In January 2007 the club members made the decision to change our name from “Wellington South” to “Guelph South”. This decision was driven by 2 needs: one, to distinguish us from a New Zealand club with the same name, and two, to enable anyone searching online for Guelph-area Rotary clubs to also find ours...something that just wasn’t happening with the name we were chartered under. Rotary International approved our application for a name change and in March 2007 we celebrated our official transition to “Rotary Club of Guelph South”.
Celebrating our new club name on March 15 2007
In April 2007 we became aware of a literacy initiative, launched by a Mississauga Rotarian, to donate dictionaries to grade 3 students. Rotary District 7080 then adopted the project to meet the literacy goals of the 2007-2008 Rotary International President Bill Boyd. The dictionaries were a soft cover Websters specially branded with the Rotary logo, a nameplate inside the cover, and information on Rotary on the back cover. Our club partnered with the other 3 Guelph clubs to provide all grade 3 students in Guelph with a dictionary, and our club also made sure that the grade 3 students at Aberfoyle Public School as well as some private schools were also included. We continued to participate in this program on an annual basis through 2014 after which point any remaining dictionaries were donated to the Guelph Library bookmobile.
Fellowship and Fun have always been a trademark of our Rotary club! We genuinely enjoy each other’s company whether we are doing service projects together or just sharing social time. Every year we celebrate the anniversary of our charter and the 2007 celebration was especially memorable. We booked the downstairs room in the Aberfoyle Mill for a special dinner celebration for members and guests, and the occasion was used to recognize accomplishments over the first 6 years and contributions of the members to the ongoing success of the club.
Fellowship on 6th anniversary at Aberfoyle Mill Rotarian Bill Hammond with grade 3 students + their Rotary dictionaries