Guest Speaker – Isabella Beane interviewed by Al Stjernegaard

Isabella joined Rotary 12 years ago after much encouragement from Linda Balzer, Gary Wiggins and Gene Vickers.  Isabella is one of the more active members of the club and focuses a lot of her time on the International Committee.  In 2004, she was involved with helping Anne Hulbert with this type of work within the club – became instrumental in securing a grant which ultimately led to a trip to South Africa – and as they say the rest is history!  Isabella has now been heavily involved with this aspect of the club’s work now for the past 8 or 9 years.

During her chat with Al, Isabella told us about the time in South Africa where when walking home from dinner she fell in a hole and hurt her leg quite badly.  Isabella insists she wasn’t drinking that night – but the members of the club weren’t so sure .  The consummate professional, Isabella reminded us all to never travel without good insurance – just in case something like this happens to you!

Isabella spoke about how recently the International Committee has just secured a grant for St. Mary’s which will be used to improve their kitchen facilities.  The grant is for $22,000 and in addition she spoke about the plans they have for sending 3 containers later this year worth over $33,000 which will cost our club about $7000.

Kids Camp is another initiative Isabella is very proud of.  Over the years, through the hard work of Isabella and others our club has sent over 500 kids to camp.  In one year, over 80 kids were sent which cost about $40,000.  Currently, our club is able to send about 30 kids to camp every year.

On a personal note, Isabella was born in North London, has 2 brothers and a sister and moved to Canada in 1974.  Isabella now resides in Maple Ridge and has two grown children, 4 grand kids and as many of you know has been the owner of Port Moody Travel since 1988.  She told us the story of how she came to own the business which happened essentially by accident and reflected upon the successes they have had over the years.  Port Moody Travel is one of the first businesses to inhabit Newport Village and is likely one of the longest standing businesses to operate from this hub of business in Port Moody.

Isabella concluded her chat with Al by telling us about her next big trip which will be to the UK and Liverpool in particular.  She also commented about how her business has evolved in recent years as consumers have trended towards shopping for their travel needs online versus utilizing the services of a travel agent.  Port Moody Travel is finding that people are now coming back to use travel agents – mostly because it can still be difficult for consumers to navigate the online world when planning a complicated trip – and this is a valuable service that an educated agent can provide for consumers.