As posted in – The Northern Light

The Bathurst Rotary Club – Providing “Service Above Self” to the Chaleur Region for more than 75 years

First established in 1936, the Bathurst Rotary Club has played an important role in the Chaleur Region for more than 75 years now.

The local club is part of Rotary International, the world’s first service club organization, with more than 1.2 million members in over 34,000 clubs in more than 200 countries around the world. Rotary club members are volunteers who work locally, regionally, and internationally to combat hunger, improve health and sanitation, provide education and job training, promote peace, and eradicate polio under the motto ‘Service Above Self’.

Closer to home the Bathurst Rotary Club has helped fund an all-access playground in Coronation Park; recently purchased a new Venture Van, to provide transportation to those in need; regularly contributes to the Regional Hospital Centre and continues to support the Bathurst Volunteer Centre and Food Bank.

Alan Cotton is the President of the Bathurst Volunteer Centre and a long-time Rotarian.  He said it was his work with Rotary that first got him involved with the Volunteer Centre more than 20 years ago.

“I was asked to sit on the board,” he said.  “Then they asked me if I would like to stay on as president.  That was over 20 years ago.”

Cotton says Rotary “acts as a Big Brother to the Volunteer Centre”.

In addition to owning the building that the volunteer centre is located in, Rotary provides financial assistance and sponsors a very successfull food drive each fall.

Originally a place where different professionals would offer their services to those in need, thereby earning the name the Volunteer Centre, Cotton says it has grown to include four key components today.

Those components are a food bank, where families can get food items; a clothing bank, where clothing is available; a soup kitchen, that provides meals; and a Meals on Wheels program, that delivers meals to those in need.

Cotton said more than 450 families in the Chaleur Region use the services of the Volunteer Centre on a regular basis.

With more than 50 members, the Bathurst Rotary Club is able to continue to support projects, like the Volunteer Centre, through a series of fundraising initiatives that include – the Rotary World Travel Draw, the Rotary Radio Auction and the Paul Harris Awards Dinner.