Great Lakes Watershed Clean Up June 20201

Thank you to the club members and Rotoract students from Earl Haig Secondary School who spent an evening this past June cleaning up local parks in the North York area in order to keep our neighbourhoods tidy and clean.  Every little bit helps!

Toronto Marathon Water Station

Each spring, The Rotary Club of North York sets up a water station along Yonge Street in North York to hydrate the thousands of runners who participate in this annual event. We are one of the first water stations that the runners approach before heading south toward one of the most difficult stretches of the run: Yonge Street south to York Mills and then up the Hogg’s Hollow Hill. 

Gratitude Garden

In September 2020, during the “Year of the Pandemic”, our members worked with the Willowdale Club to plant abulb garden at Leslie and Sheppard Ave in North York in honour of the men and women who worked on the front lines in our hospitals and clinics to help those suffering from COVID 19. 

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Rotary Bottle and Electronic Recycling Drives, BBQ's, Bake Sales & Garage Sale

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During the pandemic, our physical fundraising activities have been severely challenged. During the 2020-21 year, we are hosting Bottle and Can Drives, garage sales, BBQ's and Bake Sales to create some revenue for various community projects we are involved in. Please see our calendar and upcoming events for the next event. So far this year  we have raised around $2,700.  Thank you for your support.

International Student Exchange Programs

Our Rotary Club has hosted many international students over the years who have come to live in Canada from a six week to 1 year period.  These three students pictured here were here in Toronto in summer of 2018 from the University of Irkutsk, Siberia to participate in a business exchange program to learn about Western business practices.

Cummer House Tree Dedication - Provided by the Rotary Club of North York 2013

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Terry Fox Run - For many years, The Rotary Club of North York has hosted the Terry Fox Run in Downtown North York. Thousands have participated in this event as individuals, couples and families to raise money for cancer research. We are grateful for the leadership of member, Stan Rapkin, who has been heading our efforts, resulting in over one hundred thousand dollars for this important community event.

FoodShare - During the pandemic, many people were in need of help with food. Our members pitched in and delivered hundreds of boxes of food to people across the city. We thank Paul Glionna for his direction and leadership in this important community program.

Member Gerry Francis gave a presentation to RCNY in September of 2020 based on research he compiled on the racial strife we witnessed earlier that year. His talk entitled Black Lives Matter supported by visual aids is a cursory review of race history in North America from slavery to the present day.  This address was well received and resulted in presentations to 2 other non-rotarian groups.  Gerry is available to present this topic at your club meetings if you are interested.  Contact Gerry here. 

Out of The Cold Breakfast Program - One of our hands on projects is setting up a local church basement who offer a Breakfast program for a few dozen men and women in the local community who are on tough times. We do this service twice monthly before their clients arrive for breakfast.       

Sending love and support to Trinidad

Our wonderful member Zarmina Nekzai, spearheaded a delivery of a container containing over a ton of products to St Augustine, Trinidad. The products came from her former business, with everything from school supplies for children, to food and beverage products for local organizations. All will be put to good use by the local community living on this beautiful Caribbean island. We thank Courtney Doldron for his help in arranging the shipping of the container and for being in Trinidad in October 2021 when it arrived.

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The Rotary Club of North York aligned with the Rotary Club of Maraval and Augustine to provide knapsacks full of supplies for children from families in financial need. Courtney Doldron coordinated this project from Toronto. With our financial assistance we were able to purchase knapsacks and fill them with various school supplies. Special thanks to International Service Chair, Dr. John Ramage, for supporting this important initiative.