Stories

Rotary Mississauga West Lobsterfest 

WE ARE BACK

Saturday, September 30, 2023 

The Rotary Club of Mississauga West joyfully resumed its role as the annual sponsor and volunteer organizer for the Rotary Cup at the Ridgeway and Collegeway basketball court.

The Coldest Night of the Year February 26th, 2022 is a fundraiser for people facing homelessness.   We entered a team and raised more than $5000 for Armagh House

As 2021 unfolded and we found ourselves still in the clutches of COVID.  For the first time ever, we ran two Ribfest events in one year in support of the increasing needs within the community. Our sponsors, friends, and community leaders came to the table not only once but twice, to support Rotary’s efforts and to that we say THANK YOU!

A review and background of the Rotary Club of Mississauga West.

Lobsterfest 2015 was held on Saturday, May 23 2015.  

The biggest fundraiser of the year operated by our club alone was again very successful.  Nearly 500 happy people enjoyed fresh PEI lobster, good wine, and good music.  Although the amount raised is not yet finalized, Lobsterfest will enable our club to continue its support of many worthwhile charities in Mississauga and further afield.  

Thanks to everyone - participants and Rotarians - for your hard work and support.

NOTE:  Travis has now returned, and has given us a personal account of his year in Italy.  However, his written account from earlier in the year is being left accessible as if you have a young family member or friend thinking about an exchange programme, Travis's description may be all the inspiration they need!   (It's lengthy, but too good to edit!) For some excellent pictures, click HERE

From deep in the Italian Po river valley:

Buongiorno a tutti,

January 27th... it’s January 27th! Where has the time gone? So much has changed in my 5 months here that I can hardly imagine my life before exchange. Italy is no longer a series of facts and numbers crammed into my head with jumbled notes about the renaissance and a picture of Venice and the Coliseum. No, Italy has come to be a series of beautiful people and amazing memories irreversibly intertwined with my own life. No longer does thinking about this place make me nervous about the future and doubt my abilities. Today I am fully confident I will be fluent in Italian by the time of my return. Moreover, I feel like I could go anywhere in the world and find some niche in which I could successfully apply myself. Months of relative isolation and hardship from a lack of language skills and homesickness have given way to a liberating sense of individuality and freedom of petty worries. My high school years, with all their drama and anxieties, seem nearly insignificant. These five months have been the beginning of a new life in which I am simultaneously the most individual I have ever been and the most dependent on good character of those I meet in my travels.

My current host family, the Albertonis have done so much for me since I arrived. My host father Franco truly treats me like a son. As a high level local government official he can answer all my endless questions with ease. Sometimes we end up taking endless detours through the Cremonese countryside to thoroughly explain the system of dikes that prevents the river from sprawling hundreds of kilometers wide across the floodplains. Other nights we’ll discuss Italian immigration policy over a game of chess -  or three. My host mother Laura is equally brilliant and best of all, makes huge breakfasts everyday to satisfy my enormous morning appetite. Moreover, they provide such freedom that I never miss out on spending time with friends and making the experiences that define exchange all the while actively seeking to include me in family trips around Italy.

In just 5 months I’ve seen perhaps more than in my entire life prior. I’ve climbed the great torrazzo of Cremona enough times to start keeping a PB time for climbing the 257 steps to the top. I’ve hiked up the pre-Alps into the clouds above Brescia. I’ve danced like no one was watching with complete strangers at the disco. I’ve wandered Milan by streetcar with my gut feeling as guide. I’ve prayed in Cathedrals nearly a thousand years old. Best of all, I’ve met and shared time with people whose lives so foreign to me have improbably crossed into my own for the time being.

            The Po valley of Italy or Padana,  far from the freshly paved subdivisions of Mississauga, is a nation with deep roots. Everywhere you go it seems people are dying to give you their little piece of wisdom, whether it be the “correct” way of producing parmigiana cheese - a dead serious rivalry in these parts - or a dialectic proverb. Strangely, inspired by the passion of the Italians, I find myself feeling greater connection to Canada than ever before.

To both the Rotary Clubs of Mississauga-Dixie and Mississauga West along with everyone else back in 7080 who make youth exchange possible I am forever grateful! Grazie mille!

Ciao signori, ci vediamo.

 

An article in Spirit of the City magazine for May/June 2014 commemmorates Pieter Kool's long time contributions to our community through the Travelogue programme, now sadly at an end.

To read the article, click here. 

Rogers Community Channel has made avaialble a video of the 2013  annual Easter Seals Christmas Party on Sunday November 24, at the Vic Johnson arena in Streetsville.  Click  HERE  to view it.  Children from more than 60 families, many seriously physically challenged, enjoyed crafts, face painting, an amazing magician and a snowball fight with some of Peel Region's finest police officers.  The highlight was of course a visit from the jolly old fellow himself, taking a few minutes out from his work up at the North Pole.  Needless to say, Santa brought a present for each of the children (with just a little organizational assistance from the two Rotary Clubs.)  Everyone - not least the volunteers - had a great time.

Chris Offer, a Rotarian from Ladner, BC has put together an "ínfographic"  with some fascinating numbers about Rotary in Canada.  To see it, click HERE

Lobsterfest was a great success, enjoyed by all those who attended.  A big "thank you" to all the Rotarians who put so much time and effort into making this event work so well, thanks to the students and adult volunteers who made the evening run so smoothly, and of course a huge thank you to all those companies and individuals who donated raffle and door prizes, that added much excitement to the evening.

The annual Peel Science Fair, a project of our Club for many years under the direction of Krish Murti, is coming up soon. This year it's being held on a weekend, to make it easier for you to show your support in person.

The Rotary Foundation is Rotary's own charity, whose mandate is to enable Rotarians to advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace through the improvement of health, the support of education, and the alleviation of poverty.

The Foundation is a not-for-profit corporation supported solely by voluntary contributions from Rotarians and friends of the Foundation who share its vision of a better world.  Many of our members are "Sustaining members" - Rotarians who give at least the equivalent of $100 US per year to the Foundation.  Please consider joining them.  For further information on Foundation in the form of a short video, please click here.

The April Travelogue presentation concluded the series for 2008-2009.
Watch for details of the 2009-2010 series, coming soon.

Do you want to find out who does what in the Club?  Do you have some fund raising ideas, or suggestions for speakers and want to know who to pass them on to?    Log in, click on "Admin" and you will find all this information and more in the "Club Document" file.  The Committee Roster file has been corrected and updated, and is a good place to begin.

Since 1965, the Rotary Club of Mississauga West
has had a long list of distinguished persons as leaders.
The roster for the first ten years follows: