Rotary Club of Ajax Awarded Rotary Citation
Our club was recently awarded a 'Rotary Citation', which is the most significant award a Rotary club can achieve, for 2023-24.
In its accompanying email Rotary International stated that "this past year, our club demonstrated a commitment to achieve its goals, which ultimately helps strengthen Rotary and shape its future". Congratulations to all of our members who made this achievement possible.
At SUNNYBRAE GOLF CLUB
1430 King St. Prince Albert
(905) 985-2234
Registration starts at 1:00 pm
9 Hole Shotgun Tee Off @ 2:00 pm -- Open to the first 72 Golfers
Dinner @ 6pm with choice of Steak or Chicken
$125 per golfer includes golf cart and meal.
$60 per person for meal only
Greatest Live Auction and Prizes
Click on the following link to download the registration form 
Past President Rene Soetens - A History Story
Rene regaled club members about his relationship with Rotary, both prior to being a member and during his many years as member, providing many anecdotes about the history of the club.
Camp Maple Leaf
Marci Shea-Perry is the Executive Director of Camp Maple Leaf founded in 1955. Their focus is on children aged six to sixteen whose parents are in the military, as well as children whose groups are so small, they don’t fit into other programs: examples are children whose parents are grieving, have cancer, limb differences, short stature, facial difference and skin conditions to name a few. Children in military families have unique challenges, including long deployments of their parents, and frequent moving from one base to another making it challenging to form and maintain social connections.
Adopt a Village in Laos
Our guest speaker, Steve Rutledge, reported this has been a very busy year for ‘Adopt a Village in Laos’. Fund raising was way up, including some substantial donations, and much more activity than previous years, with more than 300K raised last year. Thousands of villages housing 60,000 people now have clean water, and for each village so supplied it is a milestone event. Steve hopes that members and the club will continue financial support of his project. He invites members to go to their website to get more information.
We Grow Food
Thanks to Delta Bingo funds the Rotary Club of Ajax donated $2,500 towards the parent organization "We Grow Food" to buy garden kits. Below is one of some 70 community gardens in the Durham region.
2024 President's Luncheon & Awards Recipients
First row right to left: Jim Hinnecke (Paul Harris Award), Ken Hurst (President's Award), Brian Edwards (Paul Harris Award), Myrna Picotte, David French
Middle row right to left: Randy Slemin (Paul Harris Award), Bruce Green (President's Award), Marsha Jones-Dooley
Back row right to left: Kevin Brown & Darryl Wilson (more below), Keica Campbell, Ron Larock (Paul Harris award), Donna Bright (President Elect), Dr. Romas Stas (more below), Rene Soetens, Dale Pratt, George Okurapa (President & Paul Harris Award)
Winner of the 2024 Rotary Certificate of Appreciation
Waste Connections of Canada (Ajax)
Back row right to left: Representing Waste Connections of Canada Kevin Brown (District Manager) & Darryl Wilson (Operations Manager)
Winner of the Pat Bayly Award
Back row, fourth from the left: Dr. Romas Stas
Rotary Club of Ajax wins two awards
At the District awards dinner and District Governor hand over in Whitby, our club was delighted to learn that The Rotary Club of Ajax was the winner of two awards namely:
(1) The Devon & Linda Biddle Annual Fund award. This award is given to clubs with the highest per capita contribution to the Rotary Foundation Annual Fund.
(2) The Bill and Delphine Patchett Polio Plus award. This award is given to clubs that have the highest per capita contribution to the Rotary Foundation Polioplus Fund.
Congratulations to the Rotary Club of Ajax!!
End of Year Social Get Together
To wrap up the Rotary fiscal year, President George and his wife Edidah graciously hosted a BBQ at his home.
Thanks for a great year George!
New Rotary Club of Ajax Members
Rotarian Randy Sleiman (center) processes the Induction of two new members to our club: Cam Muscroft (right) and Olu Egbeyemi (left). Welcome Cam & Olu!
Congratulations to our 2024 Bursary Award Recipients
Presented by President George Okurapa
Recipients (left to right): Phillip Nguyen, Janet Sofo and Kindra Zuwirai.
2024 Rotary Ribfest
The Rotary Club of Ajax held it's annual Ribfest fundraising event the weekend of May 24, 25 & 26. With eight ribbers, twenty one food vendors and twenty three craft vendors, not to mention amazing venues such a live music stage, kids carnival, rock climbing, Reptilia (new) and Foam Party (new - see picture below), the successful event drew more than 35,000 visitors. Truly amazing outcome and only possible with the hard & dedicated work from our club members.
