Recognition of Kelly Hammond for Paul Harris Fellowship May 4, 2016 at Huntsville Rotary Club

May 4,2016

Greetings fellow Rotarians

I am so pleased that I am able to honor fellow Rotarian, friend and climber Kelly Hammond with a Paul Harris Fellowship Award tonight. I wish I could have be there to give her a hug and share directly in this experience. I might have even shed a tear if I had been there. Sometimes I have said, “Sometimes we must live vicariously through others”, so in-order to share this experience, Brandi will have to put the pin on her lapel, hang the medal over her neck, shake Kelly’s hand and give her a big bear hug on my behalf.


I met Kelly over 5 years ago in Ottawa, I believe sometime in Nov 2010. At that time we were both exploring the opportunity to go to Mount Kilimanjaro to climb the world’s largest freestanding mountain and climb with world climber Shawn Dawson and be part of his grand adventure to climb the world’s tallest mountain on every continent. We were going to climb with a purpose which was more than just to get to the top, we were going to raise funds for one of the 7 Summit Charities and make a difference in our communities. Kelly raised funds for your local Habitat for Humanity and I raised funds for Canadian Aid For Chernobyl which helped create the country of Belarus’s first Women’s Crisis Centre.

After hearing the presentation that night, I was in, and Kelly was in as well. We bought the dream and frankly we were over the top excited about the whole thing, and signed up that night, there was no turning back. Kelly shone as one of the best fund raisers for our team, leading the way and inspiring everyone to meet their fund raising goals. Several months later, in March of 2011 we were all heading to Africa and we got to start the incredible journey up the mountain, one step at a time. Kelly continued to be a positive force and her friend Heather Douglas as our official photographer were great encouragers for me and everyone on this journey.

Then a couple years ago, the opportunity to go to Everest Base Camp presented itself once again and I was very pleased that Kelly was able to go as well as myself. It is always nice when you have alumni on your journey, sharing the past experience and enjoying the new adventure. Brandy was now part of the team and you both where amazing fund raisers again for Dream Mountains Foundation, inspiring all of us fellow climbers to step it up and reach our goals, one step at a time.

I did not know that Kelly was a Rotarian until after the earth quake, and frankly I had an “Ahah” moment. Ahah, that explains this super over achiever, inspiring lady, she is a Rotarian, this makes so much sense!

Well, Kelly was connecting with the other Rotarians that were there from Russia, and it was truly a great moment to see the fellowship that is in Rotary.

Last year, Shawn Dawson, Founder of Dream Mountains Foundation was awarded a Paul Harris Fellow from a Ottawa Club. Our Alumni gathered last May , at the 5 Year Anniversary party to celebrate Shawn’s achievement of reaching all the summits within a 2 yr time period. Turned out we had actually quite a lot of Rotarians there, we had a Rotary Group picture taken. It was all a very proud moment for us Rotarians and I think for the first time, we recognized that Rotary through us was having a very positive impact on Dream Mountains Foundation which at the time had raised over $750,000 for charity.


Last year when I got back from Nepal after surviving the earthquake, Kelly’s near miss, the disappointment of having to abandon our goal of going to Everest Base Camp I was reflecting a bit about Rotary and my involvement with different charities and foundations over the years and I was reading about the Paul Harris Fellowship Society and how you could honor someone with this and I decided that as part of my 10 years in Rotary I would aspire to this and see if I could do this. So I made a goal to commit to this for the next 10 years and humbly, I would make it a solid commitment if I made it to this year, well I made it, and I still feel as strongly about the Rotary Foundation as I did then.

I remember at the Anniversary, Kelly talking about what a great honor it was that Shawn be recognized, and I’m smiling to myself as I had already thought about some of the people I would want to honor, and Kelly didn’t realize it, but I did, Shawn was top of my list, and he had already just been honored, so if I made it, Kelly was next. Kelly represents everything that we stand for in Rotary and I can think of no one else that better deserves this award on our team. I am so proud to have been part of these adventures and be able to recognize Kelly for her outstanding achievements. Well done Kelly!

Kelly has been a wonderful example to the Dream Mountain Foundation , to our Alumni, to Rotary, to her family, friends and community.

I would like to borrow a line from Shawn Dawson, Dream Mountains Foundation, It’s about helping people change their lives one step at a time, through education, opportunity and compassion. It’s about ordinary people doing extraordinary things, and making a difference. I also think this lines up pretty good with what Rotary is about and what you and I see in Kelly.


So, let’s give Kelly a warm hand of applause, as we recognize this outstanding lady, Rotarian and Citizen of your community.

Thank you

Yours In Rotary






Timothy Ross ,
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