Stories

The Rotary Club of Pemberton has been beautifying downtown Pemberton for the past several years.  Every spring we sell gorgeous sun and/or shade flower baskets to local business and individuals.  All of the profit from the sales goes to support two Rotary Scholarships at the Pemberton Secondary School.  This year we sold 205 baskets and the town looks amazing. 

On May 13 and May 14, a few members of our club solicited donations from the generous folks of Pemberton to go towards our contributions to ShelterBox Canada.  Our club has already committed to purchase 1 ShelterBox and we wanted to reach out to the community and let them know about this amazing organization and at the same time raise a few more dollars.  In a couple of hours each day we raised an additional $600.  Thank you Pemberton!

Please read our news release below;

Nepal Disaster Relief

Rotary Club of Pemberton will be at the Pemberton Valley Supermarket on Wednesday May 13 and Thursday May 14 between 4pm and 6pm collecting donations for the relief effort in Nepal.  The 7.8 magnitude earthquake that struck on April 25 killed more than 8,000 people, injured 18,000 and has left many thousands of families struggling to survive.  Rotary has already contributed $1,000 to purchase a complete family survival kit from ShelterBox Canada.  The survival kit contains a family tent with thermal liner, blankets and ground sheets, water storage and purification, solar lamps, cooking utensils, tool kit, and children’s activity pack.  With the support and assistance of Rotary International, ShelterBox was an early contributor to the relief effort providing approximately 1,000 units to the worst hit areas.  Rotary Club of Pemberton member Liz Scroggins said, “This is part of the reason why I joined Rotary – to help out less fortunate people around the world.  Especially in times of need like this.”  If you are out and about on Wednesday or Thursday please feel free to stop by the Supermarket and talk to your local Rotarians about the relief effort.  And if you can, we urge you to contribute your spare change to a good cause.

To learn more about ShelterBox visit www.shelterboxcanada.org. 

On April 22, 2015 a large contingent of Pemberton Rotarians hit the highway at 7am to clean the garbage from alongside Highway 99.  Our new Adopt-A-Highway Project has been spearheaded by Rotarian Dave DenDuyf who contacted the Ministry of Transportation & Infrastructure (MOTI).  

The Rotary Club of Pemberton will now be responsible for cleaning along the highway from the Petro Canada to the train tracks past Nairn Falls.  We have been supplied with all the necessary equipment from MOTI and they will be putting up signage acknowledging "our section " of highway in the near future.

On our first clean up mission, we collected 18 large bags of garbage and several large items including tires, pieces of metal, wood etc.

Come on out to Pioneer Park Sunday August 17, 2014 to enjoy a fun-filled, family style BBQ after your ride up the Pemberton Meadows.  Present the attached flyer to enter a draw for a Beautiful Bounty Basket full of local produce from Pemberton.

Event is from 1-7pm and includes live entertainment, BBQ, refreshments, bike check and kids entertainment.

All proceeds from the event go to support local Pemberton projects.

Pat and Brenda Montani made a presentation to our club on August 28th.

Our club is working with Bicycles for Humanity and aims to ship a container of bikes to Lesotho in spring 2014.

The attached presentation gives a great overview of B4H programs.

B4H programs

The Rotary Club of Pemberton presented a cheque for $500 to PSS Teacher Amy Erskine in late August.  The funds will be used to purchase bike repair tools and repair stands for a new Project Based LEarning (PBL) program.  Students will be collecting used bikes, repairing them, then giving them to those in need.

The class may also participate in repairing bikes that will be shipped to Africa with the Rotary Club's Bike Container Project.

Thanks to our August Fest event, we are contributing 50% of the funds required to irrigate the fields at the Meadows Sport Fields.  The irrigation system is an above-ground set up similar to what you would see on a farmer's field, but will do the trick to keep the grass in good shape.  

Come out to Big Sky and enjoy a great round of golf, lots of laughs and support the Rotary Club of Pemberton and the Chamber of Commerce

Rotary International is a worldwide network of inspired individuals who translate their passions into relevant social causes to change lives in communities.  The Rotary Club of Pemberton (RCOP) is one of 34,000 Rotary clubs worldwide that has dedicated community members to further the values of Rotary;  eradicate polio , provide clean water, promote literacy and support youth and community enhancement.   The RCOP has been in existence since 2005 and has committed energy and resources to a wide range of local and international projects.

We are excited for the opening of the Community Kitchen at the  Cottonwood Community Centre.  The RCOP has been fundraising and providing in-kind labour to build and outfit this important community space for the last three years, along with one of our many community partners, The Friends of the Library. 

Since last year, our club has been raising funds to assist the school build a new playground at Signal Hill Elementary School.  Our contribution will build Phase 1 of the Playground and you will see our club members out during the construction phase assisting where we can.   Funds for this project were raised at our annual Augestfest Event which takes place during SlowFood Cycle Sunday.  Other annual fundraising activities include our spring Flower Basket sale and the Annual Pemberton Rotary and Chamber of Commerce Golf Tournament, which is being held this year at Big Sky on June 14, 2013.

In partnership with the Village of Pemberton, we will be installing a Fitness Conditioning  Circuit around One Mile Lake this spring, so get ready to get fit as you walk or run around the lake.  This year we delivered a two-part Ethics course to Grade 10 students at Pemberton Secondary School (PSS) and Xit’olacw School . This Rotary-developed program aims to bring awareness to youth about the concepts of values and ethics.

