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Port Arthur Rotary

Service Above Self

We meet Tuesdays at 12:00 PM
Prince Arthur Hotel
17 Cumberland Street North
Thunder Bay, ON  P7A 4K8
Canada
Email:
parotary@tbaytel.net
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Home Page Stories
At Our Club Feb 12, 2019
MPP (Thunder Bay Superior North, for 24 years!!) Michael Gravelle returned yet again to his Rotary roots with a fine presentation on his new orientation in Ontario provincial politics. Always a real pleasure. He was introduced by President-elect Rod Morrison and thanked by Bonnie Moore (who spoke for the club..Michael is a "special friend" of Rotary). President Philp is also pictured. Michael reiterated his motivation..very much the same as Rotary..Service above Self, with his dedication to representing his constituents as best possible. Mr. Gravelle emphasized that with, notwithstanding his issues with certain (current) government programmes and intentions (he did list some), he serves also by seeking cooperation with government on a number of importantl, major projects. Examples include the new Liquified Natural Gas storage/distribution facility,(ok'd for the Nipigon area); the Nextbridge east-west transmission tie (going ahead..he has toiled long and hard on this file), the twinning of 11-17 highway major project ( legacy-to completion it is hoped); the Ring of Fire mining; and cardiovascular surgery services at TBRHSC. Mr. Gravelle humbly reconfirmed how serving is an "absolute privilege." PA Rotary has been a longstanding friend and he was thus acknowledged today. The club looks forward to hearing Michael again next year (query still in rebuilding mode?).
At Our Club February 5, 2019
Featured presentation today was on the fine work being done (unheralded by many!) by the Children's Centre-Thunder Bay, previously known as Lakehead Regional Family Centre. www.childrenscentre.ca
 
CEO Diane Walker spoke about the large mandate of CCTB within the Mission Statement (highlights):
1. Improving child and youth mental health ... an enormous challenge
2. Addressing children's developmental, social and behavioural needs ....also huge
3. Strengthening parental capacity
4. Building community capacity.

Lots of work in an (unfortunately) underfunded and high volume/demand sector of our society in this area! With about 40 services and a staff of 175, some 4000 interactions yearly speak of the need. More need to be made aware of this important service and these dedicated folks.
 
 
Diane was assisted today by VP John Friday (pictured with Diane and President-Elect Rod Morrison (far left and former board member) and President Warren Philp (far right).

There are ways and means and thoughts brewing on some partnership in this big picture with PA Rotary.

Rod introduced the guests and they were thanked by Matt Diegel.
 

 
The remarkable Pernia family (from Venezuela) were on hand again today. Leo (pictured doing his Usain Bolt moment) is outbound exchange to Croatia, whilst dad Juan (pictured with his son and Warren Philp) remains at home as a proud new Canadian. Other brothers have been Rotary exchange ambassadors as well ... a great tradition.
 
The club is delighted with this relationship.
 
 
At Our Club Today - January 29
AT OUR CLUB January 29, 2019

On this exceptionally frigid day, Karl D. Everett, PE,PG: geologist and professional engineer, drove to Thunder Bay to address Rotary clubs on the splendid work done by Duluth and Thunder Bay Rotary clubs in many international projects in Bolivia.
Karl belongs to the Duluth Harbortown Club. His presentation on Rotary/ Mano A Mano projects 2018 listed numerous successful projects in medical clinic and school buildings, road building and water projects in this landlocked country, one of the poorest in the Americas high up in the mountains (600 peaks above 16,000 ft!).
The Mano A Mano Bolivia projects have resulted in many positive international medical supply distributions in Bolivia for 25 years.
Notable Rotarians in addition to Karl (lead in the Jatun Mayu medical clinic (very professionally done indeed), include Fort William Rotarian Jill Zachary (lead for the Guitarrani school build).

Today's Power Point and video was impressive indeed - showing us where our ROTARY FOUNDATION DOLLARS  go! 

Karl was introduced by President Warren Philp and thanked by Past President and District Governor Roly Turner. They are pictured with Mr. Everett.

