Eighty years of service

Picton Rotary Club continues to serve the community

The Picton Rotary Club will formally celebrate its eightieth anniversary at the club’s Past Presidents meeting on June 27. In 1943, the Belleville club asked charter member A.F. Brown to form the Picton branch of Rotary. He gathered 16 other interested men and the club held its first meeting on May 25, 1943, with Ed Williams as club president. The club was chartered on June 7, 1943. It immediately began its fundraising effort, and that year sent a $3,500 cheque to the Hospital for Sick Children for children with special needs. Around the world there are over 46,000 clubs and over 1.4 million members, all working towards making this world a better place. The Picton club has been a long-time supporter of the County hospital, the Regent Theatre and the library. It supports youth through the Air Cadets, and offers bursaries to graduating PECI students. The Picton club also administers the Matt Stever Fund, which offers assistance to families who are struggling to cope with the accident, severe illness or death of a child. The club offers recognition via the Paul Harris Fellow award to community members whose work has made Prince Edward County a better place. In addition there are fundraising events such as the Rotary Golf Tournament and the Lilac Ride, which was established by the late Jim Barkman. The Picton Rotary Club was instrumental in the formation of the Wellington Rotary Club in 2002.

Over its 110-year history, the Rotary Club has evolved and changed with the times. Around 1989 the international club began to invite women to join, and in 1990 Debbie MacDonald Moynes became the first female member of the Picton Rotary Club. She was elected as club president for 1996/97 and is still an active member of the club. Currently the club has 54 members, with approximately a quarter of them being women. MacDonald Moynes said that becoming a member of Rotary as a great way for her to give back to the community. “There are great rewards from helping the community through that work,” she said. “Rotary is an international organization, so it really does give a person a broad perspective on the needs of the world and the ways to address those needs.” The Picton club has contributed to a hospital in Beirut and more recently to relief efforts in Ukraine. One of the big international projects with a very significant contribution from the County was the establishment of a vocational training school in Atorkor, Ghana. This happened through the tireless work of Peta Hall, and today the Institute is thriving and being independently run. Another international project is the drive to eradicate polio. “We are so very close,” said MacDonald Moynes. “Rotarians around the world are not going to stop until we have eradicated polio.”

Rotary’s motto is “Service Above Self”, and members put their own labour towards making their club a success. Picton members volunteer their time to delivering meals to seniors one month of the year for the Meals on Wheels program; they have cleaned up roadsides and beaches, and they have helped to create and maintain the Rotary Woods Walkway at Macaulay Conservation Area. Members of Picton Rotary continue to find great satisfaction in helping to meet the needs of their community. “Being a Rotarian is an opportunity to meet other like-minded people. We help to address local needs right here in our community, and we do fundraising to support people in other parts of the world,” said MacDonald Moynes. For more information about Picton Rotary, and to read a more detailed account of the club’s history, please visit pictonrotary.ca.