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The Rotary Clubs of Oshawa and Oshawa- Parkwood hosted over 80 Rotarians and guests from 16 Rotary Clubs in Rotary International District 7070 at the second annual “revival” of Rotary Friendship Day in Oshawa,on Saturday, September 8, 2018 in the sunroom at Parkwood, to help celebrate the 101st Anniversary of Parkwood Estate, and listen to keynote speaker Michael McGovern, Chair of the Rotary International PolioPlus Committee. Read more to find all about Rotary Friendship Day in Oshawa.......
Rotary Friendship Day in Oshawa was attended by Rotary International Past President Wilf Wilkinson; Dr. Bob Scott, Past Chair of the Trustees of The Rotary Foundation and Past Chair of the PolioPlus Committee; Past District Governors Bob Wallace (Rotary's current Co-ordinator for Royaty International Zone 24 East; Doug Byers (Rotary District 7070 current Chair of Training; Lynda Ryder (Past Rotary Zone 24 East Coordinator, and current district protection officer); Lars Henriksson (who is also the current District Rotary Foundation Grants Chair); and Ted Morrison (the Rotary Club of Oshawa-Parkwood's Past President, District 7070's Past District Governor and current Chair of District 7070's Rotary Foundation Annual Programs Fund).
The current Leadership Team of Rotary International District 7070 also participated at the Rotary Friendship Day 2018. They included current Rotary District Governor Mary Lou Harrison, District Governor Elect Beth Selby and District Governor Nominee Mark Chipman and there were many current Rotary Club Presidents in District 7070 in attendance who also enjoyed the Day of Rotary Friendshp with many civic leaders, that included Dr. Steven Murphy, UOIT President and Vice-Chancellor; Oshawa Mayor John Henry; Janice Calder who represented Dr. Colin Carrie, MP of Oshawa; Councillor Dan Carter; and several candidates for municipal office including Bob Chapman, Derek Giberson (who also was the pianst for Rotary Friendship Day); and Theresa Corless; at the noon hour Friendship Day luncheon , co-hosted by the Rotary Club of Oshawa and the Rotary Club of Oshawa-Parkwood.
Past Rotary International President Wilf was at the Rotary Friendship Day in 1971, when he was the Rotary District 7070 Governor and he remebered sittiing and chatting with Colonel Sam for 20 minutes inside Parkwood. Little did he know that would be the last Rotary Freindship Day when Colonel Sam was still alive to grret and welcome him to Parkwood. Colonel McLaughlin passed away in 1972 , in his 101st year.
The guest speaker at the noon luncheon was Michael K. McGovern, current Chair of the Rotary International PolioPlus Committee, and Past Vice President of Rotary International in 2007-08 when Wilf Wilkinson (from the Rotary Club of Trenton, Ontario) was Rotary International President and Dr. Bob Scott (from the Rotary Club of Cobourg, Ontario) was Chair of the Trustees of The Rotary Foundation, all of which are world -wide positions.
Mike McGovern breifly summarized Rotary's efforts to eradicate Polio. In 1985, over 300,000 new cases of Polio in the world, has shrunk to 15 cases in only 2 countries , Pakistan and Afghanistan. Rotarians continue to raise funds, advocate for a polio-free world, and even participate in NID's ( National Immunization Days), where millions of children, in many countries, are given vaccine to prevent this horrible disease from occuring, and the dangers that our Rotarians, partners and volunteers face every day in many very dangerous parts of the world, where extremists are still prevalent, in areas such as northeast Nigeria , where the Boko Haram are powerful, and in war-torn Afghanistan and parts of Pakistan.
He commended all Rotarians for sticking to our promise for the last 30 years for try to eradicate polio from the world. And he thanked all of our partnners too. He remembered being in Japan, at a Rotary function and after the conference, he was having dinner with President Wilf Wilkinson and Rotary Foundation Chair Dr,. Bob Scott. He remembered the phone call Dr. Bob Scott receievd, as Dr. Bob said “we got it”. It was the first $100 million (US Funds) from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. They were all very excited. Dr. Bob Scott then rose and gave a toast to “the children of the world” . It is and has always been about the kids.
Mike McGovern added that there is no deadline. He said that we are up against the polio virus and that we must continue to invest and work hard to eradicate the virus from the world.
He talked about Canada's strong assistance in fighting the disease globally and was on stage at the recent Rotary International Convention in Toronto in June 2018, as he presented Pime Minister Justin Trudeau with an award of appreciation. He also talked about Dr. Ted Bruce, of the World Health Organization, who came away with a new enthusiasm to help eradicate polio from the world, after he had talked to many Rotarians at the same International Convention. Last year alone, Rotarians raised $50.1 million (US Funds) to help with the eradication of Polio. Since the program began, in 1988, the governments of the world have contributed over $10 billion (US).
He added that Rotary remains to be the conscience of polio eradication and urged us all to knock on doors and continue to raising funds, from governments, from organizations and from the public and to continue to bring awareness to everyone that we are eradicating polio from the world.
He ended his remarks by saying that it is not easy to end Polio. He also said that, as Rotarians, no one gives up and on Rotary Friendship Day in Oshawa, we will all continue our friendship to the children of the world as we continue with our efforts to eradicate polio from the world.
