Kevin’s Kaleidoscope – April 2007
The District
5040 GSE team has arrived in
The
month of March here at home in District 5040 is usually a busy month of
preparation for upcoming events and for the next Rotary year.
This year’s PETS was a great success thanks to the work of the organizing
committee, including our own PDG Mary Watson, the incoming Governors, and most
especially the six hundred or so incoming club Presidents. This year we were
especially honored and pleased to have a visit from Rotary International
President-elect Wilf and Joan Wilkinson; Wilf will be the first Canadian President of Rotary
International in 55 years.
The committee which is preparing
for the District Conference in May, is putting the finishing touches to an outstanding
program of speakers, entertainment, and events for your inspiration and enjoyment.
If you haven’t already done so, this is a reminder to reserve your
accommodation at The Grand Okanagan Resort as soon as possible. The block
of rooms set aside by the Grand will be released back to the hotel’s
inventory on April 17th.
I had the pleasure of a quick
visit to
RYLA South, otherwise known as “Monsoon
RYLA”, was held at
The
Rotary Club of
Saturday,
March 31st, was the first of the District Assemblies, to
provide training to lower mainland incoming club leaders for 2007-2008. The
information and training provided at these events is invaluable to Rotarians
new and experienced alike, and I encourage Rotarians in other parts of our
District to take advantage of the Assembly in your area.
As we
continue into the second half of the Rotary year, it is timely to remember the
various District Awards that are available for clubs and individual
Rotarians. PDG Leo Nimsick has posted information
about these awards on the District website, and I encourage all Rotarians to
nominate worthy recipients.
In addition, starting this year,
we have introduced a new club award. The “District 5040 Outstanding Rotary
Club of the Year” consists of a large banner to be presented to the winning
club at the District Conference, to be on display in the winning club for the
year until the next District Conference. The Assistant Governors will nominate
candidate clubs for the award, and the selection committee is PDG Sonia Wolowidnyk, District Foundation chair PDG Mary Watson, and
District Membership chair Henry Fetigan.
Speaking
of the District Conference, our conference committee is hard at work
preparing what will be an outstanding event at a stunning venue in
Please
mark your calendars and join Jen and I along with your
2007 District Conference team as we "Lead the Way"
for a spectacular weekend of fun, fellowship, outstanding speakers
and great entertainment, at our 2007 Conference, "Vintage
Rotary" in Kelowna, May 17 to 20.
One of the highlights of the conference will be a presentation by Craig Kielburger. Mr. Kielburger, a
Canadian, is an accomplished child rights advocate and award winning
author who has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize three times. At the tender
age of 12 he founded an organization called Free The
Children which is the world's largest network of children helping
children through education.
If you are in business, you won’t want to miss an outstanding presentation
by Rob Whittle. Mr. Whittle is the National President of DDB Canada,
one of the largest advertising, design, and media agencies in
On the lighter side, come and hear a presentation by a winemaster
on The History of Winemaking in the Okanagan.
On Friday afternoon of the conference there will
be an opportunity to show your support for Rotary’s campaign to eradicate
polio, by joining the Walk For Polio Because You Can. Pledge
forms are available on the website, so please support this very worthwhile
cause, and encourage others to join in a fun and healthy exercise. We are
almost at the finish line!
We are deeply honored to have, as RI President
Bill Boyd’s personal representative at the conference, Past District Governor
John and Jane Capps. John is an
eloquent and entertaining speaker whom you won’t want to miss.
The District website, www.rotary5040.org, will provide you with details of
the conference in addition to some information of optional activities you may wish to
arrange for yourself while in
You can register for the
conference by going to www.rotary5040.org,
clicking on the conference logo which will take you to the conference site, and
follow the link to Registration. You can also follow the link to Accommodation
to get information to enable you to make a reservation at the conference
venue, The Grand Okanagan in
Two other
events you won’t want to miss, so mark your calendars for:
1.
The Rotary International Convention
in
2.
The Presidential Membership Celebration,
taking place in
Jen joins me in
extending warm regards to all District 5040 Rotarians,
and wishing you great success and enjoyment in Rotary during the 2nd half of
the year.
New club
joining our Rotary Family
The provisional Rotary Club of
Vancouver Yaletown is experimenting with a
no-meal afternoon meeting concept. They meet Thursdays at 5:30pm Discovery
Condo Community room,
Why not stop in and show support to our new club?
Make-up cards will be issued to visiting
Rotarians.
Do you know a potential member for Yaletown? Someone
who will find the “no meal” afternoon meeting appealing? Why not recommend a
member to the new club?
