President-Elect Peter Malone introduced Darrell Smith at his final hurrah as President of the Rotary Club of Belleville, breaking historical records fulfilling the role of President for the past two years. A refreshing leader throughout the difficult days of COVID.
Darrell Smith thanked everyone who attended President's Night last week at Huff Estates, a wonderful evening with a sellout crowd. Thank you to Tracy Bray for her leadership in organizing the event and Huff Estates for such a wonderful venue and food to help the celebration along. Darrell started simply with saying thank you to the Rotary Club of Belleville for the very unique opportunity to have served as President for the past two years. An experience he will cherish and remember for the rest of his life.
Some personal highlights of the evening included the ability to award Paul Harris Fellowships to Janeen Halliwell and Paul Fleming for their leadership in Refresh Rotary, presenting the Club's first installment to the YMCA Centre of Life for $40,000 to CEO Dave Allen and the awarding of Rotary Warrior pins to PE Peter Malone, Past President Tim McKinney and Vice-President/Treasurer Karen Baker for all their service to the Rotary Club of Belleville over the past two years. Finally, through the support of the Rotary Foundation, Darrell was able to award three Paul Harris Fellows to very deserving ladies, who without all their help, support, friendship and encouragement, Darrel admits he would not have been able to make it through his term as President -- Past President Tracy Bray, Past President and Secretary Jo-Anne Wheeler and Darrell's wife Carmen.
Darrell shared two of his most significant moments during the past Rotary Year. Both have very different reasons for their importance. The first was a phone call from Past President and Chair of the Quinte Rotary Music Festival, John Chisholm, sharing his feelings as they related to the most current budget process and funding for the Festival. John expressed his frustration with the process and they spoke for 30 minutes plus, following which John agreed to remain on as Chair of the Rotary Music Festival. This restored Darrell's faith in himself as a leader and the Club is indebted to John for his passion and service of this very important outreach for the Rotary Club of Belleville.
The second personal highlight that for Darrell, encapsulates our Rotary Year and all that it means about Service Above Self was Dr. Ruth Mathieson's presentation around our Global Grant, led by our Club in providing essential equipment and medical assistance to the Matangwe Hospital in Kenya. It was not only the incredible effort that Dr. Ruth has put in directly in her outreach in other countries, but her passion for the well-being of all people and her tireless efforts, both within and outside the confines of the Rotary Club of Belleville. Presenting an overview of her work at a recent lunch meeting, just shortly after the passing of her husband Bill shows Dr. Ruth's incredible strength of character and passion for humanitarian causes. Dr. Ruth is the epitome of what Service Above Serve means and she is a true inspiration to each and every member of this Club. We should all aspire to make a difference in our community, whether locally or globally to even a small scale of what Dr. Ruth has done. Darrell admitted his emotion because he realized how truly impactful one person can be when they are determined to make the world a better place to live.
The success as a Rotary Club is not defined by any one person, but by a collective effort of many passionate Rotarians who are concerned not only about the well being of our community both locally and globally, but also the club itself through leadership on committees, events, participating in the democratic processes of approving budgets as well as special initiatives. President Darrell thanked Rotarian Michael Summers for his continued technical expertise in facilitating our return to face to face meetings while providing a vehicle for those to attend virtually. President Darrell thanked the Board of Directors - Terry Thomas, Tracey Vandervoort, Samantha Reid, Collin Myers, Anya-Deane Best, Brenda Snider, Heather Hall and Rosi Ouellette and the Executive of Past President Tim McKinney, President Elect Peter Malone, Treasurer Karen Baker and Secretary Jo-Anne Wheeler for all their efforts and service above self. It has been deeply appreciated. Much is accomplished through our Club and Darrell mentioned all that has gone on before us in this Rotary Year and relayed his excitement as we move forward into a new era. The best is yet to come and to quote Gandhi "be the change you want to see in the world".
To serve as President was a great honour and pleasure to Darrell and while not without challenges, he admits he is better for the experience and appreciated everyone's faith in him and the support offered to him by so many. Past President and Secretary Jo-Anne Wheeler thanked Darrell for taking on year two as President, first time ever and not an easy task. It takes time, effort and commitment.