The Rotary Club of Barrie recently welcomed Shelly-Ann Skinner and Randy Saint from the UPlift Black Centre for Social Justice and Inclusion for an insightful presentation highlighting the organization’s growing impact across Simcoe County.

During the presentation, Shelly-Ann explained that while many of the Centre’s programs are designed to support Black communities, UPlift serves a broad and diverse membership made up of individuals from many backgrounds who may be navigating systemic exclusion, racism, homophobia, transphobia, or other barriers to opportunity and belonging.

A major focus of the Centre’s work is supporting older youth between the ages of 16 and 29, helping them work through important life transitions through mentorship, leadership development, and community connection.

Members learned about several key programs offered through the Centre, including the Artist Collective, which connects award-winning creatives with emerging artists, and YOUth by UPlift, which focuses on leadership building and self-esteem support for Black and intersectional youth. The Centre also operates “You Belong Here,” a settlement support initiative for LGBTQI+ newcomers, refugees, and asylum seekers throughout Simcoe County.

Weekly drop-in sessions provide members with safe and welcoming spaces to connect, access mentorship, and build supportive relationships through shared lived experiences. Shelly-Ann emphasized the importance of creating environments where people feel seen, supported, and included.

The presentation also highlighted partnerships focused on economic empowerment and long-term independence, including entrepreneurship initiatives with the Canadian Queer Chamber of Commerce, Georgian College’s Henry Bernick Entrepreneurship Centre, and the Small Business Centre Barrie.

Rotarians appreciated the opportunity to learn more about the organization’s work and the positive impact being made throughout the region. Kate Venn thanked the speakers on behalf of the Club for an informative and meaningful presentation.

For more information about the UPlift Black Centre for Social Justice and Inclusion, visit UPlift Black Centre’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/upliftblackorg/.

The Rotary Club of Barrie is proud to celebrate another successful year of the Festival of Trees, with Bob Greer recently presenting a cheque for $40,000 to the Club in support of local community initiatives.

For many Barrie residents, the Festival of Trees has become a familiar part of the holiday season. Each year, the waterfront along Lakeshore Drive is transformed into a festive display of lights enjoyed by thousands throughout the winter months. What many people may not know is that the display is organized through the Rotary Club of Barrie in partnership with generous community sponsors.

The lights are officially turned on during the Santa Claus Parade and remain illuminated well into the winter season. Beyond creating a festive atmosphere, the Festival of Trees also plays an important role in supporting Rotary’s charitable work in Barrie. Sponsorships throughout the park help fund community projects and programs that make a direct local impact.

With approximately 16,000 vehicles travelling Lakeshore Drive daily, sponsor signage receives significant community visibility throughout the display period, making the initiative both a meaningful community partnership and a successful fundraising effort.

The Rotary Club of Barrie would like to recognize Bob Greer and all volunteers, sponsors, and organizers whose time and dedication continue to make the Festival of Trees possible each year. Their efforts help turn a holiday tradition into lasting support for the Barrie community.

The Rotary Club of Barrie recently enjoyed an engaging presentation from Rotarian David Taylor, introduced by PP Deb Decaire, who highlighted David’s strong values, energy, and natural connection to Rotary.

David Creighton Taylor V shared stories about five generations of the Taylor family and the longstanding jewellery business that has served communities across Ontario for more than a century. He also reflected on his own journey, growing up on a farm near Owen Sound, beginning work at an early age, backpacking across Europe, and gaining business experience while living in Toronto.

A lifelong sports enthusiast, David also spoke about his passion for hockey, soccer, football, golf, and snowboarding. Today, he is helping lead the next chapter of the family business alongside his cousins, Paige and Kieran Taylor.

David’s presentation was a thoughtful reflection on family, hard work, adventure, and community. Steve Blanchet thanked David following the presentation, noting how meaningful classification talks are in helping Rotarians get to know one another beyond business and service projects.

The Rotary Club of Barrie recently enjoyed a memorable classification talk from Al Jones, whose presentation combined humour, storytelling, music, and reflection into an engaging look at his life and experiences.

Al, a Wealth and Estate Planning professional, shared stories from both his personal and professional journey while bringing his usual enthusiasm and energy to the meeting. The presentation included music, tea drinking straight from a flask, and plenty of laughter along the way, but underneath the humour was a genuine message about the importance of family, community, and country.

Al spoke proudly about his wife Sue and his two sons, Adam and Connor, while also reflecting on the experiences and values that have shaped his career and community involvement over the years.

