Today the Canadians attended the “Day of the Angel” Party.  This is always a really fun day as we celebrate the birthdays of the children in the “Organization of Families with Invalid Children”.  This program has been sponsored by the Rotary Clubs of Brockville and the 1000 Islands for the past 12 years.   This year was especially exciting as Irina Denisyenko, the leader of the organization, was being awarded the prestigious “Paul Harrris Fellow Award” from Rotary Club International.  Of course Irina had no idea that she was receiving this award so you can see the surprise on her face in the picture below as she realizes that it is her that Dave is describing:

Rotary created the “Paul Harris Fellow Award: to recognize outstanding individuals that have acheived tremendous accomplishments to better improve the quality of life for fellow man, through selfless acts of kindness and compassion.  This is the highest recognition within Rotary around the world and has been presented to such notables as Mother Theresa, Nelson Mandella and Pope John Paul II.

After the presentation the party continued with gifts for all of the children:

Of course there were games and dancing and everyone got up and played and danced.

I was trying to get this little girl to give me a smile for the camera and her brother helped me out …

Here are Dave and Irina dancing while a local singer entertained us.

Once the realization of the award and the honour sunk in with Irina, her first thought was that maybe this prestigious award would give her more pull with the local authorities to help her organizations children and families … which fits in perfectly with the Rotary club motto “Service Above Self”!  This is the Irina Denisyenko that we know and love and the reason she so perfectly deserves this award!

Eric McKenzie