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Welcome to the Rotary Club of Summerside

Service Above Self

Every Second Tuesday of the Month
Zoom Virtual Meeting Room

Comfort of your Office or Home
Summerside and Area, PE
Canada

May 2020
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Nature & Nurture

With help from a Rotary Foundation global grant, a group of women in rural Costa Rica are using ecotourism to enrich their families' futures.

Watch: Italian clubs aim to protect hospital workers responding to COVID-19

Rotary clubs in districts across Italy worked together to procure state-of-the-art equipment needed to combat the deadly coronavirus disease for 26 hospitals around the country.

Rotaract rising

The ongoing evolution of Rotaract is redefining its place within Rotary.

The Rotary Club of Summerside is proud to provide programs for our youth, such Youth Exchange, STRIVE Scholarships, and Rotary Leadership.
The month of may is designed as "Youth Service Month" to focus on all Rotary activities that support the development of young people.

May is Youth Services Month. Rotary Youth Exchange (RYE) has been around since 1927 and the The Summerside Rotary Club has participated in this program for more than 40 years. RYE allows students from all around the world to live in and experience a new culture, language and environment. The outcome is that these young people then become global citizens with a better understanding and appreciation for world we live in.

This past March we had to say goodbye to Vilma Oykkoken far too soon. Vilma lived with 2 volunteer host families and attended TOSH with our Kiwi student Jordyn. She would have moved on to a third host family had she not returned home to Finland because of the COVID-19 Global Pandemic. Vilma assures us that she plans to return and enjoy more of PEI and Canada as soon as she is able to.

This program would usually commence again this fall for 2020-21 school year but due to the Global Pandemic the Summerside Rotary Club will not be sponsoring a student for this school year. We look forward to resuming exchanges again in 2021-22.

Submitted by, Angie Arsenault

STRIVE is a scholarship program introduced by the Summerside Rotary Club some ten years ago. This annual program provides local high school students with the opportunity for a $1,000 scholarship to further their education. For the past ten years, the club has provided five scholarships annually to graduating students.

While many scholarships are designed to award top scholastic marks, Rotary’s Strive Scholarship program is aimed at something a bit different. STRIVE (Students Taking a Renewed Interest in the Value of Education) focuses on students who are facing challenges outside the classroom – be it a personal tragedy, health-related issues or other unfortunate circumstances. Regardless of the student’s GPA, the focus of this scholarship program is on the student and their commitment to STRIVE to maintain or improve their marks, thus enabling them to plan for post-secondary education, despite the obstacles they face.

The Rotary Strive committee is composed of approximately 12 Rotarians with a variety of business backgrounds. They meet with students monthly each school year from January to June. Through this process, committee members become mentors for the students and share leadership skills, resume building and interview tips and offer public speaking opportunities. Through the process, students may gain self-confidence and experience personal growth as they plan for their post-secondary education goals. Students will also gain a better understanding of Rotary and the importance of volunteering in their future.

Thanks to Rotary’s annual Mardi Gras Curling event and its primary sponsor Provincial Auto Parts, the Summerside Rotary Club has been able to maintain the STRIVE Scholarship program, even expanding the award in recent years. Further to a final review of the applicants, the committee will announce the 2020 scholarship recipients in early June. The Rotary Club of Summerside is proud of the work accomplished through this program and aiding in the development of future community leaders.

John Maynard & Nelson Snow

Glenna Lohnes & Tim Hockin

Angie Arsenault & Chad Mann

Inspire Learning Centre - Events Schedule

Members of The Rotary Club of Summerside are deeply saddened by the devastating events that unfolded in Portapique, and the six crew members who were on board the military helicopter that crashed during a NATO training exercise off the coast of Greece.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the people of Nova Scotia as they cope with these terrible tragedies.

Thank you to Bruce MacKinnon for this powerful photo!

World Immunization Week, April 24th - 30th

Our first virtual meeting using Zoom.

It was good to see everyone!

Regular meetings are scheduled for every second Tuesday of the month with the next meeting taking place on Tuesday, May 5th.

A happy looking bunch!

Rotary District 7820 Coffee and Conversation

with guest speaker Luke MacDonald

AWESOME!

Click here to watch video

Mark Daniel Maloney
2019-20 President, Rotary International

Dear Fellow Rotarians,

The COVID-19 coronavirus is affecting every aspect of our lives in real time, and this puts Rotarians in an unfamiliar place. As People of Action, we are most comfortable when we are fully engaged in the world – moving freely, meeting openly, and offering helping hands. These are very difficult times for people who, like us, are at our best when we are learning, growing, and serving—together.

Easter Seals Ambassador 2020

Easter Seals launched its 2020 campaign to introduce Vaeda Matheson, this year's Ambassador for P.E.I.

Vaeda is eight years old and has cerebral palsy. She is happy to have been chosen as the 2020 Easter Seals Ambassador.

Her motto is "be different and follow your heart, you don't have to be worried if you're different than other people."

New Construction Will Soon be Complete!

Since opening in 2017 the Inspire Learning Centre has become an important hub of the City’s downtown core. This ambitious project was championed by The Summerside Rotary Club. The success of the Inspire Learning Centre can be measured by daily visitors and by demand for space.
The Summerside Rotary Club is pleased to begin the construction of a $1.4 million expansion to the Centre. Construction work started this past fall and the work is expected to be completed by the summer of 2020. This additional space will be used by tenants and further enhance the Centre’s ability to provide continued community investments in literacy, youth engagement and access to technology.

Women in Rotary

The early birds have arrived for Summerside’s Tuesday breakfast meeting.
Coralee, Katie. Angela, Glenna and Katie are just some of our women members.
First admitted in 1987, women are today the fastest-growing segment of Rotary membership, and increasingly hold leadership positions within the organization. More than 2,000 women serve as club presidents and women are also rapidly assuming regional leadership roles.

Today we salute the women of Summerside Rotary:
Angela, Angie, Marion, Georgia, Cathy, Katie, Jill, Glenna, Lynne, Donna, Tara, Heather, Katie, Jaclyn and Belinda.

Each year the Rotary Club of Summerside hosts at least one exchange student. Rotarians work together to ensure the student has the chance to thoroughly experience the culture of Prince Edward Island. Most exchange students will find themselves completely immersed within the culture once they arrive, due to the differences in cuisine, architecture and family tradition.