Four Avenues of Service

Based on the objectives of Rotary, the Four Avenues of Service are Rotary's philosophical cornerstone and the foundation on which club activity is based:

• Club Service focuses on strengthening fellowship and ensuring the effective functioning of the club.
• Vocational Service encourages Rotarians to serve others through their vocations and to practice high ethical standards.
• Community Service covers the projects and activities the club undertakes to improve life in its community.
• International Service encompasses actions taken to expand Rotary's humanitarian reach around the globe and to promote world understanding and peace.

Some of our on-going initiatives over the past few years include:

PolioPlus

In 1985, Rotary International launched the PolioPlus program, one of the most ambitious humanitarian programs ever undertaken by a private-sector organization, to protect children worldwide from the cruel and fatal consequences of polio. In 1988, the World Health Assembly challenged the world to eradicate polio. Since that time, Rotary's efforts and those of partner agencies, including the World Health Organization, the United Nations Children's Fund, the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and governments around the world, have achieved a 99 percent reduction in the number of polio cases worldwide. Rotarians stand at the brink of a great victory and look forward to celebrating the global eradication of polio.

Bloorview Kids Rehab

Bloorview Kids Rehab is Canada's largest children's rehabilitation hospital, servicing 7000 children each year, with about 600 inpatient admissions and 52, 000 outpatients visits. Inspired by their vision to create a world of possibility for children with disability, and partnered with the University of Toronto to train future health care specialists, Bloorview pioneers treatments, technologies, therapies, and real-world programs that give children with disabilities the necessary tools to participate fully in life.

The Bloorview research Institute, located onsite, allows the integration of cutting-edge research and teaching with front-line care to improve the children's quality of life.

Toronto Earlscourt is proud to have equipped and sponsored a Snoezelen Room at Bloorview and sent a young adult to TIPS, The Independence Program, geared to training older youth to live independently in, and contribute to, our communities.

Albanian Angels' Fund

In 2006, our club, in partnership with Adoptionworx Canada, and through our Angels' Ball, raised funds to provide two caregivers and a doctor each for two orphanages in Albania for a two-year period. This initial fundraising effort has continued to grow, allowing us to secure funds for another two years of care.

Building A Community Project

In 2007, we initiated a three-year project in Tigray, Ethiopia, entitled, "Building a Community," to enable one community in Africa to build a future for its children. All funds were, and continue to be raised through our annual gala, our Angels' Ball. Phase one involved clearing landmines, and in cooperation with the UN, Rotary District 7070, and the Canadian landmines Foundation, this work was completed last spring. Phase two involves provision of potable water and a water study has just been completed allowing us to move forward with this portion of the project. Funds raised at this year's gala, scheduled for November 6th, will bring our project to a close. After providing the community with the building blocks of safe land and clean water, we want to give its future generations the power to learn, to hope and to dream through educational assistance.

Villa Colombo - A special home for Italian-Canadian seniors

Villa Colombo provides residential long-term care and community services to seniors in a culturally sensitive environment that honours the Italian heritage. Since its opening in 1976, when monies were raised door-to-door by volunteers selling bricks, Villa Colombo has remained a unique facility with a tradition of excellence and quality care.

Today, the care and community service inspired by a group of dedicated volunteers continues. 391 residents call the Villa home. They, and thousands of others benefit from community services such as Meals-on-Wheels, the Alzheimer day program and Supportive Housing.

Supporting many endeavors at the Villa, we are most proud of our contribution to a palliative care room.

PHIACS

PHIACS, Physically handicapped Independent Advancement Community Service, assists the community by providing the physically handicapped with a measure of independence through transportation from within its Toronto hub, to the GTA and beyond to cover the province. Founded in 1976, by Ben Graff, who himself had been confined to a wheelchair at an early age as the result of cerebral palsy, PHIACS is a non-profit organization which provides reliable, accessible transportation, thus permitting its clients to travel out into the world-beyond-the-front-door with ease and simplicity, overcoming the problems of distance and time.

We're pleased to have helped PHIACS procure and retrofit a van to add to its fleet.

ESP Program

ESP, Empowered Student Partnerships, is a program designed to empower students to take ownership of their schools as a community and ensure a safe caring environment. ESP recognizes that students know first-hand what safety issues are present in their schools and that in partnership with their staff advisors and divisional police officers, they can plan, organize and execute yearlong safety initiatives in their schools and local communities.

To date, thousands of high school students have already taken leadership roles and made a difference in their school and local communities by participating in ESP, Canada's largest student-driven high school safety program.

Helping to sponsor this program in the York region has been one of our most rewarding endeavors.