With bloody conflicts raging in the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and parts of Central Africa, the message of nonviolence and reconciliation that nations worldwide will observe on 21 September demands more urgent and collective attention.
In 2001 the United Nations designated the September date as an annual International Day of World Peace "to be observed as a day of global ceasefire and nonviolence" according to a General Assembly resolution.
The day's devotion to peace connects closely with what Rotary members have been fostering since The Rotary Foundation's mission to advance world...
When a life-threatening illness stripped away many of her professional ambitions, Amanda Wirtz, a former U.S. Navy code breaker and professional violinist, turned to humanitarian service and Facebook to give her life new purpose.
Wirtz was in her twenties and pursuing a career as a fitness trainer when a sharp pain in her abdomen sent her to the emergency room. Expecting something manageable like appendicitis, she instead found herself facing a rare tumor disorder that required her to undergo 30 surgeries over the next several years.
Forced to rethink her life plans, Wirtz began focusing on...
With 12 children -- six girls and six boys -- the Labordes hardly needed to add another member to their family. But they did: Over 40 years ago, Julia Mullikin, a Rotary Youth Exchange student from the United States, became like another daughter to this large family in Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Mexico.
"She's been a blessing for us," says Maria Victoria Hallal de Laborde who was 18 when Mullikin arrived in 1973. Like many exchange students, Mullikin remains close to her host family. So close that when one of Laborde's sisters was diagnosed with a rare, fatal disease, Mullikin arranged to send the...
Imagine a community where the residents are all free to plant, grow, harvest, and eat healthy food whenever they want without having to pay for it.
Sound too good to be true?
That's exactly what residents of more than 20 cities and towns in France are doing through a project called Potalib. Launched by the Rotaract Club of Versailles, Potalib was inspired by the Incredible Edible project, an international food-sharing movement founded by Nick Green in England. The Rotaract members obtained Green's permission to apply the concept in France, changing the name to "Potalib," a contraction of "...
Supporters of the anti-vaccine movement question the safety, efficacy and necessity of the very medicines that have so greatly reduced our children's risk of catching a host of once-common but potentially very serious infectious diseases, such as mumps, measles and whooping cough.
And then there's polio, the disabling, sometimes fatal virus that was every American parent's worst nightmare until effective vaccines were developed in the 1950s — and which still infects children in the developing world.
Some who oppose vaccines are well-meaning parents who have come to believe — wrongly in the...
Club Information
Making Business Leaders Community Leaders Since 1927
Service Above Self
We meet Tuesdays at 12:15 PM
New Hope International Church
521 East Weddell Drive
Sunnyvale,
CA 94089 United States
Sooooooooo…..here we are approaching the end of the 3rd month of this Rotary year. There are a lot of projects and events for which plans and preparations are underway. There was a large contingent at the Sunnyvale Community Services helping to stuff backpacks for kids in the Sunnyvale schools that would not have some basic necessities for school without this effort.
Jorge has been doing a great job getting ready for the golf tournament on September 26. Asante planning, with the other district clubs involved with Sunnyvale is underway. For the newer members, Asante was conceived by Sunnyvale Rotary as a fund raiser for Rotacare and has now grown to having 4 other clubs involved.
On September 28, there will be some club members at the Fall Leadership Conference for over 3000 Interactors. On the same day as FLC, there will be several members at Palo Alto Airport helping over
30 foster kids enjoy a day of flying with a local aviation group and a BBQ lunch. This will show the kids that adults can be nice people and that they care about the kids.
Shane has started the preliminary planning for a project to beautify a part of Mathilda Avenue. The effort will bring together several groups from around Sunnyvale including businesses and nonprofits. This is a great way to get the Sunnyvale Rotary presence noticed.
An effort to start another Interact club is underway. There was a minor gate hit but there are ideas being discussed to get around it. If you want to work in Youth Service, Interact is a good way to do it.
Social events continue to occur thanks to the efforts of Dick Smith. We have had one event a month and Dick is starting to advertise the next one in October at Dustin’s catering facility. The month after that, Lisa Bickford has made arrangements for the monthly social to be held at the South Bay Yacht Club in Alviso. What comes after that socially? Have an idea? Chat with Dick Smith and he will help you make it come into being.
October 15, at the DoubleTree Hotel in San Jose, is the Avenues of Service event put on by the district. The event is an evening of training seminars discussing the 5 Avenues of Service that make up Rotary’s structure. The Avenues are Youth Service, Club Service, International Service, Community Service, and Vocational Service. If you are an Avenue of Service chair, you should plan on attending. If you are a red badger, this event counts as a district event and will be a good place to learn about Rotary. If you are a new or long term blue badger, this event will refresh your memory on what the Avenues are and how one can execute club plans within the framework of the Avenue. Yes, there will even be the socializing opportunity of a dinner after all the seminars are over.
Chris Wilder is the Executive Director of the Valley Medical Center (VMC) Foundation. He has led the effort to raise funds for and awareness of Silicon Valley's largest and only public medical center since 2003. During that time, the VMC Foundation has raised more than $60,000,000 for the only hospital in Silicon Valley that serves anyone regardless of ability to pay.
Chris will be discussing the idea of creating San Jose's first women's and children's medical center.
There is a more extensive bio of Chris under the speakers tab on the HOME page of the club website.
On October 18, 2014, Sunnyvale Rotarians Flo Stafford, Joe Hamilton and Russ Hobbs will depart to Southeast Asia
This $150,000 Rotary Foundation grant will make a significant difference in the life and health of women and children in Laos. Sunnyvale Rotary was the largest contributor in Rotary District 5170 to help achieve this matching grant. Beloware some important details about this humanitarian effort.
The grant will provide hospital equipment and medical staff training in the Mahosot Hospital in the capital city of Vientiane, Laos which is the first and most important hospital in the country.
The hospital is dedicated to the diagnosis and treatment of infectious diseases and also serves as a medical research and training center.
Given the low life expectancy in the country which is only 54 years, the center has a highly important task in improving the country’s health.
It includes hospital equipment to update the hospitals critical care unit and neo-natal center. Renown heart specialists will be training the Laotian doctors on the latest cardiac care.
After matching from The Rotary Foundation, Sunnyvale Rotary donated $9,508 toward the grant. These funds came from club donations to The Rotary Foundation and the match from the Word Fund of TRF.
Rotarians traveling to Laos pay their own expenses; they also will be participating with the local Vientiane Rotary club in a hands on separate activity to improve the water, sanitation and school facility project in a country village 3 hours from Vientiane.
This grant was funded by TRF. $15000 each in Districts 5170 &5220 and $60,000 from R.E.A.P., an American Veterans group, was matched by TRF. The grant totaled $150,000. Doctors doing training are from China and Romania.
Assist International, a non-profit vendor, will provide equipment, installation and training. Assist International's founder is Bob Pagett, a Scotts Valley Rotarian who has worked with Sunnyvale Rotary with projects in Djibouti, China and Guatemala.
Sunnyvale Rotarians will spend a week in Vientiane but will also visit Angkor Wat in Cambodia and Hanoi in Vietnam with 7 other Rotarians from clubs in Scotts Valley, Santa Cruz and Modesto.
