleft lips and palates. The club is currently involved with providing funds for micro-credit ventures in Peru to help villagers become self-sufficient through chicken production.
••• The Comox Rotary Club’s international service
includes the Market Kids program in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. The school year in Honduras is drawing to a close and the 1,970 students that the Alternatives and Opportunities Program supports are ready for their vacation. This is a powerful program that not only provides schooling for the children, but also provides literacy
classes for parents, business development courses, classes on health and personal safety, and provides programs that foster leadership skills and trains youth tutors. Because of this program, young people are given an alternative to the poverty and gang culture that permeates the street markets and they are given the opportunity to develop skills
that will carry them into a brighter future through education. This program has been operating for over 20 years now.
••• The Rotary Club of Strathcona Sunrise is involved in a number of international community service projects. They have been steady supporters of Con’t on page 17
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Sunrise club lends helping hands Continued from page 16
the Polio Plus campaign, which aims to rid the world of the crippling disease. Their involvement with Rotary’s student exchange program has seen them host 22 foreign students and send 21 local students to other countries. For many years, they hosted all the foreign students in District 5020 over a four-day period in February. Rotary had a program called Group Study Exchange (GSE) which involved the exchange of small teams of young business and professional people from two countries who made reciprocal visits for several weeks to learn about the culture and business practices of the other country. Sunrise Strathcona supported this program for many years.
THE STRATHCONA SUNRISE club supports the Helping Hands program, which helps people who are missing limbs.
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100 YEARS OF ROTARY
THURSDAY, MARCH 28, 2013 • COMOX VALLEY RECORD
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THE EXTRAVAGANZA ITALIANA is the signature fundraiser of Cumberland Rotarians, always highlighted by colourful auctioneer Dave Stevens (below).
Funds flow in Cumberland In 2004, Chip Ross and John Challender, members of the Rotary Club of Strathcona Sunrise, decided to explore the possibility of starting a fourth Rotary club in the Comox Valley based in Cumberland. Public meetings were held in the fall of 2004 and great interest was shown, resulting in 20 people becoming charter members of the new Rotary Club of Cumberland Centennial on June 3, 2005 in Rotary’s 100th year of service. The club’s annual, signature fundraiser, its Extravaganza Italiana, was first held in October 2005 and has been held every October since. The event has grown in popularity and success, raising more than $300,000. Those funds have made it possible for the club to provide the Cumberland Volunteer Fire Department with a thermal imaging camera ($13,000), distribution of 10 Automated Electronic Defibrillators ($25,000) to various organizations in the Valley, installation of Cumberland’s first two transit shelters ($18,000) and several bicycle racks ($3,000) on Dunsmuir Avenue.
DAVE STEVENS $30,000 was provided to the Comox Valley Hospice Society in support of their building campaign. In 2012 the club committed to providing $10,000 to Jeneece Place in Victoria over three years, the first Rotary club on Vancouver Island to offer support; the club exceeded its pledge by more than $3,000, all in a total of eight months. Resources were provided to elementary schools in Cumberland and Royston to enhance the reading programs and, in 2012 the club partnered with the Dolly Parton Imagination Library to provide a book per month to 91 Cumberland children under five years of age. The club established
a reading library for the residents of the Cumberland Lodge including bookcases to store the books, a drip irrigation system for the plants in the garden where residents like to enjoy the outdoors, a specialized wheelchair to enable residents with mobility issues to enter and exit the swimming pool at the aquatic centre and recently provided a large flat-screen TV, a Blu Ray player and electronic book readers. The club has hosted two Rotary Youth Exchange students and has sponsored several students for a number of adventure programs offered by Rotary clubs in other communities. In 2012, the club provided $5,000 to help fund the construction of protected springs in Kenya, which resulted in the construction of 50 springs serving 20,000 people with safe, clean drinking water. Several other community groups, including MARS and YANA have received financial support for the club. The club’s membership numbers 32, with 19 women and 13 men. — Rotary Club of Cumberland Centennial
