HISTORY
“So long as there is one hungry child or
one ignorant man or one discouraged youth; so long as there is
misunderstanding or conflict anywhere; so long as there is a choice friend
who has not been found. . . there is a reason for Rotary.”
—Richard
L. Evans, Past President, Rotary International.
Thus, eloquently, are summed up the
feelings, aims and aspirations of Rotary and, by extension, those of The
Rotary Club of Westmount. While the idea and desire for a Rotary club in
Westmount had been simmering for a number of years, the first positive
step toward reality came in an organizational meeting held on May 21,
1930. It was a year still scarred by the great depression and there was
much need for service to humanity and the community.
As if his presence were prophetic of the
success of the club-to-be, the organizational meeting was attended by John
Nelson of the Rotary Club of Montreal. Mr. Nelson, then Governor of the
28th District, became President of Rotary International three years
later.
Following a summer hiatus, during which
membership was nevertheless actively promoted, a Charter Night for The
Rotary Club of Westmount was celebrated on October 24, 1930, at the
Windsor Hotel. Scores of guests watched as 30 charter members were
congratulated by members of the Rotary Club of Montreal, sponsoring the
new group.
The 60th anniversary of this memorable
event was fittingly celebrated on October 20, 1990, at a gala dinner at
Montreal’s Mount Stephen Club. The club also published a commemorative
newspaper to mark the occasion.
John Hand was elected the first president
of The Rotary Club of Westmount. The entire membership set to work
immediately with enthusiasm and dedication to service. As S.C. Holland,
then president of the sponsoring Rotary club, later was to remark about
the infant organization:
“After you learned to creep, it didn’t take
you very long to walk and run.”
Not only did the membership of the club
begin to grow, the results of its dedication to community service were not
long in showing themselves. So active and innovative did the Westmounters
become that they have, over the years, established several “firsts” which
now have become the norm among annual charitable activities in
Montreal.
One of the best-known of these activities
was also the very first attempted by the neophite club in the Rotary year
1931/32. This was the staging of the first Ice Carnival ever held in the
Montreal Forum. The money turned over to the Montreal Children’s Hospital,
as a result of the event, marked a success even exceeding the expectations
of the Rotary organizers. It also established a precedent for many annual
“carnivals” to come. (See following chapter.)
From the start the club was
self-sustaining. As its influence grew within the community, its
reputation spread. It was not long before members of the diplomatic corps
in Montreal and Ottawa were accepting invitations to special dinners held
by the Westmount club.
Indeed, The Rotary Club of Westmount soon
took its place as a fully active member of Rotary International. In
relation to the size of the community, the club was soon exceeding the
average of other Rotary clubs in terms of financial aid provided.
THE EARLY YEARS
“The problems of our community and the
needs of the world are limitless. So are our opportunities. We can’t do
everything, but we can do something for someone, sometime.”
To many people in Montreal, mention of
carnivals immediately brings The Rotary Club of Westmount to mind. The
enthusiastic volunteer “entrepreneurs” became so adept at staging
fund-raising carnivals that they were envied by professionals.
Inadvertently, they introduced professional
ice carnivals to Montreal along the way. Here’s how it happened:
The club was less than half a year old when
it was decided that a good way to launch its fund-raising efforts would be
to stage an ice carnival in the Montreal Forum. The best skating talent of
Ottawa, Toronto and Montreal was invited to participate, with a few
professional names added to the list as drawing cards. Net proceeds were
destined for the Montreal Children’s Hospital.
The Rotary “entrepreneurs” and their
families surprised even themselves by clearing $8,000 for the benefit of
the hospital. Capitalizing on experience and undiminished enthusiasm, they
repeated the carnival the following year, this time netting $9,300.
Unfortunately, success breeds competition.
A number of ice arena managers, noting the profitable Rotary volunteer
operation, formed an association that tied up both the available
professional talent and the ice. The Rotarians were literally frozen out
of their own carnival by high contract demands.
Undaunted, the club continued a variety of
fund-raising activities, as its contributions and services to
organisations and individuals in need increased.
The well-remembered razzle-dazzle and
carnival atmosphere never left the minds of some Rotarians, however, and
in 1940 they voted to return to the field. This time it was a real
old-fashioned type of carnival that included games of skill and chance,
bingo, entertainment, balloons and cotton candy. The Rotarians wore straw
boaters and sported gartered sleeves.
Again, they returned to the Forum for the
show... un‑iced this time... and in two days realized a profit of $3,700,
a handsome sum at that time.
