Rotary Club of Ellicottville
District SKI Day
Date: Friday, February 13, 2015, 9AM - 4:30PM
Location: Holimont Ski Resort, Ellicottville, NY
Cost: $60 includes ski pass and lunch; $20 lunch only (Noon - 1:30PM)
Contact: Jack 716.945.2283 or jcluzier@gmail.com
Rotary Club of LeRoy
Valentine's Tea & Dance
Date: Saturday, February 14, 2015
Location: 53 West Main Street, LeRoy, NY
Contact: Lauren at 585.615.4213
Rotary Club of Grimsby
Mayor's Gala
Date: Saturday, February 21, 2015
Location: Casablanca Winery Inn
Cost: $125 per person early bird until December 31, 2014 then $150
Contact: Carolyn 905.945.7039
Now, in its 10th year, District 7090’s SLAPSHOT is a fun-filled weekend, April 24-26, 2015, of personal & leadership development activities for HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS who are 15, 16, 17 & 18 years old. This annual student leadership award program is held in an idyllic setting at The Adventure Learning Centre at Canterbury Hills in Ancaster, Ontario. The registration fee is $300 per student.
For full registration details, go to the SLAPSHOT page on the District 7090 website.
Take the opportunity to promote, honor, celebrate & foster youth leadership in your community by participating in SLAPSHOT 2015. Registration is on a first come, first served basis. A record 40 Rotary Clubs enabled a total of 100 students from high schools across District 7090 to participate in SLAPSHOT 2014. In fact, by the end of February last year, registrations were at maximum capacity. To secure SLAPSHOT 2015 registrations (1-5 per club), act now and avoid disappointment.
Should you have any questions or concerns, contact:
Rotary Leadership Institute will convene again on Saturday, March 21, 2015 at the Niagara County Community College, Sanborn, New York; registration opens at 7:30 AM and you will be on your way home at 4:00 PM. Yes, it is an all-day learning event. However, it is well worth it, especially if you bring some fellow club members or carpool with others.
This is one of those personal projects that every Rotarian should put on their to-do list. Rotary is a multi-facet organization and it difficult to learn all about Rotary just through club activities and on-line research. President-elects are encouraged to attend - talk it up at your club and bring your leadership team to help ensure a great year as Club President. Clubs are encouraged to pay the registration fee.
See what RLIers had to say about our Hamilton event in December. “…thanks for a great learning and networking experience! Looking forward to the next session.” Frank Adamson, Fonthill.
And from Judy Naylor, from our e-club the Southern Ontario Western New York (SOWNY) Club, “I really enjoyed RLI and definitely recommend the experience!!...I had a wonderful time at each level, but especially at the last one at Mohawk College! I'm very enthusiastic about it.”
At the December 6th event at Mohawk College in Hamilton we graduated 9 Rotarians. The graduation picture appeared in last month’s District Newsletter. I was so concerned about getting our 8 male graduates listed appropriately I missed our only lady, Judy Naylor, of the SOWNY Club. Hence the picture is being republished.
In photo, from left: Mark Wales – Norfolk Sunrise, Michael Collette – Waterdown, Judy Naylor - SOWNY e-club, Joe Huston – Burlington (7080), Reg Madison – Brantford, Narciso Rodrigues – Mississauga Meadowvale (7080), Dave Lambert – Niagara on the Lake and not present for the photo John Zinkie – Burlington North (7080).
It all began at 11:00 pm on September 8, 1954 when Florence Chadwick, an American marathon swimmer, began her attempt to cross the frigid waters of Lake Ontario. Meanwhile, two Canadian female swimmers were “lurking” in the nearby woods. One was the well-known local swimmer, Winnie Roach. The other was a virtually unknown Toronto schoolgirl, Marilyn Bell, only 16 years old. Marilyn waded into Lake Ontario at Youngstown, NY, at 11:07 p.m.
The water was chilly, the night pitch black and it wasn’t long before Miss Roach was forced to give up her attempt. And after just five hours in the water, Chadwick ended her effort, too. That left just one swimmer, the young lady who almost no one had even heard of. Bell swam for 20 hours and 59 minutes under gruelling conditions – cold water temperatures, waves almost three metres (15 feet) high, and lamprey eels attacking her arms and legs.
Then, at exactly 8:04 p.m. – as all of Canada took a deep breath – Marilyn Bell touched the Boulevard Club’s breakwall, just off shore of Sunnyside Beach in Toronto. She had done it! Marilyn had conquered what was now her lake, and over the next two years she went on to conquer two more ominous bodies of water, the English Channel and the Juan de Fuca Strait.
