Andrea Berestovenko

I’m honoured to be the president of the Rotary Club of Branttford-Sunrise for 2022-23.
I joined Rotary in 2019 because I wanted to do good things in the community. I learned very quickly that I became part of a club that takes our role in the community seriously with very effective fundraisers and community events and strong, consistent relationships with the organizations that we support.
I also learned that while our club focuses on the local, Rotary International connects us with all other clubs and communities around the globe. It has created an infrastructure clubs to work together to create solutions anywhere in the world. It feels so good to be able to help people in Brantford one week, and then help my friends in India the next week.
In 2020 the pandemic struck and lockdowns started to occur. I was once again impressed with the flexibility of our membership. Within two weeks we were having full membership meetings on Zoom and we didn’t miss a beat with our fundraising. We lost live-and-in-person fundraising events, so we created virtual and drive through events to continue supporting our funding recipients. Our first online auction allowed us to donate $40,000 to the paediatric centre Brantford General Hospital.
As we transition carefully back to more in-person meetings and events, I’m excited for what this year has in store for us. We are re-emerging into the live space while keeping the benefits of working online. We are expanding our efforts in the community by creating a Satellite club in Paris to provide even more community service to Brant County. We are embracing and implementing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion strategies to work toward growing a club membership that better matches that of the community we serve.
I’d love to have you come and see what we are up to! We currently have a mixture of in-person and online meetings. If you have any questions about our club or would like to attend a meeting, please contact me at jasontherotarian@gmail.com.
Yours in Rotary,
Jason Cherry
President of Rotary Club of Brantford-Sunrise