His work is an inspiration for Rotarians, especially those contemplating international service. http://www.harbortownrotary.com
 
 
At our club today January 22nd 
 
Today's off-site meeting was held at the George Jeffrey Children's Centre (GFCC) on Brock Street. www.georgejeffrey.com
President-elect Rod Morrison thanked our hosts and the meeting commenced with a welcome from Executive Director Steve MacDonald, and Charitable Gifts Director Kirsten Untinen (pictured with us  in the sensory stimulation room).

GFCC is one of 20 Children's Treatment Centres in Ontario, providing family-centred. one-stop, interdisciplinary, evidence based care for special needs children (birth to 19 years of age). A host of specialists in Occupational therapy, Physiotherapy, Speech and Language pathology, Social Work, Communications Augmentation, Seating and Mobility (and more) work out of this fine new building. The club toured some of the facility with Mr. MacDonald.



PA Rotary president Warren Philp is pictured  at the entrance to one area supported by our club.



Mr. George Jeffrey ( a Kiwanian) is pictured near the front entrance. His vision was seminal in development of this outstanding paediatric health care facility. The club is indebted to the staff, the organization and excellent service provided to the many client children in the large Thunder Bay District.
 
At Our Club Today - Jan 15, 2019
President-elect Rod Morrison had little trouble introducing our guest speaker today the Honourable Patti Hajdu, MP: Federal Minister of Employment, Workplace and Labour. She was formerly the Minister of Status of Women. Of course she represents the people of Thunder Bay Superior North. She is pictured with Rod (right) and President Warren Philp (left). After reviewing her positive relationship with PA Rotary (including Rotary Shelterhouse), she spoke eloquently about her personal passion as a government minister and the government's role in "building up this region (Thunder Bay district)." Why is she in government? To work for equity, inclusion, a strong economy and general prosperity. She doesn't teach the community; rather the community feeds back to her the pressing needs and she goes to work securing programming and of course funding. She readily acknowledges many challenges in the area of social housing, labour shortages and youth engagement. She provided a healthy list of accomplishments in this regard with mention and detail on: the LU and Con College learning/tech centres; the Thunder Bay Art Gallery; Youth inclusion funding (post coroner's inquest); the Canada Child Benefit program; subsidized housing funding (a longstanding interest) and more. The club is honoured to have Patti come and address the club. Her current and upcoming calendar is very busy indeed. Our thanks to the Minister.
At Our Club Today - January 8, 2019
At Our Club Today-January 8, 2019

Ushering in the PA Rotary New Year we welcomed our "Attendance Secretary" Liz Laughton as guest speaker. Liz enlightened members on her work as Adult Protective Services Manager with Lutheran Community Services. She has held this position for 3 years, (previously at Dilico) and enjoys the challenge of engaging clients with developmental disabilities in navigating their lives.
Liz was a RYLA graduate and has an Honours Bachelor of Social Work degree at LU.
Her personal interests are eclectic..all the way from renovating her home to boxing to outdoor camping with her Rotarian husband.

She is pictured (centre) with President Warren Philp (who introduced her) and Past-President Leslie Savitsky,(who thanked Liz).

