St. Catharines May 13 2024 — The Rotary Clubs of St. Catharines; St. Catharines
South and St. Catharines Lakeshore recently held a joint Gala Evening at Rodman Hall
to honour six members of the community for their meritorious service. Each Club
selected two citizens and/or organizations to receive Community Paul Harris
Fellowships for individuals or Community Certificates of Appreciation for organizations.
The Rotary Club of St. Catharines was pleased to present Community Paul Harris
Fellowships to the founders of the Niagara Warehouse of Hope (NWOH) Jim and Mary
van der Zalm and Dr. Karl Stobbe of REACH Niagara. In addition, the Club presented
the Niagara Warehouse of Hope organization overall with a Certificate of Appreciation
(accepted by John DeLaat, President of NWOH).
The Niagara Warehouse of Hope was founded in 1989 by Mary and Ted van der Zalm Sr.
The only known organization of its kind, entirely run by 80 volunteers with only
donations of cash and in kind goods and services, it has one mission: Helping People
Help Themselves. The focus is on shipping donated medical equipment & supplies, food,
clothing, household items and school supplies to those in need - both locally and
offshore. Containers have been shipped to Haiti, the Philippines, Ukraine, Dominican
Republic, Kenya, Cuba, Guatemala and other destinations.
Dr. Karl Stobbe co-founded and serves as medical director at REACH Niagara as well as
had a key role in developing the Niagara Regional Campus, Michael G. DeGroote School
of Medicine serving as Regional Assistant Dean from 2007 – 2017. REACH (Regional
Essential Access to Connected Health) Niagara provides healthcare to people who are
marginalized, including those homeless, precariously housed, living below the low-
income measure, migrant agricultural workers, indigenous people, immigrants and
refugees across Niagara. There are no health cards or appointments required to access
REACH clinics.
The Rotary Club of St. Catharines South selected Niagara’s famous Surfing
Santa John Fulton and Sam Baio (Socks for Change program) to receive Community
Paul Harris Fellowships.
In 1985, John Fulton had been trying to figure out how he could use different strategies
to promote his own businesses, a gym and a windsurfing school in Fort Erie, while
benefitting local charities. As he was driving down the Parkway, it popped into his head.
a Surfing Santa. This year Surfing Santa is celebrating its 40th year collecting underwear
by the barrelful and distributing it though Toolbox Niagara and Mobile Closet to the
homeless across the Region!
Sam Baio was on his way home listening to the radio in 2016, when he heard a CBC
report about people in homeless shelters suffering from foot infections due, in part, to
living with constantly cold, wet feet. He knew from his own experience, that no matter
how warmly he dressed up top, cold feet made him miserable. Socks for Change is a
truly local Niagara charity that provides Canadian-made, high-quality, warm wool socks
and winter accessories to people in need. The charity supports schools, not for profit
organizations and outreach programs across the Niagara Region with 100% of donations
go to buying socks.
The Rotary Club of St. Catharines Lakeshore honoured Isabella Bujor of The
Giving Bowl with a Community Paul Harris Fellowship and the RAFT (accepted by
Board member Bruce Krushelnicki) with a Community Certificate of Appreciation.
The Giving Bowl is dedicated to feeding over 1,400 impoverished children in a handful
of schools in Eastern Uganda. This non-profit organization also helps with school fees
for a small number of their orphaned students as well as medical support. Isabella took
over The Giving Bowl on the untimely passing of its founder six years ago, making four
annual trips to Uganda (with the exception of pandemic years) at her own expense, to
monitor and ensure the smooth running of the program.
Over the last 30 years, RAFT has been committed to serving the vulnerable youth in
Niagara. Started in St. Catharines in 1994 by a group of concerned citizens who felt that
their community should and could do better for young people, RAFT now serves the
entire Niagara region, offering community and school attachment support, shelter, and
housing placement. RAFT is proud to have contributed to Niagara having one of the
lowest rates of youth homelessness in Canada. RAFT’S ground-breaking prevention
services model (which stabilizes young people in their community, school, and housing)
is now a national model, duplicated in many Canadian cities. RAFT supports hundreds
of youth annually to prevent or end their experience of homelessness and support them
to a productive and healthy future.