Kevin’s Kaleidoscope – Sep 2006
The most enjoyable aspect
of the role for many District Governors is the opportunity to visit Rotary
clubs around the District.
Jen and I have been looking
forward to our club visits, the first of which was to the
RYLA North in
It is always a great deal
of fun to participate in youth activities, and I was privileged to be invited
to attend RYLA North in
Steveston
Breakfast at the Steveston club is always a treat,
not just for the food, but for the energy and fun that these Rotarians
bring to their projects and fellowship led by President Jack Evans. In the few
years since the club was chartered, it has become very much a part of the
Steveston community. By focusing on fun,
fellowship and meaningful service projects, the club has a strong, engaged
membership.
Ladner
The Ladner club, led by
President Bill Bramwell, has implemented the Club
Leadership plan, and with his executive embarked on impressive plans
for this Rotary year. Hands on Community Service projects largely
define the Ladner club. Internationally, Ladner partnered with
New
The New Westminster Royal City
Club President Bob MacKerricher has inspired his
board and club to set ambitious goals in membership and service projects.
Locally the club supports
The Richmond Sunset Rotary
club is a pilot “New Models” club, and one of the distinguished 100%
Paul Harris Fellow clubs. The club has pioneered the trial “Corporate
Membership” with two corporate members;
Lunch
at the
President Sue Godey of the
North Vancouver Lionsgate club and her energetic club executive continue to be
part of the fabric of
In glorious summer weather,
we set sail for the sunshine coast the third week of August.
Sechelt
First stop was the Sechelt
club. Hotelier Bob Crosbie made us feel very welcome
at the Driftwood Inn in its spectacular waterfront setting. President Ev Maley
and her club are building a washroom for the benefit of the community, following
the 100 year old example of the Chicago Rotary club whose first project was a
public washroom. The club actively supports the youth exchange program,
with a student from
After an early morning
ferry ride, we were met in
The next day, an enjoyable
lunchtime meeting with the Sunshine Coast Sechelt club, led by President Mark
Hussey in a picturesque setting overlooking Sechelt inlet. Mark and his team
are very active in the community with several hands on projects, including
21 members turning out at 5:00 am to serve breakfast at a vintage car show. We
were shown the club’s next community service project. The club has received
approval from the city to re-develop a half acre waterfront site as a
children’s playground, with volley ball courts to follow. The project,
with an estimated cost in excess of $1 million, involves re-routing a city
road, and close cooperation with the city and First Nations. Internationally,
the club is planning to join the other sunshine coast clubs in a project in
Gibsons
The Gibsons Rotary club
meets in a delightful setting at the Sunshine Coast Golf and Country Club.
President Don Stuart and his board have plans well underway to raise funds for
the joint project in
After a restful stay at the
Driftwood Inn, our next stop was
The last week of August
took us to Whistler and Pemberton.
Whistler
Jim Miller of the Whistler
club hosted us at his stunning home before the next morning’s breakfast
meeting. President Ross Harlow outlined
the work the club has undertaken to build a scout cabin, and
preparations were well advanced for the annual corn roast which takes place
in the streets of Whistler village; Rotary is the only organization in Whistler
permitted to sell in the streets, which speaks to the profile and value of
Rotary in the community. Recently, club members met with parks officials to
plan the installation of interpretive signs along the trails in a local park.
Pemberton Centennial
Overnight in Pemberton
before attending the Pemberton Centennial meeting at the Pemberton Golf and
Country Club in a spectacular setting surrounded by dramatic mountains.
President Brian Young, the proud father of a newborn son, leads a lively and
effective club. The club has developed a membership recruitment and retention plan
which is already showing results with the induction of a new member, Steve Hitchin, a chef; every Rotary club should have a chef.
Recently the club has obtained the consent of the city to clean up and develop
a green space, “not-a-park” in the centre of Pemberton village..
