OUR VOLUNTEERS
Meet Rotarian Mickey Wallace!
Mick grew up in North Bay, very fortunate to be born into the Wallace family with many aunts, uncles and cousins nearby. Mick graduated from the University of Waterloo after studying Urban Planning and followed up post-graduate studies at the University of Toronto where he received his Master’s Degree and Principal’s Qualifications.
Mick started teaching Math and Science at W.J. Fricker, and moved into the principal role at numerous schools at both the elementary and secondary levels. Teaching has been a privilege for Mick, and he describes his profession as a challenging role that requires sensitivity and depth of intellectual curiosity with a vision for stimulating a well-rounded education linked far beyond the classroom. Mick finds it very rewarding when he crosses paths and reminisces with former students and parents – a reminder of his much-loved profession.
Mick won the lottery when he met his wife, Penny. They were high school sweethearts that will celebrate 53 years of marriage this year! They had four children that filled their home with love and laughter and loved spending time together skiing at Laurentian and Mt. Antoine. In the summer months, they enjoyed boating and water skiing at the family cottage. Their family has grown from 6 to 21 members, and Mick and Penny couldn’t be prouder of their children and grandchildren.
Mick has been a long-standing volunteer in our community, serving as the Director of the YMCP, President of Laurentian/Mt. Antoine Ski Hills, a member of the Optimist Club, Nipissing University Board of Governors, Past President of the Rotary Club, Director with the Camp Tillicum Board, and always an active volunteer in local sports and arts activities.
Mick has been a Rotarian since 1985. As a life-long educator, joining Rotary was a natural progression in Mick’s personal commitment to sound integrity, valuing cultural diversity, and promoting a global responsibility to take action and solve problems. Mick describes Rotary as providing a valuable platform to exchange ideas, to forage lifelong friendships, to create lasting change and to leave the world a better place.
The #RotaryClubofNipissing is so lucky to have volunteers like Mickey Wallace as part of their team. We thank you for always putting #ServiceAboveSelf, Mick!
Meet Lyn Vourimaki!
An incredible volunteer and dedicated Rotarian since 2006. Lyn grew up in Oakville and moved with her family to Taiwan when she was seventeen in very political times. She lived in an American neighbourhood as the war raged on in Vietnam. She remembers armed guards and her mail arriving after it had been opened and checked. After 8 months in Taiwan, she traveled to Australia on her own and then moved back to Canada, where she met her husband to be while working a summer job in Temagami. Lyn and her husband settled in North Bay because it seemed like a great place to raise kids.
Lyn and her husband were blessed with a son and a daughter, and Lyn was able to maintain a flexible work schedule as an interior designer as she raised her children. In these years, she was active with the Chamber of Commerce and eventually joined the Rotary Club of Nipissing in 2006. Lyn felt that “Rotary gives you opportunities to make a real difference”. Lyn has been a very active member of the club, traveling for two international projects, and four international conferences.
She traveled to Ecuador where her team assembled 700 wheelchairs for people with disabilities living in remote villages. She remembers this trip as being incredibly meaningful as she watched as many of these recipients experienced mobility and independence for the first time in their lives.
Lyn also traveled to Cambodia, where her team built a sustainable school where children could come from remote villages. Through these international projects, Lyn saw how meaningful change could be achieved when a team comes together with a common goal.
Lyn was very active in Rotary at the District level, and this was a huge part of her life for several years. Her son was fortunate to have the experience as a Rotary Exchange student when he was 17, traveling to Finland and unexpectedly running into family members he had never met.
After reading an article in the paper about sailing, Lyn thought she’d give it a try, and she fell in love. This is her latest passion, hearing the water lapping on the hull as she sails with friends on Lake Nipissing. Lyn has been a member of the Blue Sky Sailing Club for eight years now, and she can hardly wait to get back out on the water, where everything else disappears.
The Rotary Club of Nipissing is so lucky to have a passionate member like Lyn as part of the team. Stay tuned for details on a recent project she recently led for Valentines Day!
Meet Rotarian Don McCallum!
Don has been a Rotarian for 31 years, joining in 1990 when he first moved to North Bay with his wife, Cathy and their three young sons. Don was looking for a way to get involved in the community, and he describes Rotary as “a great vehicle to give back to the community”.
Don graduated from the University of Guelph in 1972 and remains active with the University to this day, helping to manage the investment portfolio for the ‘Aggie’ OAC program. Don also has a MBa. from Western, which led him into his career with Royal Bank. Don started with a focus on agricultural lending, and eventually became the area manager in North Bay. He ended his career as an investment and retirement planner, but remains very active in the community - often having fun with the Old Timers Hockey group!
Don and Cathy have three sons who enjoyed sports and local theatre as they grew up in North Bay. Outside of Rotary, Don volunteered as a coach and Cathy was active with Dreamcoat for several years. Don was an avid runner, completing several half-marathons, and even a few marathons! Don and Cathy have been very blessed with three grandchildren – Clementine, Milo and Reece.
Don is a proud Rotarian with some of his fondest memories being the Golden Pickerel Tournament on Lake Nipissing, and traveling internationally to Kenya with fellow Rotarian, Sandy Foster. Don describes Sandy as a real leader in Rotary, as she planned these international initiatives on her own, seeking funding through Rotary as well as her own fundraisers. Sandy Foster travelled to Kenya ten times, building a school, an orphanage, and working with a focus on schools and teachers. Don and Cathy were part of Sandy’s team twice, and one year Sandy and Cathy brought a group of students to Kenya to show them the importance of these international initiatives.
The Rotary Club of Nipissing is proud to have Don as a member. He has been a leader in the community not only through his rotary projects, but in every aspect of his life. Don certainly embodies the Rotary motto #ServiceAboveSelf Thanks for over 30 years of service, Don!
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