For information contact:
Carlos Esquivelat 604-306-2718 or cesquivel@telusmail.net
Henry Fetigan at 604-551-2272 or hfetigan@shaw.ca
Cariboo Rotary Clubs - AG Alex
Coffey
Rotary Club of Quesnel
FUNDRAISER
The club kicked off the year with a PolioPlus fundraiser based on the World
Cup. President Simon, well-known soccer fan and
LOCAL PROJECTS
1.
Three million dollars indoor soccer facility - aided in the planning stages with seed
money from the Club.
2.
Renovation of the City’s Cenotaph - from some of the funds raised
during the annual Radio-TV Auction.
3.
Pancake Breakfast - The Club enjoyed a successful Pancake Breakfast over the Billy
Barker Days weekend.
4.
March Wine Festival – was an unqualified success, drawing rave reviews from all who
attended including the wine merchants themselves!
INTERNATIONAL PROJECTS
1.
Shelterbox-purchased one Shelterbox
(shelterbox.ca), and rapidly building a second one to
send to disaster area around the world.
2.
HelpsInternational – purchased 10 Onil
stoves for families in
3. Yege Tafoe
Water Project –
committed $1,000 to the project, the latest inspiration of Leslie and PDG Art
Erasmus.
EXCELLENT MEMBERSHIP GROWTH
The club now inducted 8 new members for a net
increase in excess of 10%.
Rotary Club of Quesnel Sunrise 2000
The
club is working hard raising fund for the downtown square clock project,
it will be a nice centre piece at the square that the Quesnel
Downtown Association built. The large 4 dial Howard cast aluminum post clock
will have a special header that displays “
The
clock, by the time installation is done, will cost the club approximately
$40,000. They have been fundraising like mad, Their major
fundraiser Ladies Diamond
They are hoping to have the
clock in place by end of June. The Rocky Mountaineer train is now stopping in Quesnel on the way to Jasper, it
has been a great success bringing in visitors to the city. The square completed
with benches, trees, planters and the attractive clock will brighten up the
downtown core..
Rotary Club of Williams
Size is no matter to the 16 members club, an extremely
action-oriented and community minded bunch of Rotarians that “get a lot
done”. And have a great time doing all these!
Williams
The club took over the planning, organizing and
hosting the 82nd annual parade last year, the July 1st
parade was a great success, what a proud day for the Daybreak club. Work is
well underway for the Jun 30th 2007 parade. 12,000 people will be expected to
come watching, volunteering or participating in this big event.
Annual Used Book
The club held their 15th annual book sale
on Feb 16-25 in Boitanio Mall,
they raised $3,500 for various Rotary projects and turned over in excess of
7,000 books, raising awareness of literacy, and making reading very affordable
for hundreds of people who waited for the sale every year. Many children and
Youth books were given away to local and regional youth groups, associations
and schools. The project is their contribution to the community on the Literacy
front.
Annual Bronco
Buttons
The
club sells 1,000 buttons at $5.00 each, all proceed
goes to local Hospice Society. The winning button is chosen over the July 1st
weekend as part of the community Stampede and Canada Day celebrations. Each
year original artwork is featured on the button and have
become a collector piece for many residents.
Annual Family
Fest
The
Family Fest 2007 on February 11th was a resounding success. Daybreak Rotary
Club purchased books and gave to children at the Fest, the Williams Lake Rotaract Club was a big help at the event. The club has
been sponsoring the Family Fest with the local Child Development Centre since
it began in 2004 as part of the Williams Lake Rotary District 5040 Conference.
It provides a low/no cost literacy related event for local families during the
last days of winter.
That’s not all,
the club also . . . .
Manage to support and partner with
many other community groups to make
Support the Rotary Foundation’s
Annual Program Fund.
Participate in joint-club International
Water Projects.
Support the Adventure in Music
program by sending one participant a year to the great program in
Fun, Fun Fun!
You read about the Great
Williams Lake Rotary Zuchini Caper
in Nov 06 District newsletter. DG Kevin was quite
amazed at the talents Williams Lake Rotarians displayed in growing and showing
their Zuchini’s. For the record, Club President Erik Zwiers won the prize for the best dressed Zuchini this year.
Council on Legislation - April 22-27, 2007
April
is here and later this month- April 22nd to April 27th,
our District Representative, PDG Del Paterson, will be in
There are 2 types of proposals considered at the COL
At
this moment the pieces of legislation to be discussed and voted on total 357,
as a number of the proposals have been withdrawn or consolidated by the
constitutional committee in RI. It is all posted on the RI website (please go
“Events”, then “Council on Legislation” and in the column on the right you will
see the subjects which include, Proposed Legislation – Volume 1 and 2,etc.
