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Without prompting from Les, but with reference to him, Veronica called the meeting to order at 7 p.m. Leon had yet another version of O Canada for us, one with a Langley connection, and we enjoyed singing our anthem.

Veronica asked Wayne, as Foundation Chair, to read the Rotary Foundation Weekly Moment for the week of July 20. What is The Rotary Foundation? The Rotary Foundation is the economic engine for Rotary International. It is a non-profit corporation that is supported solely by voluntary contributions from Rotarians and friends of Rotary who share its vision of a better world. Its sole mission is to enable Rotarians to advance world understanding, good will and peace through the improvement of health, the support of education and the alleviation of poverty. We accomplish that through our local and international humanitarian and educational programs.

Our guest speakers were Wayne Crossen, Al Stjernegaard, and Glen Brown from World Help Network, informing us about the history and work done by the group. Our club is one of the Rotary club members of this organization. Originally they shipped medical equipment and medical supplies to needy countries, and while these items still are being sent, they have been joined by dental equipment, education furniture and supplies, and sports equipment. WHN is currently planning for a container to be sent to Belize in September, and the Port Moody club is short on funds due to fundraising restrictions during COVID. We were able to give the three visiting Rotarians great news that our club had passed a motion to contribute $3000 to this project, which will provide sufficient funding to complete the project.

Another of our guests, Patricia Cruz, spoke briefly about a container she is hoping to send to El Salvador to help people reconstruct homes destroyed by tropical storm Amanda. We will hear more about this at a future meeting.

Following the pledges of happy and sad dollars, we raised our glasses in a toast to Canada. Board members then reconvened for their first executive meeting of the new year. For more photos please visit July 23, 2020.

July 16, 2020

After fifteen minutes of visiting and socializing, President Veronica called the meeting to order. Leon’s choice of music for O Canada was impressive, so much so that many members simply listened to the music and watched the accompanying video without singing. However, those few who did sing sang magnificently.

When she asked for our Rotary theme, a familiar “Rotary Connects the World” rang out. Old habits die hard. Veronica calmly reminded that this year’s theme is “Rotary Opens Opportunities” and she encouraged us to do just that. She encouraged us to check out online learning opportunities provided at rotary.org, including the learning centre and breakout sessions from the recent virtual convention.

Veronica emphasized the RI Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Statement which led to further discussion.

"As a global network that strives to build a world where people unite and take action to create lasting change, Rotary values diversity and celebrates the contributions of people of all backgrounds, regardless of their age, ethnicity, race, color, abilities, religion, socioeconomic status, culture, sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity.
Rotary will cultivate a diverse, equitable, and inclusive culture in which people from underrepresented groups have greater opportunities to participate as members and leaders."

Our guest speaker was Jonah Johnson, our club member who also just served a year as president of the Rotaract Club of Langley. Jonah informed us about his other club and its activities. He will continue on in that club as well as ours, and will serve as Rotaract’s treasurer this year. The club now has six members and is interested in service opportunities in the community. For more photos please visit July 16, 2020.

July 9, 2020

President Veronica called the meeting to order, right after Les noted it was about seven o’clock. Leon presented another version of O Canada and when we sang with our mics muted, we sounded wonderful together.

Returning member Jim See provided the program, and while he seemed somewhat ill at ease with the subject, he persevered. He was to talk about himself and his life’s journey, and he started out well but then faltered, commenting, “Wayne, you said this would be easy.” Wayne and other members came to his rescue by asking him questions, and then we learned more about our latest member. Jim is married to Valerie, the “best wife a man could have.” Jim’s family once owned a hotel resort in Newfoundland, on (beside) a private lake, where he used to go fishing and hunting.

Jim owns a trucking company and used to haul freight all over Canada and the United States. For years he had a run down the east coast of the continent. If any moonshine was involved, he left that part out of the story. He had a contract with the National Art Gallery in Ottawa and claims he hauled their exhibits for eons.

During his earlier membership Jim fixed up a trailer that our club used for preparing and selling hamburgers and fries for years. He still repairs lawnmowers for resale and use.

Jim is happy to be back with a great bunch of people. For more photos please visit July 9, 2020.

July 2, 2020

The meeting was called to order by Wayne Wiebe, and he remembered not to remind us about the 2019-2020 theme. After Leon played a new rendition of O Canada, the out-going president gave his Year-End Address, highlighting the many accomplishments from the past Rotary year. He thanked members for the support they’d shown.

Assistant Governor Jorda Maisy performed the installation of our new executive committee, first of President Veronica Lopez, and then of her Board of Directors. New President Veronica then welcomed special guests to her installation meeting (see screenshot) and introduced our new theme: “Rotary Opens Opportunities.” She quoted new RI President Holger Knaack, saying, "We believe that our acts of service, big and small, create opportunities for people who need our help…Everything we do opens another opportunity for someone, somewhere." Veronica outlined some expectations for the coming year and was wished well by her club members.

Year-End Review

Year-end Review for 2019-2020 from outgoing President Wayne

Despite the difficulties presented by the coronavirus pandemic, we have just completed another successful year. Congratulations to our club! We have earned a Rotary Citation and I will share details about that later on when we receive official verification of that achievement. I will also give out Paul Harris Recognitions and a few other awards once we can meet in person so we can physically hand them to our members. Stay tuned.

