Kim O’Grady is proud to serve this year as the President of the Rotary Club of Huntsville. This is also the home club of Area 4 Assistant Governor Brandy Van Gelder. The Rotary Club of Huntsville was chartered in 1934 and over several years, the club sponsored other Rotary clubs in the District - in Bracebridge, Gravenhurst, Parry Sound and Haliburton.
From the beginning, the Rotary Club of Huntsville became active both locally and internationally. The first major local project, the building of Pioneer Village (now Muskoka Heritage Place) started in 1961 and continued to expand throughout the years to include the addition of the Train Station. This site is a valued tourist attraction preserving the rich heritage of Muskoka. Over the years, many club contributions and partnerships have helped to better and strengthen the community. Some of these include donations to: Fairvern Nursing Home; Huntsville Hospital; Hospice Huntsville; the Library; the Centennial Centre (Summit Centre), Huntsville’s Fire Hall; Avery Beach Pavillon, the Hunter’s Bay Trail (part of the Trans Canada Trail); and the Youth Skateboard park. Some of their more recent projects include the band shell in Riverside Park and a contribution towards Huntsville Public School’s Accessible Playground.
Internationally this club has been part of several projects, including the delivery of wheelchairs to Honduras, the building of wells in Malawi, Shelter Box, and the HHART project in the Dominican Republic. Huntsville Rotarians supported the District international project, R.E.L.A.Y. by signing on as a project partner. Four members of the club joined the R.E.L.A.Y. team that travelled to Zambia last March. They are very excited about their new World Community Service project in Nepal. Huntsville Rotarians want to extend beyond their own borders and help in any way they can.
To fund these great projects, the Rotary Club of Huntsville has several fundraisers. These include: the Rotary On-Line Auction in November/December, Rotary TV Bingo year round, and DockFest in July. On April 27th, club members will be serving pancakes at the Muskoka Maple Festival. Huntsville Rotarians are grateful to be so well supported in their community and to have members who are engaged in club activities.
Huntsville Rotarians believe that a healthy mindset among the membership is the key to successful service. In order to give all members a voice, the Membership Committee lead a program called “Coffee Talk”. Members were given an opportunity to respond anonymously to the questions: “What do you enjoy about our club? What changes would you like to see? What could we be doing better?” Although they admit that it was a little like opening Pandora’s Box, they felt that they needed to listen in order to get a true pulse on the club. They feel confident moving forward as they implement the action plan derived from the Coffee Talks. Feel free to reach out to President Kim if you would like to learn more about their experience. 
If you are in the Huntsville area, please consider doing a make-up at the Rotary Club of Huntsville. Meetings take place on the first Wednesday of every month at 6:15pm, and all other Wednesdays at 12:15pm at Boston Pizza at 7 John Street in Huntsville. President Kim says that if you haven’t LIKED their Facebook page, please do and they will LIKE yours. You can also follow them on Instagram @rotaryhuntsville7010.
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