We meet 7:15am most Thursdays at the historic Montgomery's Inn at 4709 Dundas Street West

(SE corner of Islington & Dundas.)

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Rotary Club of Toronto West’s 13th ANNUAL . . .

2012 ROTARY YOUTH IMPACT  AWARDS!

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
1. WHAT ARE THE ROTARY YOUTH IMPACT AWARDS?

The Rotary Youth Impact Awards are presented each year at a gala dinner which is the main fund raising event for the Rotary Club of Toronto West. At this dinner, the Rotary Club celebrates the achievements of individuals and organizations who have contributed to their community and made a difference to the lives of at-risk youth. Awards are presented in various categories, including youth under 18, youth between the ages of 18 and 24, community organizations and business organizations. The highlight award is the Lifetime Achievement Award that is presented to an individual who had demonstrated over the course of his or her life the sacrifice of service above self for at-risk youth.

2. IS THE ROTARY YOUTH IMPACT AWARDS WELL ESTABLISHED?

Yes. The Rotary Club of Toronto West and one of its predecessor clubs, The Rotary Club of Etobicoke Sunrise, have previously hosted 12 successful award dinners. This event is an annual event, with the upcoming dinner marking the 13^th annual dinner.

Previous lifetime achievement award recipients have included Mr. Murray Dryden, Mr. George Chuvalo, Ms. Silken Laumann, Ms. Diane Dupuy, Mr. Michael “Pinball” Clemons, Ms. Molly Johnson, Mr. Ted Woloshyn, Ms. Vicki Keith, Mr. James Bartleman, Ms. Susan Hay and Zeke O’Connor. Last year’s Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Kim Phuc.

3. WHO IS THIS YEAR’S LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD RECIPIENT?

This year’s lifetime achievement award recipient is Mr Frank D. Selke, well known professionally in the media and as a television personality on Hockey Night in Canada. However, his most exemplary achievements have been with his long association with Special Olympics in Canada, having being an ardent fundraiser and ambassador to bring the Special Olympics to the forefront of media and public attention, and inspiring thousands of youngsters and adults to enroll in the programs.

In 1991 Frank was awarded the Canada Volunteer Award by the Minister of National Health and Welfare, the Hon. Benoit Bouchard followed a year or two later with the Canada 125 Award, in both cases for his contributions to Special Olympics across Canada. 

In recognition of his commitment to the movement Frank was inducted into the Ontario Special Olympics Hall of Fame and later named honourary coach of Special Olympics Canada’s national team for the 2003 World Summer Games in Dublin, Ireland.

From 1991 to 2006 Frank was a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame Selection Committee following his famous father who was a founding member of the Hockey Hall.

Frank was also a founding Governor of the Etobicoke Sports Hall of Fame in 1993 and was elected as a Builder in 2004.

4. HOW ARE THE PROCEEDS FROM THE RYIA EVENT USED?

100 percent of the net proceeds raised at the award dinner are used to support community and international projects.

In 2011, for example, proceeds from the Gala were used to support a new hospital unit to be built in Uganda supported by the Kim Phuc Foundation. (The Uganda Ongutoi Project)

In 2010, we contributed to the majority of a $30,000 fund established by Zeke O’Connor to make it possible for a Nepalese boy to receive prosthetic arms which he lost as a result of a high voltage accident.

In 2009, proceeds were used to support Ronald McDonald House and World Vision.

5. HOW DOES THE YOUTH IMPACT AWARD PLAN TO RAISE THE MONEY?

The Rotary Youth Impact Award dinner generates revenues to support projects like the building of a dental clinic in three ways: (i) corporate sponsorship of the event; (ii) silent auction; and (iii) individual ticket sales.

There are three levels of corporate sponsorship – gold, silver and bronze. The cost for these sponsorships is $5,000, $2,500 and $1,500 respectively.

Each sponsorship level includes a set of tickets to the event, plus advertising exposure on tickets and brochures. The logos of corporate sponsors are also prominently displayed at the event and in all media advertising used to promote the event. The Rotary Club of Toronto West partners with Toronto Community News for free media content in the weeks leading up to the actual event.

Numerous silent auction items are also collected and some of the items are packaged into baskets which are raffled throughout the evening. Traditional items donated to the silent include games for young children, hockey and basketball tickets, golf packages, hotel packages, clothing, and household items. The Rotary Club of Toronto West also partners with Westmount Art Gallery in Etobicoke which provides a selection of prints and original artwork for the silent auction.

Individual tickets cost $145.

6. WHEN WERE THE ROTARY YOUTH IMPACT AWARDS STARTED?

The Rotary Youth Impact Awards dinner was started by the Rotary Club of Etobicoke Sunrise in 2000 for the purpose of recognizing and honouring those individuals and organizations who have worked to help youth in our community. In 2004, the Rotary Club of Etobicoke Sunrise merged with the Rotary Club of Toronto West and the event since that time has been operated under the banner of the Toronto West club.

7. WHO IS ELIGIBLE TO RECEIVE AN AWARD?

The Toronto West club applies three criteria in determining who is eligible to receive a Rotary Youth Impact Award. Recipients can be individuals, organizations or businesses who have had a positive impact on youth primarily in the Toronto Area Community through:

· A record of meritorious service to youth;

· Practical experience in youth development activities; and

· Demonstrated leadership in promoting the importance of helping youth.

