BOARD OF DIRECTORS ELECTION 2025. Congratulations (and thanks) to the 9 members who will form our club's Board of Directors for the upcoming Rotary year 2025-2026 beginning July 1:
Marva Wisdom, Club President
Crista Renner, President Elect
Brian Martin, Past President
Matt Webster
Dianne Dance
Marty Fairbairn
Lawrie Jones
Faz Ashkar
Ian Blaine
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ROTARY ANNIVERSARIES OF NOTE
This month, three of our club members are celebrating anniversaries of 20 years or more. Congratulations and many, many thanks to:
Ian Smith - 26 years
Ruth Thatcher - 20 years
Kerry Johnson - 37 years
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A reminder to PLEASE register or decline attendance at our Friday meetings, so that we can inform the ICC about the number of meals to prepare. FYI ... Matt is working with ClubRunner to try and arrange online payments for meeting registrations, to streamline our operations. Stay tuned.
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Liz Sandals reported that five club members volunteered at the annual Waterloo Wellington Science & Engineering Fair last Tuesday, April 8th. Liz was asked to present some of the prizes, and was delighted to learn of a new award this year for the "Best Of Show" prize, a cup in memory of our late member Jim Stevens who founded the Guelph Science Fair, and Stephen Little who founded the Waterloo Science Fair, with them joining forces in 1974 to become WWSEF.
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We were sad to learn that Pearl Robinson has recently passed away at the age of 92. Our club had awarded her with an Honourary Paul Harris Fellowship award last year, in particular recognizing her for her longstanding support of Hospice Wellington. Pearl's feisty and humorous participation in this awards ceremony was delightful and memorable!
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UPCOMING EVENTS
EARTH WEEK EVENTS 2025:
Come to the Movie Night at The Bookshelf Cinema on April 22nd, hosted by our club's Environment Committee. Details here.
Other Earth Week events in Guelph from April 22-25 are shown here.
Come one, come all to the annual Tree Planting at the future forest on Saturday, April 26th, 2025, 9 am to 2 pm, at 335 Laird Road. Rain or Shine. More details here.
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Guelph's "Arts Everywhere" annual festival takes place on May 2nd, 3rd and 4th. Details here. Most events are free. Club members may request complimentary tickets for the Friday night "Guelph Lecture - On Being" at the River Run Centre by emailing Marva.
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The Rotary Club of Guelph Wellington (Monday night club) is hosting a special series of speakers. On Monday, May 5th, the speaker will be Joel Bard, Vice President of Inland Custom Brokers addressing "Tariffs and what they mean to the Guelph Business Community." Pre-registration is required by May 2nd by emailing Wayne Wright. $30 includes dinner. More details here.
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In time for Mother's Day on May 11, 2025, purchase a lovely hanging basket of flowers or ferns to help feed local children. It's a fundraiser by volunteers from the Keep Kids Fed At Home program (formerly Food4Kids Guelph). Each basket is $40 with the entire amount going towards the purchase of food. Over 500 Guelph children are currently supported in this unique local program, with more kids on the waiting list. Order here.
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GUESS WHO'S COMING TO DINNER is back for another year! Mark your calendars for Saturday evening, May 10th. Both hosts and guests are invited to sign up and will later be matched. Signup link is coming soon.
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The next Lobsterfest Committee meeting will be held at 7pm on Monday, April 14th at Luisa's home, and the following on one Monday, May 5th. Members are warmly invited to join this committee to help plan Lobsterfest 44 scheduled for September 27th, 2025. Many more hands are needed to help! For inquiries, email Marty.
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OUR PROGRAM ON APRIL 11, 2025: "OUT ON THE SHELF"
Our club is deeply committed to Rotary's DEI Statement on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion for EVERYONE to feel welcome and safe in our midst. (If you haven't read it, please do.)
We warmly welcomed speakers from "Out On The Shelf" (OOTS) to tell us about their work in creating a safe space for the 2SLGBTQIA+ Community in Guelph and Wellington County (loosely summarized as the Queer Community).
Introduced by Noma Vales, our guest speakers Shyanne Favaro and Barry Moore told us that Guelph's history with the Queer Community dates way back to the Guelph Reformatory days when non-binary individuals were incarcerated there. In more recent years, OOTS evolved out of the former ARCH (HIV/Aids Resources & Community Health) which served the community for some 35 years.
Today, Guelph is one of the most welcoming places for the Queer community and attracts participation from many surrounding communities. OOTS is built around an extraordinary library, programs and events, plus education and resources.
OOTS is justifiably proud to be one of several organizations across Canada receiving a federal grant for their Transcendence Project funded by Women and Gender Equality Canada.
The many different EVENTS of OOTS can be viewed here. One of their signature events is their annual Pride In The Park taking place on the second Saturday in June - this year, on June 14, 2025, the culmination of their ten day Summer Pride Festival.
Anne MacKay warmly thanked the presenters, highlighting how Hospice Wellington also embraces DEI to be welcoming to all who use their services.
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