The Rotary Club of Grand Cayman inducts their first Rotaractor.

Left to right, Club President Lori McRae, New Member Nicole Rousseau,
Sponsor Rodney Frederick.

Rotary Working at Neils Godfrey Park

More than 20 Rotarians with their children and friends in addition to some of the local residents got out to help paint at the Neils Godfrey Park. "This is what Community Service and Fellowship is all about. Let's look for other hands on projects this year in the hope that they will be the success that this one was!", comments Rotary President Lori McCrae.

Dart Gets Rotary Standing Ovation

photo caption: Jackie Doak, COO of Dart Cayman Islands, presents to John Felder of Rotary a donation for Standing Ovation Sponsorship of the annual Camelot Auction, which will be held on Friday, May 21st at The Ritz-Carlton, Grand Cayman.

Dart Gets Rotary Standing Ovation

The Rotary Club of Grand Cayman is pleased to give a Standing Ovation to Dart Cayman Islands for their generous partnership to the Rotary Club's Camelot Auction.

Only three short weeks away, the black tie fundraiser is scheduled for Friday, May 21st at The Ritz-Carlton. As with previous years, this well-attended gala event attracts many of Cayman's most active and generous bidders, with all proceeds going to the Rotary Club of Grand Cayman.

"This main sponsorship will allow the Rotary Club of Grand Cayman to have more effective presence with all their community-based initiatives", comments Director of Fundraising, Mr. John Felder. "I would also like to thank all our other sponsors for this event, including KPMG, Cayman Automotive, The Island at Newlands Sound, Andro Group, Greenlight RE, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Cayman National, John Doak Architecture, dms, Campbell's, Solomon Harris and Governor's Square"

The annual Camelot auction is the main fundraiser for the Rotary Club of Grand Cayman and the club relies entirely on corporate and community support. All funds raised will assist with various projects spearheaded by the Rotary Club throughout the year as well as donations to other charities and non-profit organizations.

For more information on the Rotary Camelot Auction, please email John Felder at jfelder0244@verizon.net

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Land to be Auctioned at Rotary's CAMELOT

caption: Heather Bodden of The Island at Newlands Sound presents to Rotary's Director of Fundraising, John Felder the deed to a piece of land that will be auctioned off at the May 21st CAMELOT at The Ritz-Carlton, Grand Cayman

photo: Melissa Wolfe, www.betterangle.com

Land to be Auctioned at Rotary's CAMELOT

April 26th, 2010 - The Rotary Club of Grand Cayman is pleased to announce that one of the big bid items at the upcoming Camelot Auction will be a prized piece of property located in Newlands. The development, called The Island at Newland Sound handed over the deed to the property recently to the Director of Fundraising, John Felder.

"Every year we have a few huge items that are up for offer during the live auction. Of course, there are many ways to bid on this piece of land.... you could attend the May 21st event, which is most fun, you can place a bid online at camelot.ky or you can send a representative to bid on your behalf", comments Mr. Felder.

In particular, Rotary would like to thank the Newlands development for working closely with the club to ensure the property gets sold the night of the event to one lucky bidder.

For more information about Camelot, for tickets or to donate items, please contact John Felder at jfelder0244@verizon.net

Rotary Club - Adventures in Citizenship

Rotary’s Adventures in Citizenship

Essay Contest Winner

GEORGE TOWN, GRAND CAYMAN, April 15, 2010 – The Rotary Club of Grand Cayman announced today the winner of their essay competition, entitled Adventures in Citizenship.

The competition, now in its fifth year, promotes the interest and understanding of local citizenship. The contest was open to all high school juniors in both public and private schools in the Cayman Islands. This year, entries were received from John Gray High School, Cayman Brac High School, Triple C High, Cayman Prep and St Ignatius.

All five finalists are invited to various government functions to learn and understand protocol and procedures, including lunch with HE, Governor Stuart Jack, CVO, a meeting with Secretary to the Cabinet, visit with the Chief Justice, tour of the Legislative Assembly by the Speaker.

