Darryl Jackson
Darryl Jackson was the first in-person program speaker for a regular weekly meeting at Julie’s Airport Café on October 6. 
When he began, he told his audience he speaks using his hands a lot and had a tough time condensing his personal history in the time allotted. A linear path has never been his path; he has always been a “What’s next?” kind of guy. 
He was born in Nanaimo and grew up in nearby Cedar. In high school he wanted to do everything and was terrified of choosing something he would later regret. His goal was to see what the world had to offer so he ran away with a carnival in his late teens. 
He has had multiple careers including cook, firefighter, fisherman, commercial diver, fish farm worker, entrepreneur who owns an ice cream truck and power engineer to name a few. Each has a lengthy story behind it. He said there was no way to fit all the stories into his presentation so we received the Reader’s Digest version. 
When he arrived in Powell River to start over again, he didn’t know anyone but found people so open and so friendly. His “What’s next?” was gone and this was the first place that actually felt like home. Everything he has always wanted is here. He has two kids, two dogs, two cats, a wonderful wife and the best career of all being a grandfather. 
And he is looking forward to becoming even more involved with his community through Rotary. 

Kelly Belanger 
Kelly Belanger was born in Bonneville, Alberta, the first of five brothers and one of 30 cousins. 
A family on the move, his changed locales 42 times in three years. For the first year of his life, Kelly lived in a drawer. 
When he was five, his mom said it was time to settle down and they did that in Edson where he started kindergarten. 
At the start of another oil boom, they moved to Fort McMurray with his mom who was then single. 
A Red Seal chef, Kelly has been cooking since he was 12 with his grandmother as his instructor. If he made a mistake, she would whack him with a wooden spoon. She also taught at a culinary school where he eventually attended. She was upset when he said he was going to enroll because she wanted him to hate cooking so she retired the year before he started. Kelly says he know more than a lot of the instructors and pulled off the highest mark in the class. 
Cooking doesn’t pay 
as well as working in the oil patch so eventually he went to work there for seven years, going to night school to become a power engineer.
He decided he wanted to reconnect with his father’s family and moved back to Bonneville where in 1994 he met his future wife. 
Ten years later things became to go awry. Kelly, who is gay, said he came out because he was done with lying to himself. He had been traumatized at the age of 12 when he witnessed his first gay bashing and jumped into the closet. 
The first person he told was his son and then daughter who had hoped their parents would get back together. They came around and are now the best of friends.
He met his future husband, JP, in 2007 and they were together for 13 years and married for eight. 
The couple came to Powell River where Kelly saw that The Old Courthouse Inn was for sale. He loved its Tudor style and fell in love with it the moment he stepped into the building. 
When he found out the price, he two days later he was the owner. The realtor told him it was the fastest sale he had ever done. 
Kelly had redecorated all the rooms and serves breakfast every Tuesday through Saturday from 9-1 in Edie Rae’s Café. If he could find more staff to complement the wonderful employees he has, he would open more often. He’s also looking for housekeeping staff. COVID has been hard but this summer was the best one he has experienced and the inn has been full right through to last week 
Serendipitously, years ago he had bought a pen and ink drawing of the courthouse by Powell River artist Courtney Cressy. It now hangs in his private quarters at the inn.
Kelly said his marriage was great, then got a little rough and then ended.  
He loves Powell River which has so much to offer with the outdoors and many new friends and guests who have also become friends. He has felt so accepted here, unlike a lot of small towns. 
He joined Rotary because he was to give back to this community and feels being a Rotarian is the way to do that. 

Looking for something different to do on a Wednesday night? Join our club in a Potluck for Polio.

We are asking for a minimum donation of $25 per person - $5 being used to cover venue costs at the ARC and a dish to share and your own beverage.

The remaining $20 will be a donation in your name to our Polio Plus fund so that you get recognition and a tax receipt. Every dollar raised is matched by the Gates Foundation with $2.

There is a sign-up sheet and tickets (in exchange for your donation) available at the Peak office if you would like to participate.

Wednesday, June 19 meeting will be held at the Carlson Community Club for our annual installation dinner.

Cocktails begin at 6 pm with dinner at 6:30 pm. Tickets are $30 and available from Katya at Villani & Company

 

Join us Saturday, May 4 for a Burger and Beer to raise funds for the preschool playground at Willingdon Beach. 

Come enjoy a burger, beer, music bingo and some great silent auction prizes.

 

Tickets are $20 and available from your favourite Rotary member or at the TC Hotel on Joyce Avenue.

 

Application forms are available at the top of this page under Projects > Westview Viewpoint Bricks or at the Powell River Chamber of Commerce office on Wharf Street. Deadline for orders is as posted below, April 30, 2019.