Rotary in Your Community - Dorothy Wharton

As the 2010/11 President for the Rotary Club of Prince Rupert, I am pleased to initiate the first of many columns, on what Rotary is doing in your community, how you can become a Rotarian, how you can determine if you qualify to apply for local Rotary project funds and many more informative topics. Several Rotarians within the Rotary Club of Prince Rupert will be contributing different information to you in upcoming columns.

My topic of choice is to tell you what is new within Rotary locally, introduce you to the 2010/11 Executive, what Rotary International’s theme and focus is for the coming year and the immediate upcoming events the Rotary Club of Prince Rupert is involved in.

As you may have known, there were two Rotary Clubs in Prince Rupert. This year, the Rotary Club of Hecate Strait Prince Rupert merged with the Rotary Club of Prince Rupert. There is now just the one Rotary Club serving Prince Rupert and Area. I am pleased to welcome the members of the Rotary Club of Hecate Strait into the Rotary Club of Prince Rupert, and our executive has committed to carry on with those projects and events that were near and dear to the Rotary Club of Hecate Strait. Among these continued projects are the Apple and the Back Pack Projects.

The Rotary Club of Prince Rupert now has 79 members. The following members are on the 2010/11 Executive, starting July 1, 2010 to June 30, 2011:

Past President - Josie Lam; President - Dorothy Wharton; President Elect - Shaun Thomas; Secretary - Crystal Lorette; Treasurer - Bill Nicholls;

Directors - Term Ending June 2011: Club Service - Brian Munson; Club Membership - John Patterson; Sergeant-at-Arms - Garry Rabel;

Directors - Term Ending June 2012: Rotary Foundation - Richard Adams; Club Administration - Barb Gruber; and Public Relations - Brent Patriquin

Nancy Eidsvik is in her last year of a three year term as the District 5040 Assistant Governor. Our 2010/11 District Governor is Penny Offer from the Rotary Club of Vancouver Chinatown. Our Rotary International President is Ray Klinginsmith from the Rotary Club of Kirksville, Missouri, USA. Ray is asking Rotary clubs to become Bigger, Better and Bolder. The theme for this year is Building Communities and Bridging Continents. President Ray hopes

"That these four words aptly reflect who we are, and what we do, as Rotarians. We are a unique and a premier organization - certainly one of the best in the world. We build the spirit and resources of our local communities in an important way, and we are the best in the world at linking people of goodwill around the globe and then gaining their cooperation and support to make the world a much better place to live and work."

This year, Rotary’s focus internationally and district wide is on literacy. I invite individuals and groups to propose to our Rotary Projects Committee local projects that focus on literacy within our communities. 

Over the last couple of months, the Rotary Club of Prince Rupert has sponsored the following projects and events: Our local library for new books, Kids Bike Rodeo, Udder Fest Theatre Week and the Back Pack Project.

The Rotary Club of Prince Rupert is now gearing up for our annual Rotary Auction. This Auction is our major fund raising event which enables us to sponsor the local projects that we do. The contributions to our Auction from local businesses and individuals, both in donations and in participating in our auction, is greatly appreciated by all of us Rotarians and other local individuals who volunteer our time to this important fund raising event, and by those in the community who have qualified for and received funding for their projects and events. The dates of the Rotary Auction are November 15 – 17, 2010. Once again we will be offering and encouraging on-line bidding. Our Auction Website (http://auction.prrc.ca/) will be in operation shortly.