For Rotary District 5370 governor Ramesh Ferris, the message was simple: make clubs more accessible.
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Ferris presented to the Rotary Club of Lloydminster, joined by members of the Border City Rotary Club, at the Lloydminster club’s Monday lunch meeting March 23. Ferris, who is the 2025-26 governor, spoke to what he wants to see clubs doing as they move through the year.
“Some of my hopes for this Rotary year is that you as a club, you’ll take the time to develop a multi-year club action plan,” he said.
This plan includes increasing clubs’ impacts, expanding their range, enhancing participant engagement and increasing the ability to adapt as a club. Another key highlight for Ferris is his commitment to making the world more accessible, something close to him.
“The other thing I’m trying to highlight this year is the connection between community accessibility and club accessibility,” he said. “As a polio survivor, I don’t know anything else but a life living with a physical disability. In the wintertime, the community of Whitehorse is not accessible.”
Ferris’ story begins in India.
“I was living in poverty and because of this I didn’t have access to the polio vaccine. The polio virus paralyzed my legs for life at the age of six months,” he said.
His mother placed him into an orphanage to be adopted in Canada.
“My birth mother placed me into a Canadian family orphanage called Families for Children,” he explained. “I was adopted by the Anglican Bishop of Yukon, Ron Ferris, and his wife Jan.”
He says his adoptive parents instilled the values of staying determined, having dreams, working as a team and not giving up. These values are something he wants to see reflected in the clubs.
“I think it’s important that clubs, if they haven’t done so already, adopt an attitude of don’t be afraid to fail, be afraid not to try,” said Ferris. “Throughout my life I’ve tried to carry on that mindset.”
It was after his 2008 Cycle to Walk campaign — where he hand-cycled 7,140 kilometres across Canada to raise awareness and money for Rotary International’s PolioPlus campaign — that he became a Rotarian.
“I continue to this day to use Rotary as a platform to elevate my voice for causes that I care about,” he said. “In particular, one of them is polio education.”
In his efforts to make Rotary more accessible, he says a tool is being developed to assess how accessible the Rotary clubs are.
“I’ve asked our diversity, equity and inclusion committee for the district to develop a Rotary club accessibility assessment tool,” said Ferris. “Which will help clubs identify what potential barriers they have in their club meetings, but also in the volunteer opportunities that they’re creating in the community.”
As part of his presentation, he talked about how the 56 active clubs in District 5370 helped financially support Rotary.
“Our district continued its amazing generosity to the foundation,” he said, noting just over $300,000 was given to the annual fund, while just under $210,000 was contributed to PolioPlus from Rotarians alone in the district.
He says Rotary International’s commitment remains the fight to eradicate polio.
“They’re asking every Rotarian to commit $100 US annually to the PolioPlus Society that the district set up,” he said, which will continue until the World Health Organization certifies the world polio-free.
Ferris also spoke about the upcoming district conference, which is set to be held in Whitehorse.
“We’re just really proud to be hosting the district conference in May,” he said.
The conference runs from May 15-17 in Whitehorse. Keynote speakers include Rick Hansen, Michael Sheldrick and Diego Carneiro.
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