President’s Message – March 2015

PROBUS Canada has designated March as National PROBUS Month – an opportunity to celebrate PROBUS, enrich its meaning among members and enhance its recognition and visibility throughout the community. I would like to share some PROBUS history and factoids with you as we celebrate PROBUS this month.

• PROBUS is dedicated to enriching the lives of retired Canadians by providing occasions for learning and friendship
• Their slogan: Get connected; stay connected! is a driving force underlying members’ participation
• In Canada there are 236 active clubs, more than 32,000 Canadians are now members of PROBUS which averages 12 new clubs a year
• The PROBUS Clubs of Canada comprise part of the estimated more than 3,500 clubs the world over with nearly 400,000 members
• PROBUS has an association with Rotary – they participated in and sponsored the formation of clubs the world over. Rotary remains a significant part of our past but, while many Rotarians are active members, approximately 90% of PROBUS members in Canada are not Rotarians

Probus (international and Canadian) history and the rather interesting versions of the meaning of the Probus name can be found by clicking HERE.

For more information on our local club history, including snippets from the first newsletters and names of committee members – click HERE.

We will be honouring our charter members at our March meeting and we thank them for their contributions to the success and growth of our club.

We can all take pride in being members in both a wonderful local club and an organization with worldwide connections. Let’s keep the fun going in 2015 and honour PROBUS by spreading the word to your friends and inviting them to come out to our meetings. The more members the merrier!

See everyone at the April meeting.

Robert Grose