Rotary Corner October 2024

 

Welcome to Rotary Corner, a monthly report to the community from the Rotary Club of Meaford. We want to thank The Meaford Independent for publishing this content in their paper as well.

 

We are an inclusive group of women and men committed to making a difference in people’s lives at home and abroad. Rotary has been part of life in Meaford since 1937. You’ll see our logo everywhere in town. Meaford Rotary helped establish several of our parks, including Beautiful Joe Park, Harbourfront Park and Fred Raper Park. We built the Russ Bumstead Rotary Pavilion at the harbour.

 

We have been major donors to Meaford Hall, the Meaford Hospital, the Thornbury Medical Clinic, Chapman House in Owen Sound and the Don Bumstead Medical Centre. We furnished the youth technology room at the new library with computers, screens and software. Since 2000, our club has maintained and run the Godfrey Apartments, providing 32 units of low-cost housing.Rotary House and the Rotary Thrift Shop mark a new venture. Located on Trowbridge St., Rotary House also houses the Meaford Food Bank.

 

 

Through Rotary International, we have supported medical and relief aid in India, Cameroon, Zimbabwe, The Philippines, Uganda, Gambia, Ecuador and Tanzania. Rotary International aims to eradicate polio worldwide, and our club raises funds to meet that goal. We’re proud to have been designated a ShelterBox Hero, sending ShelterBoxes to parts of the world in crisis. A typical kit contains a family-sized tent, household essentials and even a soccer ball! We also lend a hand in Canada. For example, we support One Plane Away, a charity that sends care boxes to babies in Nunavut. Tucked in the pallet of baby clothes that we sent to Iqaluit recently was the Meaford Municipal flag. Meaford’s blue and white flag now flies 2,258 kilometres from our town centre!

 

Caring for the environment is another of Rotary’s avenues of service. In 2019 our club adopted a section of Highway 26. On Baggy Day you’ll see us on the east side of town, wearing our blue vests and clearing litter. We operate a Sea Bin, a project that monitors pollution in Georgian Bay.

 

If all this sounds exhausting, don’t worry: we’re all about having fun too. You know us from our annual Fish Fry and Easter Egg hunt. And last winter we sponsored Hot Tropical Knights, a hockey game featuring our Meaford Knights team in fake grass skirts! Proceeds from the event were donated to the Meaford Food Bank.