I don't believe it! At The Rotary Club of Toronto's first dinner meeting, you get complimentary reception cocktails, wine with dinner, a classical Ukrainian menu, and live piano music... what value is all set in the grandeur of the National Club?
Bring guests! Your partner, friends, and colleagues!
Fin DePencier is a Canadian journalist, photographer, and documentarian based in Yerevan, Armenia.
His work is regularly featured in the Armenian outlet Zartonk Media, which produced his first documentary about the use of white phosphorus in the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war. Fin is an author at Palladium Magazine and C2C Journal, where he's published dispatches over the last two years from Lebanon, Kazakhstan, and most recently Ukraine.
In the early hours of February 24th, Fin was on a train just outside Ukraine's second-largest city, Kharkiv, when the Russian invasion began. Fin spent the first two weeks of the war in Ukraine and created a short documentary for CTV's W5 program about his experience. He is now creating a documentary about the battle for Kharkiv with Dutch journalist Daphne Wesdorp.
THERE IS NO LUNCH MEETING
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 28
Help Wanted!
Sign Up and Mark Your Calendars Now
Holiday Hampers: every Rotarian is encouraged to invite guests to a party that they host and ask each guest to donate $40 toward a hamper. Also need a crew to pack the hampers on December 10th.
Holiday gift bags for Seniors: crew to pack the bags (venue & date TBD), drivers to deliver the bags to various locations around the city (date TBD but will be a weekday in December). This is in lieu of a party.
Steam Whistle Fundraiser in March: need 1-2 people to field questions as we start the planning (our member Fabio will provide guidance).
Contact Don Bell
Lori Brazier
Steve Smith
World Polio Day October 24
We are finally back to normal and our Rotarians and friends raised the flag at City Hall on October 21st.
Centennial College, October 14
It was historic news when our Rotary Club of Toronto announced that on Friday, October 14th, we would be meeting outside the downtown core. The new location would be Centennial College's Scarborough campus, and the Rotary Club of Scarborough would join us. In addition to attending the meeting, if you had construction boots and hard hats, after the meeting, you would be allowed to tour the job site of the College's newest building, designed by architect Craig Applegath. He spoke to our club in July about sustainable architecture.
In the College's Hospitality Center, we gathered in a large room and mixed ourselves with the members of the Scarborough Rotary Club and senior leaders from Centennial. We ate a delicious lunch of salmon, heirloom beet salad, roasted cauliflower and other dishes produced by the culinary students. The focus of the menu was seasonally available produce. The table talk was lively, with much-shared information on what our club or committees were doing in our communities.
Our president Jayson Phelps chaired the meeting with input from the President of the Scarborough Club, Michael Murton. The guest speaker was the CEO and President of Centennial College, Dr. Craig Stephenson. Wow! Did he get our attention? He was so enthusiastic about what Centennial College was doing for its students that when he finished, I thought Centennial College was a jewel in our Ontario educational system.
After the meeting, the small touring group donned their hard hats and worked boots with much teasing from fellow Rotarians. The Project Manager, Dan Beadle met and escorted us onto the work site, where we received safety glasses and reflective vests. We all looked like we could pick up a hammer and start working.
The Project Manager gave us a brief overview of the building's low carbon footprint and how its design would meet the needs of Indigenous students.
The first thing we saw was the large, laminated beams outside the building. These were produced in Quebec and had animal tracks embedded in them. I recognized the raccoon tracks. We saw many more unique designs inside the building, like the open staircase going up several stories and the large windows on one side. Here the students could gather to do homework or meet with friends and have a direct connection to the outside and nature. We also saw areas that connect the students with their Indigenous roots and the future office of the resident elders.
By the end of the tour, we all wanted to come back and see the finished product, which should be in September 2023.
