Rotary Club of Middleton honours McNeil, Strang
The Paul Harris Fellow (PHF) Award is the highest honour that Rotary International can bestow upon an individual. Recipients are Rotarians and community professionals recognized for their outstanding contributions and who exemplify the highest ideal in Rotary: Placing Service Above Self.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, former Premier Stephen McNeil and Dr. Robert Strang, chief medical officer of health, guided the province through the difficult situation—to the point where Nova Scotia was the envy of Canada, if not beyond, for its handling of the pandemic. This was reflected in the province’s remarkably low case counts prior to the emergence of the Omicron variant. Difficult—often unpopular—decisions had to be made to keep the province’s population safe by limiting the spread of the virus.
“Both men have Valley connections. Former Premier McNeil was inducted as an honourary member of the Middleton Club in 2015 and Dr. Strang’s wife is from the town, so this makes their work especially relevant for us”, says club president Sharon Hutton. “I think we can all be proud of what they accomplished”, she added.
Strang was previously awarded the PHF designation by the Rotary Club of Dartmouth, so the award from the Middleton Club is actually denoted as PHF+1.
While the club made the announcement last year, it had to wait until travel and meeting restrictions were relaxed in order to make the presentations, which was done a few weeks ago. Approximately 80 people representing other Rotary Clubs and various community partners of the Middleton Club were in attendance.
ABOUT PAUL HARRIS
Paul Harris founded Rotary International in 1905. His initial goal was to create a club of professional and business men for friendship and fellowship, but he soon realized that Rotary needed a greater purpose. During his term as the president of the Rotary Club of Chicago in 1907, the club initiated its first public service project and this step transformed Rotary into the world’s first service club focusing on local and international projects.
ABOUT ROTARY INTERNATIONAL
Rotary brings together a global network of community leaders dedicated to tackling the world’s most pressing humanitarian challenges. It connects 1.2 million members from more than 35,000 Rotary clubs in almost every country in the world. Rotarians improve lives both locally and internationally, by helping those in need in their own communities to working toward a polio-free world. Visit Rotary.org and endpolio.org for more about Rotary and its efforts.