Home Page | Rotary Club of Coquitlam Sunrise

Coquitlam Sunrise Rotary meets Tuesdays at 7:15am

Poirier Sport & Leisure Complex

Room #3 - 633 Poirier Street

Coquitlam, BC, Canada

On June 12, 2025 Past District Governor, Dennis Boyd, inducted two new members to our Club. On the right hand side of the picture are Kiran and Arvind Jain, the latest new members.

The Sunrise Rotary Club's new (old) executive for the 2025 2026 Rotary Year. From left to right; Greg Garrison, Stan Wylie, Malcolm Kennedy, Hamad Najafi, Ron Postma, Maureen Boyd (doing the installation) and Robert Moody

From January 25 to February10, 2025 36 Rotarians, (including family members) from Districts 5020, 5050 and 5060 traveled to Banos, Ecuador for a water project that will benefit some 5000 students and staff in 8 schools. Three members of the Banos Club visited the Kennedys of the Kennedys' of our Club prior to attending the International Conference in Calgary. The three members of the Banos Club are front left, Sasha Warmington, third from left, Martha Warmington, and fourth from left, Tania Delgado.

June 12, 2025 Installation Night attendees. Thanks to Hazel and Ron Postma for sharing their home for this night.

Hugh Mitchell's 90th. Birthday Celebration

An early celebration of Hugh's 90th b/d. Hugh saw the first light of day on June 01, 1935. He will be 90 on June 01, 2025 and says "still on the green side of the grass". And still involved in most if not all of our Rotary projects. Thanks Mitch. We are looking forward to many more years of having you around. Oh my goodness the cake was good.

May 27, 2025 Meeting

Our guest speaker on May 27 was Max Weselowski, Executive Director Innervisions Recovery Society. WE presented Innervisions a cheque for $6,000 (a BC Gaming Grant) that we qualified for this year. The cheque will go to help support the needs of Hannah House.

Hannah House, named so for the Hebrew meaning “grace of God”, has helped thousands of women learn to live clean and sober lives. Staff at Hannah House are all graduates of their program and are dedicated to helping women receive the support and guidance they need to become the best versions of themselves. At Hannah House we believe in the power of women lifting each other up and supporting one another. Hannah House helps women transform their lives and overcome the horrors of addiction every day.

Two Service Groups Working Together

This is a photo taken by the President of our Club during a tour of Europe earlier this spring. The miniature model is located in Gdańsk, Poland, in front of the Town Hall. The building itself is an iconic landmark, showcasing Gothic-Renaissance architecture and serving as a centerpiece of the city's historic Main Town.

The detailed model appears to be a tactile version for accessibility, often installed by local organizations like Rotary International and Lions Clubs International to help visually impaired visitors experience the structure’s design through touch.

I may need to update this story but what I find of value is that two organizations came together to add just a little to their community and the people living within.

Children of the Street Maureen Fitzpatrick

Maura Fitzpatrick, our guest speaker this morning, works to raise the funds needed to provide Children of the Street’s free programs and services. With almost 30 years of fundraising experience, Maura enjoys working with individuals, community groups, businesses, and foundations to help them learn more about child/youth sexual exploitation and how they can help keep kids safe from this crime. Children of the Street is dedicated to preventing the sexual exploitation and human trafficking of children and youth in British Columbia through education strategies, public awareness initiatives, and family support. Children of the Street is a program of PLEA Community Services Society of BC. Sexual exploitation and human trafficking is the sexual abuse of minors and involves the youth being manipulated into exchanging a sexual act for money, drugs, shelter, food, transportation, love, acceptance or any other considerations. Victims can be of any age, gender, sexual orientation, income, geographic location or religion. Exploiters prey on the vulnerability of young people to exploit them.

Today we were able to present Maureen with our $8,000 donation to their worthy cause.

April 15, 2025 Speakers

Claire MacLean receives a cheque for $7,900 for SHARE Food Bank. The cheque is comprised of donations from Club members and Gaming money. Claire is CEO of a broad social service agency, delivering support to children with special needs, seniors supports, counselling & substance use services, mental health supports, a food bank, affordable housing and more. Claire has a background in speech language pathology, management and public service and a unique skill set with expertise in working with different levels of government and a range of service provider organizations (e.g. public health, hospitals, social service agencies, school boards).Is passionate about building neighbourhoods & helping everyone reach their full potential.

Claire was also our guest speaker. As such Malcolm Kennedy presents her with a certificate saying that our Club will donate to Polio Plus an amount to vaccinate 10 children somewhere in the world.

April 08, 2025 Speaker(s)

Shalon Morrison (centre), serves as the Director of Philanthropy at Crossroads Hospice Society and has a strong connection to hospice and palliative care. She began her journey with Crossroads as a visiting volunteer in 2022 and had previously volunteered at Cottage Hospice in Vancouver. With over 20 years in the non-profit sector, she has worked with organizations such as the Canadian Cancer Society and the Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB). Throughout her career, Shalon has developed a passion for fundraising and building relationships with stakeholders. In her current role, she is dedicated to advancing the mission of Crossroads Hospice Society, which aims to ensure that more individuals and families can benefit from compassionate end-of-life care and to provide essential support services for those facing grief and loss. Shalon has deep roots in her community, having lived in Coquitlam her entire life. In her free time, she enjoys exploring all that the Lower Mainland has to offer with her husband, daughter, and Border Collie. Their adventures include hiking trails, visiting coffee shops, and checking out breweries – not necessarily in that order!

Malcolm Kennedy - The Banos Ecuador Project

Malcolm Kennedy

Rotary Club of Coquitlam Sunrise - Baños Project
Safe Water in 8 schools benefiting 5,000 students & 380 teachers
Costs: USD $64,400 plus District Grant Cost: USD $6,200

January 28, 2025 Speakers

Lexa Hobenshield and Stephanie Snider

Transmountain Pipelines Expansion

Project Update

Candrina - January 21, 2025 Speaker

Great to have Candrina out from the Coquitlam Heritage at Mackin House If you haven’t stopped by, check them out. Coquitlam Heritage does some incredible work to showcase our history, but also have engaging cultural events and workshops. (Oh and you can stop by for tea!) https://www.coquitlamheritage.ca/

Preet Pahl

It’s always great to give money but even better to a fellow Rotarian! Thank you to Preet for coming to tell us all about her incredible organization, Global Change for Children.

Learn more about her fundraiser here: https://gc4c.org/events/

Foundation Recognition

Award for our annual contribution to the Polio Plus Foundation (club donations over $1500)

Lucille Li

Our newest member, Lucille Li receives her speakers Polio Plus speakers recognition at our November 19. This was Lucille's classification presentation

President Appreciation Awards

President's Appreciation Award presented to Stan Wylie at the October 29, 2024 meeting by District Governor Dave Duskin and Club President Ron Postma.

President's Appreciation Award presented to Greg Garrison at the October 29, 2024 meeting by District Governor Dave Duskin and Club President Ron Postma.

A Busy Day For Our Club

October 08, 2024

Peter Tam presents Ron Postma a cheque for our share of the proceeds that was generated at the presentation "Pianoeman" held at the Evergreen Cultural Centre on September 07, 2024.

Karen Kirby presents speaker Denise Ziebart with her certificate for being our speaker on October 08, 2024. For each speaker we donate to the polio plus program to provide 10 vaccinations.

Ron Postma presents Sam Bourne of the BC Cancer Foundation a cheque for $500 to be put toward the purchase of 2 Vein Scanners which will be used by the RCH Cancer treatment centre.