Celebrating 23 Years of Service

The Rotary Club of Guelph South was chartered by Rotary International on July 31 2001, originally under the name Rotary Club of Wellington South. 
 
In March 2007, our club name was changed to Rotary Club of Guelph South to allow us to be grouped in Rotary International Directories and on the Rotary International Website with the other 3 Guelph clubs (Rotary Club of Guelph, Rotary Club of Guelph-Wellington, and our sponsor club, Rotary Club of Guelph-Trillium) in our region.  The name change also ends the confusion with another Rotary Club of Wellington South in Wellington, New Zealand!
 
And...we try to have fun in everything that we do!
 
 
Club Leadership Team
President
John Persson
President-Elect
Lise Burcher
Past President
Shelley Adlington
Treasurer
Peter Clark
Secretary
Dianne Paron
Rotary Foundation Committee Chair
Dianne Paron
Membership Committee Chair
Veronika Sorek
Club Service Committee Chair
Dianne Paron
Public Image Committee Chair
Shamsuddin Nasir
Director
Matt Hiskett
Director
Bill Hammond
Director
Veronika Sorek
Governance Committee Chair
Dianne Paron
Eradicating Human Trafficking Committee Chair
Debbie Allen
President's Message 2024-2025

John Persson

member photo
Welcome to a new year for Rotary Club of Guelph South. I am honoured and in awe of the presidents before me. They are big shoes to fill. I especially wish to thank Shelley, our Past President, for her dedication, thoughtfulness, and always making sure that for whatever the Club was doing, the number one priority was having fun.
 
I welcome the new members of our Board of Directors: Matt, Pete, Veronika, Dianne, Bill, Lise and Shelley who have committed their time to providing guidance to our club. To all the members who have volunteered to be on our various Committees for this year, I appreciate your commitment to make our club strong and vibrant.
 
Two of our long standing and successful fundraisers, Tour de Guelph and the Pasta Dinner will need new members to step up to help lead  this year, shadowing  Frank and Linda as they will be both  stepping down from their roles after this year. We are still looking for someone in our club to take on the role of President Elect to bring our club into our 25th anniversary year.
 
This year the theme is “The Magic of Rotary” My Rotary moment is having the privilege to be your next President to help this club grow.
Some of the magical adventures I envision for this year:
  • Create partnerships with the Charities that we support.
  • More Community Engagement through various activities with our partners
  • Foster a sense of belonging and engagement within the club and a safe place to share thoughts and have productive conversations.
  • Increase our presence in the community not only for fundraising but for  volunteerism as well
  • Reach out to other communities of various backgrounds and beliefs to better understand
  • Change our speaker series to a combination of speakers and  “ Interaction with the Speaker” series  to get to know people .
We will continue the Hybrid model for meetings to provide the ability for all members to engage and smooth out the technology.
 
All our members are magicians pulling rabbits out of the hat, whether for helping others or supporting those in need. Now is the time to combine all the magical energy within the club and create realities.
 
Thank you

Our Presidents

2001-2002 - Bill Hammond (Charter President)
2002-2003 - Margaret Nixon
2003-2004 - Frank Oudesluys
2004-2005 - Neil Mahnke
2005-2006 - Cynthia Walker
2006-2007 - Margaret Nixon
2007-2008 - Kevin Cahill
2008-2009 - Karen Dowell
2009-2010 - Celia Clark
2010-2011 - Frank Oudesluys
2011-2012 - Paul Moran
2012-2013 - Thomas Newby
2013-2014 - Brian Cowan
2014-2015 - Geoff Allen
2015-2016 - Bill Smith
2016-2017 - Richard Van Dyke
2017-2018 - Bruno Marziano
2018-2019 - Linda Main
2019-2020 - Debbie Allen
2020-2021 - Russ Powell
2021-2022 - Linda Craig
2022-2023 - Martin Litchfield
2023-2024 - Shelley Adlington
2024-2025 - John Persson
2025-2026 
2026-2027