Rotary International celebrated its 111th Birthday on February 23rd. Let's continue to do greater and better things to help the world.
#Rotaractgoals

U of T Rotaract Club's second annual Murder Mystery at the ROM was a big success! With a total of 34 people in attendance, making 10 teams, we raised a total of $407.00 for the children of Sandy Lake First Nations reserve! Thank you to all that came out and/or donated to the cause. Because of your support, families up north will have an easier time this winter.

Another amazing and successful event was held by the Rotaract Club of University of Toronto last Thursday. Young adults from all over the city gathered together at Loft404 to engage in colouring and drink wine. There is something so innate and fun about wine and colouring that people almost reverted to a childlike gleeful state. (minus the drunkenness) Around 60 people attended the event, and many fellowship were strengthened on that day.

David Dai

Vice-President

Rotaract Club of the University of Toronto

On Friday, February 26, 2016 the Rotaract Club of Toronto had their annual fundraiser, this year’s theme was The Gatsby Speakeasy where the proceeds would be going to Sketch. The event was held at The National Club on Bay Street in downtown Toronto. There were over 200 tickets sold and a number of performances.

The MCs for the night was Avaah Blackwell and Sterling Carter who hyped up the crowd and kept the energy flowing between performances. The first perfromance of the evening was a David Bowie Tribute Band. David Bowie supported arts based organizations targeted towards youth which is similar to what Sketch stands for.

Next we kicked it up a notch and had two dancers from BeesKnees teach individual and partner swing dancing. The dance floor was full of people trying out some moves from the roaring 20s.

This was followed by a speech from the President of the Rotaract Club of Toronto, Sarah Hui, along with the Past-President of the Rotaract Club of Toronto, Neisely Eugene. Anytime an event is planned, the scariest thing is that nobody would show up, this was luckily not the case and the Rotaract Club of Toronto was very thankful to everyone who attended the event and contributed towards the success of the evening.

Next we had Dale Roy, Marketing and Creative Communications Coordinator from Sketch give a couple words. He mentioned the importance of Sketch as it creates opportunities for young people ages 16 to 29 living on the margins. Through the program at Sketch they experience the transformative power of the arts; to build leadership and economic self-sufficiency in the arts; and to cultivate social and environmental change through the arts.

Finally, Charmie Deller, singer/songwriter from Sketch performed. She is a Haitian born artist currently living in the cities west-end, who began singing at the age of nine. She is self-taught and plays guitar, piano, drums and the harmonica. The night started off honouring the roaring 20s in line with the Gatsby theme but transitioned to an energetic and fun Top 40s mix later on in the night.

There were other highlights including:

• an area where photos were being taken
• 3 tier-cake from Mimsicle Cakes (http://www.mimsiclecakes.ca/)
• for our silent auction and raffle
• platters of food
• people dressed up in their Gatsby inspired outfits full of pearls, feathers and beautiful jewellery

Finally, this could not have been possible without the hard work of The Gatsby Speakeasy Committee which comprised of Sarah Hui, Neisely Eugene, Katherine Kirkpatrick-Wahl, Aislynn Austin, Sterling Carter, Avaah Blackwell, Earlyn Etienne, Adam Edris, Mark Hui and Jasmine Lin.

Also, on the night of the event, all of this wouldn’t be possible without the help of the amazing members of the Rotaract Club of Toronto who donated their time and volunteered at the event.

Sarah Hui

Club President
Rotaract Club of Toronto

The 3rd Annual Rotaract Club of York University’s Case Competition took place on February 27th, 2016, at the York University Keele Campus.

Delegates were charged with the challenge of tackling a local issue within the community; the MicroSkills centre in Etobicoke. MicroSkills serves the community by offering a variety of programs to its members in the areas of education, health & wellness, personal development and many more, depending on needs. Delegates were asked to focus on the development of a youth mentorship program for the centre.

Esteemed judges from the Rotary Clubs of Toronto West and Etobicoke attended, as well as facilitators from MicroSkills, giving delegates the chance to both compete and network throughout the day.

Overall the event was a huge success, with a variety of ideas and recommendations offered to help improve and better the MicroSkills centre in the future!

The former "Loyalist College Rotaract Club" has requested to change its name to "Loyalist-Belleville Rotaract Club". Also, the Board of Directors were elected in early 2016 and are listed below:

The President - Alexandra Kubrak

Vice President – Tyler Allsopp

Secretary – Rachael Tracey

Treasurer – James Baird

Club Admin. – Zachary Prong

The Club is sponsored by The Rotary Club of Quinte Sunrise.

There are keen members in the process of launching a Rotaract Club at Seneca College. This is exciting news! The club has not been officially chartered, but has received support from the Rotary Club of Richond Hill, which will serve as its sponsor club.

