Linda Rody is proud to serve this year as the President of the Rotary Club of Kapuskasing. This busy club of 22 members, doing the work of 44, has been serving the Kapuskasing area since 1966.
This “little club who can”, is very well respected in its community; if there is something happening in town, you can rest assured that Rotary is there, supporting it. The Rotary Club of Kapuskasing has always been and continues to be involved in numerous community events including the Kapuskasing Lumberjack Festival, an event in which they have been platinum sponsors for many years.
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The Rotary Club of Kapuskasing accepted the reins of the local Food Bank in June 2016, and immediately instilled professionalism, organization and enthusiasm in the typical Rotary standard of excellence. All 22 members of this progressive club became involved in the Food Bank operations in one way or another. The Food Bank is housed in the same building as the club’s Rotary Hall, so it’s readily accessible by members for involvement and participation. The day-to-day workings of the Food Bank are run by dedicated Rotarians who answer to a Board of 6 Rotarians.
The operation was completely overhauled, upgraded and improved, with only the wellbeing of the clients being the priority. The club initiated personal, individualized service, a point system for shopping, improved food selection, more variety, fruits, vegetables, milk, eggs and packaged meats when possible. Paramount to their mission, club members injected dignity and respect for our 250 clients, and at the same time, made them accountable and gave them responsibility for their actions and decisions.
The Food Bank gave the Rotary Club an avenue to become more involved in the social services in the community and diversify their abilities to reach out and create more contacts, to touch more members of our community. For example, partnering up with the Centre de Santé, a non-profit health centre focused on community health, is a unique and dynamic initiative, the first in Ontario, and allows the club to broaden its impact on the Anglophone and Francophone members of our Northern municipality.
This club is very proud of their impact in the lives of their citizens, and the Food Bank is another perfect example of Rotarians doing what they do best...making a difference in the world!
If operating the Food Bank is not enough to keep the members of the Kapuskasing club busy, the following is a list of some of the other projects in which they have been involved:
The Hospice Suite at the local hospital. Not only have they sponsored this unit with a $50,000 donation, a few of the club members were involved in the final design, selecting the furniture and decorating the suite give it a homey, comfortable look.
This year, the club applied for and received a District Grant to supply therapeutic equipment for the Kapuskasing chapter of the Cochrane Temiskaming Children’s Treatment Centre.
To help with the local environment, the club, in partnership with a local group called GREEN TK (Growing Roots for Each and Every Northerner, Town of Kapuskasing) built a park at a corner of a very prominent intersection. This coming fall, the Town of Kapuskasing will be dedicating this park as the “Rotary Park”.
The club is also involved in developing a series of hiking trails that will start in the local park and lead hikers down the river to a set of falls that have attracted would-be hikers for many years. The planning stages are now finalized and as soon as the ever-lasting snow leaves and the water levels lower, the club will start with the actual physical work on making the trails.
And again, assisting the community’s health care system, the club recently made a $75,000 donation towards the fundraising efforts for a CT Scan to the local hospital.
An ongoing fundraiser to assist the Youth Services committee raise funds for the Youth Services programs such as the Long-Term and Short-Term Exchanges and RYLA, is the Rotary Radio Day. Not only does this event raise significant funds to assist local youth, it is also a great venue for the club to create awareness by talking about the services they provide and what they do in their community.
If you happen to be in Kapuskasing at 12:00 noon on a Friday, please drop by to do a make-up at the Rotary Club of Kapuskasing and visit the Rotary Hall, also home of the Food Bank. Meetings take place at the Rotary Hall, 4B Ash Street, Kapuskasing.
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