RoteNotes 26 Aug 2021Rotary Nicomekl Trail cleanup and The PEKA Project
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RoteNotes 19 August 2021
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Online Meeting Every ThursdayThe Rotary Club of Langley continues to meet online every Thursday at 7pm! Thinking of visiting us? For more info contact our President or Secretary via the Officers and Directors sidebar located on the left-hand side of our home page. We look forward to hearing from you!  |
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Welcome!Want to learn more about the Rotary Club of Langley and Rotary International? Follow @LangleyRotary on Facebook, explore our website, and contact us via the Officers and Directors sidebar located on the left-hand side of our home page.  |
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The Langley Rotary 50/50 Mega Draw is Back!Tickets are now available for the 2021 Langley Rotary 50/50 Mega Draw. Visit langleyrotarymegadraw.com/a/  Ticket Packs: Single Ticket for $20, 3-Ticket Pack for $50, 8-Ticket Pack for $100. Ticket sales end: August 15, 2021 at midnight. Draw: August 18, 2021 at noon. For updates, follow @LangleyRotary on Facebook! |
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District 5050 PolioPlus Society Introducing the District 5050 PolioPlus Society: A great opportunity to do good in the world! This Society is a District 5050 program designed to promote individual giving by Rotarians to the PolioPlus Fund. Visit District 5050 for more details.  |
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April 15, 2021 Tonight we held an Interclub Zoom meeting with the Rotary Club of Abbotsford Matsqui, with them serving as hosts. AG Allan Asaph brought greetings and a Message on behalf of DG Carol Tichelman, and encouraged us to sign up for the virtual district conference. President Veronica Lopez prepared and presented an excellent power point summary(April 15, 2021) of what the Rotary Club of Langley has accomplished and what we have done and continue to do to help others. PP Wayne explained how we collect and use happy and sad dollars to help put an end to polio in our world. Our club pledged happy dollars which Wayne recorded and put into his old Rotary collection tin. President Kelly Meade shared detailed information about the Rotary Club of Abbotsford Matsqui and involved several club members in the presentation. Click Matsqui April 2021 to see screenshot captures from his presentation. We enjoyed sharing with other Rotarians, and it was good to meet new people and renew old friendships. You can see screenshots of those attending by clicking April 15, 2021. |
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Matching Money with People for Positive ResultsMatching Money with People for Positive ResultsMatching Money with People for Positive Results The Rotary Foundation has been so effective because it matches money with people. In the words of Arch C. Klumph, the founder of our Rotary Foundation: “Money alone does little good. Individual service is helpless without money. The two together can be a Godsend to civilization.” |
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April 8, 2021 Discussions during our social time included getting to know our guests, COVID vaccinations (one person was both too young and too old to receive the shot), daffodils in bloom at the Arboretum, and places to visit. Brett Kissel (country singer) led us in O Canada, singing without accompaniment (well, Wayne joined him from the comfort of his den) and we enjoyed a version that was easy to sing along with and that sang the right notes. Great country, eh? Announcements (and there were many): This year’s theme is Rotary Opens Opportunities; Music Bingo is coming on April 16 (check the flyer sent out by Trisha); Interclub Meeting with Abbotsford Matsqui next week with a 6 p.m. start; District 5050 has started the Polio Plus Society and our members are encouraged to pledge to donate at least $100 US per year until polio is eradicated; Windows of Opportunity, our district conference, will be held online; Club Training is happening in April and club members are encouraged to sign up for sessions of their choice. The Rotary Foundation Moment for this week was Matching Money with People for Positive Results, and you can read Wayne’s message: Matching Money with People for Positive Results Matching Money with People for Positive Results. Veronica introduced our guests from the B.C. Lung Association and we were treated to a very informative and interesting presentation (April 8, 2021) from Christopher Lam, President and CEO, and Dr. Noah Quastel, Director of Law and Policy, Healthy Indoor Environments Program, with Katrina van Bylandt, Director of Communications and Engagement, chipping in as well. One in five Canadians have some type of lung disease and we heard about the many programs offered by the B.C. Lung Association. Two main contributors to harmful particles in the air inside houses are wood-burning fireplaces and smoking, and vaping is harmful to your lungs as well. Radon gas is a problem in some areas of the province. Having a fresh air supply in your home is important, and hepa filters are useful. Noah and Chris answered many questions as our members sought more information. We collected happy dollar pledges and shared the reasons why we were happy or hopeful (no sad dollars) and closed the meeting with our toast to Canada. Cheers! |
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Musical Bingo - Get your tickets now! Save the Date! Ticket sales end Wednesday, April 14th. The four Langley Rotary clubs have partnered to bring you a fun night of Musical Bingo on Zoom this April! Funds raised go towards local Langley area food banks.  Date: April 16th, 2021 Time: 6:30PM - 9:00PM Cost: Tickets are $20 per bingo cardVisit Langley Rotary Clubs or the Rotary Club of Langley Central for more details and get your tickets! |
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Want to Learn More About The Rotary Foundation?Want to Learn More About The Rotary Foundation? The Rotary Foundation produces a number of resources that help Rotarians learn about the work that we do around the world. Here are some favorites: 1. The Annual Report: annual-report-2019 2. The Rotary Foundation Reference Guide: reference-guide 3. Videos about our work: rotary-videos 4. Our website: rotary.org What is something new that you learned from these online resources? |
