Rotary Club of Peterborough Rename 'Breakfast Cup' To Honour Dedicated Program Volunteer; $6,000 Donation to Five Counties From Golf Fundraiser

The Rotary Club of Peterborough has renamed its friendly competition of its morning meal program the ‘Breakfast Cup’ to the ’Koeslag Cup’ to honour one of its late dedicated volunteers, Peter Koeslag, announced on Monday morning.

The Koeslag family as part of the newly named ‘Koeslag Cup’ with this year’s winner. Photo by David Tuan Bui.

The announcement was made at the Northminster United Church during a club’s meeting, including a $9,000 donation to Five Counties Children’s Centre. The proceeds were raised from the Club’s ‘Fore For Kids’ golf tournament held on Sept. 26 at Bellmere Winds Golf Resort in Keene.

The Koeslag Cup was a Prince of Wales school breakfast program that started in 1994 with Rotarians Isadore Black and Dr. Garry Humphries. Rotarians and local volunteers would be in teams to prepare delicious and nutritious meals daily for Prince of Wales Students.

Koeslag has been known to make a challenge among the volunteers to see which group could create the most exciting breakfast menus for kids during the last weeks of school before the Christmas holidays and summer break.

“He enjoyed seeing the smile on people's faces, he didn't do it for money, he just did it because he loved doing that,” said Paul Koeslag, Peter’s son. “Part of it was because when he was younger, he didn't have those opportunities. Dad just loved helping people.”

The Rotary Club of Peterborough, which meets at noon two Mondays per month, is one of four clubs in the area and one of over 46,000 clubs, with 1.4 million members around the world. Photo by David Tuan Bui.

He created a special trophy that would be awarded twice yearly to the winning team, as judged by students and school staff.

“Peter was very active in the school program,” explained Kein Seim, Rotary president. “Between him and a couple other ones that have been it for 30 years, they've been instrumental in bringing it along. From pretty meagre beginnings to a full kitchen and full breakfasts, Peter himself is very handy. If we needed something, he would make it.”

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