Cathy Harrop writes in: "What a couple of days! And, we did it! In spades! If you ever get a chance to go on a Rotary Friendship Exchange, you now have an idea of how wonderful the experience can be. Tiring, but wonderful!
I want to thank all of you for hosting, driving, for being excellent Norfolk County ambassadors and, occasionally, talking me off the ledge (thanks Beth).
The drivers from Air Link, were also troopers. I’ve asked Kate to pass on how impressed I was with the driver that kept me in the loop, had the presence of mind to have them paged and to load the Rotary logo on his phone to get their attention (none of that was part of the process for them finding each other). Pearson was not the best😐first impression of Canada but these drivers helped make up for it.
We had a really lovely stop at the Jones’ house for some macaroons, strawberries and Prosecco. The perfect topper to the Erie Beach.
Thank you to Joyce for letting us use her house for the BBQ. Her house is welcoming and perfectly suited to having 19 people come for lunch. An afternoon on the beach was the perfect recipe for 10 very jetlagged travellers. Many thanks to Catherwoods for being the grill master and the butter tart squares mistress. Thanks to Prez Louise for coming too. Presidential duties never end.
Thanks to all of our drivers: Andy (especially-3 days worth) and Dave N . Great generosity with your time. This wouldn’t have happened without you. And to all, thanks for keeping everyone on the schedule. We packed lots into our 2 days and timing was everything. Many thanks to Jim Peters, the master driver organizer and ‘back-up driver’ for this visit.
If, along the way, you get a chance to thank some of the places we went to, I would appreciate it. All of our presentations were terrific. We have some very smart people doing very interesting things in Norfolk County. I’ve started reaching out through emails.
Where would we have been without all of our host families? Thank you so much for opening your homes and your hearts to these visitors. We would have been nowhere without your buy in to this Friendship Exchange. I know, it was hard to resist Jim Peters’ persuasive sales pitch. All I heard were wonderful comments and compliments from all. We certainly wouldn’t have been able to do this without you. Service Above Self.