Great presentation on short notice, Liz!!
At the Club December 18 2018
Quite the celebration today:
Guest speakers were: Cassidy Jacobson (Gr 12 St Ignatius) and Micaela Morrow (Gr 12 Hammarskjold) who along with Daytona Shaffer (unable to attend) represented the club at the 2018 Rotary Camp RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Awards) in Crookston, MN, in July. Their presentation was high energy to say the least. A video and Power-point showed off the many facets of the venerable leadership camp, with it's full gamut of leadership training admixed with great fellowship/social activities. Individual highlights for Micaela (Committee Meetings..leadership therein) and for Cassidy (Service Projects) demonstrated the essence of Rotary ideals in youth programming (Daytona did Family Trust). The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People was a theme throughout the conference. Cassidy is pictured (L-centre ) beside Micaela (R-centre). They are flanked by veteran RYLA organizers in our club Bob Tomlinson (who introduced the girls-far L), Leslie Savitsky (veteran organizer/facilitator/thanker) and Doug Shanks (also veteran organizer/facilitator). The club is proud of the girls and invites them to a strong Rotary future.
Doug Shanks with his new Taylor guitar and Kevin Holloway with his new bass guitar belt out festive Christmas music, accompanied by the PA Rotary executive and board members (note Brenda Winter rockin it up), pictured below. The rest of the audience also chimed in. Great fun.
Not to be out done at all, the club welcomed new member Brian Walmark, pictured here (Centre-R), along with Chris Bailey (far -L) who introduced Brian to Rotary; President Warren Philp (again holding the Vanderwees Christmas tree) and Judi Turner (Past-President who read the "charge" to Brian. Hearty congrats Brian. We anticipate much value-added from your presence.
DEC. 11 AT PORT ARTHUR ROTARY
Rosa Carlino: Associate lawyer-Cheadles LLP,  was guest speaker today on "Last Will and Testament". Rosa's presentation encapsulated all the essentials of wills, including: definition, purpose, important inclusions and exclusions, probate and pitfalls (many potentially) of having no will. Appointment and tasking of an Estate Trustee was explained, and (for those still living) the importance of naming Powers of Attorney was also stressed. This was an excellent primer (with many gems for all members in attendance who thought they knew it) and a useful handout was provided. Rosa is pictured with (her "boss")) Doug Shanks, who introduced her. President Philp thanked her.
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At the Club December 4, 2018
Leadership Thunder Bay!
 
Guest speaker today was Pat Forrest: manager of Leadership Thunder Bay; her title: " Discover the Leader in You."

In its 16th year, Leadership Thunder Bay continues to provide a very unique 10 month curriculum teaching leadership skills to a diverse group of mainly young people, most of whom (but not all) are sponsored by their employers. There are now almost 300 graduates, including some current and past Rotarians, who have honed their leadership skills, along numerous pathways (process, communication- including public speaking, interpersonal and administrative to name a few).
 
Benefits accruing were outlined by Pat, and one recent grad Stephanie Reid (now with Tourism Thunder Bay) came in to provide a strong testimonial. Many similar endorsements come form major users such as St. Joseph's Care Group, BDO-Dunwoody, TBRHSC, TB Chamber of Commerce (and many others).

The "admission " criteria were discussed and are quite liberal, and costing as well was outlined.

Information is available at www.leadershiptb.com, and info@leadershiptb.com.

Pat is pictured (centre) with "thanker" Rod Morrison (President-elect) on the right. President Warren Philp (left) introduced Pat  and is seen holding the Joe Vanderwees memorial Christmas tree (generously gifted by Past-President Irene Kozlowski) and will be on view this month.
At the Club, November 27, 2018
Today's special guest speaker was the acclaimed Livio Di Matteo: Professor of Economics at Lakehead University; specializing in public policy, health economics, public finance and economic history. He is also a Senior Fellow at the Fraser Institute and has many awards and publications to his credit. He is pictured along with President-Elect Rod Morrison (who introduced our guest), and Past-President Brenda Winter (who thanked him). The presentation title today was NAFTA Aftermath: Canada, Trade and the USMCA. This overview of a complex and evolving relationship with Canada and it's trading partners was nicely distilled, clearly linking the many factors both historically (milestones commencing back in 1854 up through the FTA (1988), NAFTA (1994) to the present USMCA) and in present day transactions, policies, economic realities and options for Canada beyond. Clearly trade is vital for Canada. The recent USMCA, though not yet fully ratified, seems to be have been a defensive partial victory (for Canada) of sorts. But, "It's not over til it's over-and it's not over yet." There are certainly some winners, also losers and disruptive dialogue is a certainty amidst the uncertainty. Having opined thus, Professor Di Matteo remains a loyal, fairly optimistic economist going forward. We were pleased to hear that. Time limited to some degree this fascinating presentation and the Q&A session was brief. Rotarians and guests came away certainly very enlightened. Thank you very much Livio.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The new Rotary People of Action banners (inaugurated at the Santa Claus parade) are again displayed..very professionally done and hopefully effective endorsements for Rotary
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At the Club November 20 2018
 
