The Paul Harris award is given to a Rotarian or a member of the community who has made an outstanding contribution to the community.
The Rotary Club of Ottawa-Stittsville honoured a very special individual on Thursday, July 15, 2021 at the WJ Bell Rotary Peace Park. Rotarian Dave Rooke presented the following citation:
“Continuing the legacy of our founder, the Paul Harris Fellow program recognizes individuals who contribute, or who have made contributions of $1,000 in their name to the Rotary Foundation. Each Rotary club is also challenged to award a Paul Harris Fellow to one non-Rotarian. There are more than one million Paul Harris Fellows world-wide.
Our Rotary Club of Ottawa-Stittsville club has 11 Paul Harris Fellows and several are multiple donors. During the last Rotary year, three members reached the next level of “giving” and I am pleased to present their respective pins for those milestones: Rotarians Charles, Damon, and Marion.
Clubs or individual Rotarians have the option to make a donation of $1,000 US to the Foundation on behalf of another club member or a non-Rotarian – thus creating a Paul Harris Fellow for that individual. This club has done that in the past, with the last being Senator Vern White.
This year our club has chosen to honor an individual who has devoted a lifetime of service to our community: John Curry. John is a Carleton University Journalism graduate who began his newspaper career with the Arnprior Guide and later the Elmvale Lance. In 1975, he invested $6,000 and bought the Stittsville News and embarked on a journalism career that continues to this day. Besides his enormous contribution to the education of the community through his newspaper writings, John is an accomplished author, historian, filmmaker, rapper (you need to ask him about that) and poet. With regards to his poetry, every Catholic high schooler knows they haven’t graduated until they’ve heard one of John’s poems at their grad ceremony.
John has received multiple awards from the community and business associations for his work – you likely read about the latest one in the most recent edition of the Community Voice. We have been fortunate to have John as an Honorary Rotarian and as a friend. This community has been fortunate to have John track its history and demonstrate on a daily basis, what service is all about. For his lifetime of commitment to the community, it is my pleasure, on behalf of the Rotary Club of Ottawa-Stittsville, to present our newest Paul Harris Fellow, Mr. John Curry.”