You will find groups of proposals of interest to clubs that you may find
interesting:
- Changing parameters of the GSE Program by raising the age, to 45 or to 50, or to allow students to
participate.
- Reducing the minimum Matching Grant from the current
$5000 award from TRF to $2500.
- Increase the percentage available for District
Simplified Grants from the current 20% to 30% or to 40%.
These are just some examples
that might interest you, however, there is much more. So take the time to look
on the website and if you have opinions - pro or con – on certain legislation,
please contact your representative, PDG Del Paterson at del_paterson@telus.net in the
next two weeks.
Full text, all 550 pages is also
available for download at: http://www.rotary.org/support/council/council_details.html
PETS 2007 welcome our New Leaders!
March
is said "to come in like a Lion, and
go out like a Lamb" but there is no doubt that our 2007 -
2008 District Leaders went out from PETS in mid March like Lions!!! Under
the guidance of District Trainer Art Erasmus, and our 2007 District Leaders,
your 53 new presidents spent a long weekend at the annual President Elect
Training Seminar (PETS) in
With
headliners like RI President Elect Wilf Wilkinson,
and Past RI Presidents Rick King and Cliff Dochterman
(author of the ABC's of Rotary) we were treated to a Kaleidoscope of what
Rotary is and what Rotary does throughout the world. Not least, we brought
this knowledge home to our District and our clubs with breakout sessions aimed
at making 2007 -2008 yet another exciting year for all our Rotarians in
District 5040.
Your
new Presidents will now be telling you about their plans and goals for the
coming year, and if the enthusiasm and fellowship they showed at PETS is
anything to go by, we are all in for another great year of Service
Above Self. As our theme says, "Rotary Shares", and
that starts now as we plan to expand membership, charter new clubs, increase
our Foundation giving, share our ideals in the Community
and Internationally, develop our Youth Programs and do all the other
things we've been doing so well for over 100 years.
Congratulations to all the "Lions of 2007"!
Rotary Club of
PR TIPS - promote Rotary with VIDEOS
Upload your OWN videos on the internet or
on ClubRunner - Use club’s Rotary
project helps bring your story to life. All you need is a digital camera,
camera, camera phone or video camera that will configure to your personal
computer. Learn to upload on one of the many internet sites, visit: https://upload.video.google.com/
For ClubRunner websites, videos can be uploaded under internal file, WMV is the
smallest file size, they are looking into supporting MOV files as well, will
keep you posted.
Embed Rotary videos from YOU TUBE - For ClubRunner sites, you need to switch
to HTML page and manually insert the HTML code provided from You Tube, but
remember to remove the “object tag” from the code. It is very important to ask
for permission and check copyright before using articles posted on the
internet.
RI and District 5040 Privacy Policy
Rotary International publishes a Privacy
Policy to which District 5040 adheres. Please read and be aware of this policy.
The District Executive recommends that all clubs who have a website,
include a link to this Privacy Policy statement, which is now published on the
District Website http://www.rotary.org/resources/privacy.html
Canadian Achievers
Canadian Achievers is a weekly
column about a Canadian who is making a difference in their chosen profession
or field of endeavour. Dee Neukomm
and RIPE Wilfrid Wilkinson were two of the
Canadians featured in the column.
Dee Neukomm is an outstanding coach who has won
many awards for her work with special needs athletes.
·
1986 founding member of the
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1998 BC Head Coach of the Year & Canada's
National Female Coach of the Year.
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2003 head coach for the World games in
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This October head coach for the Rhythmic Gymnastics
team of Team
Dee and her
husband PDG Ron are committed to making the world a better place.
July 1, 2007 will be a big day
for Canadian Rotarians. Not only will it be
"Every day thousands of Canadians become achievers
through believing in themselves and in
A Goal of World Peace, Goodwill & World Understanding
For years dedicated Rotarians hoped for a Rotary-sponsored academy
promoting world peace, goodwill, and understanding. The concept was proposed
in 1996 as the
In April 1999, the
April 14 is the 4th annual Rotary Fellows Spring Conference at
the
Keynote Address “Achieving peace through prosperity: what is needed in
the
Join over 200 of
our Peace Fellows in
Answer from Bill Boyd: Put simply, the job is not finished, and Rotary keeps its
promises. We promised the children of the world that they would grow up in a world without
polio and that their children would not have to face the threat of that
dreaded disease. If we are to fulfill this promise, we need to stay focused
until there is no more wild poliovirus.
