Spring is less than 4 weeks away, the end is in sight, and the snow will disappear.
Thanks for all these who helped and came to our successful Movie Night.
See you at the Food Packing on Wednesday and or at the Pub.
What are we going to do with no Olympics to watch?
Yours In Rotary,
Elaine
CÉCILE GAGNON BOUFFARD
Heartfelt condolences extended to the family of Rotarian Sylvain Bouffard on the passing of his 93-year-old mother, Cécile Gagnon Bouffard, on Sunday February 22 in Victoriaville, Quebec.
She is survived by her husband of 64 years Claude Bouffard, 3 sons, 5 grandchildren and 2 great-grandchildren. A celebration of life will be held on Saturday March 14 and, in lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to the Alzheimer's Society.
In Memoriam REMEMBERING Peter John (P.J.) MARSHALL (1942-2026)
- Fred Richmond
P.J. was a significant contributing member with Kingston-Frontenac in the early to mid–1980s. His move up the business ladder to the Belleville office of Northern Telecom was a great loss for our club.
Kingston-Frontenac Rotarian Hari Satyal from Nepal has completed his Master's degree in Structural Engineering from Queen's and is now looking for a job. His expertise is in structural concrete and project management, and he would like to stay in Kingston. If you have any leads, please let Hari or Trevor know.
SUPPORT FABIAN van der MERWE
Fabian doing his push-ups in Costa Rica!
Hi! My name is Fabian van der Merwe, and this February I have taken on the _pushup challenge_ to fundraise for the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA). The CMHA is a Canadian organization that helps fund research into mental health and support programs for Canadians suffering from it; they also fund and advocate for policy changes to better prevent and support Canadians dealing with mental health issues, as well as programs and support groups. They are an incredible organization that helps address one of the least visible - yet most harmful - health issues facing Canadians today.
The _pushup challenge_ is an independently run organization that hosts fundraising challenges to raise proceeds for CMHA. It challenges participants to do 2000 pushups over 3 weeks in February to bring awareness to the impacts that mental health has on our society while fundraising for CMHA - where 100% of the proceeds are donated! This is my first year participating, but the pushup challenge has been around since 2024, and collectively helped to raise over $6 million dollars in the last three years.
I invite you all to join the remainder of my journey as I complete the remaining 623 pushups and push towards my goal of raising $500! You can follow my efforts on my dedicated Instagram @push4mentalhealth, or show your support by donating on my page here:
CHALLENGE:All donations from K-F Rotarians will be matched 100% by K-F Youth Services!
- Don Polk
Recruiting Students (15-18 y.o.) for
2026 RYLA & Adventure in Understanding
May 22-24, 2026
RKY Camp, Eagle Lake
&
Aug 30 - Sept 4, 2026
Trent-Severn Waterway, Peterborough
For more info: polkdj@hotmail.com
Nico in Taiwan
On February 17, Nico celebrated the Lunar New Year together with his host family. It is a time for family reunions, cleaning to remove bad luck, and enjoying traditional foods. For New Years, family members received red envelopes containing money.
With Host Uncle & Host Mother
With Host Cousins & Grandma
This marks the beginning of the year of the Fire Horse, which represents freedom, speed, passion and forward momentum and lasts until February 5, 2027. The New Year celebration is a 16 day festival beginning with the new moon and culminating in the Lantern Festival on March 3, 2026.
Meanwhile, in Canada, the Kingston-area YouthEx inbound & rebound students, including Christian and Cole, celebrated the Lunar New Year together with K-F Rotarian Jack Chong, his wife Mary and daughter Julia at a dinner hosted by the Kingston Club's Lucille Davies.
Christian in Kingston
Following his successful completion of Semester 1 exams, Christian moved to his new Host family in the West End and enjoyed a number of activities including his first time downhill skiing (at Calabogie), curling on the Regi mixed team at the KASSAA high-school championship (thanks to Fred & Don Taylor who came out to cheer him on!),
New winter sports - Skiing @ Calabogie & Curling on the Regi Mixed Curling Team
the District YouthEx Winterlude Weekend in Ottawa
A cold Winterlude Weekend in Ottawa & at the House of Commons entrance
and a Valentine's Day visit to Wheeler's Sugar Bush with his Host Family and friends for pancakes & maple syrup.
And in preparation for the upcoming golf season, Christian enjoyed a first lesson with Rotarian Masters champs Jack Chong, Jim Reid and John Mirski at their weekly off-season "outing". Next stop Augusta National!
- Peter Morrin
AZBGC SEWING PROJECT February 2026 Update
Dear Friends,
This is the partner piece to my article in the October RotaTeller, where I described our Maarifa Sewing Project at Trinity Academy in Boma, Tanzania.
Mme Felister teaching the Maarifa Sewing program at Trinity Academy Students at work at Trinity Academy in the Maarifa Sewing Project (Tanzania)
This article describes our expansion of this project to the Agnes Zabali Boys and Girls Club (AZBGC) in Kamengo, Uganda.
The challenges facing young women dealing with their periods is the same in Uganda as in Tanzania. Proper sanitary supplies are either not available or not affordable and many young women stay home from school during their periods. This negatively impacts on their schooling and many young girls leave school prematurely.
AZBGC Sewing Group (Nov 2025)
At AZBGC this program run by the senior girls and a young woman, Flavia, who has learnt to sew commercially and will be the senior trainer for our program. She is 15 and is in seventh grade. We provided the Girls House at AZBGC with the same fabrics and sewing materials we provided to Trinity Academy. The Girls House already had two sewing machines and Flavia has access to the machines at the shop where she works.
AZBGC Team Leader Flavia (L) and students learning in a local seamstress shop
Flavia is currently instructing the girls how to make their own, re-useable, sanitary pads which will provide them with a new skill and an essential product to stay in school with dignity. We hope to expand this program to other schools in the area including those supported by the Rotary Partners we met this year.
MOVIE NIGHT FUNDRAISER
February 18, 2026
- John Mirski
Our First Movie Night, A Night to Remember, about the sinking of the Titanic was a success with 76 tickets sold filling the Providence Motherhouse to capacity. Pinwheel sandwiches provided by Susan Freitas were appreciated by movie attendees, and we had nothing but positive comments about our choice of non-alcoholic bubbly as the beverage on offer.
Thank you to Shelagh Mirski and Tannis Taylor who assembled and served the plates of Pizzeli, mini eclairs, and raspberries enjoyed by all. A big nod of gratitude for the help of all club members in making our initial movie night a huge success and especially a big thank you to the members who froze outside in the cold, directing patrons to the venue parking lots and entrances.
Lots of positive comments by our guests - truly a night to remember. The most common question….? When is the next movie night?!!
Kingston-Area Rotary Clubs
4 /72
2025 Team Progress
Thanks!
to all who've rolled up a sleeve to
Give Blood!
BINGO! FUNDRAISING
In the 2025-26 Bingo Year
(for hours volunteered from
Apr 2025-Mar 2026),
Kingston-Frontenac Club members have raised:
$32,840.38
($315.77/ hour volunteered)
to benefit our local community.
All shifts in 2025-26 have volunteers.
Please check the Bingo Schedule
Thanks to the K-F members who have volunteered for this valuable service.