The meeting was also well supported by guests attending to hear Al’s presentation, including Honorary Lieutenant Colonel Kenn Voss, Commanding Officer Lieutenant-Colonel Mike Lacroix, Sarah-Jane Taylor, Donna Neal, and Colleen Lorimer.

Al later shared his classification talk with the evening meeting, where members once again enjoyed hearing about his life, career, Rotary experiences, and ongoing commitment to the Rotary Club of Barrie. Tea, naturally, remained part of the presentation.

When kids show up to school hungry, everything suffers — their focus, their energy, their ability to learn. The Barrie Food Bank’s School Fuel program exists to change that, and the Rotary Club of Barrie is proud to be one of the sponsors helping make it happen.

School Fuel delivers healthy snacks to school-aged children across Barrie every two weeks, with participating schools ordering food at a discounted rate made possible through sponsorships. The selection is practical and nutritious: cereals, bread, yogurt, milk, cheese, eggs, fresh fruit, and more. Schools choose what works best for their students, and Barrie Food Bank volunteers handle all the ordering, procurement, and delivery. Right now the program reaches 8,578 children across 34 local schools. That’s a lot of kids starting the day with something good in their system.

This year brought a milestone worth celebrating. The Barrie Food Bank unveiled a brand new refrigerated van, supported in part by the Rotary Club of Barrie alongside the Rotary Club of Barrie Huronia, Kempenfelt Rotary Club, The Pavlik Foundation, Food Banks Canada, Canada One Auto Group, the Faris Team, RBC Foundation, and others. The van strengthens the Food Bank’s ability to deliver fresh, perishable food directly to students, while also expanding their capacity to recover food from 14 local grocery partners six days a week. In 2025 alone, the Barrie Food Bank recovered over 1.8 million pounds of food, including more than 800,000 pounds of nutritious perishables diverted from waste.

Three vans. Six days a week. 8,578 kids. That’s what united for good looks like.

On March 7th, the General John Hayter Southshore Community Centre hosted one of the most exciting Saturdays in the Rotary Club of Barrie’s fundraising calendar. By the time the euchre winners were announced at 10:30 PM, the club had raised $19,000 for wellness-related projects and charities in our community — powered by 100 cyclists, a room full of card players, and a lot of community spirit.

Wheels for Wellness is exactly what it sounds like: teams of up to seven members on spin bikes and bicycle trainers, pedalling from 10 AM to 5 PM with DJ music, fitness challenges, and healthy snacks keeping the energy up. The format is simple — ride hard, compete as a team, and raise money for causes that matter. With 100 riders on the floor this year, the room had the kind of energy you can’t manufacture.

Running alongside it was the Charity Euchre Tournament. Players registered for a Grand Prix-style tournament — six 25-minute games, with the team accumulating the most wins taking home first place cash prizes. Check-in opened at 5:30 PM, the cards hit the table at 6:30, and a buffet dinner, music, and cash bar made it a proper night out. First place walked away with $720. The consensus at the April meeting when the cheque was presented: the euchre was better this year than last. Not that anyone’s keeping score. (Everyone’s keeping score.)

Every dollar will be directed toward wellness-related charities and projects right here in Barrie. These are the funds that support fitness access, mental health programs, and the community infrastructure that keeps people healthy and connected.

Thank you to everyone who supported these two events!

The Rotary Club of Barrie and the Nottawasaga Valley Conservation Authority have been building something together for 25 years. It started with repairs to a leaky Pancake Shack at Tiffin Conservation Centre and grew into one of the club’s most hands-on, enduring community commitments. Members have shown up not just with cheques, but with tools, skills, and a willingness to get their hands dirty across decades of projects: the Mama Bear Pond reconstruction, the Nine Mile Portage boardwalk, a butterfly pavilion and outdoor classroom at Fort Willow, tree planting honouring Afghanistan veterans, field trips for local students, and environmental education programs with Barrie schools. More recently, Ukrainian refugee children have taken field trips to the Centre as part of their welcome into this community. And of course, the Spring Tonic Maple Syrup Festival runs in direct partnership with the NVCA every spring, with profits shared between the two organizations. What looks like a pancake breakfast is also a 25-year environmental partnership. That’s Rotary.

