Rotary Beacon for September  22, 2025

 

Rotary Club of Port Hope Beacon for September 22, 2025

Welcome and Introductions

Co-President Ron Tuttle opened the meeting by welcoming guests and new members:

  • Ian Jarvis (newest member); Niecy Dillion (District 7070 District Governor (DG)), Jeff Van Kessel and Debbie Morgan (all from the Whitby Sunrise Rotary Club); Rob Pope (Assistant Governor) from Campbellford.
  • Exchange Students:  Elina Glasser from Austria and Julie Koutkova from the Czech Republic
  • Port Hope High School Interact Students:  Trissa Torres and Phaedra Waterfall

Announcements

  1. September 28th – District Foundation Walk from 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. at Nort Johnson Park, Vaughn.  Advise Bob and Kathy Wallace if you’ll be attending.  Meeting at Toronto Road & 401 Car Park to carpool.
  2. September 30th – 6:30pm. Tom Jackson at Capitol Theatre – Truth & Reconciliation Celebration.
  3. October 10th – Hon. Stephen Lecce Speaks at Cobourg Rotary Club. E-mail invitation to follow.
  4. October 14th – Free AI Workshop hosted by Helen Walsh (Northumberland Sunrise Club) at Best Western, Cobourg.  Register in advance.
  5. Port Hope Rotary Fundraiser Raffle Draw was a huge success as all 600 tickets were sold, thereby raising $12,000.  A big thank-you to Olga Chernuck, Jana MacNeil, Sandra Hicks and all those who sold tickets and volunteered to sell tickers at Gilmer’s Home Hardware, the Town Park Recreation Centre and at Davis’ Independent Grocer.
  6. The 2025 Rotary Food Booth at the Port Hope Fall Fair raised a record profit of around $10,500 (more than double from 2024).  Our club is especially grateful to the Knights of Columbus for their help with set-up, volunteering on the Friday evening and helping with the take-down. We also recognize our Sponsors (Olympus Burger, Joice Sweanor, and Steve Tallo – TMG The Mortgage Group).  Perhaps the greatest success of this event was the support from club members and from the Port Hope High School Interactors who all volunteered and made the event loads of fun.

The Seargeant at Arms, Ken O’Neill hosted a lively round of Happy Bucks. Members and guests eagerly and generously participated, and everyone was delighted to have Happy Buck return after a lengthy pause.  Three couples are celebrating wedding anniversaries - Ron and Bonnie Tuttle, 56 years, Bob and Kathy Wallace, 49 years and Kevin and Lori Moore, 44 years.

Guest Speaker

Assistant Governor Rob Pope introduced District Governor Niecy Dillon. Niecy joined the Whitby Sunrise Club in 2013, and she quickly made her presence felt as she assumed many leadership roles with lots of committee involvement. Neicy is a Paul Harris Fellow and has received numerous awards.  Outside of Rotary Neicy, works in Real Estate administration, and has a lovely family.  Her focuses during her year as DG will be around Youth, the Rotary Foundation, and having plenty of FUN!

 

 

Immediately following her introduction, Niecy proceeded with an Induction ceremony for three new Members to the Port Hope Rotary Club:  Christine Thompson, Ian Jarvis, and Aldona Tallo. Bruce Coleman, (Membership Co-Director) presented Rotary membership pins, name tags & lanyards, and framed pictures of Rotary’s 4-Way Test.  Niecy shared that the induction of new members is her favourite part of her District Governor role.

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L to R: DG Niecy Dillon, Ian Jarvis, Christine Thomson and Aldona Tallo

Niecy then delivered an informative and inspirational presentation to the Club and her key messages included: a reminder that Rotary doesn’t run on auto-pilot, it needs everyone’s involvement.  We are called to be changemakers and Rotary must evolve too. Change is made possible through Rotary’s 4 pillars:  Impact, Reach, Engage and Adapt. If we are to be effective at living the 4 pillars, we cannot treat Rotary like it’s a secret – we need to be proud and loud about what Rotary stands for.  Don’t be afraid to tell our stories.  We must adapt by looking at our next generation who are not just our future; they are our NOW.  We reach others and build stronger clubs through meaningful service and measurable impact.  Rotary is a journey people choose and not just a club we join.

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L to R: Interactors Phaedra Waterfall and Trissa Torres, DG Niecy Dillon, Campellford YE Student Elina Glasser and Port Hope, Cobourg and Northumberland Sunrise YE Student Julie Koutkova

Niecy challenged us as follows:  Keep busy and be fun, whacky and vibrant.  Yes, we do service work but have fun and enjoy doing it together.  (She shared that she visited our recent Fall Fair Food Booth and witnessed our club hard at work but also having plenty of fun).  She closed her presentation by reiterating this year’s theme as she stated, “This year and every year, we will UNITE FOR GOOD”.

Co-President Ron Tuttle thanked Niecy for her inspirational talk.  Kevin Moore led us in the singing of O Canada to close the meeting

Next Meeting

Our next meeting will be on October 6 at the Knights of Columbus Hall. The speaker will be Scott Smith, The Everest Group, TD Wealth Private Investment Advice, who will review the Trust Funds Portfolio.

Co-President Bob Wallace will take over the leadership of our club along with his pod for the next three months, October, November and December.  His pod members are: Bruce Coleman, John Davidson, Jana MacNeil, Adam Pearson, Susan Rafuse, Christine Thomson and Laurene Winkler.

 

 

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