A fantastic Day in the Hub City of Toronto on July 5 as District 7010, 7080, 7090 and 7070 hosted our Rotary International President Elect Jennifer Jones on her cross Canada" Imagine Rotary Canada Tour".  Please read more......

 

On June 15, RI President-elect Jennifer Jones began a tour of Canada.  From Point Pellee on Lake Erie, the southernmost point on the Canadian mainland, to Tuktoyaktuk on the Arctic Ocean; and from St. John’s on the Atlantic, a few kilometres from the easternmost point in North America, to Vancouver Island on the Pacific, Jennifer Jones is spending nearly four weeks introducing herself to members of Rotary in Canada — and to anyone else who wants to come out and say hello.

It certainly has been an opportunity to celebrate all the accomplishments of clubs and districts. The Toronto Hub City provided occasions to participate in local projects. The focus has been on service and some of the Toronto events were livestreamed to ensure maximum participation.

The first leg of the tour got underway on June 15 in Whitehorse, the capital of the Yukon where Jennifer met with Rotary members, civic leaders, and Indigenous Elders, and travelled from Whitehorse to Dawson City, moved on to Inuvik and Tuktoyaktuk in the Northwest Territories, and then returned to Whitehorse — a round trip of about 3,000 kilometres.

For three days, June 26, President Jennifer visited the Windsor hub in Ontario. The celebration in Windsor, her home district, was awesome. (A member of the Rotary Club of Windsor-Roseland, Jennifer Jones was the 2007-08 governor of District 6400.) The first day was devoted in part ,to working with Sleep in Heavenly Peace, an international organization that builds, assembles, and delivers beds to children in need followed by a youth symposium on June 27, and  June 28 was District 6400’s “Day for Jen.”

Fittingly, on July 1, Canada Day and the first day of her RI presidency, Jennifer Jones was in Ottawa, the nation’s capital, where she met with leading government officials, and included a discussion of Indigenous issues and visits to local Rotary projects, including a respite home that, for 40 years, has provided care for people with physical disabilities. On  July 2, she arrived in St. John’s, the Maritimes hub and the capital of Newfoundland and Labrador, where she was welcomed with a traditional kitchen party, complete with music, friends, and she was ‘screeched in’ and became an official Newfoundlander and Labradorian.” There was  plenty of “people of action activities” for the district’s Rotarians, its “huge” Rotaractor contingent, and anyone else who participated. Rotaractors were out in force on July 4 in Quebec City as they joined other Rotary members in projects and service opportunities.

On July 5, Jennifer arrived in Toronto and Rotarians participated in and showcased many hundreds of projects completed by all the clubs throughout the four districts in the Toronto hub. The day included a watershed cleanup at Sunnyside park on Lake Ontario, and a Kids Against Hunger, food packing , where the goal was to pack 117,000 meals for the hungry of our world, in honour of Rotary’s 117 years, followed by a fabulous Rotary BBQ in the evening at the Toronto Botanical Gardens.

IF YOU COULD NOT  BE WITH US ON JULY 5, YOU CAN STILL SEE ROTARY INTERNATIONAL PRESIDENT .

Here is her address to Rotarians and Rotaractors in Torornto at the Rotary BBQ, emceed by Colin D'Mello of Global Television:

 

Thank you to everyone who participated in the Rotary Food Packing event on July 5 in partnership with Kids Against Hunger (Canada) as part of the Imagine Rotary Canada Tour and the Great Lakes Watershed Cleanup project too. We appreciated your smiles (we saw them under the masks!) and enthusiasm as you stood for hours filling bags and then boxes with nutritious meals. Extra thanks to everyone who brought out friends, family, and potential members to join in our morning cleanup and afternoon of service.

We know how disappointing it was that Rotary International President Jennifer Jones was not able to be with us as planned.

She was also very disappointed not to be able to serve with us and has created this special video message (see: https://youtu.be/5tf7GuPH1Jo) .

Please share it with anyone you know who attended, but who did not register. We'd like President Jennifer's message to reach everyone who did not get the opportunity to meet her.

Thank you again for your enthusiastic participation in the Rotary Food Packing event and the Great lakes Watershed Cleanup on July 5th. Do check out the tour photo album ( see: https://rotary7070.org/.../imagine-rotary-canada-tour... ) and join us in thanking everyone who documented this incredible day of Rotary service and fellowship.

 
Be sure to see the photo album on the District 7070 website too. Click here.

 

Winnipeg, the Manitoba city that made Rotary international, welcomed Jennifer  Jones on July 6 and Rotarians demonstrated— to the community, to the needy, and to the media — that we are people of action. Clubs across District 5550, which includes Manitoba and parts of Ontario and Saskatchewan, simultaneously performed projects to honour her visit. In some cities and towns, that meant working with Rotary’s partner ShelterBox, which set up tents to receive donations pertinent to the needs of that area. In Winnipeg, there were two tents, one devoted to helping Indigenous people and a second dedicated to IRCOM (the Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization of Manitoba). Her next stops included two tops in Alberta: On July 7 and 8, she will be in Calgary, the site of the 2025 Rotary International Convention, where she met with Indigenous leaders, visited a Rotary-sponsored residential safe house, and walked with Rotaractors in the annual Calgary Stampede parade, which signals the opening of the large multiday rodeo.

After she participated in a variety of events in Edmonton on July 9, it was on to British Columbia, where President Jennifer visited Vancouver on the 10th. The day started with a pancake breakfast in Peace Arch Park, which straddles the border with the United States, followed by hands-on activities that included an Indigenous literacy project, a beach cleanup, and a kit-packing project for the nonprofit Days for Girls, which, among other services, distributes sustainable menstrual health products. The tour concluded on July 11 in Victoria, the province’s capital, on Vancouver Island. The stop included a visit to the Food Rescue Distribution Centre, which is sponsored in part by the Greater Victoria Rotary Clubs. And a photograph at Mile 0, the western terminus of the Trans-Canada Highway. As at each of the stops along the tour, they events were for anyone w(not just Rotarians) who can get to these hub areas. 

To learn more about her cross Canada Imagine Rotary Tour, click here. Check back often and check out the Imagine Rotary Canada Tour Facebook page for even more great photos .. 

 

Our very own Past District Governor and our 2022-23 Zone 28 Public Image Coordinator, Mary Lou Harrison wrote a column for  the Toronto.com/Metroland site, with an offer to all their outlets to print and post it. Here is the link: