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Hamilton AM Rotary Supports Junior RYLA

RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Awards) is an international program designed to develop leadership skills and foster a sense of service in young people, often through conferences and training programs.

Junior RYLA is an annual Rotary District 7090 event for youth between 15-18 years old. On May 2- 4 weekend, about 30 youth from Canada and the USA gathered at Hamilton’s Canterbury Hills , gathered at Canterbury Hills Conference Centre, Ancaster. The weekend program focussed on leadership and teamwork skills. Leo, the youth sponsored by the Hamilton AM Rotary Club completed the high ropes with a person who started out as a competitor but the two quickly learned that only by working together could they complete the challenge!

Supporting the program, Hamilton AM club leads were Youth Committee Chair Ryan Dorosz and STEP (Short Term Exchange Program) Coordinator Cheryl Gzik.

Hamilton AM Rotary's Version of "Great Lakes Watershed Cleanup"

On Saturday, April 26, Hamilton AM Rotary celebrated Earth Day by fielding a team of members and friends to do a clean sweep of Hamilton’s Bayfront Park and Pier 4 Park. Approximately 20 stalwarts gathered in the parking lot at Bayfront Park, under the leadership of Elizabeth Ward, head of the club’s Community Services efforts.

Great Lakes Watershed Cleanup is an annual project of District 7090 and many clubs joined in the cause to support our local environment. The City of Hamilton supported this effort by supplying clean up bags and Hamilton AM supplied “pickers” and glovers. The cool weather did not deter everyone’s efforts and the group collected approximately one full bag of garbage, bottles and cans, plastic utensils, discarded books and clothing for each volunteer.

The District will be collecting statistics on this effort to show the impact of this annual campaign.

The picture below was shared by CHCH TV over that weekend recognizing this excellent civic effort.

Marvin Ryder, "to the rescue"?

At their regular Wednesday morning meeting on April 23, 2025, Hamilton AM Rotary club members were pinning their hopes on some clear, succinct answers to such questions as “what in heaven's name is Donald Trump planning to do with his global tariff war” or “is Canada going to end up as the 51^st state of the USA”, or at least “will it help our country; if we only BUY CANADIAN”?

Truly, I am not sure we got those questions answered but as always, we were royally entertained by McMaster School of Business whiz and entertainer, Marvin Ryder. We did have a fascinating discussion that went “overtime” (which is not usually done in Rotary) because we kept asking and he kept talking! I’m not sure he was able to calm the waters by telling us we were currently in an “economic pandemic” but this concept did illustrate the tremendous challenges posed for government and business with all the uncertainty caused by Trumps daily tariff “flip flops”.

Until the USA stops negatively shaking up the global economy, the future is very unclear. Marvin did feel Canada may not be as negatively impacted as some nations. Club members in person and online were fascinated by Marvin’s excellent understanding of the economic issues that were being affected. So why were club members so impressed by Marvin Ryder, you may want to read below?