Today's off-site meeting was at Thunder Bay Country Market (TBCM)
 
Pictured above is the recent "People of Action"banner developed for Rotary displayed by Warren and Bill Green (R). It was inaugurated recently at the Rotary Goldcorp Santa Claus Parade and carried proudly by our Rotoractors (see photos in our club Facebook 
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At the Club November 13, 2018

PA Rotary regularly reports back to it's members and guests on the state of the club's affairs; all aspects included including activities, financials, challenges and of course success stories.

Today the club heard from a number of Directors  and some (not all) are pictured here flanking the 4-Way Test Banner, the Ethics Statement we all cherish, and underlies meetings such as today's.

Far Left: Past-President Kevin Holloway (Club Administration Co-Director) reporting on the updated website (which you the reader is enjoying right now)
Left-centre: Jaro Kotalik on the Rotary Foundation( as Chair) giving opportunities (for world as well as local community service)
Right-centre: Past-President Brenda Winter reporting (as WDC Secretary)on the major successful project the club assisted with this past year: the Wilderness Discovery Centre on Lake Shebandowan. Brenda also chaired today's meeting (President Warren Philp is enjoying a much deserved week off).
Far Right: Chris Bailey: Co-treasurer on our current financials: looking quite satisfactory.

Other important reports today came from Past-President Maria Hudolin on Polio Plus and Shelterbox Canada; President-Elect Rod Morrison on Club Service; Brian Thompson on Club Community Service; and via proxy, Rob Grady on Club Vocational and International Service.
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At the Club November 6, 2018
 Remembrance Day Program

Today 's Remembrance Day program included the March of the Colours (RCL Kakabeka Falls #225 and Slovak #129), O Canada, Ritual of Remembrance (D. Silliman), Last Post (Wayne Milloy), Moment of Silence, Lament (Piper Eric Johnson), Laying of the Wreath (Rotarian Don Smith), Rouse (W. Milloy), Act of Remembrance (MC Rod Morrison), In Flanders Fields (Mo Nelson), and a solemn Guest Presentation by Michel Beaulieu, Honorary Colonel LSSR, PhD, CAMP and Chair, Department of History, Lakehead University. Professor Beaulieu returned, having addressed PA Rotary several times before and his "Commemorating Armistice 1914" presentation was a poignant accounting of the local history of  NWO veterans and families/society in general, in the WW 1 campaign (100th Anniversary of the end). The audience is well aware of the importance of remembering the many sacrifices. Discussion included some reiteration of this as the future generations become more isolated temporally. Professor Beaulieu..thank you once again for enlightening our club.


Professor Beaulieu (centre), flanked by MC Rod Morrison, (President-elect of PA Rotary, and who introduced and thanked the speaker..most capably,) and Past-President Brenda Winter (who organized the Colour Party)
 

  
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At the Club October 30, 2017
Past-president Colin Bruce, and former publisher of the Chronicle-Journal newspaper, spoke from the heart today about the "Future of Print Media (in Canada)." Always entertaining and articulate, nevertheless sobering and journalistically candid and accurate, the presentation of course required the context of the past halcyon days (for Colin, 1970s and 80s) of newspaper production (a delivery tool mechanism) vis a vis newspaper content (the meat of journalism).
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At the Club October 25, 2018
President Warren Philp (L) is pictured with Past-Presidents Dave Silliman (lead Rotarian for Dew Drop Inn) and Kevin Holloway (web-site maestro), at the Dew Drop Inn on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of service at this facility. The numbers (of served clients) have grown almost exponentially from the beginning: the rationale remains cogent; the need never -ending.
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At the Club October 16, 2018
Cancer Prevention and Screening
Diagnostic Assessment and Recommendations
TBRHSC Prevention and Screening Services
 

This timely and very important topic was the subject of todays presentation by Cathy Paroschy Harris and Amy Boucher of TBRHSC. Cathy is the Director of Prevention and Screening Services. She is pictured (right) along with Amy on the left, flanking President-elect Rod Morrison, former TBRHSC lead on Public Relations, who invited our guests and introduced them (Doug Shanks,not pictured thanked them).