We re-instituted useful committees and have encouraged them to be active. We made good progress, but we can do better, and I look forward to it this year. We deliberately held more social events, and enjoyed them, and I see this trend continuing.

Where did we spend our money? Well, we had a stretch goal for the TRF Annual Fund, which we met and surpassed. We had a stretch goal for Polio Plus, and we met and surpassed that goal as well. Those were two goals I identified just over a year ago, and I thank club members for the support shown.

We spent money on the Rotary Interpretive Centre, and on the Arboretum. What we call David’s Garden has become a reality, though more work needs to be done before the bird garden is completed to our satisfaction. We supported GolFun (as part of our TRF donations) and the Yorkson Block Party. I recall taking my cousins from England and Wales to that event. We officially sponsored and financially supported the Rotaract Club of Langley, and again offered six $1500 scholarships to some very deserving students from our local school district. Money we donated in the past helped fund endowed scholarships at the Kwantlen Polytechnic and Fraser Valley Universities.

We funded projects at the Langley Arts Council and Langley Community Services Society, both with District Grants to make our funds go farther.

We purchased a Remembrance Day wreath and continue to honour our veterans. We have agreed to help pay for a container to go to Belize through the World Help Network, and contributed to the District 5050 Literacy Library Bus working through the Abbotsford-Sumas Rotary Club. We financially supported the Wagner Hills Farm Society and the Hope for Women Pregnancy Services. We purchased two more garden towers for use in School District #35, and heard and saw how productive they have been and how they have helped the food program. We sponsored one of the scholarships for SASSY 2020. We also donated to the Gateway of Hope to help them fight the COVID-19 virus, providing money for plexiglass shields as well as funds for supplies.

Tomorrow we have a photo opportunity at Gateway of Hope. Are there any club members who feel comfortable enough to join me for a photograph at Gateway of Hope tomorrow afternoon from 1 to 1:30? Dan Donkers will meet us for the publicity photo.

That concludes my review. I thank you for the support you gave me as your president, and hope you agree that we had a good year.

June 25, 2020

The Rotary Club of Langley’s 48th and final regular meeting of this Rotary year was held via Zoom on June 25, 2020, and our O Canada effort was greatly improved. Leon played a scenic version of O Canada and we could sing along to the words and music, but as our mics were muted, we heard only ourselves accompanying the anthem. Each of us thought the singing was great!

Welcome from Wayne: “For the last time, I’m reminding you that our Rotary theme this year is Rotary Connects the World. We have had a challenging time in the latter part of this Rotary year in connecting person to person, but we were quite successful prior to COVID-19 appearing. Since then our method of connecting has changed, and we have been given new opportunities to adapt our club to appeal to more people. We need to let them know what we have to offer, and how they can share the joy we have when we help others. Our motto is Service Above Self, and it’s a good one.”

Announcements: Arboretum and RIC, Rotaract Sponsorship (the paperwork is complete and we have the charter to print and get signed), Rotaract

Opportunity, Executive Decisions: donations of $5000 to ABSL and TRF, plus another $3000 to World Help Network to cosponsor a container to Belize in September. This will also give a hands-on opportunity for club members to help load the container.

A Year-end Review will be presented at next week’s meeting, prior to the installation of our new executive.

Our guest speaker was Jayne Wilson, Executive Director of BC Federation of Foster Parent Associations (236-425-0997 www.bcfosterparents.ca.) Jayne enjoys the flexibility of working in non-profit which often demands a “think out of the box” approach. She shared information about foster parenting and the challenges and rewards of doing “the toughest job you’ll ever love.” Club members shared their experiences with foster parents and children and we had a lively Q&A session. Check out the photo section for a few of her slides.

We really enjoyed a special program, “Looking Back and Looking Ahead” prepared by Claudia. The photos, mostly from the past year, and the music combined to make this must-see viewing. We will put this presentation onto our website for others to enjoy.

We collected Happy and Sad Dollars for Polio Plus, with many $5 bills being donated this week in recognition of our guest speaker and Claudia’s power point presentation. Some dollars were donated thanking Wayne for his year as our club president, providing leadership through some challenging times.

We closed with a toast to Canada and cheerfully waved good-bye to another Rotary year.

2020 Scholarship Update

Leah Cho graduated from Walnut Grove Secondary and aspires to become a pediatric nurse practitioner. She intends to earn a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree, and later continue her studies to earn her PhD to become a professor. Despite an intense schedule of working fifteen hours per week and taking a rigorous course load including AP and French immersion program, Leah remembers what is paramount: service to those in need. She founded a not-for-profit organization for refugees by offering piano lessons in Coquitlam with the intention to help ease the stress off refugees. She also volunteers at the local hospital as a Volunteen and volunteered as a student facilitator for the Red Cross Beyond the Hurt Program. Leah’s initiatives with the Red Cross Beyond the Hurt Program reflect vital 21st century issues in our society today.

