The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Jonathon Naylor Editor January is Rotary Awareness Month, a time to honour the contributions Rotary Clubs have made. And what a list of accomplishments it is in the Flin Flon-Creighton area. For more than three-quarters of a century, Flin Flonners have been safer, happier and healthier thanks to this venerable service organization. 'The Flin Flon Rotary Club has been active in building the community, in supporting youth and supporting community programs to enhance life here,' says Tim Spencer, current president of the club. 'But at the same time, the Rotary Club also has a very large international focus through our (student) exchange programs, and through development and disaster relief projects around the world.' Spencer says the club is coming off another successful year that included a $30,000 donation to the proposed Flin Flon skate park and $20,000 to Pioneer Square. He says the club looks forward to seeing both of those projects continue to proceed, and is in discussions to sponsor a service club for youth. The Rotary movement was born in Chicago in 1905 when lawyer Paul Harris arranged to meet three fellow businessmen to discuss ways to improve their city. The name 'Rotary' was chosen because the quartet's weekly meetings were rotated between their respective offices. Thirty years later and thousands of miles away, a group of men in a young northern Manitoba mining town called Flin Flon had a meeting of their own. The official formation of their Rotary Club in March 1935 would prove to be a momentous event for all residents. Flin Flon's first fire truck? A gift from Rotary. The first jaws of life for the fire department? Also courtesy of the club. Ditto for an ultraviolet phototherapy booth and an infant incubator for the hospital. Rotary has been a major supporter of Camp Whitney, assisted in building the Joe Brain Children's Petting Zoo and sponsored Flinty's Boardwalk when it was just getting off the ground. The club has helped furnish the Personal Care Home and Northern Lights Manor, and has enhanced the fan-friendly atmosphere of the Whitney Forum by chipping in towards new lighting and sound systems. A new ambulance for Cranberry Portage, assistance for raised seating at the R.H. Channing Auditorium and cash for a new roof at the Sportex. The list of Rotary initiatives seems endless. Then there are the projects whose Rotary roots are reflected in their names _ Rotary Park, Rotary Court, Rotary Wheelhouse and the library's Rotary Room among them. Today, as in years past, the club benefits from a membership that is as diverse as the projects they bring to fruition. Teachers, bankers, miners, retirees, pastors, pilots, accountants _ they're all embodied in Rotary. A number of community movers and shakers are among the Rotarians, and while they help raise the club's profile, they may also feed the misconception that Rotary is for elites. Of course it's not. Anyone, male or female, who wants to give back is welcome to give Rotary a look.
