Not a week after celebrating the start of a new year (2010) there was a major earthquake in Haiti – their strongest in 20 years, leaving about 1 million homeless, and our members immediately started focusing on ways that we could help.  The Board recommended to the members that we send much needed financial disaster assistance to grassroots organizations in Haiti that we were familiar with including Friends of the Orphans and Olive Tree Projects, a maternal health organization founded by a Canadian woman.  We also provided funding for 2 ShelterBox (a Rotary International partner) housing tents and supplies, and an AquaBox (through Rotary club of Stratford) to supply potable drinking water.  All tolled, about $7,900.00 in immediate disaster response support. 

    July 1^st 2010 was the start of a new Rotary year and with it the addition by Rotary International of a new and separate Avenue of Service dedicated to the support of youth, called “New Generations”.  By breaking out this new Avenue of Service and adding it to the existing Club, Community, International and Vocational Avenues Rotary was formalizing its commitment to, and highlighting the importance of, youth for the future.  The “New Generations” label was recently retired, now known as “Youth Service”.  Our commitment to Rotary projects like Camp Enterprise and RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Awards) along with supporting many local and international youth-related charitable organizations preceded this change and continues to this day.

    2010 also represented the 100^th anniversary of the first Canadian Rotary club meeting, in Winnipeg.  To celebrate that centennial all Districts and Rotary clubs in Canada (including ours) contributed to the construction of a school in Jalalabad Afghanistan. On September 26 2010, Canadian Rotary Centennial School in Afghanistan was dedicated. This project was undertaken as a partnership between the 23 Rotary Districts in Canada, through the Canadian Rotary Collaboration for International Development (CRCID), and the Canadian Government. The overall cost of the school was estimated at $800,270. The Canadian Government through CIDA approved this project up to $518,000 with Rotary contributing $282,270.  The project came in under schedule and under budget, allowing additional classrooms and teaching training facilities to be built. When the school opened it served about 1900 boys and 1200 girls, with 11 male and 31 female teachers employed. In their speeches, the elders emphasized the importance of the education in Islam and equal opportunities for boys and girls. They expressed their gratitude and mentioned that their children will never forget they are sitting inside their classroom instead of sitting under trees and rain. One of them remarked: "Rotarians believe that education for all is the foundation for understanding and peace throughout the world. And this school is tangible evidence of Rotarians in Canada and the United States extending the hand of friendship."  Rotarians in La Jolla California that designed and built other schools in Jalalabad and were part of the project team for the new Canadian Rotary school continue to this day to monitor the status of this school along with the others and, despite the recent upheaval in Afghanistan, the school continues to operate.  The future however, in particular with schooling of girls, is unclear at this time.