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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

www.ottawarotarycalendar.com

www.rcwo.org

We're getting caught up: More Rotary Cash Calendar 2020 Winners!

Posted by Brett Brooking

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!

What does 64 years of giving look like?

This is what 64 years of giving looks like! Disbursements since 1957

Dictionary4Life

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. now 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.

Bea Osome - Wells in Kenya

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

Survivorman & Shelter Box

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.

Survivorman | Les Stroud | with Shelterbox | in Ecuador (https://youtu.be/bQ-6raovoAg)

Survivorman | Les Stroud | with Shelterbox | in Sri Lanka (https://youtu.be/8R0zoMg_v2k)

International Services Committee Update

Click here to see the latest update on our International Services Committee projects.

RCWO Panel Discussion: Business Practices and Financial Strategies During & After COVID-19

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.

RCWO Suspends Fundraising for 2020

The times through which we are currently living has caused us all to re-evaluate our actions, behaviors, and activities, in particular those which have, or may have, an impact on the health, safety and security of ourselves, our families, and those with whom we come into contact. There is also a sense that public and individual confidence in engaging in activities requiring personal contact with those outside our immediate personal spheres of contacts may take some time to recover once social distancing restrictions are lifted.

We also have to be cognizant of the impacts of the current contagion on the businesses which provide the goods and services we all need and use. Many of these businesses are currently closed down and are likely to take some time to recover from the financial impact of COVID-19 once they are able to resume normal operations; others may not re-emerge from this period.

Two Drops of Patience

RCCPOS & RCWO Visit the All In One Child Development Centre

(Excerpted from the March 2020 Newsletter of District 7030)

On Wednesday 19^th 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.

PETS presents Valerie Wafer, Rotary International Director 2020-2022

A recent PETS (President-Elect Training Seminar) meeting by video conference included a presentation by Rotary International Director Valerie Wafer

A Rotary Picnic in the Rain

Posted on Jun 15, 2019

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.

Woodroffe High School Interact Club is Awake!

Posted by Joseph Redhead on May 22, 2019

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.

Flashbacks of a Prairie Kid

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

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.