8. WHAT ARE THE AWARD CATEGORIES?

Generally, six awards are presented at each dinner based on nominations received by the Club and our independent research. They are as follows:

· Individual award present to a person who has shown dedication to helping youth

· Students (under the age of 18 as of December 31)

· Young Adults (under the age of 25 as of December 31)

· Community organizations

· Businesses; and

· Lifetime Achievement Award recipient

9. WHO ARE THE PAST RECIPEINTS OF THE LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD?

The Lifetime Achievement Award recipient is essentially the keynote feature of the gala dinner. The award is presented to a prominent individual who has demonstrated a genuine unmovable passion for helping youth at risk. Over the years, this award has been presented to community leaders, athletes, journalists and artists.

The first recipient was Etobicoke’s Murray Dryden. Although he was probably best known as the patriarch of professional hockey league goalies Dave and Ken Dryden, he was also devoted to helping poor children around the world through a charity organization he created called Sleeping Children Around World. SCAW, as it is known, still operates today out of the former Dryden family home on Pinehurst Cres., just off of Anglesey Blvd. This organization provides bed kits, which contain other items as well, to some of the world’s poorest children. The bed kits cost $35 per child and for many years has been a recipient of funds from the Toronto West club. Last year, the Toronto West club began to collect empty wine and beer bottles with all proceeds from such returns being dedicated to SCAW.

Other lifetime achievement award recipients have been:  Diane Dupuy for her work with Famous People Players; former world heavyweight boxing contender, George Chuvalo, for work in the Fight Against Drugs; Olympian Silken Laumann who founded the Silken Laumann Active Kids Movement; jazz vocalist Molly Johnson for her work with the Kumbaya Foundation for the care of people living with AIDS and HIV; and former Toronto Argonaut, Michael “Pinball” Clemons, through his work for Horizons for Youth.

More recent past recipients have been:  a) former 1010 CFRB Radio host Ted Woloshyn who has dedicated countless volunteer hours to establish children’s breakfast clubs in many of the poorest areas of Toronto, b) world famous marathon swimmer Vicki Keith, who is not only a fund raising dynamo, but a dedicated coach to young disabled athletes and other children, through her Penguins Can Fly and Y-Not Abilities programs  c) former Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, James Bartleman for his Club Amick literacy program for aboriginal youth and d) Ms. Susan Hay, for her work for Ronald McDonald House and World Vision.

The 2010 recipient was Zeke O’Connor.  Zeke had a distinguished career in several areas. As a football player, he was a team member of the 1952 Grey Cup champion Toronto Argonauts. He worked 30 years for Sears Canada in Public Affairs and National Marketing and in 1974-75 he founded the Sir Edmund Hillary Foundation of Canada to assist Sir Edmund with his work for the Sherpa people of the Solu Khumbu area of Nepal. Over 30 years as Founder-President, the Canadian Foundation has raised more than five million dollars for Nepal to build schools, hospitals, medical clinics, water pipelines, bridges, trekking paths during flash floods, to provide medical scholarships, to train village health workers, and to fully fund the Kunde Hospital and Sagarmatha National Park reforestation programs.

In January, 2011 we awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award to Kim Phuc. Many will recall that photograph taken during the Vietnam War of a young girl running naked down a road, her skin on fire with napalm, which changed the way the world looked at that and indeed at all wars. The girl in that remarkable photograph was Kim Phuc. Kim recovered from her serious wounds and started on a lifelong journey seeking freedom and happiness. While studying abroad, she defected to Canada. In 1997 UNESCO named Kim a Goodwill Ambassador for Peace helping her to spread the message of the need for reconciliation, mutual understanding, dialogue and negotiation to replace confrontation and violence as a means of settling conflicts throughout the world.

Today Kim remains devoted to helping those whose lives have been displaced by devastating and senseless wars. She is an Honourary Rotarian, a member of the Advisory Board for the Wheelchair Foundation, an Honourary Member of the Canadian Commission for UNESCO, a Member of the Advisory Boards of the  Free Children’s Foundation of Canada and of the World Children’s Center in Atlanta, Georgia. She is also a recipient of the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal and the 2004 “Order of Ontario”.

10. HOW MUCH MONEY IS RAISED AT THE EVENT AND HOW IS IT SPENT?

Since its inception in 2000, the Rotary Youth Impact Awards event has been the primary fund raising event for the founding Rotary Club and now the Toronto West club.

Over the years, it has raised over $340,000.

100 percent of these proceeds have been returned to community organizations to fund projects in Etobicoke such as the Gatehouse, Ski Hills Blues, a skiing program operated by members of the Toronto Police Department for at risk youth, and a long list of other local and international projects.

In the past few years, the Toronto West club began to use proceeds generated from this event for larger projects that would have a lasting impact. In 2006, $25,000 raised from the event was used in partnership with funds provided by a local business and Toronto Community Housing to build a basketball court facility in the Rathburn Road and East Mall area of Etobicoke.

In 2007, the Toronto West club provided more than $27,000 to the Mississauga YMCA to kick-start a Y-Not Abilities Program for children with disabilities.

The Mississauga YMCA was chosen to receive the funds because it was the only YMCA facility in the west end of the Greater Toronto Area that could facilitate the swimming portion of this program. This seed money has already been put to good use and a number of children and their families have enrolled in the program.

In 2008, $10,000 was provided to the Club Amick literacy program to help elementary school-aged children in aboriginal areas learn to read.

In 2009, $15,000 was divided between Ronald McDonald House and World Vision.

In 2010, $30,000 was divided between The Sir Edmund Hillary Foundation and other Rotary causes. 

In 2011, $35,000 was divided between The Kim Phuc Foundation to build a new hospital unit in Uganda, as well as other Rotary causes.

By following our motto “Service above Self” members of the Rotary Club of Toronto West have been able to make significant contributions to help these worthwhile causes.

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