BY HEIDI ULRICHSEN
Gerry Lougheed Jr. gave an unusual assessment of the meaning of Rotarianism while speaking at a luncheon celebrating the 100th anniversary of
Rotary International.
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Sudbury Sunrisers president Michele Liebrock and Sudbury Rotary Club president Chris Kemp cut the anniversary cake. |
To him, the club is like a blueberry-bran muffin. Blueberries are the fruit of the north, he said. They represent the great work northerners do on behalf of the Rotary Club. The bran is the fibre of the organization - the professional people who dedicate their skills to helping others as Rotary members.
?But the best part of all is that marmalade pat...because that?s our international service - where citrus fruit comes from...We have sent hospital
equipment to Guatemala, and this year we sent pacemakers to Uganda. I suggest to you that our muffins are feeding people beyond our community,? he
said.
To drive home his point, Lougheed passed out muffins he had baked to members of the audience.
The Rotary Club was started on Feb. 23, 1905 by American lawyer Paul Harris, and celebrated its 100th anniversary last week. The Rotary Club of Sudbury was started in 1924, and Gerry Lougheed Jr. founded the Rotary Club of Sudbury Sunrisers in 1991.
Local Rotarians raise money for many causes, including the Sudbury Food Bank in the annual Blues for Food event, and for the Northern Cancer Research Fund in the Lucky Duck Dash.
Lougheed certainly isn?t the first in his family to be involved in the Rotary Club. His father, Gerry Sr., first joined the club in 1952, and was president of Sudbury Rotary Club in 1964. His mother, Marguerite, and brother, Geoffrey, have also been involved.
Current Sudbury Sunrisers president Michele Liebrock and Sudbury Rotary Club president Chris Kemp praised the Lougheed family during the lunch, as well as the many well-known Sudburians who are past presidents of the clubs.
?To think that it?s a service club that?s been around for a hundred years, constantly growing, and the work that we do in the communities...as a group of business people, needs to be celebrated. That?s what we?re doing all around the world today,? said Liebrock.
