During the month of May we celebrate our Rotary youth programs. We have such an amazing opportunity to inspire, educate and impact the lives of future generations. Through interact, youth exchange and Rotary Youth Leadership Awards we assist young people in building leadership skills, expanding education and learning the value of service.
ROTARY CLUB OF NORTH BAY - WEEKLY BULLETIN
May 2, 2026
Important notice: As of our May 4th meeting, we will not be able to access the Map Room from Wyld St entrance or the parking lot. We will need to access via Main St and the entrance to the Map Room will be open from the hallway. Here is the note from Cecil's:
Sgt. At Arms Steve highlighted the work of Diana - here are the details and a link to find out more:
Rotary International's Post
In Romania, a young Rotaract member set out to make a difference. Today, she’s helping build trust in vaccines around the world.
Diana Maria Pirga’s journey with Rotary began when she joined Rotaract, inspired by the opportunity to contribute to #EndPolio. Now a Rotarian and digital communication specialist with UNICEF Pakistan, she works to address misinformation and vaccine hesitancy.
By supporting frontline health workers and partnering with trusted community voices, Diana helps ensure families have the information they need to make confident decisions about vaccination. It’s work that happens one conversation at a time — and it plays a critical role in protecting children from preventable diseases.
During #WorldImmunizationWeek, it’s a reminder that progress depends not only on vaccines but on trust.
Monday's meeting was a packed agenda with Carol Boissonneault sharing how Early On helps local children in their early years to enhance their well-being, enrich their knowledge about early learning and start them on the path to loving school. This is a totally no-cost program by Child and Family Centre Nipissing District. For more information on this great program, go to: earlyoncfc.org
We had the pleasure to formally welcome Tamika Daniels to our club and had a chance to hear more about her family and the work she does with United Way. Tamika has also taken on the RYLA committee and her passion is working for/with children so her passion aligns with our Club's mandate very well.
The Youth Exchange Committee (Bill Hagborg, Gisele Lynch, Richard White (welcome onboard!) and Grace Doiron are putting together some ideas about how to send off Tala (our outgoing student going to Taiwan) and welcome Olaia (our inbound student coming from Spain). We will be sending out a list of activities you & your families may be open to sharing with Olaia to help her feel a part of the community while on her exchange. Please do note any suggestions as well such as Maple Syrup production visits, our Farmer's Market, inviting her to your family activities as well. Suggestions are very welcome… let's make it memorable for her!
May 4th meeting we will have the Bears Who Care visit to tell us about their work. These are a group of high school students who have been doing some amazing things in our community! Come out to hear what they do!
May 11th - no meeting - meeting is being replaced with a joint meeting on May 13th at the Grande. This is a special meeting to talk about more plans for our waterfront and how Rotary will be involved.
May 18th - Victoria Day - no meeting
Here are some special dates to keep in mind and put in your calendar for the near future:
June 6th - Camp Tillicum Spring Clean Up - this annual event has been a lot of fun over the years with great fellowship and some hard work but so worth it at the end when we get treated to a BBQ!
June 20th - Annual Rose Day - yes, a day to treat your friends, family, co-workers and business associates to a dozen roses! This is a fundraiser that helps with international service projects, local community projects and some of the Club's administrative costs. Send a dozen roses to someone special - details on how to follow!
Friday, May 29th is our annual One Kids Place Gourmet Burger Lunch, and we would love for you to join us!
Gourmet burgers and sides prepared by Bryce and his team from Churchill’s Restaurant.
11:30AM–1:30PM One Kids Place 400 McKeown Ave.
Join us in our Jack Lyons Playground, and we’d be happy to reserve a table for you and your group… come enjoy the atmosphere, the food, and the community spirit.
The Club board meeting took place on Tuesday and here are some of the highlights/things to know:
donation to Capitol Centre for the 2026-2027 Children's Program - $35,000
funds commited towards the Heritage Railway Train Station - $50,000 over 2 years
Armed Forces Day - $3,000 towards the hot dogs & condiments plus hoping to have many Rotarians join in the celebrations
The Gathering Place is in dire need of a new commercial range to help in preparing food for those in need in our community & we have agreed to purchase the range and cover the installation cost - approx. $7500
we have worked out a process for any request for funding/sponsorship which will help with the many requests we get
a policy for District Conference, PELS and International Convention travel/registration cost coverages is being finalized
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Here are some events that happened during the week:
Chewie's Retirement….. congratulations to Chewie for his amazing service to the community! Well deserved retirement and a great celebration.
We had a very nice email from Gillian MacIntosh, Trauma Support Dog Handler with Victim Services of Nipissing District thanking our club for the support we offered for the year. I did try to “adopt” Chewie but Gillian was not giving him up!
Thursday April 30th - North Bay Chamber of Commerce After Hours and Jeff Rogerson put on a great event! The networking was fantastic - so many people turned out and there was a great variety of treats as well! President Jeff wound up winning the 50/50 pot and he promptly grabbed the money (I mean microphone) to donate the money right back to Rotary4Kids. I made sure it was all there! He did not even have a chance to spend any of it on the bar tab! Thank you, President Jeff.
It's not too late to register for the District Conference. Check out the link above for all the details. There is a great video to showcase some of the activities!
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