A.C.A. second big affair Plans are now final- ized for the second Champagne Affair, or- ganized by the Arts Cen- tre Action (A.C.A.) Committee, which is dedicated to the purpose of building a multi- purpose arts centre. Flushed with the suc- cess of last year's fund- raiser, this year's committee, headed by well-known local artist Audrey MacLean plans to make it a repeat-plus performance - elected officials of provincial, regional and municipal governments have been invited to attend the af- fair which takes place at the. Holiday Inn, Oshawa, Saturday, Feb- ruary6. Ted Curl will be master of ceremonies for the evening and will introduce some well- known personalities in- cluding guest speaker Jo Aldwinkle who will speak, briefly, in sup- port of the need for a multi-cultural, multi- purpose arts centre to be built in Oshawa. The format for the evening will be similar to last year's event: Champagne hour, with hors d'oeuvres from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m., followed by introduction of special guests and guest speaker. Then Cabaret enter- tainment presented by Bert Heaver, followed by dancing till midnight to the lively music of Ron Hamblyn and friends who provided the dance music at last year's affair. Tickets, at $12 per person, are available at the Arts Resource Cen- tre, 45 Queen Street, Oshawa. WHITBY FREE PRESS, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 20, 1982, PAGE 9 Salute to Whitby Community Organizations The Rotary Club EDITOR'S NOTE: The Whitby Free Press ls proud to present the second of a serles of articles ln our "Salute to Whitby CommunityOrganiza- tions." In today's edition, the spotlight is turned on the Rotary Club of Whitby which will celebrate its 50th anniversary next year. Throughout the last 49 years, the Rotary Club has been heavily involved in ail types of commu- nity projects to the benefit of ail Whitby resi- dents lncluding children and senior citizens. The club has also undertaken some international projects including sponsoring Dr. Ken Hobbs and his red measels innoculation program ln India. The purpose of our "Salute to Whitby Com- munity Organizations" is to provide our reader- ship with a profile of the almost uncountable number of worthwhile organizations in the town and the good work that they do. Often, their ef- forts go unnoticed by the public press and the community-at-large and this Is an effort to correct that situation. The Rotary Club has made a great contribu- tion to the Town of Whitby throughout its existance and the Whitby Free Press would like to take this opportunity to honor It. By NEIL MURKAR Chairman Rotary Information Committee The Rotary Club of Whitby, the community's oldest service club, will celebrate its 50th anni- versary in May of 1983. Born in the dark days of the depression, the idea of a club dedicated to an ideal of service to others won immediate ap- proval of Whitby's citizens. To chronicle nealy 50 years of service is im- possible in a short article, but the club has an en- viable record of achievement, answering the needs of aIl age groups in the community. In its infancy, the club made a decision that the first call on its time and its funds would be for the care of crippled children and to this day help for the handicapped ranks as a top priority com- mitmerit. Since 1956, the Whitby Rotary Club has been a member club in the annual Easter Seal campaign of the Ontario Society for Crippled Children. Half of the funds remain right in the com- munity for direct local use and the remainder is spent by the society for research and to maintain the Toronto treatment centre which has won -world-wide renown for its work with the handi- capped. Locally, thousands of dollars have been spent, to provide orthopaedic appliances, treatment and drugs, and thousands of volunteer hours have been spent transporting children for treat- ment and therapy at various hospitals and other centres. Many area young people have known the joy of a holiday at the Blue Mountain Camp at Collingwood to which the Whitby Rotary Club has made generous contributions for expansion and operation. In the bleak '30's, Whitby children were pro- vided with milk, warm shoes and clothing and in those hungry days life for Whitby's kids was brightened by the free skating provided by Rotary, and an annual Christmas treat was the free show which with the cooperation of the management was provided at the Royal and later the Brock Theatre. Throughout its history, beginning with its very first project in the summer of 1933 when it repaired the cinder running track in the town park, now Rotary Centennial Park on Brock Street, the club has had a keen interest in pro- viding fine recreational facilities for Whitby's youth. Countless children have played on Rotary sponsored baseball, hockey and lacrosse teams, and in 1952 Rotary organized and continued to operate for many years, the Whitby Rotary Figure Skating Club which eventually grew4to a membership of more than 500. Out of