A little known chapter in the history of our Rotary Club of Vancouver Sunrise is the club's past contribution to growing Rotary in Ukraine.
Through the work of former member and Past President Ann-Shirley Goodell, our club provided mentoring and sponsorship for the launch of the Rotary Club of Zaporizhzhia which started up as a satellite club of the Rotary Club of Dnepropetrovsk. Ann-Shirley's work with the not-for-profit sector in the early 2000s took her to Ukraine where she met the founding members of the club - pictured above. In 2007, the Rotary Club of Zaporizhzhia became registered with Rotary International following support from the Rotary Club of Vancouver Sunrise.
In the following couple of years, Vancouver Sunrise partnered with the Ukrainian clubs to send a container of medical equipment and other supplies to Ukraine and supported several of their fundraising efforts. We also welcomed visitors from the Zaporizhzhia club, including their founding club president Tamara Ogarodova, who was presented with a Paul Harris fellow award from our club in 2008.