The Carnival became a famous annual family
fixture on the local scene. It was moved, in its second year, to Westmount
Park. There it was staged “en plein air” and under canvas until the
building of the indoor Westmount Skating Rink... a location that ended the
Committee’s annual worries about the weather.
The Carnival’s net profits... and the
resultant benefits for Rotary sponsored charitable activities... at times
surpassed expectations.
One reason that The Rotary Club of
Westmount continued to realize a good return from its annual Carnival was
that it owned and maintained its equipment. A booth could be assembled, or
taken apart and packed away, in 20 minutes.
In 1968, a change in provincial
regulations, regarding carnivals and games of chance, spelled an end to
the Rotary Carnival. If The Rotary Club of Westmount has won fame and
fortune with its annual Carnival, it has been no less active in other
fields. The Carnival was the source of much of the income for welfare
activities.
What is less well known, however, is the
extent and importance to the community of many of the charitable
activities of the members and their families over the years. As recorded
earlier, the first project of the club was in aid of the Montreal
Children’s Hospital. Several other hospitals have been given aid as well.
In at least one instance, desperately needed equipment was donated to a
hospital, when pleas for funds from government coffers proved to no
avail.
Other projects have aided both youth and
the aged, the sick, the homeless and hungry. Funds have been provided for
education, the Girl Guides, the Boy Scouts, and for youths from broken, or
without homes, such as those in Weredale House.
In 1935, 40 acres of land were purchased
near St. Hippolyte in the Laurentians for $10,000 and a summer camp
for the boys of Weredale House was established on the shores of Lac de
l’Achigan. When the dining
hall was destroyed by fire in the autumn of 1965, The Rotary Club of
Westmount promptly replaced it, through a donation of $25,000 plus
insurance coverage.
THE WAR YEARS
World War II saw an even greater burden of
human need placed on organizations such as Rotary.
True to form, the members of the Westmount
club plunged wholeheartedly into the task of alleviating suffering and
providing amenities and assistance for men and women in the service. A
number of club members were on active service.
Those at home redoubled their efforts to be
of assistance in projects related to the war, while still maintaining the
level of service already set for such things as hospital aid, child
welfare and education.
For example, in 1944 a university
scholarship fund was established for students attending high schools in
Westmount. A sum of $500 annually was provided, to be awarded as two equal
scholarships of $250. In succeeding years, eligibility for the
scholarships was extended to students at St. Leo’s School and St. Paul’s
Academy. Some of the recipients now are prominent in business and the
professions in Montreal and across Canada.
Other specific items may be gleaned from
the wartime records of Westmount Rotary... such as, a donation to an air
force training school. But the really beneficial service provided by the
club was an almost continual day-to-day and week-by-week series of
activities, such as aiding in bond drives and salvage collections.
Literally thousands of cigarettes were provided for men in the services
and a variety of sporting goods was collected and purchased for camps and
other military installations... including, at one point, “two bicycles for
the crew of HMCS Westmount.”
War Savings Certificates were raffled at
the weekly luncheon meetings and the proceeds were used to provide food
and clothing parcels for distribution to needy Londoners by Rotary clubs
in London, England. As late as 1954, its efforts were still remembered and
the club received a long-lasting expression of gratitude from recipients
in the form of a lectern, still being used weekly many years later at the
club’s luncheon meetings and other events. Made of British oak, this gift
is all the more significant in that the wood used, dating back to the
early 1600s in the time of William Shakespeare, came from the London Docks
following the air raids in the early part of the war.
The lectern bears this inscription:
Presented to
The Rotary Club
of Westmount
by the
Rotary Club of
Lewisham, England
in appreciation
of their
Goodwill and
Rotary Fellowship
during
World War II,
1939–1945
In fact the Westmount Club was only able to
send parcels to their British friends from 1947-1953.
TIME TO REBUILD
Unity Boys’ Club grew out of the troubled
post-war years when a number of Westmount and St. Henri youths began
making trouble. Heeding the pleas of police, welfare and other agencies,
Rotary at first attempted to provide activities in church basements for
boys who would otherwise be roaming the streets. Then, it was decided that
positive action on a much larger scale was needed. A modern and
well-equipped clubhouse was built for an estimated $180,000, and another
$15,000 was provided annually for its operation. The land was donated by
the City of Westmount.
The Unity Boys’ Club was officially opened
in 1950. Within two years, it had a membership of more than 1,000 (40% of
them girls!). It provided a gamut of activities... sports, crafts, etc...
but its annual Talent Parade probably gained the most renown. The talented
youths who appeared in the parade also performed before a Governors’
meeting of Rotary International at Lake Placid, N.Y.