Whistler Millennium
The last stop during our
visit to the Whistler area was a visit to the Whistler Millennium club, where
President Janet Brown hosted us at her charming and comfortable B&B. At
dinner the evening before the meeting, we had the pleasure of meeting her board
and hearing their plans for this Rotary year. What this club lacks in number of
members it certainly makes up for in the energy and enthusiasm that the members
bring to Rotary. We also had the special pleasure of meeting Anders, the club’s
recently arrived youth exchange student from
At the end of August, Jen
and I say a big “Thank You” to the Presidents, club boards, and Rotarians in
the clubs we had the privilege to visit this month. We thank you for your
service to Rotary, and for your kindness, hospitality, generosity and
friendship which you extended to us. Our sincere thanks too, to Assistant
Governors
Club Members Recognition
Steveston
The
New West
Club
North
Sechelt
Gibsons
Pemberton
Lisa Ames and Cam McIvor for their work in making the “clean up” project a
reality.
Whistler
Millennium club
New Generation - New Perspectives
As September in Rotary is New Generations month, I
had the honour of interviewing 3 New Generations within District 5040!
Danica Meursing and Lawrence
Chew, graduates of RYLA, have both
become New Generation members (Age 26) of Rotary! Danica joined the Rotary Club of Steveston in
October 2005 and
Fraser McDonald, Youth Exchange
Student from
Youth Within Rotary includes Youth Exchange (including
Rose), ROTEX (Returning Youth Exchange Participants), RYLA (Rotary Youth
Leadership Awards), Interact and Rotaract Clubs!
My thanks to these New Generations for their awesome contributions to ROTARY!
Sue Smith, RYLA
District Chair
Excerpt from the 3 interviews, complete
interviews, go to D5040 Youth Program
“With my first year birthday on the horizon I
feel very much apart of the Rotary family. I got involved with my club
immediately, and felt that a great fit for me was to get involved with RYLA.
Last March I was the Program Director for RYLA South, and will hold the same
position next spring. At the club level I am the PR Chair, and at the district
level I am on the membership committee”. (Danica just accepted the
responsibility of RYLA South Program Director) – Danica Meursing
“It’s been my involvement with RYLA and my
passion for being involved in a program that truly makes a difference in
people’s lives that has pointed me toward Rotary. I’ve met outstanding Rotarians who truly care
about what they do and who they work with.
It’s inspiring and makes me realize that there’s nothing so influential as enthusiastic and dedicated individuals who
work together. To me, Rotary provides
that infrastructure that allows people to reach out help -- it’s people working
together to help each other reach their goals of contributing to the community,
both locally and internationally.”
-
“Rotary does so much in the community for young
people such as building skate parks, but I think most of the youth of today see
the Rotary wheel on a sign but don’t know what it actually means. If young
people knew what Rotary is then I think they would be much more likely to
become involved with Rotary.” – Fraser McDonald
Summer in
The Rotary
Overseas Summer Exchange (ROSE) program provides the opportunity for
students age 15 to 19 to participate in an international exchange during their
summer holidays. Past exchanges have
included
“This is an
incredible opportunity for young people to experience the tremendous benefits
of an international exchange, I think more clubs could be taking advantage of
it”, says James Martin - Chair of the ROSE program
for District 5040. “It is a really great
service that Rotary Clubs can offer to their community and it is easy for the
club to participate.”
Since ROSE is a
direct “family to family” exchange the costs are covered entirely by the
participants and the sponsoring Rotary Clubs have just a small obligation but
provide a very large benefit to the students and their families.
Chloe Scott was one of the six students sponsored by the
Rotary Club of Squamish this year and went to
For more information
about the ROSE program go to D5040
Youth Exchange Website or contact James Martin at james1@shaw.ca or in Squamish at
1-604-898-1874.
- To read complete article, visit District
website
The
most powerful force in the promotion of international understanding and peace
is exposure to different cultures. YOUTH
EXCHANGE provides thousands
of young people with the opportunity to meet people from other part of the
world and to experience their cultures. This plants the seeds for a lifetime of
international understanding.