this came the Whitby Figure Skating Club which had great success over the years. In 1952, when the swimming pool was build in Kinsmen Park, Rotary provided the change house and heater at the then substantial cost of $7,000, and in 1954 when the new Whitby Com- munity Arena brought the first artificial ice to the town, Rotary insatlled the permanent floor which allowed for year round use of the facility with activities such as roller skating, lacrosse, wrestling and dancing and the club also fur- nished the kitchen and the auditorium which provided a meeting place for many organiza- tions throughout the life of the arena. In addition $30,000 was made available for the Iroquois Park swimming complex, a much used facility throughout the whole year. The young and the athletic are not the only folk to benefit from Rotary's presence in Whitby, because the Rotary has also always had a-very special interest in our seniors, dating back to the very early years when the club provided enter- tainment for the residents of the old Ontario County home for the aged. It has continued to host parties and events ever since, but its greatest single achievement for our older citizens was the effort and planning which finally resulted in the provision of the splendid Senior Citizens complex at 850 Green Street built by Ontario Housing following lengthy negotiation with the Rotary club. For the handicapped, the Handi-Transit system has given many a mobility they could not possibly have otherwise and the decision has just recently been made by Rotary to provide another van to be put into service whe necessary arrangements can be completed making of Wtby. c'ails tolor onto. Savings apply to calls to Toronto you dial yourself without operator assistance. The minimum charge for this service is $5.60 per month for residence customers and $13.75 for business customers even if the total charges for these calls are less than that. These charges will be included with your regular monthly rate, which is billed in advance. Callyour Bell Canada Business Office, 433-3391, for full details. *Service available only to people with telephone numbers beginning with 666 or 668. possible an even better and more convenient service. Rotary Centennial Park, dedicated in 1979, is already one of the beauty spots of the town, and its beauty will increase as the many trees mature. The club has plans to make the park an even more pleasant place to visit for rest and relaxation. The willing ard helping band of"the Whitby Rotary Club also extends far beyond the bound- aries of our own community. International projects.have ranged from supplying a priniting press to a school in Sierra Leone, Africa, to building a concrete block one-room school on a hillside in Jamaica to provide at least the rudi- ments of learning for children who would other- wise have no education whatever, to shipping 20 tons of technical and other textbooks to develop- ing countries, providing assistance.for a student in Delhi, India who would later come to Canada fpr graduate studies and then return to his native land with skills and knowledge made possible by the Whitby Rotary Club. Whitby Rotarian Dr. Ken Hobbs was instru- mental in setting up a massive red measles im- munization progran in southern India where over 3,000,000 wll receive protection against the ravages of this disease and he has also just returned from a trip to west Africa where he was on a fact finding mission for Rotary Internation- al which has culminated in plans for a polio im- munization project. To raise the funds for its many activities and projects Rotarians have grown acres of peas and corn, they have sold peanuts, fire extinguishers, rose bushes, hams, old whiskey barrels, Christ- mas cakes and two editions of County Town sket- ches. They have danced and sung for over 30 years in minstrel shows and variety revues, and sold draw tickets for vacation trips, automobiles and swimming pools. They have sponsored hockey games and square dances, made pan- cakes by the thousands and tickled the palates of the hungry with their latest creation, The Roto- burger, sold from the familiar trailer painted in Rotary blue and gold which is found at various events around the countryside. Like nearly a million Rotarians in nearly 19,000 clubs in 156 countries around the globe, Whitby Rotarians enjoy being hard at work en- deavouring to make their community and the world a better place in which to live. The club of 65 members meets each Tuesday at noon at the Earl of Durham for luncheon, a time of fellowship and the opportunity to meet with other businessmen. One of the cornerstones of Rotary membership is the classification princi- ple by which one member from each occupation, business, profession or trade is represented, thereby making any Rotary club a varied cross- section of the community. One of Rotary's great strengths is to be found in the variety of talent and skill in its membership, with each member able to contribute in his own special way.