In 1964, The Rotary Club of Westmount
turned over the project (renamed the Unity Boys’ & Girls’ Club) to the
Montreal Boys’ Association for $1, maintaining an active interest in its
aims and operation. A form of recycling of the club’s largesse occured a
quarter-century later when the need for Unity and similar facilities
diminished. The association turned the Greene avenue building back to
Rotary which, for a while, made it available to nearby residents as a
community centre. In order to achieve this, Rotary assumed the debts
accumulated by the association. In the process, it prevented the
demolition of the building and the use of the site for a housing
development. Finally, the City of Westmount bought it from the Rotary
club, whose coffers were replenished by $80,000 for use in future good
works.
A second project, Prospect House, resulted
from requests for assistance to elderly persons without
suitable homes.
For many years the Rotarians and their
wives had been helpful in organizing and furthering the activities of the
Westmount Friendship Club for senior citizens. When welfare workers made
known the plight of some of them, it was natural for the Club to move
toward decisive action in this area.
Two houses on Prospect Street were
purchased in 1955 and remodelled and furnished. The result was a home
where the elderly could live comfortably and with pride, at rentals as low
as $38 per month. Single and double rooms for married couples were
provided, with bathrooms and kitchens on each floor, laundry facilities in
the basement and a lounge and television room on the main floor.
Having initiated and launched the project,
the Rotary club then donated the completed Prospect House to the Family
Service Association of Montreal.
There was more, of course; the ever-growing
list of charitable projects and annual activities of The Rotary Club of
Westmount has continued over the years. Assistance was given to the
Westmount Senior Citizens’ Centre with their Art Sale, an event which
became an annual co-operative affair and brought the centre, on average,
some $2,000 each year.
In 1976 the club implemented a new method of fund-raising. This was our first Giant Garage Sale, held in the Westmount Arena. The profits derived from this were $3,000 and the following year, 1977, they climbed to $11,000. An auction was soon added and the proceeds have gradually climbed over subsequent years and become, along with an annual travel raffle, the major source of funds for the club’s work in the local and broader community. In 1998, the auction and sale raised $40,000.
MANOIR WESTMOUNT
While the foregoing smaller, but
meaningful, activities were being carried out, research for a new, major
project was preoccupying the directors. To this end, a new committee
was established in 1972, entitled: “Community Co-ordination and Catalytic
Action”, It tapped the diverse skills within the club and consulted the
community, to establish the most relevant project.
In 1974 the club sought and received a
federal Local Initiatives Project (LIP) grant of $9,000 to further its
study of residence care needs for senior citizens in Westmount. It became
clear that Westmount, however privileged in other respects, was almost
totally lacking in appropriate residential facilities within its borders
for local retired citizens, with whom it abounds.
Within the year, the club came up with a
plan to establish an appropriate residence of quality. This undertaking
invited maximum participation by members of Rotary, local churches and
other community groups. It was to become the club’s major undertaking over
the next two decades!
By 1976, this major project was under way,
to be known as “Manoir Westmount.” The costs – about $5,000,000 – the
site, the plan of actual building and the approvals still required
finalizing, but the club now had a new goal. Westmount Rotary was
encouraged by letters from the City of Westmount and the provincial
government. Monetary assistance with public funds was neither sought nor
offered.
A revolving committee, drawing on the wide
talents available to it as needed from the membership, met over
a year and a half at weekly breakfast meetings. Sub-committees and
individuals devoted freely an enormous amount of additional time and
effort to various aspects of the site-search, planning, negotiating and
financing. Dominating 1977 were the most crucial stages of
the project.
The club had negotiated with Westmount city
council a long-term lease for the basement floor of Victoria Hall,
but was faced with opposition to the construction of its adjoining
main building from residents in the immediate neighborhood. They demanded
a referendum on the required zoning change for the main residence at the
corner of Lansdowne avenue and Sherbrooke street.
After extensive canvassing by Rotarians
plus a widely-attended information meeting, the crucial September 8, 1977,
public vote was narrowly won, 48 to 45, by the club. Subsequently, most
local residents have proclaimed that the finished Manoir is a distinct
asset, both to the immediate locality and to the community at large.
In late August, the announcement came that
a major donor had committed $3,000,000 toward realization of the project.
With numerous other substantial gifts, all from private sources, planning
proceeded with confidence. Two houses on the east side of Lansdowne
avenue, just south of Sherbrooke street, were purchased and
demolished.
