Rotary came to Guelph 100 years ago with the motto ‘service above self,’ and for 100 years, they’ve done just that locally and internationally.
With a track record of organizing iconic local events, the Rotary Guelph-Wellington Cluster — which covers seven Rotary clubs in Guelph and Wellington County — saw Rotarians donate two million hours of volunteer time and raise and invest $13.7 million in the community.
It supported hundreds of thousands of people internationally with numerous outreach initiatives such as helping eliminate polio, providing safe drinking water and building orphanages and schools in communities of many third world countries.
Locally, events such as Tour de Guelph, Ribfest, Lobsterfest, Duck Race, Grand Taste of the Culinary Arts and Sparkles in the Park have become a signature of Guelph.
“Those events have both Rotary identity and a community identity and they become sort of a thread in the community for people to actually enjoy as well as to raise money to put back into the community for different projects,” said Darlene Carpenter, assistant governor of the Rotary Guelph-Wellington Cluster who leads the seven clubs in the region.
“It’s just so heartwarming and so inspiring to work with fellow Rotarians that have such a sense of compassion and care about other people in the community.”
Carpenter, who has been a Rotarian in the region for nearly 25 years, said Rotary came to Guelph because Rotary International saw a need to help people in the area. She said what really stands out in the community is the feeling of gratitude from the community.
“That’s really what drives people to continue to support our local community because the people in our community —often not to their own fault — are in situations where they need help,” said Carpenter.
When the pandemic hit, the Rotary Guelph-Wellington Cluster saw a significant contribution to service above self motto. Carpenter said all Rotary clubs went virtual on Zoom to regularly meet and continue their humanitarian work.
“In fact, we’ve had equal if not better participation at each meeting,” said Carpenter.
She said Rotary members across the cluster really stepped up during the pandemic to provide relief from food insecurity, support seniors and run creative drives such as pajama drives and food drives.
They also ran online auctions. Initiatives like Christmas in a Bag were created to fundraise for businesses going through a difficult time due to the pandemic and other Rotary initiatives, like the Lobster Fest fundraiser reinvented itself into a drive-thru format to still be able to give back to the community.
“People have so much gratitude toward it that it really inspires others to feel they’re appreciated and want to be a part of giving,” said Carpenter.
She said ‘service above self’ has always been the basis of the Rotary’s work and that motto will continue.
