Last week's meeting - Meeting of April 24t

GUESTS: visiting Fellow Rotarians Linda Reimer, Clive Evans, Ron Postma and Gideon Redmond and City of Port Moody Mayor Mike Clay, Councillor Diana Dilworth and Darcel Moro..Port Moody Centennial Parade organizer.  Guest speaker is Rebecca Taylor, Team Diabetes

Happy Birthdays:  Brian Dunne ... who is a load of use to us!

Welcome back:  Cleone from adventures in Thailand ..also Linda B is home today and we should see 
               her again soon!

Announcements: Not too late to volunteer for Hike for Hospice..contact Trudy.
              We will soon be looking at our participation in the Port Moody Parade..Cleone will
              be working with Darcel and Diana promises it will be great!

              Our GSE visitors arrive this weekend...DONT FORGET..NO MEETING WEDNESDAY..we 
              meet TUESDAY NIGHT instead!  Clive is organizing the joint Club event for our area.

              Search for the Perfect Pint..getting very near..please LET RON KNOW WHAT IS 
              HAPPENING WITH ANY TICKETS YOU MIGHT STILL HAVE OUT..HE NEEDS TO KNOW!!

              ROTARACT meeting at Pres. Als house tonight..all welcome.

 SPEAKERS CORNER:

Did you know that our own Steve W is currently training for an upcoming half marathon...in support of Team Diabetes.  Through Steve having made a connection to this great cause..we have the pleasure of hearing more about Team Diabetes (TD), from Port Moody Resident, Rebecca Taylor, who is Manager of Community Giving for TD.

Rebecca explained that TD is a unique fundraising programme for the Canadian Diabetes Foundation..combining fitness (running) and raising funds to support the education, research and advocacy goals of the Foundation.  


Diabetes is a growing health concern and is estimated to cost he Canadian health system about $15 million every year.  It may seem like a less serious health condition because the symptoms may not present as life threatening initially and because it is treatable..but it does have very serious and potentially life limiting complications if not well managed.

The CDF was founded in 1953 by Dr Charles Best..one of the great  Canadian pioneers of insulin treatment for the condition. Today, research continues to explore treatment for both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes. Thanks to their efforts, every 5 years, the standards for treatment (known as Clinical Practise Guidelines or CPGS) are updated and distributed to Doctors and Diabetes Educators who are treating the approximately 9 million Canadians currently living with the illness.

Team Diabetes is the signature fundraising brand of the CDF. It promotes physical activity  an important part of the treatment for good management of diabetes) while raising much needed funds. The model is that, rather than sponsor their own marathon events..they partner with an existing event, like the coming BMO Vancouver Marathon and other events around the world. They even offer 
sponsorship dollars that allow runners to attend events around the world, raising both funds and awareness for their cause. They have funded trips to events in Amsterdam, Iceland, the Caymans, Edinburgh, Madrid and a hike up Machu Pichu as examples of the International destinations involved.  They have found the financial return on the investment for these sponsorship to be well worth it.

More locally, besides the event on May 5th that Steve will be running in, TD will also be partnering in a more family friendly event with a 3 or 5 k walk option on Sept 8th at Burnaby Lake Park. I am sure that Steve would appreciate any offers of sponsorship for his efforts so let him know if you would like to help in his fundraising efforts.

To learn more visit www.diabets.ca.