A tree of friendship
The gift, from Nova Scotia, of a Christmas Tree to the people of Boston resonates with us all, but with the centenary of the Halifax Explosion due in 2017, some of our members joined a Rotary party who visited Boston for the lighting of the tree gifted this year from Cape Breton. As well as an occasion to remember the special friendship between our two cities, it was an opportunity to meet fellow Rotarians in Boston. The Halifax Rotarians were treated with exceptional hospitality and the seeds have been sown for joint humanitarian projects....
The first night they met at Fisher College right in downtown Boston at a meet and greet over a wonderful buffet meal. The following morning, they were hosted by the Boston Rotarians for breakfast then taken to Danversport Yacht Club, home of the Beverly Rotary Club. Projects were shared and new ideas taken on board. Of particular interest to our Halifax group was the Boston District 7930 Hunger and Homelessness Initiative. The mission of this initiative is “...to further educate District 7930 Rotarians about the issues of homelessness and hunger in our communities; ultimately to provide the tools to advocate at the local and state levels and provide information for the development of sustainable local initiatives that will allow Rotary International Foundation involvement to aid in the alleviation of Homelessness and Hunger.” In our session, we also spoke about sister projects we could work on in our cities, and projects we could work on together both for the near term and longer. A longer term and bigger project could entail something international in scope and on a scale that could leverage funds from the Rotary Foundation. We are looking forward to receiving a return visit from Boston in 2017.