Nibinamik

Nibinamik Education Centre

Nibinamik-First-Nation
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Nibinamik First Nation, also known as Summer Beaver Band, is a small Oji-Cree First Nation reserve in Northern Ontario, located on the Summer Beaver Settlement that is connected to the rest of the province by its airport, and a winter/ice road that leads to the Northern Ontario Resource Trail. Population 440. 


The IPPC connected with Dave, a teacher in Nibinamik as he was looking for sponsors to bring grade 7/8 students to Toronto. We supported the GoFundMe page for the field trip


The Chief and Council approved the IPPC’s involvement and the community provided a wish list of 68 items.  Assistance was needed  to prioritize the most needed resources. 


The IPPC ordered new books in Oji-Cree for the library, 35 life jackets, 150 pairs of socks, building blocks such as LEGO, collected 50 gently used board games according to their wish list, baseball equipment, volley balls and net, soccer balls, archery materials (target, bow and arrows), 100 tooth brushes that were donated to us

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EarlyAct Club Murray Centennial Public School, Trenton - Fundraiser for Nibinamik Education Centre

The EarlyAct Club at Murray Centennial Public School in Quinte West is a student-led initiative that aims to make a positive impact on communities through service projects. 


Students in grades 4-8 plan and execute one international project, one community project, and one school-based project each year, following Rotary International's 7 Areas of Focus. The Rotary Club of Trenton matches fundraising efforts up to $1,000 per project. 


The club is guided by two teacher mentors and parent club Rotary members, but the students are entirely responsible for the initiatives, planning, and completion of the projects.


Recently, the club collaborated with the IPPC and the Nibinamik Education Centre on a project. Lavender Lane Media documented their efforts, and they organized two movie days to raise funds. 


They successfully raised $3,531.40, with the Rotary Club's contribution, which was sent to the Nibinamik Education Centre for purchasing much-needed gym and recess equipment.

EarlyAct Club 2023 -group with donation
EarlyAct Club 2023 - event presentation
EarlyAct Club 2023 - students presenting
EarlyAct Club 2023 - students presenting 2
life jackets 4-2

St Joseph's Catholic School - Legacy Team Donates

The Legacy Team at St. Joseph’s Catholic School in Belleville fundraise every year for a local organization. In 2021 the team wanted to support an Indigenous project and contacted the Rotary Club of Belleville


Despite lockdown and remote learning due to COVID-19, they raised $772 and donated those funds to the IPPC committee.  Thirty-five (35) life jackets were purchased for the children in Nibinamik

THANK YOU – THANK YOU – THANK YOU – THANK YOU

Rotary IPPC Birgit Wartenberg doodle with flower

“It takes a team to do anything of lasting value.”

I would like to thank everyone on the IPPC cluster team for your tremendous work, effort and dedication to make the laptop drive for Nibinamik such a huge success.


We started with Dave Mossman’s request of one laptop or maybe two for his school ‘Nibinamik Education Centre (Summer Beaver School) and shipped:

  • 82 laptops
  • 5 Chromebooks
  • 5 ipads
  • 7 tablets
  • 3 cell phones

A big thank you to:


Rotary Club Wellington – Liz Bosma-Donavan for promoting this project and Phyo Kyi for his IT work & expertise.


Rotary Club Cataraqui – Robert Reid and Ana Sutherland for promoting & co-ordinating our laptop drive. The guest speaker from CAS donated laptops when he heard Robert’s announcement. Thank you to Jim & Joan Brown who donated five new Chromebooks. A special thank you to Ana Sutherland for asking her friend to help with the shipping to Wasaya Airways in Pickle Lake.


Rotary Club Palgrave – St Iyke Ndubuisi for promoting, co-ordinating & picking up 64 laptops in total with 57 from the Town of Caledon as well as installing the Operating Systems on all 57 laptops.


Rotary Club Belleville – Jamie Trudeau for promoting and getting a brand new laptop donated by Best Buy, Coreen Reynolds for purchasing two tablets.


Rotary Club Trenton – Chris Gates for promoting this project and Jeremey Taft for his IT work.

I also would like to thank Len Kennedy who offered to bring the laptops from Kingston to Belleville as well as Jamie Trudeau who offered to pick-up the laptops in Caledon, a 520 km trip, and bringing the packed boxes to Trenton. 


Last but not least a big thank you to Marilyn Trudeau, the laptops and bubble wrap took over her kitchen for a couple of days.

“No one can whistle a symphony. It takes an orchestra to play it.”

Thank You to the orchestra!

Birgit Wartenberg