The Rotary Club of Peterborough is just $25,000 away from completing its $100,000 multi-year pledge to Camp Kawartha in support of the not-for-profit organization’s new Rotary Health Centre.
On Monday (September 11), Rotary delivered another $25,000 donation to Camp Kawartha, bringing the total contribution to date to $75,000.
“Rotary has always been involved with programming to develop the youth of today to be the leaders of tomorrow and that is what Camp Kawartha programming is all about,” says Rotarian Jim Coyle, past president of the Rotary Club of Peterborough, in a media release.
“This new Rotary Health Centre is not only a necessary component of the camp infrastructure, but it is a shining example of construction methodology that is mindful of the environment that it is situated on,” Coyle adds.
Replacing the decades-old health centre at Camp Kawartha’s outdoor education centre, located on the shores of Clear Lake off Birchview Road in Douro-Dummer, the Rotary Health Centre was officially opened in October 2021. Designed by Straworks, a leader in high performance natural building construction, the centre is used to look after the health needs of campers, students, and visitors.
Straw-bale constructed with net zero utility costs, zero toxins, zero fossil fuel use, zero waste output, and a zero-carbon footprint, the 1,200-square-foot structure showcases the use of natural building materials — the majority of them local — and incorporates elements such as a living roof, energy efficient radiant heat, and super-insulated walls that sequester carbon.
“The Rotary Health Centre is an inspiring example of sustainable design in action,” says Camp Kawartha executive director Jacob Rodenburg. “It shows campers, students, and even health professionals what a healthy health centre can look like. We are enormously grateful to the Rotary Club of Peterborough for making this project possible.”
Rotary made the $100,000 multi-year pledge to Camp Kawartha in 2021, in recognition of both Rotary’s 100-year anniversary and the club’s original founding of Camp Kawartha in 1921.
Among the first Rotary Clubs in Canada, the Rotary Club of Peterborough was formed in 1921, with one of its first projects that year to purchase land for the creation of a summer camp that would provide underprivileged boys with an opportunity to experience the outdoors, to build skills, and develop character. It operated as both a Rotary camp and a YMCA camp until 1985, when a group of Rotarians negotiated the purchase of the camp from the YMCA to form the non-for-profit organization Camp Kawartha Inc.
