Sebastian Biasucci, Marketing & Events Manager, Neighbourhood Link

Building a Better Tomorrow

Our Club received the Recognition/awards for Polio, Best club per capita and received the district Grant !

Willowdale Rotarians in Action- "Service above Self"

New Circles Builds Stronger Communities

Hope, opportunity and skills for a brighter future. New Circles is a shining example of what a difference a caring community can make. The connections we make with our clients and our valued partners help to create strong communities that facilitate new beginnings and foster a supportive, safe space.

www.willowdalerotary.org

It's with a heavy heart that we are announcing the sad news of the departure of our beloved Fellow Rotarian Dennis Kuysten. Our deepest condolences to his wife Lu Ann Lafrenz, his son Kristopher, family and friends.

Dennis Kuysten of Bobcaygeon, formerly of Willowdale, Ontario passed away at home October 28, 2021 at the age of 68. Beloved husband of Lu Ann Lafrenz and dear father of Kristopher. Dennis is survived by his wife, son, mother Anne Gauthier (Brockville), sister Wilma Kuysten (Brockville), nephew Harris Lemon (Kingston) and brother Laurence (estranged), and numerous in-law family members in Iowa and Illinois. Dennis is predeceased by father Adriann Stephanus. Dennis was born and raised in Brockville, Ontario. Dennis worked in the Fleet Management industry for over 40 years and was part of the founding team at Transportaction Lease Systems Inc. (TLS) His work legacy was creating and implementing innovative ways to procure the funding needed to grow TLS into one of the largest fleet management companies in Canada. He is credited with being the first to develop and implement funding by way of “securitization”, which is used by all corporations in the industry today.  After retiring from TLS, he continued in the industry by starting Tax Plan Leasing.

For almost a quarter of a century many wonderful memories were created at the family cottage on beautiful Stoney Lake. Involvement in Boy Scouts started for Dennis as a youth and grew into an adult leadership role in the 6^th Willowdale Scouts. After retirement Dennis became active in the Willowdale Rotary Club and he was a former president and Paul Harris Fellow. Recently he was involved in both the Fenelon Falls and Bobcaygeon Probus clubs. Amazing friendships were born from his curling at Avon Lea (Toronto), Bayview Golf & Country Club (Thornhill), Bobaygeon Curling Club and the Canada to Scotland 2014 Rotary Curling Tour Team. Additional activities he enjoyed include travelling across Canada and internationally, water sports, winter sports, winter and RV camping, golfing, cooking, playing cards, listening to 60s music and using up eight of his nine lives on motorcycles. Anyone that knew Dennis would say “he has a sense of humor, with a joke for every subject” and “stay away from talking politics unless you’re up for a hardy debate".

Thank you Dennis for all your great years of service. You will be missed.

Rotary Club of Willowdale would like to extent it's utmost gratitude for all the great contributions we received in 2020-2021. We are at the end of another Rotary year, and It was an honour to serve you as President. I am handing over the GAVEL to our President Elect Chungsen Leung.

Thank you everybody for a beautiful Virtual Turn Over meeting on June 26th, 2021. This was our second one, and I sincerely hope we will have the next one in person with all our Fellow Rotarians.

It's an understatement to mention that it was a very tough year for many! The Pandemic was a big lesson for all of us. The Rotary Club of Willowdale suffered the loss of great members and partners. Jan, Deborah and Carol, we will miss you forever!

Despite it all, people contributed to our projects, and for that we are grateful. Because of your kind donations, our projects were successful and made a significant difference in the life of many in Canada and abroad.

Thank you for contributing to: our Ham & Cheese project benefiting North York Salvation Army, our first Rotary Foundation Virtual Walk, our Food Bank benefiting North York Harvest Food Bank, The Phillips House project at the North York General Hospital, The Arusha School project in Tanzania Africa, The Kerala Schools Project in India -- offering computers to 15 schools in 4 districts, our Gratitude Garden project honouring our front line workers, SMILES benefiting locals and people in the Dominican Republic, and many more projects we are proud of.

I have no doubt that our projects will continue to be successful in the very capable hands of our magnificent team and new board members. Thank you for giving me this wonderful opportunity to serve you, and a big thank to my family for all the great support during this past unprecedented year.  Service Above All!

Working Committees:

Legacy Projects:

Arusha, Tanzania - Margaret Adat

Kerela, India - Jobson Easow

Salvation Army (Literacy & Christmas Luncheon) - Dae-Gun Kim

Gratitude Garden - Heather Graeme

Scouts Peace Award (new) - Heather Graeme

Tree Planting (environmental) - Stephen Philips

Water Projects - Peter Vanek

70^th Anniversary Celebration - Bill King (Coordinator) Stephen Philips

Rotary Club of Willowdale is happy to be part of the Kerala Schools Project in India.