On May 31, 1978, as the Rotary year drew to
a close, the sod was turned by our honorary member, the Mayor of
Westmount. A major project with rooms on five floors to house some 125
retired citizens of Westmount had sprung from the beliefs and imagination
of the membership and blossomed into a reality.
In March, 1979, over 600 persons attended
an informal evening and a pre-completion tour of Manoir Westmount. On May
21, Mr. Walter B. Murray, then aged 92, moved in as the first
resident.
On the eve of the 50th Anniversary of The
Rotary Club of Westmount, the long held goal of this decade was achieved.
The club membership had conceived the development of a residence for
retired persons who would not be exposed to any of the capital costs
in the development of the property or the vagaries of public, bureaucratic
authority.
Manoir Westmount Inc. was formed with all
the members of The Rotary Club of Westmount as members of the
corporation. The directors are nominees of The Rotary Club of
Westmount. The operation of the property was then free to set admittance
and on-going operational rules without interference by government
at any level.
On October 12, 1979, the building was
officially opened by Lieutenant Governor Jean-Pierre Côté. Within the
next 12 months, there was no debt (some bridge financing had been
used) remaining on the property and the building was fully
occupied.
AFTER THE FIRST FIFTY
YEARS
Continuing into the 1980s, the club’s
activities were filled with further variety of imaginative programs.
When approached by an independent film
producer to sponsor a film focusing on “The Rights of Children Under
Five,” the club was able to secure a grant from the Government of Canada
to achieve this worthy objective. Made available through the National Film
Board, the film was titled: “Happy Birthday, Baby.” It offers an in
depth study of the problem areas of child rearing within the under-five
age group.
The Rotary Club of Westmount also has been
very active internationally. Following the end of the war in Vietnam and
the ensuing emergence of “boat people,” a refugee problem surfaced in
Southeast Asia.
In this regard, James L. Bomar, Jr.,
president of Rotary International (1979/80), conceived a project to
mobilize volunteer physicians to serve needy refugees. Dr. Tsio-Yong Wang,
a member of our club, became the first Rotarian to serve in the refugee
camps in Hong Kong. His assignment started on his 61st birthday,
March 17, 1980. He was later joined by doctors from around
the world.
For his two months’ work in the refugee
camp, Dr. Wang received a Rotary International Presidential Citation.
Due to his personal involvement, the emigration process was expedited,
health of the refugees improved. They also were briefed on what was
awaiting them in the “new world”.
Dr. Wang had all the qualifications to deal
with this mammoth challenge. He was born in Shanghai, China, and his
linguistic knowledge permitted him to communicate with the refugees in
their native tongue. Having spent 24 years in Vietnam, he also knew
local customs.
During his tenure, he had discovered that
dental care was urgently required by most refugees. The club was
instrumental in purchasing a dental chair.
The club was also active in the sphere of
educational assistance and set up classes for teaching CPR (Cardio
Pulmonary Resuscitation). Working with the Westmount Fire Department, the
club set up teaching facilities for CPR in the community. A number of
training “dummies” were purchased by the local Rotary Club, including one
“Arrythmia Anne III” for advanced CPR training of doctors and nurses.
Approximately $7,000 was spent on CPR equipment and thus the community
knowledge of this vital life-saving method had been vastly improved.
Later in 1980, a contribution was made to
Dawson College Da Costa Hall Summer School, to assist with educational
needs of members of the Black Community.
Other youth activities involved a
contribution to MacKay Summer Camp, to the YMCA Kamp Kanawana and to Big
Brothers of Montreal. In co-operation with the Junior League of Montreal,
the club provided assistance to a black youth from a broken home.
While Manoir Westmount was now completed,
the work for the senior citizens still continued. The “Guardian
Angel” program was established. The club also presented an Exer-cycle
to Manoir Westmount and answered an appeal for funds from Reddy Memorial
Hospital to provide outings for long-term patients.
A donation in excess of $5,000 to construct
a graded entrance for wheelchairs at the “Clinique de psychiatrie pour
enfants et adolescents,” was selected to become a club project celebrating
our 50th anniversary. The clinic is associated with the Ste. Justine
Hospital and provides a valuable contribution to St. Henri, where the
centre is located.
In 1981 a van valued at $13,000 was donated
to the Montreal Association for the Blind.
In the same year, The Rotary Club of
Westmount made a pledge of $30,000 to the Quebec Society for Disabled
Children to assist in furnishing their new centre opposite the
Montreal Children’s Hospital on René Lévesque boulevard.