Jennifer Vuong graduated from Aldergrove Community Secondary School. Though not having a usual graduation year, she is happy to participate in her school’s virtual ceremony. Jennifer is the recipient of the Governor General award at her school and she can hardly wait to start her Bachelor of Science at UBC. Passionate in sciences and humanity, Jennifer wishes to learn more about the research fields and volunteer for medical camps with her university friends. After completing her degree, she hopes to become a biomedical engineer to design medical equipment and medicine for the vulnerable. She is ready is take a leap toward a new chapter of her life!

Ella Davidson, after graduating from Langley Fundamental Middle Secondary School, will continue her education at the University of British Columbia to study psychology and eventually become a clinical psychologist. In pursuit of her goals, she has been dedicated to her academics while balancing her community and school activities. She has a passion for mental health advocacy, which started through leading the first mental health campaign at her school: “Let’s Chalk About Mental Health”. This event motivated her to take on a larger role as a mental health advocate through being involved with Jack.org, starting a Jack Chapter, initiating events that promote mental health and becoming a youth ambassador at Kelty Mental Health. In addition, Ella has used her experiences as a competitive gymnast and diver to become a coach, judge, mentor to younger coaches and athletes and volunteer at Fraser Valley Diving and White Rock Gymnastics. Ella has contributed to the community as volunteer at Langley Memorial Hospital during the past two years in acute and long-term care. As a musician, she has played the piano for fifteen years and the flute for six years; she has further explored her passion of music through participating in her school music department in the concert band, jazz band and orchestra in two school musicals. Ella has shared her skills with others through volunteering to play at seniors’ homes and teaching children to play instruments.

Cassidy Cardle graduated from Walnut Grove Secondary School and next year will be attending The University of British Columbia to study Psychology. She is hoping to someday pursue a career in clinical counselling specializing in child development. She has enjoyed being a part of her high school's cross country, track and field, and soccer teams and will be continuing her track and field career as a UBC Thunderbird. Cassie began race walking in eighth grade and is grateful for the many opportunities it has presented her over the past five years. She has been able to travel to new places representing British Columbia and Canada. Last year, Cassidy was honoured to represent Canada at the NACAC U18 Track and Field Championships in Queretaro, Mexico.

Throughout her time at Walnut Grove Secondary, she was involved in various volunteer opportunities that revealed her passion for mentoring others. For the past four years she has been coaching race walk at her high school. She is so grateful to have been able to introduce so many students to a sport to which athletes are not often exposed. It has been an extremely rewarding experience for her watching athletes find confidence and success qualifying for the BC Track and Field Championships. Along with coaching, she has enjoyed being a mentor to incoming grade 8s for the past two years. Cassidy helps them make the adjustment into high school as smooth as possible and offers them support throughout the year. She is also in charge of her school's Kiva account, a nonprofit organization that loans money to entrepreneurs hoping to escape the poverty cycle. Loans often are used to buy farm animals, start businesses, and pay for education. In her spare time, Cassidy enjoys baking and this year created a food and nutrition blog called "Nourish to Flourish" where she posted recipes and promoted healthy relationships with food.

Una Chang is an active citizen in her school and her community. At school, her involvements include being the President of the Student Council and an executive member of the Humanitarian Club, as well as the Gator Leadership Club. In her community, she represents the youths at Walnut Grove Secondary School at the City of Langley Youth Advisory Committee and acts as the youth representative in the City of Langley Arts and Culture Task Force. This fall, she is excited to attend Trinity Western University’s Nursing program.

Lida Magnus is a recent graduate of Langley Fundamental Middle Secondary School. Throughout her time in high school, she excelled in musical performance. She was a leading member of the Langley Ukulele Ensemble for four years. In that time she travelled to Hawaii, Nova Scotia, Ontario, and throughout British Columbia to perform. In addition, Lida played the bass for her school’s music ensembles and in the Langley Symphony Orchestra. She was also the lead in her school’s musical Frozen, portraying Anna, but the shows were postponed due to COVID-19.

Lida has also been playing the piano since she was 5 years old, and is currently working towards achieving Level 10 in the Royal Conservatory of Music.

Lida is also involved in the community. She is a member of the Langley City Youth Advisory Committee and the Langley City Crime Prevention Task Group. She has also volunteered with Kimz Angels and partnered with them for the ‘Destigmatizing Homelessness’ educational event she hosted in January. Lida has also been an active member of her school’s community as a member of student council, leadership, and by doing the morning announcements. Lida aspires to go into Law as a final career destination, and is going to UBC to earn a Bachelor of Commerce degree in the fall. She thanks the Rotary Club of Langley for its graciousness and generosity for giving Langley students this opportunity. She hopes to be involved in Rotary some day.

June 18, 2020

The Rotary Club of Langley’s 47th regular meeting of this Rotary year was held via Zoom on June 18, 2020, and our O Canada effort really could have been improved. Leon played a version of O Canada but could not get the sound to work. So, we sang along with the words that appeared on the screen. Well, that was the idea, but the version being played was a little slow, so most Rotarians forged ahead at the pace they felt the song should be sung, apparently ignoring the words on the screen, and there were four or five different paces. This wouldn’t have been so bad had our mics been muted as they were last week, but we could hear Rotarians singing, different words at different times, and it wasn’t really good. How will we fare next week?