Ashley Henze - outbound
youth exchange
Ashley Henze the Outbound Youth Exchange Student sponsored by the
Rotary Club of West Vancouver is currently in
Renella Frank
- inbound youth
exchange
Rebekka Frank, a Rotary Youth Exchange Student from
Rotaract Drumming up their strategy !
Sat. Aug 12 Rotaract District Leadership Team
met to brainstorm strategy for the upcoming year. Topics discussed included
district wide fundraising idea; a Vampires Ball to support Blood Bank seeking
support from Rotary Clubs that has not yet sponsored a Rotaract Club and
Rotaract year end award party.
six active clubs - Delta, Hollyburn, Langara,
two new clubs to be chartered – Terrace organized by Kelly Julseth
and
One potential new club –
As a result of efforts to increase awareness of
Rotaract within Rotary, several Rotarians have expressed interest in helping to
establish and support new Rotaract clubs. If you are interested to
help our Rotaractors, please contact Rotaract Chair Jim Ling at
jimling@dccnet.com and Rotaract District Representative Anastasia Radetski at
D2030
Piedmont Roundtrip is an annual international project organized by the Rotaract Clubs in
District 2030,
Pres. Gelati Ting, Richmond Rotaract Club and Katie
Stewart, PP of Langara Rotaract Club attended the
Piedmont Roundtrip in April. The two had such an amazing experience that they
are now in the brainstorming stage to organize a Rotaract roundtrip in our own
district.
“The experience that I gained from the Piedmont
Roundtrip has changed my perspective in viewing Rotaract. Not
only have I formed many genuine friendships with Rotaractors from around the
world, this roundtrip has also made me realize that Rotaract is more than
a community club, but it is in fact an international organization that
tides youth leadership together. I feel very honored to be part of the Rotaract organization and
I have a strong desire to inspire more youth to get involved in my
community” – Gelati Ting
D2030 Piedmont Roundtrip: website
Video clip of the April 2006 trip: http://www.voise.net/holiday/piedmont2006/Piedmont-themovie.wmv
Lead the way for Interact
We have currently 16
Interact Clubs in the District covering
Interact is fun. Interact is fun because our young people
have energy and want to explore the area of service. They have enthusiasm
and want to give. Let's open this opportunity for service to our high
school students.
Show them the world of Rotary and the wonderful feeling of community
service. Share your joy of giving with a new generation. Act
for Interact, and give them the gift of service.
To get involved, contact Interact District Chair
Christopher Loat at Chris-Loat@shaw.ca;
and District Interact Representative Claire Huang at claireyihuang@gmail.com
Hats off to the newly chartered
INTERACT CLUB OF VANC TECH
SECONDARY
Instead of taking time
off for the summer, they made use of the precious time to run 2 car washes in
August, raising money
for a BBQ (their membership drive) in September at their school. On top of
that, the club also held another book moving day. Rotarians from their sponsor
club
Editor’s Corner
Meeting Make Up
Options
With many options available, making-up meetings that
you missed back home is only “a click away”!
·
When
you travel, there is more than likely a local Rotary club one can attend.
Link to RI club
locator
·
Attend
a regular meeting of a local Rotaract or Interact club, Rotary Community Corps,
Committee meetings, or Rotary Fellowship. According to Article VIII, Section 1a
of the Standard Rotary Club Constitution, attending one of these meetings
counts as a make-up.
·
Spend
time participating in an interactive activity on a Rotary e-club Web site. Link to E-Club
5 Years Membership Trend - the latest report has been posted under District
membership Page
Sepember Membership Moment - Do you know how to make it easy to bring in the
younger Rotarian? Get together with
other Rotarians and find 4-5 young prospective members and invite them to a
meeting with an interesting speaker. Let
them sample the fellowship of Rotary and help them understand the advantages of
becoming a Rotarian. Then ASK them to become a member. Remember if you don’t invite someone your
club will not get younger.
