Rotary Club of Cloverdale, Surrey BC
The idea of a new Rotary Club for Cloverdale originated in the Spring of 1993, with Mr. Wolf Paech. Mr. Paech is a local merchant and had been a member of the Rotary Club of Surrey for many years. The then District Governor, Vic Hollister, appointed him as organizer with the assistance of Mr. Jack Klinkhammer. Mr. Klinkhammer worked as a liaison officer between the new provisional club and the sponsoring club, The Rotary Club of Surrey.
Paech and Klinkhammer went on to canvas the business community to obtain the twenty-five members required to obtain a Club Charter from Rotary International.
The Provisional Club met at the Sunrise Golf Center at 12:15pm on Wednesday's. This seemed to hinder the efforts of the campaigners as Cloverdale is, of course, primarily a community of small businesses; the owners or managers of which cannot always get away at lunch time for a couple of hours. So, in October 1994, we changed the club's meeting time to 7:15 am and moved the club into "downtown" to the Clover Inn for breakfast meetings.
Amazingly, this had the desired effect and by the new year we had submitted the application for Charter to Rotary International in Evanston, Il. We held the club's first elections on February 1st,1995 and Rotary International, on April 11th,1995, awarded the club its Charter.
The Rotary Club of Cloverdale had entered its first community involvement even before receiving its Charter. That being a "Partnership in Education" with Lord Tweedsmuir Senior Secondary School. This is a strong relationship that continues today through the club's sponsorship and involvement with Scholarships, Career (Interview) days and "Dry Grad" celebrations.
The club continues to be involved in the community through various fund raisers. These fund raisers have over the past few years seen funds raised not only for Lord Tweedsmuir, but also Cloverdale Elementary School, sports uniforms and the Cloverdale Learning Center to help with transportation costs on field trips. Our most popular fund raiser is the annual Cloverdale Rotary Rodeo Golf Tournament. The club took on the challenge of resurrecting the defunct Rodeo Golf Tourney which had previously been linked to the world famous Cloverdale Rodeo. It had been inactive for several years but in only three short years (at the time of this writing) and with the help of the Rotary Club of Surrey/Guildford, it has become a very popular event! Held annually in May, it raises funds for both clubs.
In 1997-98, the club was privileged to be the host to an exchange student for the first time and the members welcomed Bernardo Rebora to the community. Bernardo stayed with several members at the beginning of his visit, but became firmly settled with Karen and Peter Eakins for most of the time. Bernardo was a great ambassador for his country (Mexico), his family and his sponsoring club. The members missed him when he went home and we were deeply saddened by the news of his tragic death in a motor vehicle accident only short weeks after his return to his native land and his family. A trust fund has been established in Bernardo's memory to provide scholarship funds to a music student at Lord Tweedsmuir. We will not forget him.
The club has faced many changes over its short life, members have come and gone and only a scant few of the Charter Members are wtill with the club. However, the club continues to flourish and new members continue to come and enjoy the camaraderie and fellowship that are an inherent part of the Rotary Club of Cloverdale.
Bill Robson
Charter President