Welcome from Wayne: “As I am sure you now know, our Rotary theme this year is Rotary Connects the World. We are living in a time when technology enables us to connect with people everywhere. We can hold face-to-face onscreen discussions with Rotary leaders, can communicate with many Rotarians from our district at training events, and meet with each other without leaving our homes. We are connecting the world in ways we hadn’t really considered in the past. Let’s take advantage of the opportunities we now have.”

Announcements: Arboretum and RIC, Rotaract Sponsorship, Ribfest, and Coffee Corner with John Hewko People are using the benches in David’s Garden. Les is donating about $60 000 worth of plants to the ABSL. Wayne has applied for RI to approve all four Langley Rotary clubs being cosponsors of the Rotaract Club of Langley. We hope this will be in place before the end of the month. Our executive is in favour of supporting an online 50/50 draw for Ribfest. More details will be coming in the new year. Wayne reviewed points made by Rotary’s CEO, John Hewko, in his Coffee Corner with Rotarians in District 5050 this week. Click here for the details.

With a quorum of executive members voting, we passed the following motion moved by Allan, seconded by Lana: “That we approve spending $3000 to co sponsor a container to Belize with the Rotary Club of Port Moody.” Carried this will provide a hands-on opportunity for our members in September, assisting in loading the container.

Program: Remembering with Photos Wayne put together photos of our club members from 2008, and added several banners from Rotary International as well. We took time to look at the photos, remember people and events, and make comments as we saw fit. It was actually a great social interaction time while looking at the photos. For more photos please visit June 18, 2020

June 11, 2020

The Rotary Club of Langley’s 46th regular meeting of this Rotary year was held via Zoom on June 11, 2020, with a new high of eighteen people involved. Rather than repeat last week’s experience with the national anthem, we tried something new. Leon played a version of O Canada and we sang along with our mics muted. That way we could hear the singer and ourselves, and see the others mouthing the words. It worked quite well.

Welcome from Wayne: “Our Rotary theme this year is Rotary Connects the World. According to Mark Maloney, our RI President, Rotarians are connecting with the world more than ever before, as more of us make use of modern technology to reach out and connect with others. He encourages us to engage our members, to reach out to those who have not been attending meetings, to restore connections. Once again, our club is ahead of the curve, as we’ve been doing that for some time. Thank you, Claudia. Mark says this pandemic is a watershed moment for the world, and for Rotary. It has provided us an opportunity to become more flexible, and we should use this to our advantage in shaping a club that is attractive to all ages.”

Wayne introduced our four guests, scholarship winners this year.

Discussion topics included Arboretum and RIC, Message from DG Brad, Program and Remembering with Photos. Wayne read a statement from RI dealing with the topic of racism, and how at Rotary, we have no tolerance for any kind of racism. Photos took us down memory lane (for longtime members) or introduced us to information from the past (for newer members).

Cassidy Cardle and Leah Cho, from Walnut Grove Secondary School, and Ella Davidson and Lida Magnus from Langley Fundamental Middle and Secondary School told us about themselves, their interests, their volunteer activities, and their plans for the future. When they complete their studies as planned, we will have a nurse with PHD, a clinical counsellor, a clinical psychologist, and a lawyer in our midst.

We collected an above average number of happy and sad dollars for Polio Plus and closed the meeting with a toast to Canada. An executive meeting followed. For more photos please visit June 11, 2020.

June 4, 2020

The Rotary Club of Langley’s 45th regular meeting of this Rotary year was held via Zoom on June 4, 2020. The usual social interaction was enjoyed by members and guests signing in. Almost exactly on time near seven o’clock president Wayne called the meeting to order and gave his official welcome. We did sing O Canada, but the thirteen attending were not as synchronized as we’ve been in previous efforts. It was the most humourous version of our national anthem we ever heard, and laughter could not be contained. Better luck next time.

Welcome from Wayne: “Our Rotary theme this year is Rotary Connects the World. Now we’re connecting by Zoom and other online formats. Club training is available on a weekly basis for interested Rotarians. I know Claudia and Veronica have participated, and I encourage more club members to take advantage of these opportunities. Go to the District 5050 website for more information.”

Wayne welcomed Sharon Bazant, our guest speaker, to the meeting.

Discussion topics included Arboretum and RIC, Membership, Polio Plus Project, and Remembering with Photos. Wayne welcomed Jim See back as a member of our club, and was sorry that Jim hadn’t been able to hook up for this meeting. He shared information from a Zoom meeting he had attended featuring Mike McGovern, and you can click here to read his report. Members were saddened to hear of the recent passing of Bill Lee, a former member and past president of our club. Bill had a great sense of humour and brightened many of our meetings with his wit. Wayne showed photos of Bill Lee and other members who are no longer with us, as well as other interesting photos from our club’s past. Expect more of these photo sharing sessions at future meetings.

Sharon Bazant is a local author living in the Cloverdale area. She recently published a memoir of her roller-coaster years in Thailand and beyond entitled Nine Years in Bangkok: Lessons Learned. Sharon shared her memories with us and read a few passages from the book. She and her family had quite the adventures travelling around (including living in Pakistan and Thailand), and the little glimpses into topics and events covered in the book that she shared enticed some of us to want to read the book.

