Stories

Christmas Gift Show Prize Winners!

Representatives of five area Rotary Clubs presented a cheque for $10,000 to the Erie Shores Hospice Campaign. This is the first installment of their commitment of $50,000 for sponsoring one of the patient rooms at the Residential Hospice facility to be built in Leamington in 2015. 

Leamington Rotary President, Chuck Parsons, presented Rotary Educational Bursaries during a July meeting held at Colasanti's Tropical Gardens. Bursary Selection Committee Chair, Margaret Ingratta, introduced the Rotary Bursary ($1,000.00) recipients and invited each to speak to about their future goals and education plans.

Ability may get you to the top, but it takes character to keep you there.

Change is necessary to growth and to success.  Sometimes its not comfortable and we have to make adjustments personally.  There is a difference between not understanding change and just being negative.  Which one are you?

 

 

No Rotary Meeting Monday, December 31st, 2012

 

Next Rotary Meeting Monday, January 7th @ Colasanti's.  Please arrive no later than 5:45 to order your meal at the snack bar area.  Our meeting will be in the Willow Room.   

 

PLEASE LINK ON TO ROTARY DISTRICT 6400 WEBSITE FOR MORE DETAILS AND OTHER UPCOMING EVENTS!! 

 

 

  When was the last time you volunteered or thought about volunteerism?  Maybe you are a regular in your community or maybe volunteerism hasn't entered your mind in years.  On April 30, some members of the Leamington Rotary Club, along with other volunteers from the community, spent four hours at the Mennonite Central Committee Meat Canner project, cleaning cans and canning chicken.  The 30,000 pounds of chicken that were canned during last week will be sent to places in the world that need help.  Hats off to those who make the great meals, share their time with others, who can and label the product, and those who work in the background to make it happen and who support this worthy cause.  Pictured here is Bruce Peacock, President of Leamington Rotary Club presenting a cheque for $500 to Martin Rahn, organizer of the MCC event.

                                                        
                                                         Teachers On Vocational Training Visit From South Africa

The Leamington Rotary Club and Leamington District Secondary School had the honour of hosting six teachers from South Africa on May 22nd.  The purpose of their visit was to experience how English is taught in our school.  This July, Mary Jean Gallagher, will be the Team Leader of the Rotary District 6400 Vocational Training Team to South Africa where she and her team will work with the local South African teachers to improve the teaching of English to students so they can go on to college or university. 

Pictured below is:  Principal of L.D.S.S.-Mike Hawkins, from South Africa Peter Motrung; Helene Coetzee (Team Leader from South Africa; Marlize Loubser; Elaine Galanakis; Renier Loubser; and teachers going to visit Africa from Essex County Sue Albu & Sue Chanko. (Absent from the photo also travelling to South Africa-David Lynn). 

Article from the Southpoint Sun

Leamington's Deputy Fire Chief, Mike Ciacelli presented an excellent powerpoint presentation to the Leamington Rotary Club on April 22/13. The presentation focused on two prime issues effecting fire safety: Smoke Alarms and House Escape Plans. As the Deputy Chief, Mike is responsible for conducting fire education in the community, training fire staff and responding to emergency calls. He thanked the Rotary Club of Leamington for their generous financial donation which has helped to enable the Fire Service Department to purchase the banners, props, and other educational materials needed to inform the public regarding "Fire Safety".

 Photo- Lt-Rt. Deputy Fire Chief Mike Ciacelli, Exchange Student-Fernanda Horta-Barrie, Sandra Morley (Club Member), Lorri Renaud (Club Member)

Have Wheels, Can Travel

The smile on Joe Colasanti’s face reflects his happiness in accepting responsibility for the handsome scooter presented to his care recently by the Leamington Rotary Club for the use of special needs patrons of Colasanti’s Tropical Gardens. The scooter was purchased by former Rotarian Mac Stewart (long-time manager of the Royal Bank of Canada in Leamington). Mac was a Rotarian – Paul Harris Fellow. He used the scooter until his health worsened and he passed away. The scooter was resting in Doris Stewart’s (wife) garage. She wanted to donate the scooter to someone in need. Club President Diane Samson contacted Joe Colasanti as there are so many people, some with various kinds of needs,   who visit the greenhouses. The scooter will be available for use at Colasanti’s Tropical Gardens by people who are in need of mobility assistance in travelling around the greenhouses. The thought was “this generous gift can benefit many people”, which was the desire of Doris Stewart.

The Rotary Club of Leamington donates 3 park benches at Seacliffe Park in Leamington.

Anyone can make a donation to the Canadian Tire Leamington Jumpstart Program. The Leamington Rotary Club changed their venue for their annual Christmas tree sale to the Canadian Tire Store in December. Rotarians and staff from Canadian Tire sold 200 trees. Leamington Rotary Club makes a $500 donation to the Canadian Tire Leamington Jumpstart Program. This program removes barriers, so local children that may not have the ability to participate in organized sports & recreation can. Participation increases a child's chance for success in life. Pictured left to right: Diane Samson, President of the Leamington Rotary Club, from Canadian Tire: Julie Mellow, Darlene Ruth, Pierre Marcotte (Proprietor), Cindy Gallant, Frances Viola, and Andrew Piper.

Two years ago, June 2010, many residents of the Leamington area will well remember the tornado that ripped through our town leaving signs of devastation along its route.  Feeling the effects of this event, the Leamington Rotary Club felt that the Shelterbox program would be an excellent way of providing relief for victims of mother nature's disasters. 

The Shelterbox program is supported by many Rotary clubs, and provides immediate shelter for those who have "lost everything", due to a natural disaster or devastation of some kind   In general, a typical Shelterbox's contents would include:  thermal blankets and insulated ground sheets; waterproof ponchos and bin bags; a multi-fuel stove that can burn anything from diesel to old paint!; a cooking pan; utensils; bowls and mugs; collapsible water containers and water purification tablets; a basic tool kit-hammer, axe, saw, pliers, hoe head, trenching shovel, rope, etc., and a small, children's pack containing a drawing book, crayons, pens, etc.  While the above list contains the typical contents of a Shelterbox, there is a wide range of equipment kept in stock. This allows Shelterbox to be flexible in order to meet local conditions and provide what is most urgently needed.  

 The Shelterbox that The Leamington Rotary Club purchased cost $1000 has a tracking number (7607) and was shipped July 21, 2011 to the Philippines after the tropical storm that hit there. The Leamington Rotary Club has done only one but the majority of Shelterboxes are supported from Rotary Clubs around the world. More than 1200 lives had been reported lost and many thousands of people lost their homes following the devastation wreaked by "tropical storm Washi in 2011".

  While some in our community are still recovering the effects of the tornado that early June morning, no lives were lost and no one had to sleep in a Shelterbox.  However, due to this event, Leamington's Rotary Club felt it was important to provide a Shelterbox to those whose experience with a natural disaster was less fortunate. To find out more about this and other deployments visit www.Shelterbox.org