President Warren Philp is pictured with Rotarian Lori Mitchell, who visted her previous Rotary club recently in Toronto. The banner exchange (with Toronto West Rotary club) was thus re-enacted.
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At the Club October 9th
Featured presentation today was by our own distinguished (Past-President) Pritam Lamba, loosely entitled "The Importance of Being a Sikh."
 
Special guests attending the PORT ARTHUR ROTARY Club Meeting - October 9, 2019

Returning for a brief (birthday present ) stay with former hosts Leslie Savistsky and Warren Philp, was 2014-15 inbound exchange student to our club Jitte Wegbold (pictured with Leslie and Warren) from the Netherlands.
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At the Club, October 2nd
Noted local author and human rights activist Donna White, presented today to the club a "bursting bubbles" style account of CHILD SOLDIERS. This topic is a passion for Donna and meshes with her "The Stones Trilogy."
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At the Club, September 25th
Today's off-site meeting was an eye opener visit to the entry point at the new St. Joseph's Health Centre (opened in 2007 to provide outpatient programming previously located at Lakehead Psychiatric Hospital. It is fashioned onto the south part of St. Joseph's Hospital (the lead centre in NWO for rehabilitation services).
We were welcomed by a number of St. Joseph's staff and in particular, Kim Callaghan; Director of Communications,Engagement and Client Relations (pictured with Rod Morrison (L) President-elect and President Warren Philp (R)).
 
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At the Club Sept. 18th
AT OUR CLUB-September 18,2018
A presentation from HIP (Honouring IndigenousPeoples) provided an insight into the goals of this Rotary initiative. 
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Sept 4, 2018 Allocations Stories and Photos
Diana Sustawenko (pictured with Kevin Holloway) for St Johns Ambulance 911, supporting young emergency response learners in a variety of practical experience settings
Kevin pictured with Amy Silvaggio (R) and Jocelyn Kloosterhuis, representing Our Kids Count, supporting in- need youngsters, breaking barriers and nurturing families, with 2 fully stocked kitchen kits.
 
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February 2019
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President

Warren Philp

member photo
 
Home Page Download Files
 
Meeting Responsibilities
On the Registration Desk
19-Feb-19 Walmark, Brian; Laughton, Liz
 
26-Feb-19 Cheng, Vonnie; Nitz, Michael
 
Fine Master
Lori Mitchell, First Tuesday of the Month
 
Art Warwick, Second Tuesday of the Month
 
Colin Bruce, Third Tuesday of the Month
 
Doug Shanks, Fourth Tuesday of the Month
 
Steve McAuley, Fifth Tuesday of the Month
 
 
Club Executives & Directors
President
Warren Philp
Past President
Brenda Winter
President Elect
Roderick Morrison
Secretary
Steven McAuley
Treasurer
Leslie Savitsky
Co-treasurer
Chris Bailey
Rotary Foundation Chair
Jaroslav Kotalik
Club Trainer
Joseph Wasielewski
Membership Chair
Roderick Morrison
Club Trainer
Joseph Wasielewski
Membership Secretary
Elizabeth Laughton
Public Image Chair
Warren Philp
Director - Vocational & International Service
Rob Grady
Director - Community Service
Brian Thompson
Director - Club Service
Roderick Morrison
Youth Service
Rob Grady
 
Photo Albums
 
 
Club Address
Mailing Address
Port Arthur Rotary
PO Box 33016
Thunder Bay, Ontario
P7B 0B1
www.parotary.com
www.facebook.com/PARotary
 
 
Upcoming Events
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Speakers
Lee-Anne Chevrette
Feb 19, 2019 12:00 PM
City Safety Awards
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