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April 1, 2021 For awhile tonight it was a three person conversation during social time, but then others joined in. Topics included pronunciation, April Fools (no fooling), and rating confusion. You shoulda been there. Jim See sent his regrets. Shortly after seven o’clock it was finally Veronica’s turn to say, “You’re late, Les.” She had seen it was seven, but as our birthday boy had not yet appeared onscreen, she waited. Then she called on Leon and he played a video of O Canada performed by various military bands. Announcements: This year’s theme is Rotary Opens Opportunities; this is Maternal and Child Health Month and Rotarians provide education and medication to help prevent diseases (see more in a video at rotary.org); our Interclub with Abbotsford-Matsqui is on the 15th; Music Bingo is coming on April 16th (get your tickets); and our Windows of Opportunity District Conference will be online May 14-15. Three of our members have just had or soon will have their birthdays. The two Bobs were absent, so we sang splendidly for Les who just celebrated #89. From her facial expression, I think Zofia was amused at our special rendition. Foundation Chair Wayne read the Rotary Moment for this week, asking the question Want to Learn More About The Rotary Foundation? You may read the report and check out the websites for yourself. President Veronica proudly presented a certificate to Wayne Wiebe recognizing him as a member of the District 5050 Polio Plus Society. Any Rotarian may become a member by pledging to donate at least $100 US per year to Polio Plus until polio is eradicated from our world. Congratulations, Wayne! PP Wayne updated the club with regards to the Societies Act and our progress in getting our annual reports submitted. As Scholarship Committee Chair he announced that we have received sixteen applications for the six scholarships we will be awarding. Committee members will soon be receiving their copies of the information to evaluate. President Veronica formally introduced our guest speaker, Zofia (rhymes with mafia) Switkowski who spoke to us about the Langley Restorative Action Program and the Community Justice Initiatives. Restorative Justice offers an alternative way to deal with various conflicts that arise. The Restorative Action Program began as a pilot project with the Langley School District in 2000 and was formally adopted by S.D.#35 in 2006. The goal is to create positive change in school culture and provide conflict resolution skills and training resources to students and staff on restorative practices. The program focuses on feelings and understanding and agreement on what should be done to mend the relationship. Zofia had a great presentation and you can view the slides by clicking: April 1, 2021 at your leisure. We had first call for nominations for the position of Vice President next year. Due to work and study commitments, Claudia has had to step back from her full Rotary involvement and thus we have a vacancy on next year’s board. Lana Hart was nominated at this evening’s meeting. We pledged happy dollars and shared our reasons for being happy. Then we closed our meeting with a toast to Canada. Cheers and happy Easter! |
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March 25, 2021 When our meeting was called to order, we began with a version of O Canada recorded in Newfoundland, and the video featured many singers. Unlike last week, most of our members watched, rather than joining in. A comment was made suggesting that these singers were almost as good as we were last week. Hmm. Announcements (and there were many): This year’s theme is Rotary Opens Opportunities; Music Bingo is coming on April 16 (check the flyer sent out by Trisha); Les will be 89 on the 30th, but we postponed singing until next week; Interclub Meeting with Abbotsford Matsqui on April 15, 6 p.m. start; interesting speakers are coming up in April; only eleven people have completed Leon’s survey so far; District 5050 received a special citation for the number of clubs earning club citations in 2019-2020 -- this Citation honours Rotary districts in which at least half of the Rotary clubs earned the Rotary Citation, and only 93 of 534 districts worldwide received the Rotary District Citation. Our club was one of the successful ones; the district is looking for Zoom technicians for the district training sessions; District 5050 has started the Polio Plus Society and you can become a member by pledging to donate at least $100 US per year until polio is eradicated; and the new Rotary Club of Golden Ears Sunrise is being chartered. President Veronica then took a breath and asked Foundation Chair Wayne to read the Rotary Moment for this week. With his granddaughter Annika on his lap, Wayne told How The Rotary Foundation Touched One Person’s Life. Brendan informed the club about a Public Fast to Stop the Jets and a short candlelight walk planned for April 10, a protest against the Canadian government’s plan to spend $75 billion for 88 fighter jets. Veronica formally introduced our guest speaker, Vineetha Nakka, to the club and invited her to speak on the topic of epilepsy. You can learn more about CESEBC and see slides of her presentation by clicking March 25, 2021. Our brains have over 100 billion neurons, and during seizures too many are firing and sending messages all at once. About 1% of Canadians have epilepsy, and in 65% of the cases the cause is unknown. A person may experience focal or generalized seizures, and Vineeth explained the differences. She also presented slides indicating what you need to know to do in the event of a seizure. Vineeth informed us about Purple Day happening March 26, an opportunity to show support for Epilepsy Awareness. We collected happy dollar pledges and shared the reasons why were happy, and closed the meeting with our toast to Canada. Cheers!  |
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How The Rotary Foundation Touched One Person’s LifeHow The Rotary Foundation Touched One Person’s Life “What we do is touch other people . . . open the horizon to them . . . say ‘You matter.’ You see, the five men who chose me to become a Rotary Scholar are gone . . . but they are not. They never will be. Because along the way, I will in my own way share with others - and have - what those five men and the 60 members of the Rotary Club of Marshall, Texas and the tens of thousands of other members of Rotary did in 1956 when they said, ‘Bill Moyers, you can matter.’” Bill Moyers, TV journalist and commentator, and former Deputy Director of the Peace Corps. Can you help identify a candidate for a Global Grant Scholarship that will make a difference in the world? |
