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Club Awards

Besides the awards that the Rotary Club of Charlottetown Royalty presents to community leaders, it also presents awards to it's own members who have shown exceptional service to the community or the club.

On this page:

• The True Rotarian Award
• The Harry MacLauchlan Award for Vocational Excellence

The True Rotarian Award

2009-10 Recipient - Rotarian Bev Simpson

Bev Simpson (File photo)

The True Rotarian Award is presented to a Rotarian who demonstrates through his/her Rotary and community life that he/she lives by the four-way test and provides 'Service Above Self'.

The recipient is chosen by the Board of Directors in each of the clubs in District 7820 and is presented by the District Governor during his/her visit to the club. 

The “True Rotarian” has a Rotary attitude. This is a person who conducts him/herself following the 4-way Test at all times, who is humble, does not flatter wealth or boast of his/her own possessions or achievements.

This Rotarian speaks with frankness yet always with sincerity and sympathy. After having communicated his/her differences, he/she supports the activities of others even if the direction may not parallel with their thinking.

Deeds follow words, and this Rotarian thinks of the rights and feelings of others. This Rotarian always appears well in any company and is a person whose honour is sacred.

The “True Rotarian” is the foundation of Rotary – always there, contributing to the current Rotary activity and by any Rotarian’s measure, is the life blood of Rotary.

The recipient of the 2009 True Rotarian Award is Bev Simpson

Bev was presented the True Rotarian award by District Governor David Muise.

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Rotary’s Harry MacLauchlan Award for Vocational Excellence
 

Dianne Griffin

Each year, a fellow Rotarian is chosen to receive the Harry MacLauchlan Award for Vocational Excellence based on the following criteria;

- Considers their vocation an opportunity to serve

- Adheres and promotes the highest ethical standards in their occupation

- Contributes their vocational talents to addressing the needs of the community

- Offers his or her talents to provide opportunities for young people

- Improves the quality of life in their community

- Abides by the principles of the Rotary 4-Way Test in their daily business dealings

Dianne Griffin - Recipient of the Award of Vocational Excellence - 2009-10

Dianne Griffin has devoted her life’s work to helping others. Through her perseverance and dedication, she has succeeded in improving the quality of life for many Islanders.

Dianne’s chosen professions, first as a Nurse and then as a Social Worker, demonstrated that her desire in life from a very early age was to serve her fellow man. Dianne began her work in the field of nursing and then she worked as a prenatal instructor and housemother for unwed mothers. She continued to work as a housemother at a home for unwed mothers and was an educational liaison officer for the PEI Right to Life Association. Dianne’s interest in working directly in the social services field motivated her to complete her Bachelor of Social Work while she continued to work with Catholic Family Services as a foster care worker, worker with unwed mothers, and counsellor.

In 1994, Diane became the Clinical Supervisor for the Catholic Family Services Bureau overseeing the caseloads of the Bureau’s social workers who were counselling individuals, couples and families. In 1997, she was appointed as the Executive Director of the Catholic Family Services Bureau and continues her work in this position to this day.

When Dianne was hired by the Bureau, she worked with unwed mothers and adoptive couples for many years, earning great respect from the unwed mothers, other professionals with whom she worked, the adoptive parents, and eventually the adoptees themselves. These services were discontinued by the Bureau in 1994, however, adoptive parents and their children still contact Dianne to provide her with updates on their lives and to thank her for all she has done to assist them in the adoption process. This is a testament to the positive impact Dianne has had on their lives.

Dianne has been very attuned to the needs of the community and has developed many services and programs to fill the gaps, many of which were then taken over by government, schools, or special interest agencies and integrated into their core business. Dianne has insight into the needs of the people on the community, identifies gaps in service, and researches and secures funds to provide or develop programs to meet these needs. Dianne was instrumental in launching the Families and Schools Together Program (FAST). This program brought teachers, parents and their children (who had some issues) together in the school setting for an innovative and collaborative process that worked at strengthening the family, empowering parents and ultimately assisting their children with social and behavioural issues.

One of the most recent innovations that Dianne created to serve the needs in the community is The Children’s Centre. There are so many issues that young children face these days such as, grief and loss, divorce, chronic illness, aggressive behaviours, stressed from physical sexual or emotional abuse, and extreme worry or anxiety. Dianne identified gaps in counselling services for children in the province. She then established a specialized counselling service for children ages four through 12 years of age.

Dianne’s reputation as a professional is of the highest standard in the community and, in fact, across Canada. She was chosen to serve on the Executive of Family Service Canada for a number of years and recently was asked to conduct a quality assurance evaluation of another service agency in Ontario to determine whether or not they should be accredited. On the local level, Dianne is known as the penultimate social worker and professional. There would be never be any question that Dianne keeps private information confidential. She does the right thing and has established high ethical standards for herself and her agency staff. She is highly regarded by colleagues and professionals of all walks of life.

Dianne is known to be a very honest and fair person, both in her daily business dealings and is well in her personal life. Before making decisions, she considers the impact on people and is very just. She is able to build goodwill with people by being a living example and she develops friendships built on trust. She tends to consider the greater good before she considers her own personal needs and has demonstrated that she is a true Rotarian.

		Dianne and President John Barrett
		L-R - Myron MacKay, Bev Simpson, Joanne Ings, Gordon MacInnis, Lorna MacDougall, Wade MacLauchlan, Dianne Griffin, Roger MacLauchlan, Winston Johnston.

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