We collected happy and sad dollars for Polio Plus and closed the meeting with a toast to Canada. For an update on Polio Plus please visit our Polio Plus Report. For more photos on our meeting please visit June 4, 2020.

May 28, 2020

The Rotary Club of Langley’s 44th regular meeting of this Rotary year was held via Zoom on May 28, 2020. Great social interaction was enjoyed by members and guests signing in. For the first time online, we reached seventeen participants. After Les seemed to give most of his arboretum report, president Wayne called the meeting to order and gave his official welcome. We did sing O Canada, and the online singing and timing amused our student guests.

Welcome from Wayne: “Our Rotary theme this year is Rotary Connects the World. Right now we’re trying to connect with all our club members, and hoping more will be able to attend our meetings from the comfort of their homes. With restaurants opening up, somewhat, perhaps soon we’ll be able to meet in small groups to connect over coffee. In the meantime, Zoom meetings for club meetings and district informational presentations are the order of the day.”

Annuals are now being planted at the arboretum to bring colour over the summer. Les reported that the gate is now open, so you won’t have to park across the road and sneak in to enjoy the site. Claudia is actively leading the membership committee and has attended online sessions. The Nikomekl Enhancement Society is looking for a volunteer to assist with their website, and Allan has the details for anyone interested. We sang Happy Birthday to Leon, a new, slow version so everyone could keep in time (or that was the idea), and actually did get some harmony.

Jack Miller was our guest (attending for the last time as guest) along with Una Chang, from Walnut Grove Secondary, and Jennifer Vuong, from Aldergrove Community Secondary. Una and Jennifer are two of our scholarship winners this year, and both presented interesting summaries about themselves. Una will begin studies at Trinity Western University as she prepares to become a nurse. Jennifer is planning to attend the University of British Columbia to complete a Bachelor’s degree in Science, hoping to become a biomedical engineer in the future. Both girls mentioned that it was really cool to be part of our club meeting.

We collected happy and sad dollars for Polio Plus and closed the meeting with a toast to Canada. For more photos please visit May 28, 2020.

May 21, 2020

The Rotary Club of Langley’s 43rd regular meeting of this Rotary year was held via Zoom on May 21, 2020. Great social interaction was enjoyed by members and guests signing in. When he deemed appropriate, president Wayne called the meeting to order and gave his official welcome.

Welcome from Wayne: “Our Rotary theme this year is Rotary Connects

the World. I haven’t connected with the world, but I did connect with six young women on your behalf and made them very happy. They were excited to hear from me that they had been awarded Rotary scholarships. We did not have guest speakers on May 28 or June 11, so I arranged for three students to speak to us on each of those occasions. Club members on the Membership Committee were also able to connect with others in District 5050, and I’m hoping more club members will take advantage of the opportunities to become involved in online training sessions offered by our district.”

Announcements included an updated speakers list, membership information from Claudia, and correspondence from DG Brad. Wayne expressed pleasure that our club was ahead of the game in already conducting activities requested by Brad. Club members who have been unable to attend meetings should be receiving phone calls from our volunteer phoning committee: Claudia, Rudy, Brendan, Allan, Bob L., John and Wayne.

George Garrett was our guest speaker, informing us about the need for and services offered by the Volunteer Cancer Drivers Society. Over 3500 people were assisted in 2019 by about 200 drivers, and 2020 had projections of 27000 trips. The service is very well used. George also shared anecdotes from his career as a reporter for CKNW, proving to be an informative and enjoyable speaker.

Executive members passed motions proposing Jim See and Jack Miller as new members of our club. Jack was a guest again this evening, and we enjoyed his participation.

We collected happy and sad dollars for Polio Plus and shared a number of humourous stories, as this meeting seemed to have more laughter than usual. We closed with a toast to Canada.

May 14th, 2020

The Rotary Club of Langley’s 42nd regular meeting of this Rotary year was held via Zoom on May 14, 2020. After allowing about twenty minutes for members and guests to log in and exchange pleasantries, president Wayne called the meeting to order and gave his official welcome.

Welcome from Wayne: Our Rotary theme this year is Rotary Connects

the World. I’ve been told that because we are forced to use technology, meeting online via the internet, we are actually more connected than we have been in the past. Perhaps, but I miss the in-person meetings with you.

Announcements included the possible reopening of the arboretum after the long weekend, upcoming speakers (listed elsewhere), Rotary COVID update, announcement of scholarship winners (more information to be provided on website), and a short quiz on the Four Way Test.

Dr. Brendan Martin served as our guest speaker and turned storyteller as he spoke about how nonviolent protests have been more effective in bringing about change than the protests involving guns. If as few as 3.5% of the population get behind a protest movement, massive changes can be made. Brendan’s compelling story included both tragedy and persistence from two Irish women who felt there was a better way.

We collected happy and sad dollars for Polio Plus (and heard about a beautiful stream in Boulder, Colorado), and closed with a toast to Canada.