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March 18, 2021 Tonight was our social evening, and VP Lana hosted the session. Discussion topics included flowers, Frost Road memories, someone’s husband getting shot, and disinfecting chairs, among others. The meeting was officially called to order at 7:08 and we sang O Canada together. With a few pauses to let stragglers catch up, we did ourselves proud with a fine rendition of our national anthem. “Man we’re beautiful (singers),” commented someone, “and we look good too.” Announcements: This year’s theme is Rotary Opens Opportunities; this is Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Month and Music Bingo is coming on April 16, with a British Invasion or flower power theme. Entry is $20 per playing card. Foundation Chair Wayne read the Rotary Moment for this week, asking the question What is The Rotary Foundation’s Funding Cycle? You may read the answer for yourself. Lana then proceeded to the main event of the evening, loading and showing baby photos of club members and having us guess who they were. We went through the list several times, each time with commentary from several viewers. Then it came time for us to mark down our guesses, and we had many different guesses. You can check our baby photos to see the beautiful children and guess for yourself who is who. If you had attended the meeting, you would likely be able to answer these questions. Who attended grade 13? Who was guessed most often as the baby in the picture? Who allowed girls to wear slacks to school (rather than having to wear skirts or dresses, even during cold winter weather)? Who got his shot today? Who guessed the most photos accurately? Who are the Frost Road brothers? Who had his baby picture photoshopped? We closed the meeting with our toast to Canada. Cheers! For more photos please visit March 18, 2021 |
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March 11, 2021 We had a pleasant social time, chatting with each other and with Heather Taylor, joining us from Ingersoll, Ontario. During a break in the conversation, guess who intoned, “According to my timepiece, it’s two minutes to go.” So we had two minutes and ten seconds more for talking before the meeting was called to order. Leon’s O Canada this evening was played by the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, and it was easy to sing along. However, looking at the screenshots, you’ll see most were just listening. Check those photos dated March 11, 2021 to find someone’s camera out of focus, someone else with a new hair colour, and discover who is hiding behind Heather’s message. Announcements: We are living our theme, Rotary Opens Opportunities; this is Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Month (check out the Peace Arch Journal for great information); PE Leon is conducting an online survey on our areas of focus for next year; training for Rotary members will be held in April; Doug Dyer will be speaking about international housing opportunities at the Langley Central club meeting next Wednesday; the Foundation Gala will be held in May; a four-club meeting will be held on April 15, beginning at 6 p.m.; and Music Bingo is coming on April 16. Foundation Chair Wayne read the Rotary Moment for this week, answering the question Why is SHARE called “SHARE”? You may read the short and sweet announcement for yourself. Veronica introduced our guest speaker, Heather Taylor, who spoke about Adventures in Citizenship. This program has been going on for seventy years and will be held virtually this year. Heather is Chair of the Adventures in Citizenship Committee and is in her third year of studies at the University of Ottawa. She has been a Rotaractor for three years and is a co-district coordinator for her district. AiC will extend the age limit to nineteen this year to accommodate those who missed out last year when COVID cancelled the event, and will have break-out rooms for discussions, complete with moderators and facilitators. Participants will play games lead by Rotaractors, hear and learn about the judicial system in Canada, hear and speak with the Speaker of the House of Commons, hear and learn about indigenous issues and learn about citizenship and immigration law. Sounds like fun! Club members are reminded to send their baby photos to Lana well in time for our meeting next week. So far most members have been playing shy. As is our custom, happy and sad dollars for Polio Plus were announced and recorded, and we closed the meeting with a toast to Canada. Cheers! |
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Why is SHARE called “SHARE”?Why is SHARE called “SHARE”? The Rotary Foundation’s funding system is called SHARE because the name defines what the system does:
Ready to get involved? |
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March 4, 2021 Do you remember WKRP in Cincinnati? That sitcom became a topic of conversation during our social time. Why, you ask? Our guest speaker was Caroline Phelps and she was joining us from Cincinnati, Ohio. Football, hockey, soccer (also called football) and health concerns were also discussed during our social time. Then an older sage intoned, “Well, Veronica, it’s time.” As if she had been waiting for this pronouncement, President Veronica then called the meeting to order. Leon’s O Canada this evening was one recorded before a Canadian Premier League game on July 1, 2020. We were able to follow along in our homes with ease, and what I heard sounded great. Announcements: Rotary Opens Opportunities; it is Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Month; and Veronica announced a number of upcoming events (e.g. District Training Assembly, Foundation Celebration), including the Langley Rotary Interclub meeting on April 15th. Veronica introduced our guest, Brian Lott, from the Rotary Club of Langley Central. Brian informed us about Music Bingo Night, a “fun and exciting evening” planned for April 16 from 6:30 to 9:00 p.m. All four Langley Rotary Club members and families and friends are invited to join in to raise money with the proceeds going to the Langley Food Bank. Bingo tickets are $20 each and Rotary will retain $16-$17 from each sale. Members are asked to donate gifts for the live auction and/or for prizes for the various BINGO games. We will receive reminders about this special, social event. Wayne read the Rotary Moment for this week, answering the question What is SHARE? He added a few personal observations as well. Next we came to our main speaker, Caroline Phelps, who shared information with us about the Guatemala Literacy Project. This is an annual literacy initiative aiming to break the cycle of poverty in Guatemala, and our club contributed to the global grant this year. Guatemala is one of the poorest countries in terms of education, and two-thirds of children drop out of school by grade six. She showed us a woman whose grandmother is illiterate, whose mother is illiterate, and who now has a job earning four times as much as her father, thanks to this literacy project. Her daughter will be able to get an education too, and in this way the cycle of poverty is broken. You can see her slide presentation by clicking March 4, 2021 Presentation. Our meeting ran a little late as club members had many questions for Caroline, showing great interest in this project. Club members are reminded to send their baby photos to Lana well in time for our meeting on the 18th (two weeks). Happy and sad dollars were announced and recorded, and we closed the meeting with a toast to Canada. For more photos please visit March 4, 2021. Cheers! |
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What is SHARE?