At this year’s Annual Lumberjack Dinner, Dave Mills walked the room through that full history before the club presented a cheque for $23,700 from the Environmental Budget. The funds will go directly toward rain ponchos, an outdoor classroom and theatre, an all-terrain wheelchair-accessible vehicle, outdoor storage, tree planting, and Indigenous education and training, investments that expand access, deepen education, and make sure the natural spaces at Tiffin are there for everyone.

Twenty-five years in, the partnership is as strong as ever!

On August 6th, The Sadlon Arena was loud, packed, and exactly what Barrie needed on a Wednesday summer night. The 2025 Boots and Hearts Barn Burner Charity Hockey Game brought NHL and PWHL talent back home for one night, and the community showed up in return. The grand total raised from this event was $605,210 which went to support RVH and a number of local charities, plus a cheque for $10,493 was presented to the club at a recent meeting so we’re happy to report that the barn burner event was a huge success; we exceeded our own expectations.

The player lineup was the real story. Barrie’s own Jessie Eldridge headlined the night, a gold medallist with Team Canada at the IIHF Women’s World Championship and a standout forward who recently signed with PWHL Seattle. For one night, she was back on home ice, and the crowd felt it. Isaak Phillips, a Barrie native now in the Winnipeg Jets organization, was equally straightforward about why he came: “It’s kind of a no-brainer as a local kid, to come out and help.” John Tavares, Quinton Byfield, and Jill Saulnier rounded out a lineup that would have been hard to believe if you hadn’t seen it yourself.

The Barn Burner has always been about more than just hockey. Proceeds benefit Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre and local charities, causes that touch virtually every family in the Barrie area. The money raised becomes part of that infrastructure, supporting the hospital and community programs that Barrie depends on year-round.

The cheque was presented at a recent Rotary Club of Barrie meeting. The reaction was simple: pride. In the players who gave their time, the team that organized the night, and the community that filled the seats. Stay tuned for details on the 2026 Barn Burner!

On April 9th, the Rotary Club of Barrie welcomed the Honourable Ruby Sahota, Secretary of State for Combating Crime and MP for Brampton North-Caledon. The room was full – Mayor Alex Nuttall and Attorney General Doug Downey were both in attendance, and the conversation that followed was one worth having.

Minister Sahota was appointed by Prime Minister Carney as the first-ever Secretary of State responsible for combating crime, a role built around a straightforward conviction: every Canadian has a fundamental right to be safe in their own home and community. Her approach to that conviction is equally direct — consult with police services, Crown Attorneys, and provincial governments, draft legislation that can actually be enforced, and advocate clearly for victims who deserve timely justice rather than years of delays.

She outlined several areas where the federal government is taking action. New legislation has been introduced to keep violent and repeat offenders off the streets and to address rising retail theft. Law enforcement is being equipped with modern tools to investigate serious crimes including human trafficking, child sexual exploitation, and extortion. Bill C-9 is tracking hate crimes to ensure no one faces intimidation at their place of worship. Minimum sentences on child pornography, stronger penalties for domestic violence, and faster court proceedings are all part of the package.

But the piece that landed most with the room was simpler than any of the legislation. Governments can pass laws and fund programs, she said, but they cannot build the communities where people look out for one another. That work happens at the neighbourhood level. It happens in places like Barrie. And it is, she argued, the foundation that everything else rests on.

David Thompson offered the thank you, calling it a refreshing and grounded outlook on difficult problems. President Todd added his own appreciation and, in true Rotary fashion, noted that if this were her riding, she’d make one heck of a Conservative. Minister Sahota took it in stride.

The Rotary Club of Barrie extends heartfelt thanks to everyone who helped make this year’s Wheels for Wellness and Charity Euchre Tournament such an outstanding success.

Wheels for Wellness brought teams together for a full day of cycling, fitness, and friendly competition, all in support of wellness-focused projects in our community. Participants, volunteers, and spectators created an energetic atmosphere that carried throughout the event, demonstrating the power of collective effort for a meaningful cause.

Later that evening, the Charity Euchre Tournament continued the momentum, filling the room with lively conversation, strategic play, and community spirit. The tournament provided another opportunity for participants to connect while supporting Rotary initiatives that benefit the Barrie area.

These events would not have been possible without the dedication of volunteers, the generosity of sponsors, and the enthusiasm of participants. Their support ensures that Rotary can continue to fund important programs and respond to community needs.

To everyone who rode, played, volunteered, sponsored, or cheered from the sidelines — thank you for being part of a memorable day and for helping Rotary make a lasting difference in our community. We’re already counting down the days until next year!