South America, primarily from Equador.  We buy only from fair trade farmers.

Fair trade farms are certified to ensure and protect the economic, environmental and social dimensions of working conditions of their workers.  

We purchase 15,000 roses on one day, once per year.  There are not enough local roses produced to fill our order and still meet regular daily demand.     

Sorry, but fresh roses arrive to us only once per year.     For large orders with special requirements, please contact us to see what is possible.  

Yes you can, just select the “quantity” at the bottom of the order form.   Only one card message will be sent with the roses

No need to fill out the address on the order form if they are going to the address you provide on the check-out page.

We will send you a spreadsheet to complete, and we can upload it for you.  Please contact us for more information.

Harbourside Rotarians, friends and family, package and deliver the roses on a volunteer basis.    It takes about 150 volunteers to get the job done, and we always need extra help.   If you would like to volunteer, please contact us.

Eurosa Farm on the Saanich Peninsula. Eurosa is a family owned flower growing operation and have been supporting Harbourside Rotary for over 20 years by allowing us to use their coolers and  warehouse for processing.   

We sell about 1200 dozen roses each year, which raises about $20,000 for charity.Over one half of the money you pay for your roses goes to charity.

At least 70% of the money raised stays in the local community.  Here are some of the local projects and donations you helped to support:  youth leadership training (Adventures in Citizenship, Rotary Youth Leadership Assembly); scholarships for students leaving high school and going on to post-secondary education; a summer program for youth; 1000×5 Read to Children (books for very young children); naturalized play space and the breakfast program at Central Middle School; support for refugee assistance; breakfast program at Vic High; Quadra Elementary breakfast program; items for the Threshold Housing Society (transition housing for at-risk youth).

The 30% that went to international projects included:  a science kit for a school in Afghanistan; tools and training for African women developing community forests; tuition for students in Malawi; relief after the devastation in Nepal; physician travel packs and clean water projects for communities in Honduras and Guatemala; a reforestation project in Honduras.

The cakes and truffles were made by Harbourside Rotarians, friends and family in partnership with Camosun College.  Particular thanks to the College and Chef Steve Walker-Duncan, Chair of the Culinary Arts program.

Essentially, these are made by hand in exactly the same way our grandmothers and mothers made their Christmas cakes – in fact, the recipe we use has been handed down through the generations to one of our Harboursiders.  The only differences are that we make the cakes in a commercial kitchen using larger mixers and bigger ovens.

There are a number of things that make ours special and keep them moist and richer tasting.

We use only the highest quality ingredients.

We use only glace fruit – many commercial cakes use ‘festive cake mix’, which can have up to 50% and more rutabaga cut and coloured to look, but not taste, like candied peel.

We have more fruit to batter.

We dip our cakes in VSOP brandy, wrap them in cheesecloth, overwrap in parchment paper, and then foil.

We then mature the cakes from September until the end of November.

We use golden sugar and not dark brown sugar – we find that the dark brown sugar gives too much of a ‘molasses’ after-taste.

We use fewer currants; while they make the cakes darker, they also make them more bitter.

We use more of the expensive fruits like cherries, pineapple, sultanas and ginger.

Dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, and salt.  Fruits and nuts:  cherries, raisins, currants, dates, glace citron, glace ginger, glace orange peel, glace lemon peel, glace pineapple, almonds, and walnuts.  Spices:  ground cinnamon, ground allspice, ground cloves, ground coriander, ground ginger, ground mace, and ground nutmeg.  ‘Dairy’: light brown sugar, unsalted butter, and eggs.

If you’re ordering the cakes to give as gifts to your clients, let us know and we can issue an invoice to your business.

If you choose to pick up,  do so between November 25th and December 16th , 2017 at at Dial-A-Geek / Sneakers Computers. They are open M-F 9:30-5:00, Saturday 10:00-4:00. They’re at 880 Esquimalt Rd, Victoria, BC V9A 3M4, behind Tim Hortons.  Note, as they are volunteering their location and time, please remember to thank them for their support.

Yes!  You can have your order delivered by Maximum Express.  The cost is only $10 per order to one address.  Just fill out the date and time (morning or afternoon) on the order form.

Depending on the cost of the fruits and nuts in particular, we raise between $18- and $20,000.

Last year, we gave $167,000 to local organizations and scholarships worth $12,000 to local students. Internationally, we turned $9,700 into $122,000 with grants from Rotary International and used the money for microloans to women and for reforestation and clean water projects in Central America and Africa.

100% of the money raised after we have paid for supplies, goes directly to fund the projects. Because we are a service club, there are NO administrative fees.