A beautiful project of over $29,000 CAD: Computers for 15 flood affected schools to help rebuild their IT labs.

This project is lead by our fellow Rotarian Jobson Easow. With the help of many kind people in Canada and abroad, this project completed it's first phase by delivering the first computers to the schools that were affected by the devastating floods in Kerala, India.

In 2019 a committee was formed at the Rotary Club of Willowdale in Canada, to start a project to re-build computer labs in 15 schools in Kerala. A fundraising event was organized and got commitment/support from 7 clubs. Many meetings were conducted between Willowdale and Indian Rotary club. The project applied for RI grant but was not successful, and the team decided to do this project in 3 phases. We are also thankful that in 2020 Kerala Rotary partner up with Rajagiri outreach in India, and the first schools are well equipped now to start rebuilding their IT labs. The Fundraising event in Canada in 2019, organized by Rotary Club of Willowdale's Jobson Easow, raised $29,000 CA. The Kalamassery Rotary Club added $2,000 US to the project. in early 2021, the first phase of this 3 part project was delivered to the first 8 schools in Kerala.

 

This IT lab infrastructure support project will allow 15 Kerala schools to get connected again.

Kerala is a small coastal state at the southern tip of India and was an idyllic tourist paradise until it was ravaged by unprecedented floods. The fury and ferocity of the rain and resulting floods was devastating for Kerala. The last time a flood of this magnitude occurred was in 1924.

The current floods could be described as the ‘flood of the century’ and it claimed almost 500 lives. The floods have caused immeasurable misery and suffering for the people of Kerala and the scale of destruction and devastation in Kerala is massive. Entire villages have been evacuated and bridges, roads and other infrastructure have been completely destroyed. Over a million people were displaced and it will set Kerala back by decades, at least two according to experts. The damage is estimated in the range of USD 6 to 10 billion. More than 25,000 kilometres of roads along with over 200 bridges have been destroyed or damaged, while estimates of the number of houses to be rebuilt vary from 50,000 to 100,000.

Tourism and agriculture sectors in the state have been badly affected. Needless to say, many people have lost their livelihoods. It is estimated that over 3 million people have lost their livelihood. Several medical facilities in the state have been damaged and health authorities are concerned about the risk of communicable diseases as the flood water recedes.

Rotary Club Willowdale (Canada) with the help of Rotary Club Kalamassery (Kerala) had undertaken the initiative to re-build computer labs in 15 schools of 4 districts in 3 phases.

Happy to report that the Phase 1 of this project is completed. The first 8 schools received their IT lab equipment in early 2021. Awesome job everybody!

Greetings, fellow Rotarians and Rotaractors!

I am so honored to serve as your president this year. We have important work ahead of us at Rotary, and we are going to have a lot of fun as we do it. 

Last year, we launched our five-year Action Plan to build a stronger future for Rotary. We are working to increase our impact, expand our reach, enhance participant engagement, and increase our ability to adapt. The last several months have shown that we — as Rotarians and Rotaractors — can realize these goals as we forge a new path for the future.

Without question, COVID-19 has posed new and previously unimaginable challenges for Rotary. But within every challenge is perhaps an even greater opportunity. And while I could not have known what lay ahead when I selected my theme for the year, Rotary Opens Opportunities has even greater relevance as we begin our new Rotary year.

I am incredibly inspired by how our members have adapted and responded to COVID-19. This global pandemic has made it difficult for many of our clubs to operate as usual, but we persevered, and over the past few months, I’ve enjoyed connecting with my fellow Rotarians and Rotaractors in a new way: by visiting hundreds of clubs from my home. It’s been fun to attend so many meetings virtually. If you haven’t already, I encourage your club to try an online meeting or add an online component, like hosting a guest speaker from a Rotary or Rotaract club located in a different part of the world.

As we build a stronger future for our organization, it’s good that we are reaching out to new people and introducing them to Rotary. It’s important that our clubs reflect the communities we serve. More diverse voices in our clubs and in our leadership will help Rotary stay in touch with a changing world.

So let’s find every opportunity to show we value each and every member. Let’s seize this moment to build on what we’ve learned, to embrace our new reality, to welcome new faces, and to find additional ways to shine. This is how we will have a continuing impact on the world. And if you need assistance along the way, Rotary offers many resources that can help you reach your goals.

Rotary means different things in different parts of the world, but we are all united by our core values and by The Four-Way Test. Rotary may change, but our values remain constant.

I look forward to hearing about how you’re finding new opportunities to engage and make an impact in your club and community. Rotary Opens Opportunities, both for the people we serve and for ourselves.

Thank you.

