ROTARY BEACON FOR JULY 7, 2025
Co-President Ron Tuttle opened the first meeting of the new Rotary year 2025-2026 and encouraged all members to join the one or two committees. He also reviewed meeting dates and other key events over the coming months. Ron will serve as president for July, August and September, and then Co-Presidents Bob Wallace, Ken O'Neill and Kevin Moore will each be President for three months. All four members have been President at least once before. Ron was President in 1989 - 90 when Rotary International opened up membership to women, and in 2007 - 08 which was the year that we moved to the Knights of Columbus Hall.
A minute of silence was held for Bree Nixon’s husband, Dave, who passed away the previous week.
Lisa Sutherland served a delicious meal that featured stuffed chicken breast.
Program - Christine Thomson's Life Talk
Christine Thomson with her sponsor, Sandra Hicks
Christine was first introduced to the Port Hope Rotary Club during COVID when she purchased a take-out lobster dinner. The good memories stayed with her, and four years later, she joined our club.
Christine was born in Montreal, and she was an only child until the age of 13 when her sister arrived, followed by her brother. She and her family moved to Ontario when the French-only laws were passed in Quebec. Christine was 16 when she moved to Ontario, and she finished high school in Markham. Christine met her future husband in Edmonton. Her son is a pilot and works at a skydiving school. She currently is single after divorcing many years ago. She moved to Northumberland in 2000. Her home is located at the top of town on Bramley Street.
Christine has enjoyed a diverse career. She began in the retail world but later returned to school and obtained her PSW diploma. In her mid-forties, she obtained her nursing degree and enjoyed working as a nurse, supervising foot care nurses.
Christine opened her own foot care business, Sole Comfort Nursing Foot Care (https://www.solecomfortfootcare.com )and this is her current passion.
Her hobbies include travelling, sewing and gardening. She joked that “she works to travel”! President Ron thanked Christine for her interesting and informative Life Talk.
Announcements
Our Rotary Youth Exchange Student, Lorenzo Fava, attended his last Port Hope Rotary meeting. He delivered a thoughtful and sincere speech about what this past year has meant to him (originally written for delivery to his fellow grade 12 students at PHHS). He expressed his gratitude to his mother for encouraging him to become a Rotary YE Student and to go out of his comfort zone. He described his personal development since he first came to Port Hope in August 2024. He admitted to being scared at first, but slowly he came-out of his shell and embraced the opportunity to meet new people and experience new things. Lorenzo expressed his gratitude for the Youth Exchange opportunity and to the Port Hope Rotary Club for making him feel most welcome since his arrival.
Jana MacNeil & Olga Chernuck, Co-Directors of Fundraising, spoke briefly about the success of the Surf & Turf fundraiser. They also announced the Raffle Fundraiser, for which ticket sales launched on July 1st when 48 tickets sold on Canada Day. Members were each given approximately 25 raffle tickets to sell ($20 each) to friends and family. Only 600 tickets are available, so members were encouraged not to wait or sit on their tickets. Please provide updates about your ticket sales at each club meeting through July and August. If you’re having any difficulty or expect not to be able to sell all tickets, please advise Jana or Olga as soon as possible so tickets can be re-distributed. Our goal is to sell all 600 tickets. Ticket sales will wrap up on September 12th and the big draw will occur (and all 13 winners will be announced) at the Fall Fair on September 13 at 3:00 p.m. More info is available at https://www.porthoperotary.com/Stories/rotary-raffle.
Bob Wallace spoke about the Car Rally which will take place on Monday, July 21st. More information and the event invitation will be sent to club members. This event is a fun social event and it is open to everyone. Please bring a guest to the event. We will all congregate at a staring point in Port Hope for a leisurely drive in the country. We will answer questions along the way before we finish at a Northumberland restaurant for dinner. Drivers are encouraged to have a navigator. Bob Wallace needs to know the number of attendees by Thursday, July 17th.
Bob Wallace also updated the club about the recent Rotary International Convention in Calgary in June. There were 16,000in attendance so two opening ceremonies were held. The convention featured a large Indigenous contingent. In place of fireworks, there was a display with over 1,000 drones that produced the Rotary logo as well as many other shapes. The new Rotary International President, Francesco Arezzo, from Italy was introduced at the convention.
The meeting concluded with Happy Bucks, collected by Lorenzo, and he thereby performed his last official “act of service” for our club. There were many interesting thoughts shared by members, including plenty of “sad bucks” as we are all going to miss Lorenzo, but we wish him well and know he has a bright future ahead of him.
Next Meetings
July 21 - Car Rally on Monday – Start at 4:30 p.m. – Bob Wallace will tell us the starting point
August 5 (Tuesday after the Civic Holiday) – Rotary Youth Leadership Symposium report & Mayor Olena Hankivsky
August 11 – Brighton Rotary BBQ at Proctor Park in Brighton
August 25 - Corn Roast & BBQ at Ron & Bonnie Tuttle’s house
Farewell Party for Lorenzo July 10, 2025
Ron and Bonnie Tuttle hosted a farewell party for our Youth Exchange Student, Lorenzo Fava from Italy on July 10 on a beautiful summer evening at their lakeside property. Lorenzo’s parents, Emanuela and Giosue, and his 15 year-old sister, Julia, arrived in Port Hope on July 8. They will travel around our province and Quebec on a holiday before they fly home on July 28.
Lorenzo's parents, Emanuela and Giosue
Lorenzo invited his four host families, Rob Pope and Trevor and Shelley Hagerman from the District 7070 YE Committee, some other Rotarians from our club, two of his teachers from school and some of his friends from exchange and school to the party.
Lorenzo received an award for successfully completing the YE Program from Rob Pope and Trevor Hagerman, Co-Chairs of te hDistrict 7070 YE Committee
Lorenzo received an award from Rob Pope and Trevor Hagerman for successfully completing the year-long exchange program. Each host family spoke with affection about their time together with Lorenzo. His teacher at Port Hope High School spoke about the impact that Lorenzo had on students and staff. Then, Lorenzo thanked his parents for encouraging him to sign up for the Youth Exchange Program, all of his host parents and Rotarians in our club for their support, Rob, Trevor and Shelley from the D7070 YE Committee and his teachers and fellow students for helping him to have a wonderful exchange year.
Lorenzo has had a great year in Port Hope, and we all wish him all the best in the future!
Kevin Moore presented Lorenzo with a Port Hope T-Shirt and a U of T sweatshirt from our club.
Jim Millington told Lorenzo how much he and Dianne enjoyed being one of his host families.
Lorenzo with his first host Mom, Lori Moore.
Drina, Steve and Aldona Tallo reminded Lorenzo how much he livened up their home.
Karen Watson, a teacher at PHHS, shared fond memories of Lorenzo participating in many areas of school life.
Teachers Karen Watson and Brittany Andrews with Lorenzo's PHHS friends and Danish YE Student Simon on the right side.