We all realize that children around the world are unfairly faced with
myriad threats to their well-being. It is truly heartbreaking to see a child
suffering from any disease that could have been prevented.
Though great progress has been made toward a polio-free world, we cannot
turn our attention away now. Because current funding levels for polio
immunization campaigns cannot be sustained indefinitely, cases would increase
dramatically. Failure to eradicate polio would result in an estimated 10
million paralyzed children in the next 40 years and would negate the world’s
US$5.3 billion investment in the initiative.
The only way to protect every child from polio is to eradicate this
crippling and potentially fatal disease completely. The strategies and tools
are known, and health experts agree that the challenges to stopping the spread
of polio can be met. Rotary was the first organization to have the vision of a
polio-free world, so we need to sustain our commitment to creating a world with
one less threat for every child.
Leo’s Literacy And Numeracy
Page
The following 2 clubs
in our district were featured in the
Project Name: Ambassador’s for Literacy – Go Anywhere. Learn
Anything. Read Every Day.
Description: Raise awareness about what Richmond Public
Libraries have to offer - to ensure fair, equal and free access to all
libraries in
Outcomes: The Launch is March 17 2007 – in partnership
with the Public Library - we are introducing the exclusive Round Library Card
featuring a unique illustration of Rhalphy the Rhino
by award winning author illustrator Trevor Lai – a Richmond Youth. It is our
hope to get an additional 2000 library cards out into circulation –over and
above what is circulated now. We were able to obtain a District Simplified
Grant for this project. - Club Literacy Co-ordinator:
Barbara Fitzpatrick
Project Name: Literacy
Description: A community project located at
Outcomes: According
to the Director of Family Place, this project has been well received as a
contribution to ongoing learning skills for families who attend their facility.
The coordinator allows each family the option of signing out a Literacy Kit to
bring home and utilize in learning to read, interact and develop an
understanding of literacy. For the majority of families, a project such as this
allows them the convenience to learn in their own homes, in comfort, without
peer pressure. Once they have used the kit, it is returned to
A reminder you have until April
15th to submit detail of the accomplished projects to PDG Leo Nimsick, District Literacy Chair at nimsick@telus.net for
the District and Zone Literacy Award.
Rotarian’s Wine Appreciation Fellowship
Would you like to join the Rotarian's Wine Appreciation Fellowship and
be a part of a fun loving and involved group of Wine Enthusiasts?
The focus of the Rotarian’s Wine
Appreciation Fellowship is:
Learning more about any hobby or personal
interest should always be fun, but enjoying a good glass of wine over a good
meal with family and friends and knowing more about what made this particular
pairing of food, wine, people and setting so special, can be memorable.
Whenever the Wine Appreciation Fellowship is mentioned, smiles appear, and it
seems that wine appreciation provides a common language among Rotarians.
Requirements for membership:
This Fellowship encourages members to form local chapters that
meet several times during the year for fun and fellowship. These local chapters
are encouraged to accomplish service projects as another way to extend our
Rotary service.
For more information or to join the
Rotarian's Wine Appreciation Fellowship, http://www.rotarywine.net/
please e-mail the RWAF President, Conrad Heede, at CCHeede@aol.com
If your club has members who might be interested in this Rotary Fellowship,
please bring this opportunity to their attention.
For information about Rotary Fellowships &
Action Groups: www.rotaryfellowship.org
Are you already a member? Let’s hear about
your experiences and adventures with
District 5040
Fellowships Chair, Member, International Travel and Hosting Fellowship
World Community Service - the “Quiet Revolution of Hope”
BUKOVINA PROJECT Rotary Club of Burnaby partnered
with Rotary Club of Ternopil, Ukraine
Project Goal – to provide neurosurgery
equipment for the
Phase 1 completed in August 2004
Phase 2 completed March 2007
Phase 3 to be completed
“The
post-operative outcomes following removal of brain tumours,
spinal cord tumours and other neurosurgical problems
in general will be improved by having better equipment for the surgeons and
operating staff within the region, providing access to a larger number of
people.”- Dianna Krawchuk, President Elect of
Per Dr. Shutka, more than 1,400 neurosurgery high level and
difficult operations were done during 2004 to 2006. Apart from the ability of
neurosurgeons, they will not been achieved this high level of success without
the gifts from Rotary.
Club
members just returned from
ROTARY IN
Medical Assistance
Over
the past 3 years, three New Westminster Rotarians travelled
to
They
also partner with the local hospitals and charity groups working in the
countryside to help with 20,000 free health examinations including 2,000 dental
surgeries and 4,000 free eyeglasses in the past 3 year. The services are
provided to patients who cannot afford treatments in the local hospitals.