Club Recognition - Please notify me if you were being recognized during DG
Kevin’s visit in August and is not on page 4 listing. Club Presidents if you
have taken pictures during the presentation, send them in for next issue.
Leo’s Literacy and Numeracy Page
Literacy and numeracy have been a major focus for Rotary for many years.
My first real contact with the program was during my Governor year 1997-98.
Then RI President Glenn Kinross made it one of his main focuses.
While searching the
Rotary website I came across some program notes which I will share with you in
the next three issues of the Newsletter.
Information
For many years,
Rotarians have been active in efforts to reduce illiteracy, from building
schools and paying salaries of teachers to serving as tutors to collecting and
distributing books and audiovisual materials to libraries. Rotarians are
working with governments to create large-scale replicable literacy projects in
the developing world. In 1997, the RI Board of Directors designated July as
Literacy Month, a perfect time for Rotary clubs to develop their own literacy
projects as well as raise awareness of Rotarian efforts worldwide to eradicate
illiteracy.
Considerable
progress has been made in recent decades in reducing illiteracy; yet, close to
a billion people lack the most basic literacy and numeracy
skills. Millions are functionally illiterate, lacking the skills necessary to
meet the demands of everyday life. UNESCO illuminates some of the greatest
challenges for those tackling illiteracy:
·
Ninety-eight
percent of the world’s illiterate population is in developing countries.
·
Fifty
percent of the world’s illiterate people live in
·
More
than 50 percent of the population of
·
Two-thirds
of all those who lack literacy and numeracy skills
are women.
·
More
than 130 million school-age children are not attending classes.
PDG Leo Nimsick
Ph: 604-542-0989
District 5040 Literacy Resource
E-mail: nimsick @telus.net
Rotary Fellowships and Rotary Action Groups
Fellowship of Rotarian Editors and Publishers
If you are a Rotarian editor or publisher for your Rotary club, district,
fellowship, or other Rotary group, we invite you to join our discussion group
and participate in fellowship and service activities. To join just send
email to:RotaryBULLETIN-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
or visit the group email website.
The group is interested in getting to know other editors and publishers,
sharing ideas and information about editing and publishing Rotary documents,
and helping each other promote Rotary. Please visit the site web pages
with sample District,
Rotary Club,
and Fellowship
publications and feel free to send request to add links to your own published
documents in PDF or HTML format. And be sure to read our own IFREP Pen
fellowship newsletters with lots of tips on Rotary publications.
The purpose of this Group includes the following:
Provide easy method to
contribute, distribute, and search for ideas and information for bulletin
editors.
Encourage more club members
to accept the opportunity to be bulletin editor.
Improve retention of current
bulletin editors. Improve club member's knowledge of Rotary.
Watch this
publication each month as we feature selected Fellowships and Action Groups.
Check back over last year’s issues. Phone your District Fellowships Chair. Ask
your club – perhaps you have members who are already participating in one of
Rotary’s best kept secrets. Do your
research.
For information about Rotary Fellowships and Rotary
Action Groups: www.rotaryfellowships.org
District 5040 Fellowships Chair, Member, International
Travel and Hosting Fellowship
District
5040 Membership Seminar
SATURDAY OCTOBER
14, 2006
registration 8:30
AM
seminar 9:00
AM to 3:30 PM
Cost
$30.00
holiday inn
vancouver airport
10720 cambie
road
for
information contact HENRY FETIGAN at 604-551-2272
hfetigan@shaw.ca
Agenda
This seminar covers trends, issues, strategies
and best practices for membership recruitment and retention. The seminar will
cover recruitment of new members, retention of current members and how to start
new Rotary clubs. Find out what is working for clubs in our district and other
districts that are successful in growing their membership.
Who
should attend?