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February 25, 2021 While our socializing time is somewhat predictable, the order of faces appearing onscreen changes and we look forward to more people joining in. There is no official order of speaking or greeting during social time, and we enjoy sharing and catching up with each other. This week we were pleased to see Karen McIntyre-Moraes attending her first Zoom meeting with us. Promptly at 7:04, after waiting for some late arrivals, Past President Wayne called the meeting to order on behalf of absent President Veronica. Leon produced a rather different version of O Canada, one in which the anthem was signed, not sung. This enabled us to follow along in our homes with ease, hitting all the right notes and sounding magnificent. I should have left my mic on for all the others to enjoy as well. Announcements: Rotary Opens Opportunities; up-coming meeting speakers were named; flowers are up at the arboretum; Lana will chair the meeting on March 18 for our next social evening, and we are asked to send her baby or youth photos of ourselves for that event. Wayne read the Rotary Moments for the past two weeks, and you can see them here by clicking on What are Some Financial Best Practices with Grant Funds and What is Our Grant Model Designed to Do? Daniel Collins from Inclusion Langley was our guest speaker, and he had a most interesting presentation for us. Click February 25, 2021 Slides to view the slides he showed. Daniel has served with Inclusion Langley for thirty years, and he spoke about his family and the organization which helps people with disabilities in many ways. Many children would not be able to attend school without the assistance provided by his organization. Inclusion Langley finds employment opportunities for young and older adults as well as providing direct physical assistance for individuals with profound disabilities. They operate with a budget of $25 million, making the organization much larger than any of us had imagined. The question and answer session was finally ended by the meeting chair as our adjournment time was approaching. Happy and sad dollars were recorded and we closed the meeting with a toast to Canada. Cheers! For more photos please visit February 25, 2021. |
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What are Some Financial Best Practices with Grant Funds?What are Some Financial Best Practices with Grant Funds? · Follow your spending plan to distribute and use grant funds for the stated purpose in a timely manner. · Make project-related expenditures by check or other traceable method. · If payments are made electronically by one person, maintain a paper trail showing that the payment was approved by both signatories. · Maintain detailed receipts and record each transaction in a ledger. The ledger should list each transaction, noting the date, amount, and reason for the transaction. · Make sure to share the information so grants run smoothly and funds are secure. Thank you for making our grant oversight top notch! |
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What is Our Grant Model Designed to Do?What is Our Grant Model Designed to Do?
The Rotary Foundation is continuing to make a difference in our world! |
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February 18, 2021 Interesting general discussions included talking about Adventures in Citizenship and we’ll hear more about this from an upcoming speaker. After about fifteen minutes of greeting each other and welcoming faces appearing on the screen, we agreed that it was seven o’clock and President Veronica called the meeting to order. Leon produced a version of O Canada as performed by Jessie Reyez. Possibly it was enjoyable to listen to (for some) but her key changes and note changes made it almost impossible to sing along with our national anthem tonight. We do appreciate the variety that Leon is bringing, though. Announcements were announced: Rotary Opens Opportunities for us to assist others; ESRAG, the Environmental Sustainability Rotary Action Group, is having a webinar; club phone call volunteers were noted; and Brendan updated information about peace and conflict resolution. Then came our official social meeting and we were in for a surprise. Instead of the expected Valentine’s theme with naming (and singing snippets of) songs with the words “love” or “heart” we were asked to tell stories related to objects displayed by Lana, our Social Committee Chair. Some interesting comments were made and humour shown. Happy and sad dollars were recorded and the meeting closed with a toast to Canada. Cheers! For photos please visit February 18, 2021. |
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Words from a Past Rotary Global Grant Scholar
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February 4, 2021 Our social time enabled us to touch base with another Rotarian, Beverlee Rasmussen, and with each other. We were introduced to her son, Jeff, our guest speaker for the evening. Several pleasantries, and no unpleasantries, were exchanged. “I guess it’s about time for Veronica,” intoned a familiar voice. On cue, President Veronica called the meeting to order, shared regrets from Leon and Anthony, and asked Wayne to share O Canada. After a brief period of overcoming technical difficulties, Wayne played a bilingual version sung by Michelle, Monique and Michael Creber. Beautiful photos of Canada accompanied the singing of O Canada . Announcements were announced: Rotary’s theme focuses on promoting peace this month; Rotary Opens Opportunities for us to assist others; seventy million people are displaced due to conflicts and natural disasters, half of them children; District 5050 has two applicants accepted into the Peace Scholar program (read more in the Peace Arch Journal); a new HVAC system is now installed in the Rotary Interpretive Centre, replacing the wrong one which was installed originally; and five fir trees recently planted are looking good. Charity Navigator has rated The Rotary Foundation with four stars (its highest ranking) for the thirteenth consecutive year, an accomplishment achieved by only 1% of the organizations Charity navigator evaluates. Good for us! Foundation Chair Wayne shared the Foundation Moment for this week, reading Words from a Past Rotary Global Grant Scholar. Our guest speaker, Jeff Rasmussen, spoke to us about ADHD Kids Rock Society, a website he founded and continues to operate. Jeff told us about his troubles and struggles in school and how he felt he didn’t belong. Teachers did not know how to handle him or keep him engaged and only once he understood what Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disability was and that he was not alone did he start to make progress. He set up the website to let others with ADHD realize that they are not alone and they can be successful. Some photos of his presentation show part of the story can be found in the photo album February 4, 2021. Most of us pledged happy and sad dollars and we closed the meeting with a toast to Canada. Executive members stayed to discuss business at the executive meeting. |
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Do Large Grants every take Place in North America?Do Large Grants every take Place in North America? Yes! Rotary Global Grants can have large projects, Global Scholarships and Vocational Training Teams all here in the United States and Canada…or in any Rotary country or region. One of the most amazing aspects of our great foundation is that there are opportunities for large projects wherever there is need. Criteria must be met, but there have been and will continue to be large-scale projects in “developed” countries. Read about how the Rotary Club of Little Rock made a big difference in one of the poorest regions in our country. Is there a need in your community? |
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What is a Rotary Foundation Global Grant Scholarship?
