Posted on Jun 27, 2021
 
The Rotary Club of Kelowna Sunrise held its 36th Annual Installation on-line via Zoom, for the second year in a row, on Saturday, June 26th, with District Governor Richard DeRock as master of ceremonies.
  
The event opened with a video production featuring a number of club board members expressing the theme of “Rotary Opens Opportunities,” the 2020-21 theme for Rotary International, followed by an inspiring speech from Allison Brown, a former outbound Rotary Youth Exchange Program student and currently the co-president of the recently founded Rotex 5060 club.
 
Out-going President Norm LeCavalier shared many of the accomplishments of the club during his tenure as president which propelled the club through a year like no other because of the pandemic, truly opening many doors for opportunity for many within the club, community and world.  He identified the club’s membership growth by one percent, the revision of the club’s by-laws, the increase in the membership of the Rotaract club which is supported by the Sunrise club, the  surpass of several major Foundation
goals, the  fundraising activities that realized #44,716, the initiation  of ‘The Season of Giving Calendar’, a new fund raising activity, and  the financial support of $63,637 for nine local organizations and over $19,000 for seven international humanitarian projects, as those accomplishments that had a significant impact throughout the club, community and worldwide.
 
A special tribute was made to the club Rotarians who had during the 2020-21 Rotary year reached special status for their continuing significant contributions to The Rotary Foundation.    Three Rotarians had attained a Paul Harris Fellow, while nine others had achieved an increased level of Multiple Paul Harris acknowledgement.  Additionally, three Rotarians had joined the class of club Major Donors, six Rotarians had achieved Paul Harris Society status and one Rotarian had been identified as a level two Bequest Society member during the 2020-21 Rotary year.

The highlight of the Installation program every year is awarding and congratulating club Rotarians who have provided exceptional service throughout the Rotary year.  This year was no exception as President Norm LeCavalier presented the Rotarian of the Year Award to Stu Lang and the Dale Frandsen Award to Susan McIntyre.
 
He also, recognized the exceptional leadership of Brenda Bell with the Distinguished Service Award, Wes Forgione with the Membership Recruitment Award, Tom Paterson with the Outstanding Leadership Award, Chris Murphy with the Outstanding Dedication with the Fundraising Committee Award, Aleasa Tasker with the Rising Rotarian Award,    Don Turri with the Sergeant-at-Arms Award with Houmor and Greig McPhee for his leadership with the HIP Committee.
 
Following the roasting of out-going President Norm LeCavalier by Carolyn Monz, which was actually a roasting of the entire 2020-21 Executive and Board of Directors, the 2021-22 President Marjolein Lloyd and her Executive and Board of Directors was inducted by DG Richard DeRock.

The evening installation program concluded with words of wisdom and inspiration by our in-coming president, Marjolein Lloyd.  In her remarks, she expressed that “Rotary is a team sport,” whereby “every member of the club has an opportunity to find that passion;” and “we can honour our traditions and successful projects, but there is always rom to think outside the box and to take some risks.”  A follow-up story, in the words of Marjolein, provides a ‘gist’ of her presentation.