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Projects, we’ve got projects By developing partnerships with international organizations and the Canadian government the Courtenay Rotary Club supports projects around the world that improve the lives of many. Projects include clean water delivery in Third World countries, supplying Shelterboxes for earthquake relief victims throughout the world and supporting safe school environments for young women in India. Our legacy of international project delivery goes way back. In 1936 the Courtenay Rotary Club sent a boxload of fruit and vegetables to the Prairies for those in need during the depression. In 1944 the club sent cigarettes to forces overseas as well as 11,000 pounds of clothing to Britain to help clothe bombing victims. “We’ve got a long history of international project support that we are very proud of,” says Courtenay Rotary president Rod Hunter. “We will continue helping those less fortunate than us for many years to come.” Recent projects include Project Amigo (2008-2011) where members of Courtenay’s and other Rotary clubs in District 5020 go to Colima, Mexico to perform eye tests and match donated glasses for locals who could not afford to see a local optometrist. This small gesture has a dramatic effect on their lives. In 2009, with Rotarian Bent Harder at the helm, the club supported Rotoplast. Bent and other District 5020 Rotarians, including surgeons, change lives by performing reconstructive surgery to treat children with the cleft lip and palate anomaly in the Philippines and Chile. Local projects The Courtenay Rotary Club has supported the
COURTENAY ROTARY PRESIDENT Rod Hunter takes a breather from the hard work of creating the Rotary Trail along the E&N Rail corridor, one of a multitude of projects the local club has undertaken, stretching all the way back to the 1930s. PHOTO BY DAVE REGEHR
Comox Valley with projects that benefit the public at large since 1936. In 1937 the club donated $100 to survey Lewis Park for construction of a swimming pool. Lewis Park has always been dear to the club’s heart. In 1947, Courtenay Rotarians contributed $4,000 to construct the CRA Outdoor Swimming Pool. In 1979, $22,163 was raised, along with 1,355 man-hours of volunteer labour for the
construction of the outdoor swimming pool’s bathhouse and park lighting installation. In 1983 and 1989, $14,000 was raised for purchase of the Simms property (across from Lewis Park) to preserve it as public park space. In 2003, the club fundraised and helped build the outdoor water park. And in 2005, the club spearheaded and built the Simms Park Millennium Pavilion with volunteer labour, a project which grew to a value of $200,000. Recent projects include a three-year, $150,000 commitment to the Comox Valley Hospice Project. For the past three years the Courtenay Rotary Club has committed close to $100,000 towards building Rotary Trail from Fifth to 26th streets. This project is a partnership with the City of Courtenay and the Island Corridor Foundation. Fundraising The Books for the Cure fundraiser has become popular and has grown dramatically, enabling the Courtenay Rotary Club to donate over $85,000 towards cancer care and research on Vancouver Island. The annual book sale at Comox Centre Mall got a boost in 2012 with the addition of drop boxes for used books located throughout the Comox Valley. For many years, the Courtenay Rotary Club raised the majority of funds for these projects at their Annual Gala Auction. In 2010 an Online Auction was introduced to run in tandem with the Gala Auction. This will be the first year most of the fundraising will come from the online auction throughout April. For more about the club, visit www.courtenayrotary. com. — Rotary Club of Courtenay
COMOX VALLEY RECORD • THURSDAY, MARCH 28, 2013
19
PROUD CATERER for the
COMOX ROTARY CLUB
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CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™
Richard Siddall Financial Services Inc. Tel 250-339-4552 Fax 250-941-0644 1565 Beaconsfield Crescent, Comox, BC V9M 1B4 rick.siddall@sunlife.com www.sunlife.ca/rick.siddall Life’s brighter under the sun *Mutual funds offered by Sun Life Financial Investment Services (Canada) Inc. © Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada, 2013.
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THURSDAY, MARCH 28, 2013 • COMOX VALLEY RECORD
100 YEARS OF ROTARY
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