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January 28, 2021 Social time featured a number of interesting conversations and welcomes as we caught up with what’s been happening the past week. Right around seven o’clock, to the surprise of some, Past President Wayne called the meeting to order and informed the club that President Veronica would not be attending due to a death in the family. She had phoned him to request that he run the meeting, and to pass on her regrets to the club members and guests. Leon Jensen played an enjoyable version of O Canada sung by The Tenors. The accompanying photos may show some members singing as well. Leon was thanked for doing a marvelous job in bringing different performers to our meetings each week. Announcements were few: no birthdays, one anniversary, Rotary’s theme (though with Wayne asking one member gave the response that became automatic last year), and Les’ trees looking great at the Arboretum. Rotary is opening an opportunity for someone to donate lime flagstone for paving a pathway at the Arboretum. Let Allan know if you can help. Foundation Chair Wayne read the Foundation Moments for last week and this week, telling about Large Grants and Global Grant Scholarships. Our guest speaker, fellow Rotarian Jen Kormendy, spoke to us about ShelterBox Canada and showed a very interesting slide presentation while screen sharing, select January 28, 2021 to view the slides. ShelterBox was started by a Rotary club in Cornwall, England and now has six sites around the world where emergency supplies and equipment are gathered for delivery where most needed. Along with the shelter boxes, the organization now has shelter kits and solar lights available. Clubs (such as ours) used to sponsor a ShelterBox when making cash donations, but now are encouraged to send funds for general use or for specific items that would then be made available for delivery. Supplies are put on a pallet and sent to one of the pre-positioned locations, and then delivered to where needed. This is much more effective and economical than sending everything to England first, and then delivering it to the people. We all pledged happy and sad dollars and closed the meeting with a toast to Canada. |
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January 21, 2021 We enjoy our social time chatting with each other about the week’s events and what’s happening in each other’s lives. Scheduling this fifteen minute time each week helps keep some of the conversational aspects of our Rotary meetings alive during this period of zoom meetings. “You’re running overtime,” intoned the clock. What he really meant was that our president was late in starting the meeting, but she didn’t mind. Sharply at 7:11 the meeting was called to order. Then she made up for lost time by calling this meeting #29, but we’ll wait until next week to make that come true. Leon played a lovely version of O Canada sung twice by the Westcoast Harmony Chorus. At some homes the accompaniment was great, too. Announcements were made during social time and during the meeting. A request from an individual requesting to place a plaque on one of our benches at the Arboretum will go to the board meeting next week. A new member orientation meeting is coming, sponsored by our district. A beautiful multi-media art display is available for viewing on the Langley City website. Compliments were made about the Arboretum and the new trees added. Our guest speaker, member Nora Truman, told us a little about herself and showed us some photos from different times in her life. She was born in Stratford, Ontario and lived in North Bay and Ottawa (and more places) before settling in Langley with David and their two sons. Some of the photos Nora showed are available for you to check out yourself. She enjoys participating with Langley Field Naturalists, and is an avid birder. Lana shared a Canada trivia quiz with us, and we had a friendly competition to see who could answer first. From the delays on some questions, I think no-one was truly competitive and we allowed many people to get right answers. How kind and Canadian of us. We pledged happy and sad dollars and we closed with a toast to Canada. Cheers! |
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January 14, 2021 Our usual social time was as enjoyable as ever. Then certain words were spoken. “Looks like it’s time to get going,” stated the president. “You’re right,” came a response. “Thank you, Les,” replied Veronica, and Meeting #27 was officially underway. Leon played a version of O Canada being sung twice, in English and then French, and set in a lower key. I actually had to go up at the end rather than try to hit the low note. Many beautiful photos accompanied the singing. Announcements included reminders about our theme for this year, attendees for the Foundation grants seminar, and programs for upcoming meetings. Foundation Chair Wayne read the Rotary Foundation Moment for this week which answered the question What Makes a Successful Global Grant Application? Our guest speaker, Jeffrey Hager, told us about the Hands for Peacemaking Foundation which assists families in Guatemala. The Foundation was started in Snohomish County just south of us to assist families in small villages of 24 to 400 families with water catchment systems, schools and stoves for cooking. The villagers live in little huts and have an open fire pit inside the house to provide warmth in the rainy season and to use for cooking their meals. As you can imagine, many problems result from these smoky conditions. Our club donated funds to help pay for stoves to be provided and installed in and around Barillos, Guatemala. Click on Jeffrey’s presentation to see the slides he shared with us. The stoves cost $225 each and volunteers from District 5050 pay around $2000 for the opportunity to fly to Barillos and work several days putting the stoves together and installing them in the houses. Happy and sad dollars were pledged and we closed with a toast to Canada. |