Heart Surgeries
This
year the club raised 10,000 to provide heart surgery for 5 small children with
congenital heart disease. All children had excellent outcomes, the families
were very thankful to the Canadians who have given their children a chance to
live.
Many children in
2006-2007 DSG projects at a Glance
District Simplified Grants (DSGs) are a tool for Rotary districts to support
short-term, humanitarian projects that benefit the community. Districts can
request up to 20 percent of District Designated Funds (DDF) for a grant to
support multiple projects locally or internationally.
Clubs interested to receive DSG
funds should contact District Leader. Application form can be downloaded at District
website www.rotary5040.org under TRF
page.
Below are the District Simplified Grant for the
current Rotary year, projects done with a local focus and partnering with the
club in the community.
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Sechelt : Viewing platform at
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Canadian Rotary Collaboration for International Development
CRCID is composed of Rotarians from
across
MISSION AND KEY RESULT AREAS
CRCID will support Canadian Rotarians in delivering sustainable international
development programs by:
PRIORITIES
CRCID funding is allocated towards the following programs priorities:
For more information, visit http://www.crcid.org/
Rotary is not all work, some sure know how to have FUN !!!
To
celebrate St. Patrick’s day, Instead of having
speaker program, the club brought in the Eire Born Irish Dance Group to
perform. Some members were in for a surprise when Alec invited two people from
each table to come forward and help him to thank the group for their fantastic
entertainment. They didn’t know they
were going to be part of the entertainment themselves and had to follow the
dancers in their footsteps
Through the efforts of PP Tony
and PP Chuck Albert, the club brought back the Reverse Draw Dinner
fundraiser. More than the great buffet, good entertainer and the
suspenseful conclusion for the final winning ticket of $1,000, there was the
excitement and fun surrounding the side bets, friends betting friends that
their ticket will prevail over the other. Funds raised $5,000+/-
An evening of Abba Cadebra at the River Rock Casino was nothing but fun. The
dance floor was packed and everyone was singing along the Abba Songs. Michael
Chiu came prepared with print outs of all the lyrics. “It was thrilling to see
so many fellow Rotarians and friends there, the support was greatly
appreciated. The event raised about $9,000” -
Fundraiser Chair PP Jacqueline Nind.
Rotaract President Tim Vanderheide Honoured
The Rotary Club of Vancouver is proud to announce that
Tim Vanderheide has been made a Paul Harris Fellow.
He is the President of the UBC Rotaract Club and
during his term, the club has exceeded all expectations.
Some of their accomplishments include
proceeding with their international project in
Tim reflects the Rotary values: Service Above Self, the 4 way test, ethics and character. He is a
recipient of a scholarship from the Rotary Club of Chilliwack, has attended
RYLA and been involved in the Rotary family for 5 years. Tim’s leadership
qualities include handing over a vibrant club to a selected executive. He is a
science graduate of UBC.
Kitimat 50th Anniversary
Celebration April 27, 28 and 29, 2007
In conjunction with the Northwest
District Assembly, Kitimat Club has planned a big
event on April 27, 28 and 29, 2007 to celebrate their 50 Years of Service. Rotarians are invited to share the special occasion
with them.
Some highlights of the weekends
are: Scotch and Wine Tasting, Salt Water Fishing, 18 Hole
golf, plant
For details and registration,
please visit their website at www.kitimatrotary.org or contact Event Chair Lynda Rocha at citycentremotel@monarch.net
Run for Rescue - April 28, 2007
Vancouver Sunrise is hosting a big fundraising event Run
for Rescue on April 28 at Lumberman’s Arch. Money raised will be split
between their club projects in Africa and the Emergency Service Detail http://esdairrescue.com/
For
details and to register online or download registration, go to www.runforrescue.com They are currently looking for volunteers and
sponsors, email info@runforrescue.com Last year, over 75 walkers and runners
participated and raised over $6,000 for same good causes.
6th
Annual Steveston Seafood and Wine
Festival
A popular event featuring a wide
selection of wineries and the large seafood buffet that has been a highlight
every year. As always, there will be oyster
shucking and fresh oysters. For details, call Don Pfeffer
at 604-274-6764 or email Pfeffer_LangVineyards@telus.net
JABC
Rotarians from 3
JABC is looking for
volunteers. For details, visit www.jabc.org or contact Anne Sashikata,
604-688-3887 ext 4 or anne.sashikata@jabc.org.