April 30, 2020

The Rotary Club of Langley’s 40^th regular meeting of this Rotary year was held via Zoom on April 30, 2020. After allowing a fifteen minute social time for members to log in and exchange pleasantries, president Wayne called the meeting to order and gave his official welcome. In it he quoted from remarks our RIP Mark Maloney had made when announcing his theme.

Welcome from Wayne: Our Rotary theme this year is Rotary Connects

the World. “Rotary allows us to connect with each other, in deep and meaningful ways, across our differences,” Maloney said. “It connects us to people we would never otherwise have met, who are more like us than we ever could have known. It connects us to our communities, to professional opportunities, and to the people who need our help.”

Maloney also called on every Rotary and Rotaract club to identify segments of their community not represented in their club by creating a membership committee with diverse members.

“Through Rotary, we connect to the incredible diversity of humanity on a truly unique footing, forging deep and lasting ties in pursuit of a common goal,” he added. “In this ever more divided world, Rotary connects us all.”

Officially we had one guest, Nora Truman. However, since Nora joins us so frequently, we now treat her as one of us and forego the formal introduction. An interesting, slow version of Happy Birthday was sung for PE Veronica, who will be celebrating on May 2^nd. Lana was wished a happy anniversary as well.

Fifteen new azaleas have been added to the collection for the garden at the Arboretum, Les reported. Wayne advised that Rotary will be holding a virtual convention in June that will be free for us to attend. We wait for details. Claudia reported on procedures for welcoming new members and will be updating our membership application form. Wayne informed club members that twenty-three applications for scholarships were narrowed down to thirteen, and numbers 4 – 13 had been distributed to the scholarship committee members for their evaluation. Three of those ten will then join the top three to become this year’s six scholarship recipients. Twenty of the applications were from females, with only three from males, and the top eighteen were from young women.

PE Veronica headed up a discussion about social activities and members expressed a desire for more of them, starting as soon as we are allowed to meet together in person. Veronica kept track of the suggestions made. We had thirteen people participating, and finally got to hear from Bob Lukie, even though we could not see him. The screen shots saved by Leon shows us “in action” during the meeting.

Wayne shared before and after photos of the improvements made at LCSS through our district grant project. We still have the hands-on part, sanding and painting, to do once we are again allowed to gather.

We closed with happy and sad dollars for Polio Plus, and a toast to Canada. For more pictures please visit April 30, 2020.

May 7, 2020

The Rotary Club of Langley’s 40^1st regular meeting of this Rotary year was held via Zoom on May 7, 2020. After allowing a fifteen minute social time for members and guests to log in and exchange pleasantries, president Wayne called the meeting to order and asked if club members would like to sing O Canada, our traditional opening when we meet in person. Before long we were singing, not all in unison, but mostly with the same words, and we could recognize the song.

Welcome from Wayne: Our Rotary theme this year is Rotary Connects

the World. In the news yesterday we heard that slowly we will be able to move a little way towards the connections we had before this virus struck. It will not be the same, and likely will never be the same. Now we have a new meaning for “remembering the good old days.” Rotarians will prevail, though, and we will continue to do good in our world. Our new district grant project is the latest example for us.

We welcomed guest speakers Susan Cairns and Michelle Bisson-Somerville, and special guest Pauline Buck, president of the Rotary Club of Aldergrove.

Announcements included having two benches installed in what we call David’s bird garden at the arboretum, and the possibility of installing the Rotary wheel there instead of in front of the Rotary Interpretive Centre building. We will have 100+ varieties for the azalea garden. Members were asked to review the Four Way Test as questions will be asked at our next meeting. Pauline shared information about her club and projects they have underway.

Susan and Michelle brought us information about the garden tower project in our schools, one we have supported by buying six (?) towers for the program. The food program in the schools is supplemented by the vegetables these towers produce.

Dr. John Brynjolfson brought us information about medical marijuana and the benefits and cautions that come along with it. Interest was expressed in the gummy bears, but John recommends the liquid for superior quality assurance.

This was our first online meeting with speakers presenting to us, and it worked quite well. We collected happy and sad dollars for Polio Plus (at the request of several members, Wayne is now collecting IOU dollars), and closed with a toast to Canada. For more pictures visit May 7, 2020.

April 23, 2020

Our weekly meeting via Zoom was a little different than most meetings. After fifteen minutes of socializing while people logged on to the meeting, Wayne called Meeting #39 to order and offered his words of welcome. “Our Rotary theme this year is Rotary Connects the World. What a theme for a year when we’re being told to stay home, to self-isolate, and to avoid large groups. Thank goodness for technology. Now (speaking for myself) some of us just have to learn how to use it.”

Les and Leon pointed out that the local paper featured a picture of the tulips at the arboretum where club members have donated hundreds of hours of labour. Wayne shared a message from DG Brad about a future volunteer opportunity, Volunteer Surge, which is now in the United States and plans to come to Canada. More information will be sent out to all Rotarians in our district very soon. Club members welcomed guests Dwight Bennett (again appearing as the telephone in our snapshot) and Jack Miller to our meeting. This week we had sixteen people involved in our meeting, a new high for our online sessions. Claudia shared the results of the recent membership survey she conducted, and the information will be used as we plan future meetings.