The proceeds from this second annual revived Rotary Friendship Day in Oshawa will be going the Annual Programs Fund of The Rotary Foundation. The Rotary Foundation transforms donations into service projects that change lives both close to home and around the world. During the past 100 years, the Foundation has spent $3 billion on life-changing, sustainable projects, the most notable of which is the PolioPlus campaign, Rotary's efffort to eradicate of polio from the world.”
For many years, starting in 1948-49 and running through the 1950's and '60's, during his life time Colonel Sam McLaughlin, founder of GM Canada and an honourary member of the Rotary Club of Oshawa, invited the Rotarians of District 7070 out for an annual Friendship Day to his home, Parkwood Estate.
In it's heyday, the Rotary Friendship Day was attended by over 350 Rotarians from all of the clubs in our District then called 707. The day included lunch , and sometimes dinner at the Rotary Club of Oshawa, followed by tours of the General Motors Plant plant in Oshawa, golf at the Oshawa Golf and Curling Club, lawn bowling , tours of Windfields Farm (the home of Northern Dancer) , and the Canadian Automotive Museum and then back to Parkwood for cocktails where Rotarians were met and hosted by Colonel Sam and before, her death, his wife Adelaide McLaughlin, at Parkwood Estate.
Following Colonel McLaughlin’s death in 1972, this Rotary tradition was lost. With the 100th anniversary of Parkwood Estate, the Rotary Clubs of Oshawa and Oshawa-Parkwood took on this joint club endeavour and hosted their fellow Rotarians of District 7070 and their guests to revive a great tradition and build on it for years to come.
It was a great opportunity for Rotarians and guests to see old friends, meet new friends, and share their ideas of Rotary service to others in their communities and throughout the world with their fellow Rotarians and to see the Parkwood Estate, a national historic treasure, right here in Oshawa.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON PARKWOOD ESTATE
Colonel Sam’s home, Parkwood Estate, begun in 1916, and was designed by the Toronto architectural firm of Darling and Pearson and completed in 1917.
Parkwood Estate has been used in many television and film productions and most recently seen in the Murdoch Mysteries television series as the home of inventor, wealthy businessman and general rascal, James Pendrick.
Colonel Robert Samuel McLaughlin, CC, ED, CD (September 8, 1871 – January 6, 1972) was an influential Canadian businessman and philanthropist. He started the McLaughlin Motor Car Company in 1907, one of the first major automobile manufacturers in Canada, which evolved into General Motors of Canada, and was an honourary member of the Rotary Club of Oshawa.
McLaughlin was appointed honorary lieutenant-colonel of the 34th Ontario Regiment in 1921 and held this position until 1931, at which time he was appointed honorary colonel of same unit, later designated as The Ontario Regiment (RCAC), a reserve armoured regiment based in Oshawa. Affectionately known as "Colonel Sam", McLaughlin served as honorary colonel until 1967, thereby becoming the longest continuously-serving colonel in the history of the Canadian Forces.
In 1967, McLaughlin was appointed a Companion of the Order of Canada.
In 1951, he established the McLaughlin Foundation which, from 1953 to 2003, donated nearly $200 million to the University of Toronto and other causes, including the McLaughlin Planetarium at the Royal Ontario Museum.
McLaughlin was a major contributor to Queen's University at Kingston, Ontario. The university's Mechanical Engineering Department is housed in McLaughlin Hall, which was his donation in 1948. McLaughlin Hall in Queen's University's John Deutsch University Centre is also named for him. His wife, Adelaide McLaughlin, was honoured in 1957 by Queen's, which named the women's residence Adelaide Hall for her.
In 1947 McLaughlin and his wife donated land for a Boy Scout camp on the outskirts of Oshawa. The camp was named "Camp Samac".
McLaughlin donated $1 million to the 1968 library building at the University of Guelph, which bears his name.
He provided partial funding to build a college at York University in Toronto. Opened in 1968, it was named McLaughlin College in his honour.
McLaughlin Hall at St. Andrew's College in Aurora, Ontario, which he unveiled in 1971 at age 99, is named after him in recognition of his contributions to the school.
He endowed the Regimental Foundation of The Ontario Regiment (RCAC) and quietly paid the salaries of some of the regiment's soldiers during times of severely curtailed government funding.
McLaughlin House at the Lester B. Pearson United World College of the Pacific also bears his name.
In his youth, McLaughlin competed in cycling and yachting, and he was an equestrian show jumping champion at competitions in Canada and the United States. His love of horses led to the establishment of Parkwood Stable, a thoroughbred horse racing and breeding farm located a few miles north of Oshawa, Ontario.
McLaughlin's horses won numerous races in Canada and in the U.S.; his horses won important races including the 1942 Peter Pan Stakes at Belmont Park. A three-time winner of Canada's most prestigious race, the Queen's Plate, in 1934 his future Hall of Fame colt Horometer won both the Queen's Plate and the Breeders' Stakes. In 1950, the nearly eighty-year-old McLaughlin retired from racing, selling his Parkwood Stable to E. P. Taylor, under whom it would become known as Windfields Farm.
A long-time director of the Ontario Jockey Club, McLaughlin was inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame in 1963 and the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame in 1977.
The main objective of Rotary International is service, in the community and throughout the world. As volunteers, Rotarians build goodwill and peace, provide humanitarian service, and encourage high ethical standards in all vocations.
Be sure to visit the www.rotaryoshawa.org and the www.rotaryoshawa-parkwood.org website for more information about the two Oshawa Rotary Clubs, and the Facebook Page of the Rotary Club of Oshawa-Parkwood for additional photos.