Durham Family Cultural Centre (DFCC)
Former Ajax Rotarian Debbie Miles-Junior made a presentation about the non-profit that she founded - Durham Family Cultural Centre (DFCC) - https://durhamfcc.org/
Durham Family and Cultural Centre is a non-profit organization, established in February 2019. DFCC is a Durham-based organization that provides a space for members of the Black community, and other racialized and diverse groups to engage in programming that empowers their lives.
Rotary Club Varanasi Downtown - India
Guest Rotarian Prahsant Nagar, President of his Club (2017/18), Past Assistant Governor (2021/2022) and District Governer's Representative (2024/2025), with his wife he is currently seeing family in Ajax. He is taking the opportunity visiting local Rotary Clubs in order to gain support for a Global Grant his Club is pursuing.
Kids Against Hunger Event
What an amazing event! The event goal of packaging 50,000 meals was exceeded. Working alongside other community organization our club packed 52,488 meals! Congratulations to everyone who made this happen.
Feed The Need Food Packaging
Rotary Club of Ajax members George, Ken, Marsha and our volunteers showed up big time to pack hundreds of thousands of food for Feed the Need!!
Thank you to all the volunteers!!!
WindReach Farm & Delta Bingo
Carol Dahlquist and Kerry Wright of WindReach Farm, provided information about recent activities at WindReach. Carol started by showing a video presenting the activities of the farm, showing how it empowers, inspires, and changes lives, giving opportunities to those who wouldn’t otherwise have them. She noted that the farm activities are managed by three interlinked boards, each of which plays to board members specific interests and abilities. Shown below is the $14,000 Rotary donation to WindReach made possible from Delta Bingo charity funds.
Speakers Lisa McIntosh, Director of Income, Employment and Homelessness Support and Sahar Foroutani, Supervisor, Employment Programs, Region of Durham
Homelessness is growing across Durham Region. According to data from the Region’s By-Name List, 359 individuals are experiencing homelessness as of August 2023, compared to 134 people in 2017.
The Region of Durham is responsible for the planning and co-ordination of the Homelessness Support System across local municipalities, which includes providing shelter and support. As part of the Region’s housing-first approach, supports, services and strategies lead to housing to help people end their homelessness while meeting their basic needs. The ultimate goal is to end chronic homelessness.
Salvation Army Ribbon Cutting Ceremony
The Salvation Army HOPE Church & Community Services relies on the support of community donations, such at the Rotary Club of Ajax with Delta Bingo funds to continue serving the most vulnerable in need in the communities of Ajax, Pickering and Uxbridge. The Salvation Army held a special Donor Recognition ribbon cutting ceremony and reception on March 23rd 2023. Past Rotary President Marsha Jones Dooley, current President George Okurapa and Director Ken Hurst attended the ceremony.
Speaker at Ajax Rotary March 21 March of Dimes
Kim Smith, Coordinator Polio Canada & National Programs, Community Programs presented an update to the Rotary Club of Ajax via a Zoom. Sanjeev Agnihotri, a polio survivor, delivered a powerful testimony with his inspirational and informative presentations. Living with polio is a lifelong challenge which everyone can attest to after hearing Sanjeev’s presentation. For polio survivors, the onset of post-polio syndrome in later life presents a new set of symptoms which can be even more devastating. Post-Polio Canada continues to link polio survivors and their caregivers to peer support groups nation-wide. The program focuses on providing valuable information, resources and support to people with post-polio syndrome and the community.
Rotary International is a global network, and was a pioneer in the fight against polio worldwide. It started its efforts in 1978 with the goal of eradicating polio and continues its support to this day.
Below are pictures of Durham Region polio survivors who attended the presentation session, along with President George Okupara and Director Foundation Rotary Club of Ajax Ken Hurst.
Feed the Need Durham Receives $16,000 Donation
Ben Earl, CEO of Feed the Need Durham, the regional food hub that supports some 65 organizations providing emergency food programs. To that end, they collect and sort food for distribution, acting as central clearing house.
Thanks to Delta Bingo the Rotary Club of Ajax donated $16,000 from our Delta Bingo charitable funds to Feed the Need Durham.
The organization has recently refined their business model to create different channels depending on the type of facility. Collectively there are now half a million visits to emergency food organizations, with rapid growth continuing, both in absolute numbers and frequency. They currently distribute over 2 million pounds of food, with an expectation of 4 million pounds by 2028, which means increased need for infrastructure, volunteers, and paid staff to support that goal.
Ben Earl - CEO Feed the Need Durham (left), Ken Hurst (center) - Director Foundation Rotary Club of Ajax, George Okurapa (right) - President Rotary Club of Ajax
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