I have had the extraordinary privilege to meet this amazing woman who continues to inspire young and old alike. Marilyn told me that she remembers well the risk of polio when she was a teenager and she even taught swimming to polio victims. Today, sixty years after her famous Lake Ontario swim, the one-and-only, Marilyn Bell Di Lascio, shows her support of Rotary Internationals’ End Polio Now campaign! We hope you will, too!
ROTARY DISTRICT 7090—The Gift of Life, a humanitarian project of the Rotary Clubs of Western New York and Southern Ontario, is proud to announce that the three newest recipients of life-saving heart surgery: 6-year old Akeila (left) and 9-year old Emmanuel (right) of Jamaica and 1-year old Camila (center) of El Salvador —are recovering well and enjoying the holidays with their families. The local Gift of Life donated $10,000 raised from its Golf & Tennis Tournament in June and another $5,000 from the Niagara-on-the-Lake Rotary Club so the surgeries could be performed.
“When Camila was born, she had a large hole in her heart that needed surgery as soon as possible,” said local GOL Chair John Rydzik of Hamburg Sunrise Rotary. The family survives on money an aunt sends them from the U.S. each month and they have been praying for the opportunity to have Camila’s heart repaired before it was too late. Her surgery was December 9 and all went well.”
“Akeila and Emmanuel also were diagnosed with heart disease at birth and have been waiting for surgery ever since,” said Rydzik. “Since Akeila’s surgery December 5, her father says she is now running, jumping and skipping with her friends and enjoying her second chance at a normal life. Emmanuel loves sports and since his surgery December 3, he can now run, like other children. He hopes to grow up like his hero Olympic Champion runner Usain Bolt of Jamaica.”
The Gift of Life provides life-saving open-heart surgery to children from infancy to 21 years old living in the United States, Canada and other countries who have congenital heart defects and cannot afford care. More than 70 Gift of Life projects around the world have saved over 16,000 children since 1975. This Christmas, the Rotary Clubs of WNY and Southern Ontario want to thank all those locally who contributed to saving the lives of Akeila, Emmanuel and Camila and have helped saved children’s lives over the years.
Visit www.giftoflife7090.org for more information. Donations may be mailed to the Gift of Life at: Hamburg Sunrise Rotary, Gift of Life, Inc., PO Box 96, Hamburg, NY 14075.
Rob Raylman, GOL International Executive Director
John Rydzik (Hamburg Sunrise Rotary), GOL WNY Section Chair
Dr. Pam Milroy (Ancaster/Greater Hamilton Rotary), GOL Canadian Section Chair
Now that you have your 2015 Calendar, make sure you block out the weekend of October 23-25 to attend our 2015 District Conference at the spectacular Holiday Valley Resort in beautiful Ellicottville, NY. Our committees are hard at work planning exciting workshops, fun activities, great speakers, wonderful food selections, and great accommodations. If you haven’t seen it yet, check out our conference video at https://vimeo.com/107083306 and our conference website at www.districtconference2015.com.
Registration for the conference is expected to open by April 1.
DG JACK'S JANUARY MESSAGE
We’re halfway through the Rotary year and it is January – by tradition, Rotary Awareness Month. This is the month for us to consider how our Rotary values – and our own actions – influence public perceptions of Rotary. Kind of fitting, don’t you think, that the start of the calendar year, the middle of the Rotary year is a not-too-subtle reminder of what we are asked to be doing this year?
I’ve been thrilled by the activities some clubs have taken to this year, to “LIGHT UP ROTARY” as President Gary C. K. Huang has asked us to. Before the year started, I asked our seventy club presidents to find ways to let their communities know that Rotary was in town, to demonstrate the value (y)our clubs bring to (y)our communities. And many of you have done so. Most clubs have accepted the challenge to elevate Rotary’s image and celebrate Rotary with Rotary Days in your home towns.
Regionally, we’ve been able to “Light Up Rotary” with an expanded Public Information committee and program. Led by Public Information Director Paul McAfee, we’ve embarked on the final year of a three year Rotary International grant to expand the social media awareness of Rotary in District 7090. A large number of our clubs have established or reinvigorated their Facebook presence, with Paul’s help, and our friends and neighbors in Southern Ontario and Western New York are now more aware of what we do as Rotarians than they have ever been before. Roseanne Morissette of the SOWNY E-Club and Chrissy Casilio-Bluhm of the Clarence Rotary Club have provided club level support for more traditional public information and continue to share their talents with Rotary Clubs on both sides of the border.
District Governor Nominee Bill Clevette has taken on the additional responsibilities this year of monitoring our social media presence, club level websites and the District Website. District Secretary Pene Hutton, with some kibitzing from Bill, has updated the district site to the latest available version, which, like the RI website, shows a face of Rotary to the public that shares our values and expands their perceptions of our work on the front page. The same traditional internal information for District 7090 Rotarians remains behind the members only sign in, but the community now can see the good you do in the name of Rotary more clearly when they happen upon the front page of our site.
