This Thursday, the Rotary Club of Lewiston/Niagara-on-the-Lake will celebrate its 85th anniversary.
It was once one of the busiest clubs, says Lewiston member Thomas Gerbasi, who reached out to The Local to chat about the club’s history and accomplishments.
There are more than 46,000 Rotary Clubs around the world, and more than 1.4 million members, but only a few that draw their members from more than one
country, he says, and the Rotary Club of Lewiston/Niagara-on-the-Lake is one of them.
“It is the only one in the world in which meetings are held in two separate nations,” he says.
It was founded on April 20, 1938, when there wasn’t a Rotary Club in the area on either side of the river, and crossing the border was as easy as walking across the suspension bridge that connected Lewiston and Queenston. Residents of both towns did that regularly, he says, to shop at a particular store or have a meal out.
In Canada, the club met at various places, mostly at the Queenston Heights Restaurant in the early days, and was considered an “enormous club,” with about 100 members.
“The bi-national nature of the club epitomizes Rotary’s international fellowship at work right at the club level,” Gerbasi says.
“Speakers from both nations have provided lively and thought-provoking programs that encompass a wide diversity of thought.”
Rotary “has always valued diversity. Members are not only welcomed from all ages, all genders, all fields of endeavour, all socioeconomic strata, all political opinions, all national origins and all races, but are actively sought after.”
Eventually, some Canadian members who either wanted a lunch instead of evening meeting or didn’t like the travel broke off and formed the Rotary Club of Niagara-on-the-Lake, he explained.
The remaining Canadian members of the bi-national club are mostly long-time local members.
They will be meeting to celebrate their anniversary in Cat’s Kitchen, a Thorold restaurant. One of their long-time members and incoming club president, Greg Lidstone (the club rotates between an American and Canadian president each year) lives in Thorold, and is hoping to establish a Thorold satellite club.
Gerbasi says their Wednesday dinner meetings draw about 10 people, and it’s difficult to get a reservation for a meeting room in NOTL for such a small group, at a price their members are willing to pay.
It’s also difficult to establish a new small club — Rotary regulations require a minimum of 25 members to have a charter club.
“We understand there are people in Thorold who are interested in a Rotary Club and want to be involved, and Rotary allows satellite clubs. Members are autonomous, with a chairman who would run that group, but we can all work together on service projects, or for hands-on projects, pull members from both groups. You have the backing of both clubs,” says Gerbasi, “and you get the benefits of scale, with the independence of doing your own thing, plus benefiting from the experience of older members.”
The Lewiston/NOTL club holds events and fundraisers on both sides of the border. Many locals will remember them selling hot dogs at the annual Terry Fox Run in Simcoe Park, but that was interrupted by COVID, and hasn’t started up again — Gerbasi says the club is working on re-establishing that tradition for this September’s run.
Over the years Lewiston/Niagara-on-the-Lake initiatives have included donations to worthy causes not only on both sides of the border, but also around the world, such as life-saving surgery for children with congenital heart disease, feeding starving children after natural disasters, providing scholarships for students, adopting and maintaining trails for recreation, cleaning up portions of the Great Lakes Watershed, providing necessary equipment to hospitals and civic organizations and sponsoring concerts for members of the communities the club serves, says Gerbasi.
The re-opening of the border to continue meeting and holding fundraising events has been key for the club, he says, and members now pass back and forth with little complaint, although it’s still a little easier for the Americans, he believes. For those on this side of the river, having a Nexus card is helpful.
“We live in border communities, and the culture of our members is being accustomed to crossing back and forth.”
He notices that when he comes to NOTL, he still isn’t seeing as many American licence plates as he used to, nor does he see as many Canadian plates in the U.S. parking lots.
“I have so much fun when I come to Canada. It’s so different. At home when you go to work or out with friends, everyone on this side hears the same news, has the same thoughts and opinions. When you go to Rotary, you hear different thoughts, different opinions, different ways of looking at things. I really enjoy that.”
Anyone interested in joining, Gerbasi says, can call him at 716-754-2464, or email Lidstone at [email protected].