President-Elect Veronica then led a brainstorming session where we exchanged ideas about what we would like for our club and how we can make the Rotary experience more meaningful for all members. Leon recorded ideas on a whiteboard and we will continue the process next week.

Happy dollars were donated and will be saved for future delivery. We closed with a toast to Canada. Cheers! For more pictures visit April 23, 2020.

April 16, 2020

Our club held meeting # 38 using Zoom with ten participants. After allowing time for socializing, Wayne called the meeting to order and gave his official welcome. Our Rotary theme this year is Rotary Connects the World. We are doing our best to do this and maintain the proper protocols during this time of crisis. By Zoom meetings and email messages, we are keeping in touch and sharing with each other.

We welcomed past member Dwight Bennett as our guest at the meeting. Dwight appears as the telephone in our screenshot of those attending.

Rather than hold special executive meetings, Wayne advised that decisions would be made and voted on at our regular meetings, since the majority of those attending are executive members, and we have a quorum each time. He will advise members ahead of time when a funding request has been received, so they can be prepared to make an informed decision.

Wayne reviewed the requirements for the club to earn a Presidential Citation and informed the members that the rules have been relaxed due to the coronavirus causing social distancing and other hardships. We now must achieve three of the goals under Unite People and three under Take Action. Reviewing what we’ve done this year, it appears that we will meet these requirements and earn a citation for our club. Good for us!

The Area district grant re. COVID-19 will include proposals from all four Langley Rotary clubs so we will share the grant equally at $1250 US each. The Rotaract club will not participate financially but is looking at its options for assisting in the other projects. Our club will provide funding for the Gateway of Hope and as the needs are urgent, Wayne asked that we approve our share for the matching grant immediately so plexiglass shields may be purchased and installed as soon as possible. Moved by Leon, seconded by Lana; “That we approve a donation of $1750 ($1250 US) to Gateway of Hope for the purchase and installation of plexiglass shields as needed in the reception and kitchen areas.” Motion carried. Matching funds from the district, when received, will be used to purchase masks and antiseptic wipes.

Happy and sad dollars were donated, and more members are creating special containers for these funds.

April 9, 2020

Our club held meeting # 37 using Zoom and had nine participants. After allowing time for socializing, Wayne called the meeting to order and gave his official welcome. Our Rotary theme this year is Rotary Connects the World. Rotarians continue to do this, but unfortunately, person to in-person contacts are limited. We now need to connect online, and we continue to do our best to serve others.

Both Claudia Trigio and Bob Hillmer celebrated birthdays last Monday, and this week we sang for Bob. It was a slow paced first verse, but we sped things up for our special verse, finishing with beautiful harmony.

Les announced that at the arboretum the daffodils are out in full flower, and the tulips are up but not yet blooming. Forms have been poured in the bird garden, and the benches have been treated and assembled.

Lana reported that she will be able to send copies of all receipts for her district grant, so we should be able to wrap that one up in the next two weeks. We decided to redirect funds that had been approved for events that are now cancelled or postponed, and discussed possible projects for the new special Area district grant. Support for the Gateway of Hope won approval, and Claudia will check the costs of the plexiglass screening for the food area. We also approved a grant of $2500 to SOS Children’s Village B.C. supporting their Transition to Adulthood (TTA) program.

Happy and sad dollars were donated, and members are creating special containers for these funds, looking forward to when we can deliver the money to Anthony.

March 5, 2020

Following the call to order and O Canada, Wayne’s opened the meeting with

“Our Rotary theme this year is Rotary Connects the World. We must be careful just how we do that right now with the threat of a possible pandemic upon us. However, we will persevere.”

Announcements: Arboretum and RIC, Social Committee, Membership, Club Training Assembly April 4, Scholarships, and Letter from RI President

Our guest speakers were Arianna Wingfield and Daniel, with their tag team

“We all play a R.O.L.E.” presentation Part Two. We learned about addictions and the problems of drug overdoses. Far too many people are dying from drug overdoses. This is frequently the result of having black market drugs of various strengths and contents, often unknown by the users. Daniel shared his earlier experiences with drug use and the difficulties people have kicking their addictions. Despite us having an opioid crisis here in the lower mainland, many lives have been saved by the use of Naloxone, and Arianna and Daniel explained the steps to help save a person who is suffering from an overdose.

We all got to “save” a tennis ball, practising our inoculation skills. After our training, all of us received Naloxone kits to take with us should we meet up with someone in need. A very interesting meeting. For more photos please visit March 5, 2020.

April 2, 2020

Our meeting was held via Zoom with Leon serving as host. Socializing and catching up with each other was a fun way to begin, and then President Wayne officially called to order Meeting # 36. In his welcome, he remarked, “Our Rotary theme this year is Rotary Connects the World. No-one predicted or even guessed how difficult that would become due to the novel coronavirus, COVID-19, pandemic. We are now meeting online, rather than in person, and all social events have been cancelled or put on hold. No club training event. No district conference at Harrison. No Rotary International Convention in Hawaii. We try to remain optimistic, reach out to each other, and do our best to stay healthy through these troubled times.”

