Ever wonder how to pay your annual dues or Happy Dollars? Or perhaps you would like to make a donation to the RCWO Service Fund be it a general donation or to The Rotary Foundation (Annual Program Fund and Polio Plus Fund). Click on the "how to" guide to learn more.
Dear Fellow Rotarians, Members of the Rotary Family and Friends:
Given the lifting of restrictions of public gatherings, our face-to-face meetings shall resume as soon as Public Health says it is safe to do so for large indoor gatherings. Our three fundraisers have been cancelled for 2020- Mums Campaign, Rotary Cash Calendar and Music For Humanity concert.
Meanwhile our members have been donating their meeting fees to local charities including the Ottawa Food Bank and the Ottawa Hospital Foundation.
The RCWO Board and I encourage you to be COVID-19 Wise - to go about our daily activities protecting ourselves and others.
If you are interested in learning more about Rotary, our events, you are welcome to join us at our zoom meetings at 12:30 on Tuesdays.
Send us an email for the Zoom link.
Yours In Rotary Service
Caroline DeWitt
President, Rotary Club of West Ottawa
Committee Chair, Rotary Cash Calendar (2018-2020)
Sponsorship Chair, DisCon 2020
This campaign is now closed. Here is a summary:
The Rotary Clubs of Ottawa are coming together to help St. Vincent as it struggles to cope with La Soufrière Volcano eruptions.
The situation in St. Vincent is becoming a growing humanitarian crisis, with thousands of people now homeless and being primarily farmers, without land and a means of income. Rotarians on the ground are working selflessly to help feed the homeless, provide water and PPE to assist in minimizing the inhalation of ash and provide a measure of protection against a mass spreading of COVID-19.
In the longer term, Rotary will be involved in economic recovery efforts and in all likelihood, low-cost housing.
Leaders of volcano-wracked St. Vincent said that water is running short as heavy ash contaminates supplies, and they estimated that the eastern Caribbean island will need hundreds of millions of dollars to recover from the eruption of La Soufriere. Between 16,000 to 20,000 people have been evacuated from the island's northern region, where the exploding volcano is located, with more than 4,000 of them staying at more than 89 government shelters.
The main contact for this project initiative is President Caroline DeWitt. Please contact her if you have any questions at cdewittc@gmail.com
DONATIONS exceeded $14,000
Other Ways you can support the cause in Ottawa:
Yoga at Petrie Island (Rotary Club of Orleans)
More winners! See below.
With the reduction of Covid-19 restrictions, we have been able to resume our 2020 Cash Calendar draws. We're working hard to get caught up as soon as possible.
There are so many to post, they won't fit in this box, click Read More... below to see the list of catch-up winners so far! Or visit the 2020 Rotary Cash Calendar Website to see the entire 2020 list. And thank you for supporting the Ottawa Rotary Cash Calendar!
This is what 64 years of giving looks like! 
This Fall, our club will present Dictionary4Life books - COVID 19 style - to 12 Ottawa schools in both the public and Catholic school boards.
To see how we did it Covid 19 style watch this short video (3min18s) https://youtu.be/mdqV4wBkJKI
See what a difference one dictionary can make for life! RCWO's 60 second entry to the DGs challenge to tell the story of a club project. http://youtube/uCwcZQKQ6nE
To encourage donations for our local literacy project, Dictionary4Life, the Rotary Club of West Ottawa (Service Fund) Inc. has a profile on Canada Helps (www.canadahelps.org). Donating to this project has never been simpler! Simply click to make a safe & secure donation. A $20 donation will purchase at least 2-3 dictionaries! A tax receipt will be issued by Canada Helps for donations.
Rotary Club of West Ottawa member Bea Osome reported on her most recent trip to Kenya to work on providing more wells for villages in her home country. Bea is a 15 year RCWO member and a retired nurse who has a goal of clean water for all. Her most recent project is a well for the Madzou Primary School in Kenya to provide the students and the surrounding community with clean water. Digging the well required dynamite at times and required close supervision of the work force. The school will be responsible for well upkeep and will collect small payments from community users taking water for a fund to pay for vitally important ongoing maintenance
ShelterBox, created by the RC of Helston-Lizard, Cornwall, England in 2000, was in response to shelter those people who were caught in disaster areas caused by earthquakes, floods, hurricanes…. These boxes were to complement the other agencies whose focus was primarily on food and medicine. In the early days, the Boxes were distributed with some customization to meet the local geography and its climate. Now the emphasis is on ShelterKits which allow for singular items to meet the local situations. This means that people’s needs may be for hardware (saws, hammers for e.g.…) to help rebuild their homes, water filters, carrying jugs, solar powered lights…. At the same time tents can be provided.