Our club works on international projects as we recognize that we are part of the global community and try to provide assistance to those in need in.  In 2009, our club committed to support projects in Lesotho, South Africa.  This small African country has one of the lowest GDP’s in the world and has the third highest HIV infection rate in the world. In 2010 two club members worked on an African Library Project at the SOS Children’s Village Orphanage and in 2011 our club shipped a container full of used medical equipment, school supplies and books and two of our Rotarians travelled there to help with the distribution in the country.  In March, 2013,  three members of our club will be travelling  back to Lesotho to work with other Rotary clubs to implement a teaching farm in the rural mountain area of Malealea.  This is a long-term project designed to provide food security along with jobs, and life skills for at-risk orphaned youth.  This will be the third year that our club has travelled to Lesotho to work on projects in this small, impoverished country.

We also have a strong Interact Club (youth Rotary club) at PSS. The  young students work passionately on their goals through out the school year. This year they are fundraising to support Shelterbox International , which is a organization that provides shelter and amenities to families in countries where natural disasters have occurred.

If you would like to find out more please join us at our weekly meeting each Wednesday at 7:15am at the Cottonwood Community Centre.

Lizz and I travelled to Lesotho on Oct 1st to help with the distribution of goods from our 40 foot container.  After a few hiccups with customs, clearing, overland transportation and communication, we were able to receive the container, break the seal and open it up.  Trucks from four hospitals were standing by to load goods for their facilities.  We also had a truck on hand to load goods we shipped for SOS Childrens Village, Kick4Life and Malealea.  We ended up filling up two trucks of books, school supplies, jackets, soccer balls and jerseys and of course of beautiful quilts.

A full slide show is now ready!  Please click on the link below

Container Project On Schedule!

We have had tremendous response from our school supply, toy and book drives.  All donated items have been sorted and boxed up, ready to be shipped to Vancouver July 19th.  On July 30th, we loaded the container at the Rotary World Help Network  (RWHN) warehouse with Rotarians from clubs throughout the lower Mainland.

https://picasaweb.google.com/110390664240001119511/LesothoContainerProject?authkey=Gv1sRgCOXPxNLz8v6LpwE  

The main focus of the project is to ship medical equipment.  We have obtained three hospital beds (Whistler Health Centre), a few crutches and some supplies from Squamish General Hospital.  We also have acquired some dental hygiene products. The RWHN warehouse in Coquitlam has medical supplies set aside for us which we will load together on July 30th.

To compliment the much needed medical supplies, we are also added many items donated from generous people up and down the corridor.  We have a great collection of paper, pens, pencils, markers, workbooks, crayons and art supplies for the children in Lesotho.  We also have over 300 soccer jerseys donated from Squamish, Whistler and Pemberton Youth Soccer clubs.  Boxes of toys and books are also packed up and ready to go.   

The project, known as "Quilts for Africa" wouldn't be complete without beautiful handmade quilts from a variety of quilters around North America.  School children on the Sunshine Coast, quilters from Florida, Whistler and Pemberton, along with local knitters, have provided us with beautiful handmade blankets that will be given out upon our arrival this October. 

Thank you for all your donations and support 

Lynn Stochin presented information about the Rotary Youth Exchange Program.  Over 8,000 students a year participate in the Rotary exchange program which according to Lynn is noted as a "very challenging but rewarding year" for the students.  The program is open to kids 15 to 171/2 years of age, but 16 is typically the ideal age.  The program runs from late August to end of June and involves one entire school year.  It is a wonderful opportunity to have a year abroad and promote good will and peace.  The students are amabassadors of your home town, your country and Rotary.  If our club wants to consider sending a student, we have to be prepared and willing to accept a student.  For more information go to:

http://www.d5040youthexchange.ca/

The Rotary Club of Pemberton Centennial has been hard at work supporting the Quilts for Africa project . 

Find us on Facebook -Quilts for Africa

Project Contacts:

Lizz Kelly at lizzybuzz@telus.net

Liz Scroggins at scrogg@telus.net 

 YouTube clip (go to 4:40 minutes on video)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=St5RN9cnIjE

April 8 to 9th at Pemberton Secondary School.

Proceeds to World Vision 

The Rotary Club of Pemberton are proud supporters of the Family Strengthening Program.  Our club donated $250 to  the program on April 20, 2015.  Additional support was offered on May 20th when several club members, Friends of Rotary and Interacters helped prepare the meal for their event.

Special thanks to John, Liz, Pat, Ted, Dave, Linda, Janis, James, Sandy, Rolande, Casey Lee, Rene and Sarah.

A very successful trip for our Pemberton Rotarians to Lesotho, Africa.  Work at SOS Children's Village included sharing letters of friendship from Pemberton youth, establishing a viable poultry project on site at the orphanage, distribution of quilts and garden seeds to caregivers of vulnerable children.

Rotary meetings led to new contacts with African and American Rotarians.

The Rotary Club of Pemberton and the Maloti Club of Maseru signed a Sister Club Declaration.

Work at the Malealea Teaching Farm brought together Rotarians, school kids from the UK and Canada, Lesotho youth and elders.  

Individual stories to follow

Thanks to all the Rotarians that came out to help at Pemberton's annual Winterfest celebration.

The curling competition went off without a hitch as the Rotarians took charge at the curling rink.

It was a fantastic day!