Rotary is much more than community service and fundraising. Fellowship is a critical piece of the Rotary puzzle for many people who join a club. In fact, Rotary’s founding principle was based on fellowship: a lonely lawyer in Chicago trying to make friends outside his practice. He invited 3 others from different lines of work: a coal merchant, a mining engineer, and a tailor. The fellowship continued through regular social meetings and expanded when these men invited their ac

The annual International Plowing Match was held in Frontenac County in 1977 at the farm of Gerald Greenlees and neighbouring farms on Joyceville Road. The organizers approached our club asking us to assume the parking duties as a fundraiser. We were paid on a per-car basis and there were a lot of cars! Both the Kingston and Kingston-Frontenac Clubs jumped at this opportunity to support the event and boost our fundraising efforts. Anyone around at the time will remember it as

Local Rotary clubs have helped to fund many local and international projects over the past 100 years. There have been many high-profile projects that include Rotary Park, the Boys and Girls Club, RKY Camp, Almost Home, and worldwide polio immunization. But, sometimes, smaller projects are just as important to the Kingston community and even more satisfying to Rotarians. In 2016, the Algonquin & Lakeshore Catholic District School Board proudly announced the opening of a new sc

Syl Apps was not only a hockey legend with the Toronto Maple Leafs; he was a member of the Rotary Club of Kingston and helped develop one of its largest fundraisers. Raised in Paris, Ontario, Syl joined the Leafs in 1936, served 2 years in the war, returned to be named captain of the Leafs, and then retired in 1948. He was Kingston’s member of Ontario’s Legislative Assembly from 1963 until 1975, completing his service as Minister of Corrections from 1971 to 1975. Syl joined o

The Boys and Girls Club began as an adjunct program offered in the city’s north end by The Community Council of North Kingston. Financed primarily by government grants for youth employment and without wider community support, its future was in jeopardy. This is when the Rotary Club of Kingston stepped in. On the recommendation of a committee made up of past presidents, the Rotary Club of Kingston voted in 1990 to take on a substantial fundraising campaign to establish a Boys