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What is the Goal of Rotary Foundation Grants? (2 of 2)What is the Goal of Rotary Foundation Grants? (2 of 2) During the past 100 years, the Foundation has spent over $3 billion on life-changing, sustainable projects. With your help, we can make lives better in your community and around the world. The Rotary Foundation impacts communities through our grants program, which offers four opportunities for funding. Last week we talked about district grants and global grants – let’s look at the final two options today: Programs of Scale Grants – fund activities that benefit a large number of people in a significant geographic area using a sustainable, evidence-based intervention with measurable outcomes and impact. Each grant will support, for three to five years, activities that align with one or more of Rotary’s areas of focus. How it works: Each year, one approved project will receive $2 million from The Rotary Foundation’s World Fund. Applicants are strongly encouraged to supplement Foundation funding with resources from multiple other sources, and to work with an experienced partner, such as a nongovernmental organization, private institution, or government entity. Disaster Response Grants – fund small-scale, short-term activities that address needs caused by natural disasters in your community. Activities include providing basic items such as water, food, medicine, and clothing. How it works: Districts in an affected area or country may apply for a maximum grant of $25,000, based on the availability of funds. A district may apply for subsequent grants after it successfully reports outcomes from previous grants. |
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What is the Goal of Rotary Foundation Grants? (1 of 2)What is the Goal of Rotary Foundation Grants? (1 of 2) During the past 100 years, the Foundation has spent over $3 billion on life-changing, sustainable projects. With your help, we can make lives better in your community and around the world. The Rotary Foundation impacts communities through our grants program, which offers four opportunities for funding. Let’s look at the first two grant options: District Grants – fund small-scale, short-term activities that address needs in your community and communities abroad. Each district chooses which activities it will fund with these grants. How it works: Districts may use up to 50 percent of their District Designated Fund, based on the amount of DDF generated from a District’s Annual Fund giving three years prior, including Endowment Fund earnings. Global Grants – fund large-scale international activities with sustainable and measurable results that support Rotary’s areas of focus. Activities include humanitarian projects, scholarships, and vocational training teams. How it works: Global grants have a minimum budget of $30,000 and a maximum World Fund award of $400,000. Grant sponsors can use a combination of District Designated Funds (DDF), cash, and/or directed gifts and endowment earnings to fund a global grant. The Foundation will provide a 100 percent World Fund match for all DDF contributions. |
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What is The Rotary Foundation Cadre of Technical AdvisorsWhat is The Rotary Foundation Cadre of Technical Advisors Supporting Humanitarian Grants Program, the Cadre of Technical Advisors is a group of volunteer Rotarians who provide technical expertise and advice to Rotarians planning and carrying out Rotary grant projects around the world. Cadre members serve in countries other than their own, and they conduct on-site project visits for two to three days with written reports upon their return. The Rotary Foundation pays for a per diem and roundtrip air-fare. The cadre is in need of Rotarians qualified in the following fields: Health, Education/Literacy, Small Business/Revolving Loans (micro credit), and Financial Auditing (chartered accountants and certified public accountants), and more. Individuals fluent in French, Spanish, Portuguese, and other language skills are welcome as well. For more information, visit the cadre’s page on My Rotary or email cadre@rotary.org. Are you interested in connecting with a cadre member? Are you interested in joining the cadre? |
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January 7, 2021 At exactly 7 p.m. our informal social interaction ended and president Veronica called the meeting to order. Leon played a version of O Canada performed by the National Arts Orchestra, and some of us sang along with our mics muted. No discordant notes were heard. Veronica welcomed us to meeting #26 and the first one in the new year. Updates included a reminder about Rotary’s theme, a review of funds being distributed from our successful 50-50 MegaDraw, and the request for club members to participate in the district’s Grants Management Seminar so we may continue participating in district grants. Foundation Chair Wayne summarized two weeks’ worth of Foundation moments which you can read What is the Goal of Rotary Foundation Grants? (1 of 2) as well as What is the Goal of Rotary Foundation Grants? (2 of 2).We learned about four types of Rotary grants available to Rotarians. Our guest speaker, David Toner, told us about his victim advocacy group which performs random acts of kindness to help stamp out bullying. The Bikers Against Bullying have helped children by providing rides to school (on the back of a motorcycle) and showing them support, letting them know that they are not alone and they do have friends. Recently they adopted a family and provided them with gifts for Christmas along with a food hamper containing a turkey and all the fixings for a traditional Christmas meal. In an added touch, they made note of each person’s birthday and will provide a birthday cake on the appropriate days in 2021. David reported that over half of the biker group is female, and each member has his or her own bike to ride. He describes them as big brothers and big sisters on motorcycles. Their annual bike ride will be scheduled in August and we will likely hear more closer to the date. We shared stories around happy dollars and joined in a toast to Canada. |
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December 17, 2020 Tonight’s meeting was meant to be informal and it was different. The usual routines were not followed, but one refrain was familiar. “Veronica, you’re a little late,” announced our club clock watcher. Politely, President Veronica officially called the meeting to order at 7:03 and the social conversations ended. The evening’s unusual version of O Canada was performed by a Las Vegas lounge singer who had no musical accompaniment and was unsure of the melody. That made it difficult for those of us at home to sing along (that’s our story and we’re sticking to it). Leon continues to impress us with the variety he brings each week to our national anthem. We shared our COVID Christmas plans and took turns sharing stories from our Christmases past. Dr. John gave some advice about the vaccines available and recommended that we take vitamin D in large doses. He also recommended pumping iron but that sounds like work. We wished each other Merry Christmas and signed off for the year. |
