PDG Chernesky to be Honoured by Town of Nipawin with Achiever’s Award.
Posted by John Borst
on Apr 13, 2016
Past District Governor, Pat Chernesky (2014-2015) will be honoured by the Town of Nipawin on April 21st with an Achiever’s Award for her Outstanding Volunteerism with the Rotary Club of Nipawin.
The application was put forward by members of the Nipawin Rotary Club under the leadership of Lorna King.
The announcement was made recently in a letter dated April 7, 2016. Unfortunately Pat and her husband Fred Olfert will be traveling abroad. Rotarian Dr. Jackie Taylor will receive the award on Pat’s behalf.
Editor's Note: The following is a significantly edited version of the paper submitted by the Rotary Club of Nipawin which won for Pat the award.
Dr. Pat joined the Rotary Club of Nipawin in November 1990 and has been an active and busy member of our club throughout those years. She now adds some new letters to her name: PDG (Past District Governor) having served as District Governor for the far-flung District 5550 which includes most of the Rotary Clubs in Saskatchewan, all of Manitoba and as far east as Kenora, Dryden and Sioux Lookout in Northwestern Ontario.
While she was District Governor (July 2014 to June 2015,) Dr. Pat travelled extensively, visiting each of the clubs at least once, while remaining engaged in the life of the Rotary Club of Nipawin.
She worked with our club as we prepared to host the District 5550 Conference, in June of 2015, an important expectation for the home club of the District Governor.
Under her leadership and working with a strong Conference Planning Committee, we hosted a vibrant, exciting conference that welcomed over 275 people from across the district to spend a weekend in Nipawin.
As District Governor, Pat was responsible for a number of the business meetings and provided strong connections between the district executive and the Conference Planning Committee.
During its planning, Pat helped us access a variety of local people to create resource workshops on the themes of “Lighting Up Rotary with health and happiness.”
A number of her colleagues from Kelsey Trail Health Region led workshops on health themes. Because of Pat’s work in health care on the Red Earth First Nation, we were able to welcome Chief Ian McKay to speak about aboriginal health and about our relationship under the treaties.
As if her DG duties were not enough, when our former Club Treasurer died during 2015, Pat assumed the role of Treasurer for the club, managing annual dues, weekly income and expenditures, deposits and cheque writing while providing details to our club bookkeeper.
Pat had channeled her passion for reading and literacy into a used book display in her medical office, a consistent fund-raiser for some of our literacy projects. After she stepped back from an active medical career, Pat led our club in organizing used book sales for the community.
One exciting project was a used book sale at Central Park School during their fall parent-teacher-student interviews. The proceeds from that sale went to Central Park School and were used to purchase food for two Muffins and Reading mornings for children and their families at the school.
Pat also volunteers twice a week as a Reading Buddy at Central Park School. All of these activities and events fit in well with a Rotary focus on Literacy.
As a result of her recent exposure to many new programs as a District Governor, Pat has brought new ideas to our club.
She has been instrumental in working with Central Park School Principal Shelley Pierlot to launch a new leadership development program for Grade 3 students called EarlyAct. In EarlyAct the students, working with adult leaders from the school and the Rotary Club, will develop their own local and international programs in the areas of literacy, mother and child health, water and hygiene, peace promotion and elimination of conflict.
Last summer, having experienced Colour Blast Fun Runs organized by other Rotary Clubs, Pat brought the idea back home and is now heading up the planning committee for Nipawin’s first Colour Blast Fun Run to be held in the spring.
Four Scenes From Pat's Life in Rotary
Getting soaked for PolioPlus |
Being Awarded by the Prime Minister |
Attending an International Conference |
Speaking at a District Conference |
Pat is also a passionate supporter of Rotary’s PolioPlus initiative, a decades-long program in which Rotary International partners with the UN World Health Organization and Governments to work to completely eradicate the polio virus from the world.
In August 2015, Pat (and her husband, Fred Olfert) hosted a fund-raiser at their home for members of the Rotary Club and friends of Rotary as we celebrated the achievement of polio-free designation for the nation of India.
This Rotary year Pat chairs a One Million Dollar Dinner project. The goal is to accumulate $1,000,000 in bequests of $10,000 minimum for Rotary International Foundation.
Her current involvement with the larger organization of Rotary includes membership on committees for the Zone – a gathering of districts in Canada, United States, Territories of France in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and Siberia, Region of Russia.
Pat’s passion for Rotary, her personal commitment to make Rotary her charity of choice, her continuing education and leadership training contribute to the well-being of our District. But Pat also shares the information and experiences that she has acquired with us at the Rotary Club of Nipawin.. She goes out of her way to encourage to grow membership in our club, by sponsoring new members herself, and by providing resources to us as we recruit and support new members.
The Rotary Club of Nipawin joins in giving thanks for our Volunteer Extraordinaire, PDG Dr. Pat Chernesky! We acknowledge all of the many ways in which she supports, encourages and motivates us to live out our Rotary motto “Service Above Self.” We are grateful for this opportunity to invite the community to join with us and recognize her as a Nipawin Achiever and the Rotary Club of Nipawin’s Volunteer of the Year for 2015.