As a new club we decided to come up with a consensus among the members as to what areas of need we wanted to focus on for service. There are so many deserving causes out there, but the club members ultimately decided that they wanted to provide support primarily to children, the elderly and the disabled. In February 2003 we held our first “Taste of Italy” pasta dinner. It was decided that the Sunrise Therapeutic Riding and Learning Centre in Puslinch would be the beneficiary, giving us an opportunity to support a cause that benefits both children and the disabled both. The event was held at the Puslinch Community Centre and the 200 tickets were sold out before the doors opened! It was a great opportunity for all of the club members to work together as a team and has become an annual event, held every February in Puslinch since then.
In 2003 Mayor Hazel McCallion (a Puslinch landowner) accepted our invitation to be an Honourary Member. She attended a special meeting on April 25 2003 where she and 3 other new members were inducted. Hazel made a number of visits to our meetings over the years, and any that she did attend were very special ones indeed.
In September 2003 our club hosted a fundraising potluck supper “Breaking Bread for Afghan Women” to support education projects for women in Afghanistan. Members of the community, including the Guelph Afghan community, attended and brought potluck food, including traditional Afghan food. Money was donated by those attending to pay for teachers’ salaries in Afghanistan. It costs $750.00 a year for one teacher, and this event raised $1300.00 towards this worthy cause.