Holger Knaack
RI President, 2020-21

Jack Marshall, age 96, died peacefully on July 23, 2020 at Sunnybrooke Veterans Centre, Toronto, his home for the past 4 1/2 years. He was the adoring husband of Audrey for 69 years until her death in 2012, and the surviving older brother to Keith, Joan and Ted (2019). Survived by sisters in law Loreen Scales and Anita Marshall. Jack was father to Patricia Bangay (Garth), Janice Henty and Lesley Willox (Rob); grandfather to Alyson (Gilles), Meghan (Chris), Meredith, Jessica (Chris), Jeremy (Sarah), Liam and Sarah; great grandfather to Isabelle, Olan, Oliver, Carys, Peter, Matthew, Julianna, Ben and Walter

Jack served as a navigator in a Halifax Bomber during WWII, returning to Canada and to his wife Audrey in 1945. He opened his own chartered accountancy business in Willowdale which later merged with Thorne Riddell, then KPMG. Jack became a well known member of the community and a committed member of the Willowdale Rotary Club, serving as their treasurer for many years. The club awarded him Rotarian of the Year 1989-1990 and he was a Paul Harris fellow. Jack was a man of strong ethics who worked tirelessly until his retirement in 1986. In retirement, he donated his expertise as church treasurer to St Patrick’s Anglican Church, played bridge, golf, and enjoyed social events with Audrey and friends in both Canada and Florida.

We would like to thank all the people over the years who have shown such kindness to Jack, including niece Catherine, and companion Dawn. There are too many to mention, but all of the staff at Sunnybrooke Veterans’ Centre are to be gratefully thanked for their exceptional care of Jack. Their commitment to excellence is beyond measure.

A private graveside service will held on July 26th, you are welcome to join the family remotely by following the link below:

https://youtu.be/1m4pSgjX4Po

The family ask that any donations in his memory be given to Rotary International.

Rest eternal grant unto him Oh Lord.

IPP Jan Siegel of the Rotary Club of Willowdale Funeral Services will take place at 11:00am on Monday the 27th of July, 2020 from the graveside of Pardes Chaim. Due to social distancing and Covid-19 restrictions, only immediate family members are permitted to enter the grounds for the funeral services. The services will be live streamed, and you may google Benjamin Park Memorial, then go to Jan Siegel's name, and you will be instructed how to get to the live stream.

Details of the services are listed in the newspaper and on Benjamin's website. You can view the funeral by going to benjaminsparkmemorialchapel.ca and scroll down to Current Listings, click on Siegel Janis, then on the YouTube link provided on her page.

https://youtu.be/sktNMiwCL_k

Jan's request is to have all donations made out to NYGH Foundation in care of Phillips House & Maddie's Healing Garden.

YIRS,
AG Courtney Doldron D7070
RC of Willowdale

Our Fellow Rotarian Howard Back wrote the following letter in honour of FR Jack Marshall:
Jack Marshall passed away on Thursday, July 23, 2020. Jack joined the Rotary Club of Willowdale on August 1, 1958 and was elected an Honorary Member of the Club. He was a Chartered Professional Accountant and served as Club Treasurer for many years.

Jack was extremely proud to be a Rotarian. His personal and professional life exemplified the ideals of Rotary. He was always an active participant in Club projects and social activities. He and his wife, Audrey, regularly played bridge with their Rotarian friends, the Dobsons, the Johnstons, the Ellises, the Griffiths and others.

He operated an accounting practice in village of Willowdale and eventually became a partner of KPMG. He was proud of his profession. He was equally proud of his service with the RCAF in Europe during World War II. He has lived in the Veterans Centre of the Sunnybrook Hospital for the past several years.

Due to his health, we have missed Jack’s attendance at the Club’s meetings with his friendly smile and a word of encouragement to new and long-time members. Above all, Jack was a true gentleman. We will never forget his service to our country and to Rotary.

Howard

It was with untold sadness that I learned from Courtney of Past President Jan’s death. Jan passed away at 7.26 am this morning, 25th July 2020.

Jan was one of the bravest and most capable persons that I have had the privilege to know and count amongst my friends. She had an outstanding mind. She was brave in every sense and in every action that she took. She was a brilliant President of the Rotary Club of Willowdale. Jan and Courtney together, as a fantastically capable team brought an untold energy to our Club and set the achievement bar so high that future Presidents will live in their shadow for many years to come.

Jan brought up three wonderful and capable girls and was able to briefly enjoy the adoration of her grandchildren, all of whom will miss her tremendously for the rest of their lives.

I am truly thankful that I was privileged to share Jan as a part of my life and my love and best wishes go to Courtney and all the family in the hope that they can now start to rebuild their lives.

I am sure that Jan would not want us to mourn, so it is now incumbent on all of us to step up and give to the Rotary Club of Willowdale, in every sense, as Jan would have expected us to do.

I mourn Jan and will miss her terribly.

Stephen