Before any distribution can take place, ShelterBox International deploys a team of volunteers to the disaster area. Their role is to receive political clearance to complete a needs assessment. Then the trained and experienced volunteers establish a working relationship with the key local organizers as well as with the other international agencies such as Canada Aid, Oxfam…. Once the local organizers have determined the sites, custom clearance, and volunteers for transportation of the “boxes”, an official request is made to ShelterBox International.
Our Club, the Rotary Club of West Ottawa, has been responding to the ShelterBox requests for funds since 2001. Since then, our Club has generously funded Shelterboxes and ShelterKits to: Ecuador (4), Haiti (11), Namibia (1), Mozambique (1), Nigeria (1), Cameroon (1), Kenya (7), Niger (7) Pakistan (9), Lebanon (1) Gaza (2), Nepal (1) Myanmar (1), Philippines plus another 12 shipments. Over the decades, the RCWO has donated over $60,000 to aid those who are caught in natures’ horrific disasters.
For a video presentation of International ShelterBox’s invaluable work, take a few moments to view the attachments.
Click here to see the latest update on our International Services Committee projects.
On May 12, the Rotary Club of West Ottawa hosted a panel discussion on business practices and financial strategies during and after the COVID-19 crisis.
(Excerpted from the March 2020 Newsletter of District 7030)
On Wednesday 19th February 2020, the Rotary Clubs of Central Port of Spain and West Ottawa (RCCPOS & RCWO) paid a special visit to the All in One Child Development Centre in Beetham Gardens, Port of Spain.
President Elect Caroline DeWitt of the Rotary Club of West Ottawa read short stories and interacted with the children. In addition, she presented school principal, Charmaine Anderson with school supplies and chocolates for the children.
During the same event, President Anthony John-Baptiste of the RCCPOS presented books, school supplies as well as a cash donation to the Centre on behalf of Mrs. Alleyne, widow of the late Rotarian George Alleyne and the Mayfair Ladies Bridge Club. The George Alleyne library at All in One was recently rededicated in January this year by Her Excellency Paula-Mae Weekes, President of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago.
A recent PETS (President-Elect Training Seminar) meeting by video conference included a presentation by Rotary International Director Valerie Wafer
No amount of rain could dampen this enthusiasm!
This past Saturday, June 15, members of the Rotary Club of West Ottawa gathered at the house of Ed and Anne-Marie Balys for a BBQ to celebrate the supposed coming of summer.
Rotary International’s service club for young people ages 12 to 18 is known as Interact. Interact exists to develop constructive leadership and personal integrity, and foster an interest in world fellowship, in high school students worldwide. The Rotary Club of West Ottawa sponsors an Interact Club at Woodroffe High School. That club is mentored by teacher Jaden Lairson, the Head of the Canada and World Studies Department.
If you have any Prairie roots, or if you would like to know what it was like going to school in the WWII years or if you have an interest in the 40's and 50's or if you would just enjoy an entertaining read.....this book is for you! We would like to introduce you to this just published book entitled “Flashbacks of a Prairie Kid” by Merv Letts ISBN 978-0-9867490-2-5
Sinai Surgeon - The Adventures of an RCAF Medical Officer with the UNEF is the gripping tale of RCWO`s own Dr. Merv Letts during his time peacekeeping in the Sinai Peninsula during the 1966-67 lead up to the Six Days War.
 Suspended for 2020 |
 Rotary Music for Humanity Concert October 24, 2020 |
.jpg) Loading Mums for Deliveries |
 2016 Musicians and Hosts |
Vimy oaks to put down roots at Ottawa high schools
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/vimy-oaks-ottawa-trees-planting-1.4658843
Shared via the CBC News Android App
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/vimy-oaks-ottawa-trees-planting-1.4658843
Shared via the CBC News Android App
Want to know what happened in the first 50 years? Check out our 50th Anniversary Book
And then check out the next decade in our 60th Anniversary Book
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