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 The Rotary Club of Grimsby is participating in World Polio Day, October 24, 2020, by joining other district clubs with a dedicated ‘Pedal for Polio’ Bicycling Team of 9 member riders and support vehicles. The Grimsby Club's overall goal is to raise $3000 USD for the RI Polio Fund. Due to COVID-19 group size restrictions, our club will now be conducting our 22 km tour in the local Grimsby area, in lieu of joining several other clubs on a Niagara River Parkway route. Fantasy of Trees is the primary annual Fundraiser for The Rotary Club of Grimsby. Since its cancellation due to COVID-19, the club will be holding a modest-and-safe Fantasy of Wreaths at the Grimsby Museum this holiday season. It is important to our club members to stay connected with the community who has considered the Fantasy of Trees a very important part of the holiday merry-making. Rotarians Kathryn Drury and Liz Fisk have devised a unique Vocational project in spite of COVID-19 and social distancing. Planning is well under-way and the first Vocational series involves video/YouTube and “A Day in the Life” presentations of individuals in musical vocations. As it happens, there are three very talented offspring of Grimsby Rotarians who will be featured in the first sessions: Colin Fisher, Adam Goddard, and Shane Murphy. They discuss the ups and downs of the career paths they followed, how their dedication to music has shaped their lives as well as hints, excerpts of their work, and inspiration on careers in the broad field of music and creative arts. Each series of three or four videos is targeted to audiences in upper elementary and high school and the estimated release dates are December 2020, onward. The intent is to share the output with other Rotary clubs or jurisdictions and to feature many different vocations including medical research, engineering, and faith vocations among others. Ensuring diversity and gender balance is extremely important and we will be reaching out to our broader Rotary family to offer suggestions of individuals to interview/present in the future and vocations we can focus on. The Rotary Club, in partnership with the Town of Grimsby, the Happening on the 40 community festival, Chamber of Commerce members, and others is also planning a Pumpkin Drive-Thru in Southward Park for November 1st. The concept is based on Pumpkin walks that are held in many other jurisdictions. It will include locally-donated pumpkins carved by elementary and high-school students, Halloween pumpkins carved and dropped off by families, and interspersed with vignettes staged by local gardeners and artist. Though a lot of planning has gone into the event, everyone is on tender-hooks to see whether it will ‘be a go!” Depending on the restrictions that will be in place for the end of October, this event may or may not move ahead. However, all is not lost. The planning will be completed and ready for next year when hopefully we will not be struggling with the very necessary COVID-19 distancing restrictions. | ||