Campbell River Daybreak Rotary Club - Some Club History


Club

The Daybreak Rotary Club was chartered in 1986 with 28 charter members. At the time it was the 60th club to be formed and organized with District 5020 (Vancouver Island and Western Washington State-U.S.A.). Consequently it was dubbed "the DIAMOND CLUB.

Preparation to form the club took about 18 months and this was done by Bill Meier (Sponsor Club Representative) and long time Rotarian Gordon Lang. After some 5 months as a Provisional Club the Daybreak Rotary Club was fully recognized in May 1986.

The charter President was Gordon Lang, Bill Lipp (Secretary) and Klaus Kuhn (Treasurer) were the first officers. Dan Wickham was President - Elect and the first Sergeant-at-Arms was Jim Camp.

First Bulletin - Newsletter writers Lorne Hunter and Ray White.

The first fundraiser was aptly described as almost a disaster. It was a Giant Garage Sale. We picked up everybody's junk and hoped to sell it all. It took time and effort to do so, but we finally did it. Volumes of sweat and enthusiasm, however did not lead to a very happy pecuniary return.

Our first Community Service Project was the dismantling, refurbishing and repainting the old Service Clubs' Standing Notice Board that was erected just South of Earlys Do It Centre in Willow Point. It went up sparkling new on completion.

Since those years many new members have come and gone. Most because they had to go live in other areas, a few because of economic reasons or lack of Rotary commitment. The Club has grown from 28 to 56 over the 18 years of existence. The first year we had only 2 experienced Rotarians, now we have many.

Our fundraising events such as the Duck Race, Bingo etc. has grown to be more successfully sophisticated and we have completed many worthwhile Community Service Projects and a number of International Service Projects. Some of the International projects are:

  • Homes in Fiji to house the poor,
  • Rio Indio village rebuilding,
  • The Auce Hospital in Latvia,
  • Fish Ponds in the Philippines
  • Wheelchairs for the needy
  • Fresh water wells.
Our Club is well-known for International participation (Gordon Lang, R.I. Foundation Coordinator, Director of C.R.C.I.D., and District Governor 1991-92).

The Daybreak Rotary Club is known well for its ambience, its cheery meetings and the warm welcome received by all visitors. The Youth exchange program flourishes and has done for many years since our first incoming "Emma" from New Zealand.

Daybreak Rotary’s major fundraising project is the annual Quaker 5000 duck race which has the potential to raise $25,000 from ticket sales and has averaged over $7000 from Corporate Sponsors. All of the money is returned to the community through a major project or several smaller projects. Daybreak Rotary also raises $18,000 yearly through club participation at the Bingo Palace.


 


 

 





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