The finalists for 2010 are:

Ashley Osbourne – St. Ignatius High School

Jovonnie Anglin – Cayman Brac

Jordana Ebanks – Triple C

Brandon Johnson – John Gray High School - Winner

Justin Hislop – Cayman Prep

Addressing the students, the Hon. Rolston Anglin stated, “Congratulations, you will indeed gain a perspective with which most of your peers are unfamiliar. I thus hope that you’ll readily share your impressions with them. I further hope that the desire to excel will continue to propel you forward…. I hope the lessons you’ll learn from this experience will be long remembered and that they’ll help to shape your future contributions to this country”

The overall grand prize winner is Brandon Johnson of John Gray High School. At that time, He was presented a laptop computer, which was sponsored by Royal Bank of Canada. All five finalists were given gifts sponsored by Massive Equipment. The Rotary Club would also like to thank sponsors CML Offshore, Westin Casaurina Resort and Cayman Airways for their support.

The Minister also acknowledged the Rotary Club and thanked them for “continuing to support this event year after year. In doing so you undoubtedly open the eyes of our youth to another side of their country and stir in them a new spirit o f national pride”.

For more information on the Adventures in Citizenship program, please contact Isy Obi at i.obi@cmlor.com

Cayman National Support Rotary's Camelot Auction

photo caption:

Cayman National's Claudia Welds presents to Rotary Fundraisers John Felder and Gregg Anderson to support the upcoming May 21st Camelot Auction at The Ritz-Carlton.

photo credit: Melissa Wolfe

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**RELEASED March 31st, 2010**

The Rotary Club of Grand Cayman is proud to announce Cayman National as the first corporate sponsor of the 2010 CAMELOT Auction, to be held on Friday May 21st at The Ritz-Carlton, Grand Cayman.

"Cayman National is proud to support the solid initiatives of the Rotary Club. Camelot is a very well organized event and we are looking forward to participating in another great night", comments Claudia Welds from Cayman National.

The CAMELOT auction gala includes a champagne welcoming reception on the elegant terrace of the Ritz-Carlton, followed by a three-course gourmet dinner with wine and the high energy entertainment of a professionally staged charity auction.

"Already we have a wide variety of items for attendees to chose from", comments Fundraising Director, John Felder. "Everyone will be able to go home with a new treasure from the auction".

Sponsorships and corporate tables for CAMELOT are limited. Interested companies or individuals should contact Sherry at cogent@candw.ky

Rotary Club of Grand Cayman Supporting Batabano

photo credit: submitted

Rotary Club of Grand Cayman President, Cathy Chesnut-Delaphna and Rotarian Peter Broadhurst present cheque to Donna Myrie for Batabano.

(from the internet)...

A carnival of the like that only the Caribbean can pull off, Batabano is a cultural kaleidoscope of music, dance and pageantry and the main event takes place from 29 April to 1 May.

Cayman Carnival Batabano was launched in 1983 by the Rotary Club of Grand Cayman. Held annually during the first week of May, it is undoubtedly one of the main highlights of Cayman's entertainment calendar.

Cayman Carnival Batabano has grown in leaps and bounds since its inception, and requires a great deal of coordination each year. Although Rotary remains a major sponsor, Batabano is now organised by an independent committee of local volunteers, chaired by Donna Myrie-Stephen since 2001. Under Mrs. Myrie-Stephen's leadership, the committee renamed the carnival "Cayman Carnival Batabano", which also carried efforts to bring the look and feel of Batabano events more in line with traditional Caribbean carnivals.

In response to the growing interest of local schools for student participation in the street parade, the committee introduced "Junior Carnival" in 2002 as part of the overall one-day street parade. However, the continued growth and development of the Juniors prompted the committee in 2005 to launch a stand-alone street parade for Cayman's youth called "Junior Carnival Batabano", which takes place the weekend before the adult parade. The objective of developing the Junior Carnival is to create a safe environment for the students to play mas, and to place more emphasis on teaching the students the art of costume-making for generations to come.

Thousands of locals and visitors flock to the streets every year to celebrate Batabano and now also Junior Carnival Batabano. Major corporate sponsors continue to come forward in support of this cultural event, while the Ministry of Education and the Education Department offer their endorsement and sponsorship of the Junior masqueraders.

The energy of Cayman Carnival Batabano is electrifying. Districts and corporate groups join together in costume to compete for prizes as the design and choreography become more elaborate each year. It is a time to celebrate local surroundings, to display creativity, to voice social issues and of course, to party and unite.