Nelson Daybreak

We are a small but vibrant club that meets Tuesday from 7 a.m. – 8 a.m. in the Hume Room of the Hume Hotel in Nelson, BC

The Rotary Club of Nelson Daybreak was chartered on Feb. 27, 1993. Since that time, the club has received numerous Rotary Presidential Citations for out- standing club participation in the Five Areas of Rotary Service.

INTERNATIONAL SERVICE
The international aspects of Rotary have been embraced by Nelson Daybreak from day one. Every year the club sponsors different international service projects such as shipping hospital equipment to Mexico and the Philip- pines, drilling bore wells, installing pumps and overhead storage units for water in India, sponsoring a micro-bank project in Bolivia, providing a dental kit to Guatemala, helping to sponsor a Rotaplast team to do cleft lip & palate surgery in Nepal and supplying colorful quilts for the Rotaplast patients, installing energy efficient stoves in Guate- mala, creating an enclosure for a goat farm in Haiti, sponsoring a teacher in Haiti and responding to disasters by purchasing ShelterBoxes.

The Rotary Foundation's Group Study Exchange Program has made places seem closer to home for several local young professionals who spent 5-6 weeks touring foreign lands and exploring their vocation with counterparts in the host country. Club members have had enriched travel experiences by participating in the Rotary Friendship Exchange program; team members have traveled to Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Mexico, the USA, Great Brit- ain and Sweden.

Club members thoroughly enjoy hosting teams from abroad and have welcomed guests from the countries mentioned and in addition India, Argentina, and South Africa. The club twinned with the Rotary Club Whakatu in Nelson, New Zealand during Rotary's Centennial year (2005).

COMMUNITY SERVICE
The club takes pride in projects that contribute to the quality of life in this community. Every effort is made to curb vandalism through the graffiti removal project; this is seen as an interim measure while the club develops plans for mural projects. The club extended the histori- cal services given to improve parks such as the Bonnington Regional Park Playground and the Waterfront Pathway extension, by complet- ing the walking bridge at Cottonwood Lake Regional Park in 2010; this enables hikers and skiers to easily access the adjacent trail system. Annually, the club assists with Meals on Wheels delivery and bell ringing for the Salvation Army

Click here to find out about our current Community project - Rosemont Park

VOCATIONAL SERVICE
As business and professional people, the Vocational Services component of Rotary is very important; it is through vocational services that Rotarians bring the ideals of Rotary to their vocations and it is the variety of vocational backgrounds of Rotarians that contributes to project development within the club. In addition, this small club has had many members take on additional responsibility at the District level up to the Assistant District Governor level. Members have served on a variety of District 5080 Committees, served as Rotary Leadership Institute fa- cilitators, International Club Visioning facilitators and as instructors at the Pacific Northwest President Elect Training Seminar.

Literacy has been a major vocational focus for Rotary. In past years, the club assisted the Nelson Public Library with the Electronic Library Canada connection; it also sponsored the "One to One Children's Literacy Program" in Salmo. Individual Rotarians have sponsored scholarships for Mar- ket Children in Tegucigalpa, Honduras.

NEW GENERATIONS
Annually, the club presents a young adult, aged 18-24, with a Rotary Youth Leadership Award (RYLA). This consists of tuition for a week long leadership development seminar attended by approxi- mately 70 award recipients from throughout the Rotary District. After intense sessions on fundaments of leadership, group dynamics, motivation, community responsibility, critical thinking, most award recipients applaud the experience as a life changing event.

The club has a long history of involvement with the Rotary Youth Exchange Pro- gram and has sponsored students to study in foreign lands such as Poland, Bolivia, Brazil and Belgium. In return the club has shared in the joy of hosting kids from Brazil, Denmark, Belgium, Argentina, Thailand, Italy and Indonesia. Effective 2011, the club will only accept applicants for the Short Term Rotary Youth Ex- change program.

The club was proud to sponsor the creation of the Mount Sentinel Interact Club in 2009. Interact Club members involved with the Quest for Community Class at Mount Sentinel have provided service in Mexico and Guatemala. We will never forget the drama that unfolded when the students bore the full brunt of the earthquake in Haiti in January 2010.

FUND RAISING INITIATIVES
Fund raising initiatives of the club include hot dog sales at Wal-Mart throughout the summer months, a Wine Pairing Dinner & Silent Auction at Selkirk College, co-sponsorship of the Seafood Feast at Selkirk College, WaCanId Ride of the International Selkirk Loop, International Tast- ing Faire and a Festive Bake Sale. The club routinely meets its target for An- nual Giving to The Rotary Foundation and has members who are Paul Harris Fellows, Benefactors, Bequest Society Members and Paul Harris Society Members.