Club History

 

The Rotary Club of Grand Bend was chartered on May 3^rd 1991 with 37 members. The first president was Don Prowse. 

 

Throughout the club's history, club members have been extremely active in our community and internationally. The club has maintained approximately the same level of membership over the years with close to 50 members. Many Paul Harris Fellowships have been awarded to current and past club members as well as outstanding community citizens. 

 

In 1995 the club promoted the establishment of a Probus club in the Grand Bend area. The membership grew rapidly and since the club chose to limit membership to men this encouraged the Rotary club to further sponsor a women's Probus club which started in 2001. Each Probus club has over 100 members and is a vital part of the community in this area. The Grand Bend Rotary Club made overtures to many clubs in the area encouraging formation of other Probus clubs. To date that has borne fruit in Goderich, Exeter and Forest where new clubs have over 150 men and women members.

 

In 1997 our first president Don Prowse was elected District Governor of District 6330 and the club hosted a most successful annual conference in Grand Bend in June 1997. In addition, in the 2017-2018 Rotary year our local club member Martin Ward served as District Governor. 

 

The club has a long list of achievements which include the initial funding of the VON Palliative Care program in Huron county and its continuing support, as well as financial support to the Grand Bend Library, Lambton Heritage Museum, Huron Country Playhouse, local schools and sports programs. In 2020 the club joined forces with the Grand Bend Community Foundation to raise funds to support local people that found themselves in need during the global COVID-19 pandemic.

 

A project of which the club is particularly proud is the 9 kilometer nature and bicycle trail from Grand Bend to the Pinery Provincial Park, which cost $200,000. More recently the club has made significant financial commitments in support of the Grand Bend Health Centre, the Public School Expansion, the Beachfront Enhancement, the Rotary stage on the Grand Bend beach, the Goderich Tornado Disaster Relief fund and the Clean Water Now project which emphasizes clean lake water. The club also has supported many international projects: in Guatemala, Honduras, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, India and through a matching grants program was instrumental in completely furnishing an orphanage for street children in Davao in the Philippines. 

 

Also we have been very active in giving to South African schools as well as the Middelburg orphange.  While the reality of closing schools has created much controversy, the Grand Bend Rotary club has found a way to recycle supplies that were considered surplus. In 2008, one of the club members visited a school in South Africa where the teachers and students had virtually no books or furniture. Once home, this Rotarian thought about what more could be done to help this situation. Since the topic of the day seemed to be school closings in our area, a meeting was arranged with some school officials with the request to have access to some of the books and school furnishings that were being disposed of. Since 2009 Grand Bend Rotarians have purchased containers, packed them for shipment and changed the way of life for many students by establishing a Literacy program in the country. As of July 2023, 98 shipping containers have been sent with the help from many community sponsors.

 

In our history the club has contributed over $2.0 million to local and international projects. Throughout the years the club has hosted Group Study Exchange teams from Germany, Italy, England, Korea, , India, Holland, Australia, Columbia and Taiwan and have accepted foreign exchange students from New Zealand, France, Mexico and Thailand. Also in recent years we have sent many local students to various conferences throughout the country.