Every new Governor in Rotary starts her/his year with some ideas to accomplish and goals to reach. Before I was aware of President Huang’s challenge to “LIGHT UP ROTARY”, I hoped to see greater recognition of Rotary throughout our district. Thanks to all of you, I feel like we’ve already accomplished far more than I could have dreamed of. I am SO proud to be serving such a vibrant group of people who are “…doing good in the world…”.
Rotarian Isabel Robitaille presented Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus Rotary president Sonya Stutts with a banner that she received from the Playa Del Carmen, Mexico, Rotary Club. While vacationing there, she attended two English speaking meetings. The meeting was likewise attended by American and Canadian expats and winter residents that come from as far as Finland and Denmark. The attire was casual - seeing as it was a beach community........................
Pat McNally, long time Rotarian and member of the Waterdown club seen here celebrating his 100th birthday. According to member Garry Flood, Pat attends every meeting and volunteers at the local food bank. He also states that Pat is a very active member of the club at 100 years young!
Although some old-timers were skeptical, Grand Island Rotary had a very successful “Visioning” session in December. A casual setting (well OK, bank lobby after hours – not so casual), pizza and excellent leadership made for productive session. Some thought lots of pre-announcing would keep members away – instead, one of the best attendances of the fall!
In the photo, several Rotarians imagining the Rotary Club of Grand Island, five years hence.
WESTFIELD MAYVILLE LIGHTS UP ROTARY WITH PENNIES FOR POLIO
Many years ago, Rotary International vowed to eradicate polio in the world, and individual clubs have “carried the ball” by collecting money for that purpose. The Westfield/Mayville Rotary Club chose to make sure everyone becomes aware of its effort to eliminate this dreadful disease with a huge “Pennies for Polio” jug. Recently, Adele Harrington (in photo), club president-elect, took the jug to the Westfield Moose Lodge. various locations to continue collections................
Barry Rogenmoser was the 2014 winner of the Rotary scholarship given to a deserving Medina High School Student.
Barry is currently a student at St John Fisher in Rochester majoring in Pharmacy and made the Dean’s List this semester! He stopped in to a club meeting over his holiday break to share his college experience with Medina Rotarians.
In the photo, Barry is seen receiving his $500 scholarship check from long-time Rotarian Edee Hoffmeister.
Ed Myszka (left) talked to the Rotary Club of Lancaster-Depew members this week, highlighting the goals and progress of the Lancaster Educational and Alumni Foundation (LEAF). Lancaster-Depew Rotary President Robert G. Benzel (right) presents the first installment of the Rotary Club of Lancaster-Depew $5,000 commitment to LEAF.
Director of Public Safety/Police Chief Harry Snellings of the Jamestown Police Department spoke at a recent noon meeting of the Rotary Club of Jamestown about current trends in the manufacture and use of illegal drugs in Jamestown and the immediate area. He elaborated on the responses developed by the Jamestown Police Department (JPD), in cooperation with other local police agencies, to the recent trends....................
The Rotary Club of Ancaster AM held its first Spelling Bee on November 29, 2014 at Mohawk College. The Spelling Bee was well represented; 90 students in Grades 4-8, representing 25 Hamilton area schools participated.................
Another new member inducted December 23! Welcome Dan McDowell, sponsored by member Suzanne Block. Assistant Governor and Past President Kathy Burch led the ceremony. The club is energized and growing!
When the Rotary Club of Dundas Valley Sunrise did its visioning and five year strategic plan three years ago, one of the action items was to make cheque presentations whenever practical in a more public forum so that the community can see more of what the Rotary club does. This, of course, fits right in with the "Light up Rotary" theme of the current Rotary year.
Hence with about 150 community members in the audience, the two Dundas clubs presented cheques to Dundas Community Services at its annual "season opener" for the Dundas Little Theatre.
Robert Morrow, Assistant Governor for the Dundas/Flamborough area presented a cheque to Derek Collins, vice-chair of Dundas Community Services on behalf of the Dundas Valley Sunrise Rotary Club.
The Albion Rotary Club on Dec. 18 welcomed two new members: Marsha Rivers, left, and Shahreen Quazi. Marsha is executive director of the United Way of Orleans County. Shahreen is a regulatory affairs specialist for Baxter International in Medina and also a health sciences adjunct professor for Genesee Community College.
Through an arrangement with Xerox Canada, the Rotary Club of Ancaster is giving away over 100 top quality laptop computers to local charitable organizations throughout the Hamilton community.