The project highlighting 1983 had an
international flavor and was titled “Bukasa Island.” A Montreal born
doctor, Jerry Kambitis, and his African wife, Sarah, returned to her
homeland in Uganda to establish medical, educational and agricultural
facilities. These were long-sought services to this island, some 40 miles
offshore in Lake Victoria.
Viewing the potential scope of this
enormous task, The Rotary Club of Westmount brought into the project other
Rotary clubs in the Montreal region. Further assistance was obtained from
Rotary International and the Canadian Government to bring a total
funding in excess of $200,000.
Two major undertakings came to a head early
in 1986. The club agreed to provide a $40,000 wheelchair van for the
Montreal Children’s Hospital for transporting youngsters between the
hospital and its Alexandra Pavilion in Point St. Charles. The
appropriately equipped and painted vehicle was presented at a club
luncheon meeting held at the old Alexandra Hospital. Later the pavilion
was closed and the van was refurbished by the club and transferred to
the Centre d’Accueil
Jean-Olivier Chenier.
Soon after, the board approved a project,
presented by Dr. David Gayton, head of geriatrics at the Royal Victoria
Hospital, to be known as Lifeline. It called for a special switchboard at
the hospital for alerts from suitably home-equipped senior citizens in
trouble or distress.
The club’s initial outlay for equipment was
$53,628 with subsequent allocations in 1987 and 1988 of $15,000 and
$20,000. As Lifeline proved more useful in giving seniors a sense of
security in their own homes and as an alternative to institutionalizing,
more and more funds were provided and individual Rotarians volunteered to
do the installations. Other Rotary clubs in the Montreal area have joined
in the RVH (Royal Victoria Hospital)/Rotary Lifeline project. which has
become self-supporting. Modest fees, from those able to pay, are charged
for the service.
The club in 1988 donated $20,000 to Rotary
International’s Polio-Plus campaign, aimed to eradicate the disease
worldwide by the turn of the century. Substantial financial assistance was
given to Giant Steps and the Reddy Memorial Hospital’s program for
newly-diagnosed cancer patients. The hospital later was provided with
$5,000 electrosurgical power unit. Also, $4,500 was joined to funds of the
Rotary Club of Dakar to provide snackbar facilities for students in
Senegal. Likewise, $5,000 plus hours of manpower and donated materials
were applied to a “Circle of Friends” apartment in westend Montreal for
three young men with advanced muscular dystrophy.
More recent projects include the
establishment of the Salvation Army/Rotary Community Centre providing
programmes and help to low income individuals;
A major donation to the Quebec Association
for Adapted Sailing to acquire a specially equipped sailing boat allows
disabled persons the freedom to sail;
The purchase and delivery of $50,000 worth
of generators aided suffering farmers during the 1998 ice‑storm;
Support has also been provided to assist
Share the Warmth Foundation with their food bank, the delivery
of meals to needy school children. Recently, when in the middle of
winter their furnace broke down, Rotary had it replaced;
The VON(Victorian Order of Nurses) received
financial support to provide palliative care in a home setting.
IN APPRECIATION
The numerous achievements outlined in the
foregoing chapters leave one to consider the many thousands of dollars
that were contributed. Not to be overlooked, however, were the very
significant number of hours donated by members and their families.
Following are some of the major projects
that have been developed and promoted by The Rotary Club of Westmount in
donations, equipment and other services, totalling over $6,000,000. Many
other forms of assistance... such as spontaneous contributions to disaster
and relief funds... are not included in the list.
Manoir Westmount
Inc.
Royal Victoria
Hospital Rotary Lifeline
Unity Boys’ &
Girls’ Club Inc.
Bukasa Island,
Africa
Montreal
Children’s Hospital
Prospect House
Inc.
Youth Service
& Crippled Children
Community
Service
Weredale
Camp
Quebec Society
for Disabled Children
Scholarships
Boys’ Home of
Montreal (Weredale
House)
Montreal Diet
Dispensary
Reddy Memorial
Hospital
Montreal
Association for the Blind
Montreal General
Hospital
Julius Richardson
Hospital
International
Service
In the years ahead, The Rotary Club of
Westmount will continue to seek out many more projects... some large, some
small... but all helping to relieve and raise the living conditions of
those in need.
Wherever possible, Rotary will strive to
fulfill the mandate of: “Service Above Self.”
4646 Sherbrooke Street West, Westmount Quebec, H3Z 2Z8
Tel. (514) 935-3344 Fax. (514) 933-0614