Club Presidents
Club President elects
Club membership committee members
Club public relations chairs
All Rotarians interested their club's membership
Keynote
Speaker:
Jill Pohren , Manager, Membership Communications & Support, RI Membership
Development Division of Rotary International. Jill is responsible for the
development of resources used by Rotary clubs for membership development and
extension around the Rotary world. She will give a presentation on where to
find and use the resources available to Rotary clubs. This is
an opportunity meet and question a senior Rotary International staff
member.
Hotel
Accommodation:
The
Holliday Inn is offering Rotarians a special room rate of $89.00 plus tax for
this event. For reservations phone 1-888-831-3388 and quote Rotary
District annual Foundation
Dinner
District Governor, Kevin Conway, invites all Rotarians
to come and support our Foundation.
Reception: 6:00pm NO HOST
BAR
Dinner: 7:00pm
SHARP, 10 course Chinese dinner
Price:
$70/person or $650/table of 10
Location: Continental
Seafood Restaurant
Programs: Raffle
draws, silent auction, karaoke,
dancing
and individual or group karaoke
competition
Tickets: Call Magdalen R. Leung at
(604)214-8833 or
email
to mleung@westernmba.ca
Karaoke Competition Registration:
Please call Michael Chiu at (604) 278-8922 or
Randall Taylor (604) 270-8031.
The 2006 Rotary Foundation
dinner entertainment will include a Karaoke contest; your chance to be a
singing star. Awards will be given for winners in both individual and group
categories. A limit to the number of entries means you'll be among an elite
group that entertains this year’s Foundation dinner audience. Sign up NOW,
we'll send you a list of songs and make sure you are one of this year's Karaoke
stars.
To enter the karaoke contest
send your name, phone and email contact information to rtaylor@richmond-news.com
Silent
Auction
An important aspect of the Foundation Dinner is to raise funds through a SILENT
AUCTION. We need your help to make the silent auction a financial success.
Each club in the district is suggested to provide three auction items worth
$100 or more. A good way to do this is for clubs to create theme baskets. Each
member can bring items that are put together to create a basket worth more than
$100. Ideas for theme baskets include, but are not limited to:
ALL
DONATIONS ARE GRATEFULLY ACCEPTED. We can make up the baskets for you! Contact
Linda Coyle for more information linda.coyle@kwantlen.ca
Balloon Raffle
A
balloon raffle will be one of our fund raising programs at this year Rotary
Foundation Dinner. We will be selling 350 balloons. There will be a prize in every balloon;
therefore, everyone will be a winner. In order to make this a successful
program, we need 350 prizes in different values. We are looking for the
following prizes:
§
3 Grand Prizes: Value $300 - $500
§
10 Second Prizes: Value around $100 each
§
337 Other Prizes: Various value, can be
multiple numbers of same items e.g. mugs, golf balls, bottles of wine,
restaurant coupons etc.
For
donations, Please kindly contact Rotarians Vicky Wong
at 778-388-6866 or Jackie Lau at 604-657-1638. Your generous support will be
much appreciated.
Gift that will last a lifetime . . .
Rotary’s Night at the
Opera “The Magic Flute” By w.a. Mozart
Tickets are: $125 side seating and
$175 center seating
Contact Louise Perry
at lperry@newwestrotary.ca or call at
604-523-5372.
Money raised from the Opera
will go towards the “Heart Surgery Project” paying for life saving
congenital heart surgeries for underprivileged children in
Visit Vancouver Opera website for synopsis.
Delivering Knowledge to
the Unreachable Land
The club is
collecting new and used English extracurricular books for children in the rural
parts of
Initial
Timeline & Target:
Donation:
They
are inviting all Rotary Clubs, local elementary schools and public libraries
within Greater Vancouver area to participate.
·
Call
PP Harrison Lin at 604-760-2358 to arrange drop-off at
·
Email
Chi Huang at cshuang@shaw.ca or call
604-773-0589 to arrange for alternate drop-off or pick-up
New West -
Tiller’s Folly headlines
Music for Life Massey Theatre - Fri. Nov 10, 2006 - 7:30pm
Tickets $60 through Ticket
Master 604-280-4444 or at www.ticketmaster.ca Contact Shelly Johnson at 604-875-1775
or sljproductions@telus.net for info.
