District 7080 Interact eNewsletter - May 2021
Update: Interact Club of Fergus Elora
By Barbara Lustgarten Evoy
The Interact Club of the Fergus Elora Rotary Club, is a small but mighty team of dedicated Interact members. The group of 10 – 15 students is committed to serving their community in as many ways as possible, as often as possible.
During Covid, they have gathered weekly online - almost without fail. Although the group normally meets in the local high school at lunch, it’s not a school-based club and is in fact, community based. That said, there is no teacher overseeing the students, rather the director of Youth Services from the Rotary Club that sponsors it, is the person who works closely with the President, Vice President, and members at large. This year also sees the Rotary Club of Fergus Elora offering a financial award to be used towards Post-Secondary Education to one (or more) graduating Interact members.
The Fergus Elora Interact Club has been operating for many years, has undergone plenty of change in that time, and is very proud to share that everything that is done now, is done through the Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion lens. This means everyone is welcome and we (the club) will do whatever we can do to both invite and maintain membership, that’s truly representative of all.
In the past, the club has made trips to New York for United Nations Day, to Port Elgin for a fun Halloween Haunt, and to Kitchener, Waterloo where everyone had a great time visiting museums, going hiking, taking part in a bowling tournament, dining out together, and doing activities (like a treasure hunt) to get to know one another better.
Choosing the annual causes is always great (it’s done in the Fall as membership changes quite drastically between June and September) and the club always try to pick one local, and one international initiative to get behind. Past choices include, Human Trafficking Awareness, Food Safety, local Hospital support, and so much more.
During the last year, much was achieved by this group of amazing young people ...they did something called the POP (Power of Positive) Project. The Rotary Club of Fergus Elora sponsored the costs of all materials, put the ‘packages’ together, and did deliveries and pick-ups to the homes of many children who couldn’t otherwise get involved. There was opportunity for local youth to make arts and crafts, enjoy painting and delivering rocks, and ultimately serving the community by ensuring most of the completed art work went to places where the messaging continues to uplift and inspire!
In addition, they wrote cards to the front-line workers, and then to the members of the local club as a way to keep people connected and motivated to share a friendly word.
The focus looking forward includes celebrating Pride Month this June, and planning ahead to 2021/22 school year with tons of new and exciting ideas. The most defining trait of the Fergus Elora Interact Club, is that it lives by the concept that kindness and service above self, really IS the Rotary Way!