Some of these units will be used in after school programs in inner city schools so students who would normally not have computers to use at home will be able to do so. Others will go to graduating grade eight students so that they will have a computer to use when they go to high school in the fall. Local charities will use the computers to upgrade their office capabilities from worn out old, almost antique equipment. A program for working with youth at risk for becoming involved with the legal system will use a group of computers to help the students improve their school performance..................
The Rotary Club of NOTL recently donated $1700 to Heartland Forest for improvements to their woodworking shop for people of all abilities. The program has been very successful for people in a brain-injury community re-entry group.
The Rotary Club of Welland held its Paul Harris Celebration on December 16, 2014 at the Riverstone Event Centre in Welland. There were 60 Rotarians, families and friends in attendance including former Paul Harris Fellow recipients and Past District Governor Karen Oakes and Wolfgang.
A first for the Club, we held an Induction ceremony for one of our new Members, Debbie Cosby. PDG Karen Oakes assisted Rotarian Vic Kerschl (PHF+1) in welcoming Debbie to the family of Rotary. The Welland Club has inducted 10 new Rotarians this year, with more on the way!
Welland Rotary has been a Sustaining Member Club since 2003. Several Members were recognized for their contribution to The Rotary Foundation over the years. Peter Papp (PHF), President-Elect and Rotarian Angelo Fazari presented Paul Harris Fellows to Rotarians David Alexander, Don Thorpe, Andrew Walker and Lloyd Walters. Sue Dolan received her PHF+1 pin. Former Rotarian Mike Walsh was not in attendance to receive his PHF+1 pin....................
The Rotary Club of Fonthill has started planning for the Second Annual Pelham Mudfest Challenge, and has already decided some of the proceeds will be earmarked for Rotary's End Polio Now campaign.
The club started the Mudfest in 2014, raising more than $10,000 in two small events, which was donated to the town's food bank and community agency. The funds helped the agency's campaign to finally move into its own facility after more than 30 years in operation.
Rotary Club of Fonthill hereby challenges all the clubs in the district to come out and have some muddy fun on Saturday, May 23, 2015, with the fun-run obstacle course of 6 kilometres (3.75 miles). If you aren't up to participating, the club would love to see you sponsor some youth from your community to run. The cost is $75 per participant, and includes entry, lunch, a T-shirt and a prize.
Come and get dirty for a good cause! All the details are here: www.pelhammudfest.ca.
In the photo, a participant is all smiles at the end of the May 2014 Pelham Mudfest Challenge.
Rotary Leadership Institute will convene again on Saturday, March 21, 2015 at the Niagara County Community College, Sanborn, New York; registration opens at 7:30 AM and you will be on your way home at 4:00 PM. Yes, it is an all-day learning event. However, it is well worth it, especially if you bring some fellow club members or carpool with others..jpg)
It all began at 11:00 pm on September 8, 1954 when Florence Chadwick, an American marathon swimmer, began her attempt to cross the frigid waters of Lake Ontario. Meanwhile, two Canadian female swimmers were “lurking” in the nearby woods. One was the well-known local swimmer, Winnie Roach. The other was a virtually unknown Toronto schoolgirl, Marilyn Bell, only 16 years old. Marilyn waded into Lake Ontario at Youngstown, NY, at 11:07 p.m.
We’re halfway through the Rotary year and it is January – by tradition, Rotary Awareness Month. This is the month for us to consider how our Rotary values – and our own actions – influence public perceptions of Rotary. Kind of fitting, don’t you think, that the start of the calendar year, the middle of the Rotary year is a not-too-subtle reminder of what we are asked to be doing this year? 
Many years ago, Rotary International vowed to eradicate polio in the world, and individual clubs have “carried the ball” by collecting money for that purpose. The Westfield/Mayville Rotary Club chose to make sure everyone becomes aware of its effort to eliminate this dreadful disease with a huge “Pennies for Polio” jug. Recently, Adele Harrington (in photo), club president-elect, took the jug to the Westfield Moose Lodge. various locations to continue collections................
Barry Rogenmoser was the 2014 winner of the Rotary scholarship given to a deserving Medina High School Student. 
y Club of Dundas Valley Sunrise did its visioning and five year strategic plan three years ago, one of the action items was to make cheque presentations whenever practical in a more public forum so that the community can see more of what the Rotary club does. This, of course, fits right in with the "Light up Rotary" theme of the current Rotary year.
The Albion Rotary Club on Dec. 18 welcomed two new members: Marsha Rivers, left, and Shahreen Quazi. Marsha is executive director of the United Way of Orleans County. Shahreen is a regulatory affairs specialist for Baxter International in Medina and also a health sciences adjunct professor for Genesee Community College.
Through an arrangement with Xerox Canada, the Rotary Club of Ancaster is giving away over 100 top quality laptop computers to local charitable organizations throughout the Hamilton community. 
