In January, we presented the 2023 Vocational Award to Aaron Hoium of Aaron’s No Frills! We followed up by hosting a Blankets and Quilts drive that we donated to northern First Nations in Manitoba.
In February, we again hosted Viva La Vino which we sold out every ticket.
In March, we supported ShelterBox with donations for Ukraine, Syria and Turkey
The last Saturday in May saw us host our 30th annual Lobsterfest which made a record $40,000 in profit! This amazing feat allowed us to make a significant donation of $50,000 to the Gaynor Family Regional Library for the new Children's Wing and $1500 to the Lord Selkirk Regional Comp High School Grad Students.
As June rolled around, we were able to hand out scholarships to area middle schools as well as a $1,000 scholarship to a Grade 12 student at the Comp.
Also in June, the Rotary Garden was back for a 3rd year in a row. This year, a total of 954 lbs of food was grown this year and donated to the Our Daily Bread Soup Kitchen and the Selkirk Food Bank.
For the first time in the history of the Club, we took July and August off
and let our Rotarians refresh!
September was a busy, busy month for our team! It saw the Annual Gigantic Book Sale which netted over $11,000 in profit and sold over 17,000 books. Not bad for a dollar a book!
We also saw the return of the N.O.W. program, lead by Rotarian Jean. 155 lunches for the weekend packed each week by Rotarians and Community volunteers from October to June. This November saw us pass 15,000 lunches since the program began 4 years ago. This is a huge commitment to fight food insecurity in the community!
We celebrated the United Nations International Day of Peace on September 21 by donating a Peace Pole in 12 languages at Queen’s Park in Selkirk!
October saw a winter clothing drive organized by Rotarian Jean that distributed thousands of gently used winter clothing and sports equipment to northern fly-in First Nations in Manitoba.
And the most important fact of all……
We welcomed new members: Scott Thorne, Bethany Debrecen, Wendy Meger, Glen Kostyk, Wes Maidment, Brandon Sutherland, Isabelle Gagne and Lorraine Hanson!
As we close the page on 2023, I want to acknowledge all the hard work that our Honorary Rotarians did that laid the solid foundation that our Club has today. I want to thank our current more experienced members for their tenacious spirit, but equally so, their acceptance of all the change that we have seen in our Club over the past few years. And for our new Rotarians, I am so proud to walk shoulder to shoulder with each and every one of you to make this world a better place. For without you…..we could not do all these amazing things in our community.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all,
President Dave