Nine people joined in, and we sang happy birthday to Claudia. It was interesting to hear Rudy’s voice finishing each line just after many had sung the words. Oh, the beauty of technology.

Announcements were made about AG opportunities, an up-coming joint presidents meeting, scholarship applications, survey of club members, the garden wall at LCSS being finished, a possible district grant for our Area, the donation of Ribfest gloves, and that we will be making some decisions about funding requests next week. SASSY will go forward in a virtual format and we are sponsoring one of the awards.

Happy dollars were donated and will be saved for future delivery. We closed with a toast to Rotary, and a toast to Canada. Cheers!

March 26, 2020

The Rotary Club of Langley continues to meet weekly, despite COVID-19 restrictions. We switched to online Zoom meetings and are slowly getting used to how to interact appropriately in this new format.

It wasn’t really business as usual tonight, but more of a social interaction meeting. We welcomed past members Dwight Bennett and Jim Armstrong to the meeting, as well as guest Jack Miller. We wished Bill Clemas well as he is troubled by his leg and unable to join us.

Daffodils are up at the arboretum and we shared stories about ourselves and how we’re coping in this situation. We collected or pledged happy and sad dollars, and closed with a toast to Canada. For more photos please visit March 26, 2020.

March 19, 2020

Meeting #34 of the Rotary year was a first for our club, and also a most unusual meeting. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we could not meet at the Timms Center or at the Rotary Interpretive Centre, or at any restaurant. Thanks to Leon Jensen, we were able to meet online via Zoom. However, only Claudia Trigo and Wayne Wiebe joined Leon for the meeting. They were hopeful more would join in next week.

The three had a great conversation, talking about current events and their personal situations. They kept up the Rotary club’s tradition of happy and sad dollars, and closed with a toast to Canada.

March 12, 2020

Community Centre began much as any other meeting, with the Call to Order followed by O Canada. In his Welcome, Wayne repeated, “Our Rotary theme this year is Rotary Connects the World.” He added, “We must be careful just how we do that right now with the threat of a possible pandemic upon us. Our Club Training Event has been postponed, and there may be more programs affected.” No one knew just how prophetic his words would be.

Announcements were made about the Arboretum and RIC, membership,

Club Training Assembly April 4 (4 four of us signed up so far), scholarships (23 applicants), and from the Social Committee.

Our guest speaker was Rose Hamilton from SOS Children’s Village BC. Her agency provides family-based foster care for children and youth in our communities through their Village model. This includes support to caregivers, youth, and kids through residential services, program and support services, and wraparound care. SOS believes in keeping siblings together and in family strengthening, creating a sense of community and belonging, and in educating and empowering children to become contributing members of society.

Happy and sad dollars were collected for Polio Plus, and we closed with a toast to Canada. For more photos please visit March 12, 2020.

February 27, 2020

Welcome from Wayne: Our Rotary theme this year is Rotary Connects the World. Last week we learned more about each other, and tonight we’ll hear how we can connect with a lot of people this summer.

Our guest speaker was Jeff Morfitt talking about Ribfest. In two years Ribfest has grown to be the largest fundraiser for any of the four Langley Rotary clubs. We netted about $60 000 in the first year, a fantastic start. Last year we made over $150 000, achieving much more than originally hoped for. We anticipate at least matching last year’s total, and would like to emphasize the family nature of the event. We will again have a site-wide license for beverages, and want to encourage families to enjoy the stage performers. We will need more volunteers, and Rotarians are requested to work as many shifts as possible.

We collected happy and sad dollars for Polio Plus, closed with a toast to Canada, and followed that with an executive meeting.

For more photos please visit February 27, 2020.

February 20, 2020

Well, this was an unusual evening. We were to celebrate our first social meeting in the Rotary Interpretaive Centre after months of waiting. We arrived, in the cold, and found the door locked. No one had advised us to pick up a key, and we had expected the caretaker to do so. After waiting outside and considering moving the meeting to other locations, Wayne and Les headed off to the Township maintenance yard in search of a key. One photo shows those left behind, shivering as they waited. The Township building was closed, but Wayne spoke to an RCMP officer who tried calling the after hours phone number on our behalf. Alas, no one was answering it. Mr. Clay and Mr. Wiebe returned to the RIC with the sad news. Just as we were about to travel out to Aldergrove to the Arts Centre, Wayne the custodian showed up. He’d seen the group outside, suspected the problem, and had returned home to pick up the key and let us in.

Once inside we found that the emergency space heaters warmed the building very well, so well that the only way of controlling the temperature was to open windows. We spread out the food (appetizers plus) that we had brought and enjoyed a light meal together.

The meeting was called to order and in his welcome, President Wayne stated, “Our Rotary theme this year is Rotary Connects the World. Let’s make some connections tonight as we learn more about one another.”

Our guests, Wayne and Marion Crossen were welcomed, and official announcements concerned the Arboretum and RIC, Social Committee,

Membership, Club Training Assembly April 4, and Scholarships.

We had at least eleven speakers as we each told a bit about ourselves and our lives. We discovered interesting tidbits of information, and heard about interests and where people had traveled. Anecdotes were shared, as well as laughter, and a good time was had by all.

For more photos please visit February 20, 2020.