New Lions’ Member Already Willing To Get Involved

New Westport Lion member, Bruce Maynard

Westport Lions Roar

By Lion Bob Reddick

The Westport Lions are excited to have Bruce Maynard recently join our club. Already Bruce has shown a willingness to get involved and from his background he has proven to be a hard worker.

Bruce has spent the majority of his working life in the food industry. He grew up in Scarborough working in his father’s grocery store. His grandfather taught him the trade of a meat cutter. For a time he was a food broker in Toronto and then owned and operated grocery stores in Lancaster and Cornwall.

Bruce worked for Loblaws as a District Manager for eastern Ontario. Always having a desire to purchase his own business like his father before him, Bruce finally opened Maynard’s Independent Grocer in Cornwall in 1992.

During the next 16 years Bruce received many accolades and honours. The Governor General awarded Bruce the Good Citizen of Ontario Medal. He was named Citizen of the Year in Cornwall and Maynard’s Independent Grocer was named the best Grocery Store in Canada.

Bruce was presented the Rotary Club’s Paul Harris Medal. Paul Percy Harris founded Rotary International in 1905. “This award is presented to an individual who has contributed more than $1000 to the Annual Program Fund, the Polio Plus Fund or the Humanitarian Grants Program of the Rotary Foundation. Additionally, individual Rotary clubs may from time to time award the honour to individuals who meet high professional and personal standards set forth by Paul Harris. The recognition is not limited to Rotarians.” (Wikipedia.org)

Some other notable figures that have been named Paul Harris Fellows, are: U.S. President Jimmy Carter, Russian President Boris Yeltsin, U.S. astronaut James Lovell, UN Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar, Mother Teresa and polio vaccine developer, Jonas Salk.

Bruce and his wife Helene now call Wolfe Lake home where they have built a new retirement cottage after spending weekends and holidays there with their two children and their four grandchildren. After 50 years at their cottage, Bruce and Helene felt it was the right decision to live the rest of their lives where they had so many precious memories.

Over the years, Bruce became friends with Lion Bill Garland and was impressed with the community projects Bill was involved in through the Westport Lions Club. After a number of years, Bruce decided to act and joined the Westport Lions Club with the thought to give back to a community that has brought joy to Bruce and his family for most of their lives.