Applications are now open for the Serbia Trip, which takes place from June 25th to July 2nd! Take a look at their trip description below:

"We invite you to embark on the journey of fun, adventure, excitement and friendship. Come and Explore our beautiful country. Get acquainted with local culture, customs and our long tradition. Taste delicious specialties of well known Serbian cuisine and of course our local brandy! Experience genuine local hospitality and Feel unique positive vibe of Serbian people. Make friends for life. Enjoy the party and adventure that will start from the moment when the journey begins and won't stop as long as you are our guest. Prepare yourself for ultimate and unforgettable summer fun experience.

We'll exceed your expectations :)"

Check out the trip description below:

This year, the Slovenia Trip will take place from 24th June to 3rd July and will start in the capital of Slovenia – Ljubljana. The journey will than take you to the Karst region and towards Mediterranean sea. You will take a glimpse of beautiful sunny side of the Alps in Kranj and continue your journey in Lower Carniola region. The last few days of the trip you will visit Styria region with its capital and two historical cities of Roman origin.

Applications will be available at our website www.rotaract.si/trip from 15th February to 15th March 2016. By the beginning of April we will inform the applicants on our decision which 8 Rotaractors will be joining us this year. To get more information on Slovenia and the Slovenia Trip please visit our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/slovenia.trip or contact us at trip@rotaract.si.

The registration fee for Slovenia Trip is 160 EUR and is payed only by the chosen participants. It covers accommodations, meals and entrance fees for museums during the trip. Prior to your
application please read our Terms&Conditionshttp://issuu.com/akson1912/docs/terms_conditions2016.docx_05496a8b2c97d6?e=15928369%2F33009471

The Rotaract Club of Etiler has been running a project which we call “I am rotaract because” every year to introduce rotaracts. For this year, we need your help! We want you to send us a video of one of your club member saying “I am rotaract because ………… (you can say anything you wish)”. These videos will be compiled in one and final video will be shared across the globe through the clubs’ social media accounts at the second week of March. Also send us your club logo to be featured along with your video.

Examples:

I am rotaract because I have the passion to serve

I am rotaract because I am learning the power of becoming "us"

I am rotaract because we can touch people's lives, create difference and change the world

I am rotaract because I cannot keep myself away from the light of pureness, innocence, humanity and lastly from

my family, LIGHT OF ROTARY.

I am rotaract because it is wonderful to be a part of a wonderful community!

I am rotaract because I want to make the world a better place to live.

Guidelines:

Duration: ~5 seconds

Video Orientation: Landscape

Video format: MP4 (recommended), AVI

Quality: 480p or higher

Logo image format: PNG (recommended), JPG

Deadline: March 5, 2016

Place: Find a place where is known by the world (historic/famous place). This could be one of the symbol of your country. For example; For London; Tower Bridge, Big Ben or London Eye. Egypt; Giza Pyramids. It is also possible to shoot the videos during your club’s meeting or in front of your country and club flag. Please make sure that your faces are not shadowed by background light and reduce background noise as much as possible. Also, don’t forget to smile! :)

Send your videos to umutkaya@etilerrotaract.org. Also please don’t forget to send us your club's logo and please write your city's and country's name.

Rotaract Haarlemmermeer Club needs our help! They are in the running for a 5k Euro prize from the company, ING, and they need our votes to win! The money will go towards organizing a hockey tournament for handicapped children, which they organize on an annual basis. The details can be found below:

Every year we organize a hockey tournament especially for handicapped kids with our Rotaract Club. We have done this for some time now and this year we will celebrate our anniversary edition. Children from all over the country come to our tournament and hockey together, however we need your help in order to make this a true unforgettable day!!

We have signed up for a competition organized by the ING Bank and are in the running for a donation of € 5.000,-. The local initiative which receives most of the votes will receive this grand prize. Right now, we are with five contestants left and it’s very exciting!

How can you help us:

We would be forever grateful if you would help us by voting for our handicapped tournament! It will cost you two minutes at most

Step one: go to https://www.ing.nl/hstw/stemnederlandvooruit/Home/Index

Step two: fill in ‘Rotaract Haarlemmermeer’ in the box on the right called “zoek direct een initiatief”
Step three: fill in your name, email, click on the button with “Ja” the box and “Ik ga akkoord..” and lastly the button “> Stem nu” (vote now)

Step four: confirm your vote by clicking “Klik hier” in the mail you will receive
Step five: share this message with your friends!

Of course you are kindly invited to join our party and we would be honoured to see you at our anniversary on the 22nd of October in the Netherlands.

The deadline to cast your vote is March 11, 2016. Thank you!