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The Rotary Club of Orléans is a diverse, welcoming community of people who believe in showing up for each other and for the place we call home.

Our projects focus on issues that matter today and tomorrow: empowering youth, strengthening community ties, advancing food security, and protecting the environment. Whether we’re supporting local initiatives, partnering with community organizations, or creating space for new ideas, we value action, collaboration, and impact.

If you’re looking to grow your network, develop leadership skills, and contribute to causes bigger than yourself while building lifelong friendships, you’ll find a home with us.

Supporting Youth

Our Club helped sponsor the Orleans Star Youth Excellence awards recently. Attached is a picture of President Raj with one of the winners. Here is the profile writeup:

Abigail “Abi” Carson is a Grade 10 student at Sir Wilfrid Laurier Secondary School where she has taken on an active role in school life, but it is her activities as a member of the 4th Orléans Scout Group that are especially notable. After completing her mandatory school volunteer hours last year, Abi applied to be a youth Scouter for the Group’s Cub Pack which required additional volunteer hours, bringing her total number of volunteer hours to over 100. Abi is also working on achieving the Chief Scout Award. She also organized a bottle drive with the proceeds going towards the No Scout Left Behind program which subsidizes the membership dues for youth from families that are struggling financially. Add to all of this, Abi was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes weeks after turning 14 last October. She could have shut down, but she has kept marching forward. As you can see, Abi is one stubborn young lady. For putting others first and for her work in supporting her Scout Group, Abigail Carson has been selected as a recipient of this year’s Orléans Outstanding Youth Awards.

Stay tuned, our own annual Youth Leadership Awards will be happening Sunday June 14th at the Shenkman Theatre!

Helping A New Family in Canada

Imagine moving to a new home thousands of miles away with a growing young family and finding yourself in a snowy cold climate with the holidays fast approaching, plus just giving birth to a beautiful baby boy. Today (Dec 23rd), the Rotary Club of Orleans supported this young family of five by sharing food and five hundred dollars of gift cards. This donation was made possible by a Club contribution plus additional contributions by Club Rotarians. The Compassion Centre helped select the family and provided a warm meeting place for the donation to be made. This exchange proved to be very emotional for everyone involved. . [The face of the receiving neighbour has been pixelated to provide privacy]

Photo (L to R): Charity Kwapisz (Compassion Centre), Mashooda, neighbour, Jane, Dorothy and Hamza

Our DG Graeme Fraser

DG Graeme Fraser shared an inspirational and humorous talk about how Rotarians can be like a second family and friends if one opens one heart and gets involved. Most Rotarians stay for the fellowship and to give back to the local and world communities. He shared some of the local initiatives, including bread rescue, Rotary Home (respite for families with children with challenges) , dictionaries4life, our youth forest. International projects include the provision of medical equipment to save babies in Columbia, dental supplies in Uganda, remote learning in Dominica. Also END polio Now was featured, a program started by Rotary International and has saved so much of the world getting this disease. Also the creation of Companion clubs was introduced, a group of at least 8 people interested in helping the community .

Afterwards members socialized with a festive potluck, so delicious with dishes traditional in many other countries

Thanks Graeme and Lynne for sharing this important view of Rotary from a world perspective

DeafBlind Ontario Foundation - Learn more..

Kaylee Young, Development Coordinator, DeafBlind Ontario Foundation shared an insight into their community service initiatives. They provide individuals with sensory loss (deaf, hard of hearing, non-verbal, deafblind, etc) with support including developing life and vocational skills, plus recreational opportunities. In total, this foundation currently supports 113 individuals in 33 supported living homes within Ontario - 3 are in Ottawa. You can learn more by searching for "Hour to Give" on YouTube. While some provincial funding is provided, more funding is needed to ensure that these services are available to their clients. Our Club members thoroughly enjoyed this informative presentation, and are keen to look for ways to support this Foundation.