Dr. Dennis J. Magrega,
a long-time
The concert will
highlight "Tiller's Folly" and dancers from the celebrated
Victoria O'Brien's
More than two million
Canadians have diabetes and that number is expected to rise to over three
million by the end of the decade.
Rotary Scholar Alessandra Pacheco spoke at the
Vancouver Chinatown Club. She is from
PG New Caledonia Club catered the PG Triathlon on
July 30, 2006 serving hamburgers, hot dogs, beverages and snacks. After
practicing for the past 2 years, they were on their way to become pros (did not
need to run to the stores for more supplies). Club Treasurer Darryl Brizan is the initial planner, assisted by Susan, Evelyn,
Valerie, Bev, PP Kathi and Mary. Darryl’s wife Ann
Marie and Susan’s husband Guy also came to help out.
Vancouver Arbutus Club received a big thank-you from
Heather Burnett, BC Regional Coordinator for Starlight*Starbright
Children’s Foundation. The club donated $5,000 to purchase a Starlight Fun
Centre for the Vancouver Children’s Hospital in their day surgery or
ophthalmology departments. Jared, a cancer survivor, told the club his personal
experiences using the centre, when he was an 11 year old cancer patient. The
centres provide a bright spot in the day of a young patient and are in great
demand
Over the last five
years the Richmond Sunrise Rotary Club has made multiple donations to the
Richmond Fruit Tree Project and sent members to the sharing farm at the south
end of
On Saturday, August
19th, members of the Sunrise Club were in fine gardening form when the group
put some muscle into helping with various tasks - not only weeding and shoveling manure to enhance the growth of the second crop
of the season but in harvesting over 235 pounds of cabbage. And it was a family activity as some of the
Rotarians brought in their children to help pick cucumbers, blackberries and
pears.
Year round, organic
vegetables are grown at the sharing farm, harvested and delivered to the
Richmond Food Bank (which is another group their club donates to.) As Rotarians that are dedicated to those activities
that improve the quality of life in their community, this project is a great way to help
provide food for those in need and have great fun in the process.
RIPE Wilf Wilkinson
meets D5040 Rotarian in
Langara Rotaract
Members Ishwarya, Marya,
Olga, and Pam joined their friend of NWPS (North West Preservation Society) on
Sunday Aug.20th for some invasive weed pulling on
Welcome
to our Rotary Family!
Bill Denham was inducted by AG Gord
on Aug 30 into the Richmond Club. He sought out the club on the internet
a few months ago and paid them a visit, believe it or not just never left. So
the club proceed to induct him while he is still in a “trance of Rotary”. He is
already taking over the Youth Program in the club.
During his official club visit, DG Kevin
inducted Chef Steve Hitchin into Pemberton
Club. Per Kevin, “Every Rotary club should have a chef ”
. . . Agreed!
On Aug 24, DG Kevin during his official visit to Gibsons Club, together
with Club President Don Stuart, they inducted Dr. Ron Pashkewych
and Jack Carlson and welcomed them to the Rotary Family. Dr. Pashkewych is a
Chiropractor and Jack is retired management consultant.
Meeting
venue changes
Due to Marine Drive Golf Club closing for maintenance,
their Tue Sep 12th - 6:30 pm meeting
will be held at the Pearl Hot Pot Restaurant, address is 7154 Sperling Ave, Burnaby. Regular Tue.
Sep 19 meeting will be back to Marine Drive Golf Club.
Tue. Sep 12 regular luncheon meeting will be cancelled.
Instead, they will be having the Late summer social
and fellowship dinner at Red Star Restaurant, on Tue Sep 12 at 6:30pm. Fellow
Rotarians are welcome to join them. Please pre-register with PP Paul Wu at
604-889-3378 ASAP. Dinner is $28/per including tax and gratuities Address is