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December 10, 2020 Conversations about driver’s licenses and temporary ones and variations on the theme interested early arrivers. Seven o’clock arrived and conversations continued. Then, from one of the Hollywood Squares zoom windows a voice stated, “Veronica, I think it’s about time.” Our president called the meeting to order and asked Leon to share his latest version of O Canada for us. This week Revv 52 entertained us, and you can click O Canada to see the beautiful photos that were shown. It was easy to sing along to this version, too. Announcements: Rotary Opens Opportunities (Veronica hopes we have this memorized); we’ve had the opportunity to meet international visitors; we donated $5000 to go towards the purchase of a special microscope for a hospital in Brazil; at the Foundation Gala our club was recognized with several awards, including for 100% giving, EREY, End Polio Now, and being #1 in the district for per capita AP giving and #3 in the district for Polio Plus. We can be proud of our generosity shown last year. Following Past President Wayne’s third call for nominations for executive positions, the following Rotarians were elected to serve in the 2021-2022 Rotary year: Past President Veronica Lopez, President Leon Jensen, President-Elect Stephen Richardson, Vice-President Claudia Trigo, Secretary Bob Lukie, Treasurer Anthony Ball, and Directors Allan Richmond, Jim See, Nora Truman, Les Clay, Wayne Wiebe and Rudy Storteboom. Foundation Chair Wayne read The Rotary Foundation moment for this week and you can check it for yourself by clicking What is The Rotary Foundation Cadre of Technical Advisors. Our guest speaker was Lilianne Fuller, speaking about the Nicomekl lunch program. In 2010 five students needed lunches provided, and now that number has reached twenty and is going up. Details about the program and Lilianne’s presentation can be found December 10, 2020. Lilianne would like ten more volunteers to make two lunches at their homes and deliver them to the school once a month, as per these suggestions. We enjoyed the Q&A following her presentation. We again discussed ideas for our social meeting to be held on the 17th. The Social Committee plans to meet to put the finishing touches on the program. We pledged happy and sad dollars to Polio Plus, and raised our glasses in a toast to Canada to end our meeting. |
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December 3, 2020 Where is Jim? Someone send him the correct address for our meeting. We talked about all sorts of interesting things while we waited for members to join in. Leon played a version of O Canada that featured many different singers taking turns with the lines of the song. They took turns singing in different keys as well, making it hard to sing along. Somehow it made us feel better about some of our own singing. Announcements: Rotary Opens Opportunities; this is Disease Prevention and Treatment Month; the 50/50 Mega Draw has closed with $147 230 in sales; we’ll have second call for our election; Lillianne Fuller will be with us next Thursday; Nav has a supply of children’s book to give away. Past President Wayne called for nominations for all the executive positions except two: Past President Veronica and President Leon. The following nominations have been received, and the third call and election will be held next week. VP Claudia Trigo; Sec. Bob Lukie; Treas. Anthony Ball; Director: Allan Richmond, Jim See, Nora Truman, Les Clay, Wayne Wiebe, Claudia Trigo, Rudy Storteboom, Lana Hart and Bob Hillmer. No nominations have been received for President Elect. Foundation Chair Wayne read The Rotary Foundation information for this week and you can read it for yourself simply by clicking Rotary’s Areas of Focus (Part 2 of 2) Our guest speaker was Victoria Biggs, a Rotarian now in the Semiahmoo club. Victoria spoke about the Canadian Vocational Training Centre and the work it does, even during this time with the added challenges of COVID. Maintaining an 83% employment rate for the students is really impressive. Click December 3, 2020 to see Victoria’s slide presentation. We discussed ideas for our social meeting to be held on the 17th. No meetings will be held on Christmas Eve or New Year’s Eve. President Veronica announced that we now have an Environment Committee with Nora and Claudia its initial members. Happy and sad dollars were pledged to Polio Plus, and we raised our glasses in a toast to Canada to end our meeting. |
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Rotary’s Areas of Focus (Part 2 of 2)Rotary’s Areas of Focus (Part 2 of 2) Rotary is dedicated to seven areas of focus to build international relationships, improve lives, and create a better world to support our peace efforts and end polio forever.
Which cause are you most passionate about? |
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Rotary’s Areas of Focus (Part 1 of 2)Rotary is dedicated to seven areas of focus to build international relationships, improve lives, and create a better world to support our peace efforts and end polio forever.
Learn about the other four next week! |
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What does The Rotary Foundation do with its Money?The Rotary Foundation spends charitable contributions on multiple programs - from the eradication of polio, to scholarships, vocational training teams, Rotary Peace Centers, and humanitarian projects. The funds are used for programs and projects Rotarians feel passionate about. With a four-star rating by Charity Navigator for twelve years in a row and 1.2 million Rotarians overseeing the funds at a grassroots level, our funds through Rotary are in amazing hands doing amazing work here and abroad. You can read stories and see the details of our Foundation’s financials in our most recent Annual Report on rotary.org. |
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Rotary Youth Exchange and its global and local impact.Rotary Youth Exchange and its global and local impact. The future of Rotary begins with our youth! All of the Rotary Exchange Students that participate are our future Rotarians. They understand the fundamental values of what Rotary does: Peace, Community, Service. We need to invest and nurture these young people, and encourage them to continue with Rotaract/ Rotary. Andrea Stiller is the Vice-Chair of the Rotary Youth Exchange program for our District. She first learned about Youth Exchange in 2016, when her daughter applied to be a Youth Exchange student. When her daughter was on exchange she became a host mom for her daughter's exchange partner, and had such a good experience that she has continued to host students for the Rotary Clubs in Chilliwack, and joined Rotary in March 2018! Seeing her passion and interest in this program, she was invited to join the District Committee. Once again, Rotary Youth Exchange leads to Rotarians. Rianna Stiller: Rianna was an exchange student to France in 2017-18. She currently attends the University of the Fraser Valley. As an involved ROTEX (Returned Rotary Exchange Student), she has helped with our D5050 Exchange Orientations and she is also the Vice President of the Chilliwack Fraser Rotaract Club. |
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Langley Rotary 50/50 Mega Draw Get your Langley Rotary 50/50 Mega Draw tickets HERE or click the image above for your chance to win big! |
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November 26, 2020 Our opening conversations covered being hacked on Facebook, flooring at a daughter’s place, when to start singing Christmas songs, phoning missing colleagues, and more. “Well, Veronica, the clock says seven,” reminded Les O’clock, and Veronica dutifully opened the meeting. Leon’s offering of O Canada was played by the Surrey City Orchestra. I can’t speak for the others, but the singing was great at my house. President Veronica welcomed guests Andrea and Rianna Stiller, our speakers this evening. Announcements: Rotary Opens Opportunities; the 50/50 Mega Draw has now reached $102 840 in sales; we’ll have first call for our election; Victoria Biggs will be joining us next week, followed by Lillianne Fuller the following Thursday; remember to register all paper ticket sales for our big draw. Past President Wayne called for nominations for all the executive positions and announced that he had already filled two: Past President Veronica and President Leon. The following nominations were made tonight, and the second call will be made next week. VP; Claudia Trigo; Sec. Bob Lukie; Treas. Anthony Ball; Director: Allan Richmond, Jim See, Nora Truman, Les Clay, Wayne Wiebe, Claudia Trigo, Rudy Storteboom, and Lana Hart. No nominations were received for President Elect. Foundation Chair Wayne read the Foundation Moments for last week and this week, and you can read what he read by clicking What does The Rotary Foundation do with its Money? and Rotary’s Areas of Focus (Part 1 of 2). For more information please visit: Rotary Youth Exchange and its global and local impact. Guest speakers Andrea and Rianna spoke about Rotary Youth Exchange and the many lives touched by this program. Andrea is a Chilliwack Rotarian heavily involved in the program and Rianna is a former Youth Exchange student (who went to France) who is now active in Rotaract. Happy and sad dollars were pledged, and we raised our glasses in a toast to Canada to end our meeting. Note: Treasurer Anthony will be collecting the happy and sad dollars pledged for Polio Plus from September 3 to November 19, 2020. For more photos please visit November 26, 2020 Cheers! |
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November 19, 2020 We socialized before our social meeting, with conversations covering painting, flooring, removing baseboards, liberal arts, and more. “Okay, Veronica, it’s time,” intoned clock-watching Clay, and our meeting officially began. O Canada was played by the ceremonial guard performing at Parliament Hill with no vocal accompaniment. Only some was provided at a few Rotarians’ houses. Announcements: Rotary Opens Opportunities; the 50/50 Mega Draw has now reached $90 160 in sales; November is Foundation Month and there are online zoom meetings on Foundation topics; tonight’s program was organized by the social committee; next week we’ll hear about Rotary Youth Exchange and have an executive meeting; the ABSL is looking forward to unveiling a new website. Leon provided stories and images along the Remembrance Day theme, showing gun positions around Vancouver from years past. We had conversations about war, the role of Canadian forces, women’s rights, education, and promoting Canadian values. Canadians provide humanitarian assistance around the world. Click November 19, 2020 to see photos taken and shared during the meeting. Happy and sad dollars were pledged, and we raised our glasses in a toast to Canada to end our meeting. Note: Treasurer Anthony will be collecting the happy and sad dollars pledged for Polio Plus from September 3 to November 19, 2020. Cheers! |
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Our Rotary Success with the PolioPlus CampaignOur Rotary Success with the PolioPlus Campaign Because of Rotarian support, more than 2.5 billion children have received polio vaccines and have been protected against this crippling disease for life. There are currently only two countries that are endemic: Afghanistan and Pakistan. We must not stop our efforts until we give the children a Polio Free world! Will you help The Rotary Foundation make history by eradicating Polio from our planet? Give today at endpolio.org. |
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Rotary’s Polio ChallengeRotary’s Polio Challenge Since 2013, the Gates Foundation has matched every $1 Rotary commits to polio eradication 2-to-1. In January 2020, the Gates Foundation announced that they will continue to match 2:1 every new dollar Rotary commits to polio eradication up to $50 million per year through 2023! Rotary has contributed more than $2 billion to fight polio, including matching funds from the Gates Foundation, and countless volunteer hours since launching its polio eradication program, PolioPlus, in 1985. Thank you for supporting Rotary and leveraging your generosity! |
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What the Architect of the Rotary Foundation Had to Say“The Rotary Foundation is not to build monuments of brick and stone. If we work upon marble, it will perish; if we work on brass, time will efface it; if we rear temples they will crumble into dust; but if we work upon immortal minds, if we imbue them with the full meaning of the spirit of Rotary . . . we are engraving on those tablets something that will brighten all eternity.” Arch C. Klumph, President of Rotary International, 1916-1917 |
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November 12, 2020 Socializing before the meeting was enjoyable as always. “All the Hollywood Squares have checked in, so we could start the meeting,” announced President Veronica. Leon played O Canada as performed by Sarah McLachlan at game 6 of the NBA finals and the singing at my house was fantastic Announcements: Rotary Opens Opportunities; the 50/50 Mega Draw has now reached $78 620 in sales; November is Foundation Month; Zoom coffee chats are scheduled for the 18th and 25th; GolFun update: the district raised $161 134 for TRF; we received a thank you letter from Sources Food bank. Allan and Les visited the cenotaph in the arboretum with over fifty people attending, paying silent tribute. They placed a wreath on our behalf. The Fraser Blues flew over in formation and our representatives visited with four Afghan veterans. Our guest speaker was Shannon Todd Booth who reminded Wayne that she (Shannon Douglas) was once a student of his. That was a long time ago. Shannon is now in charge of Communications and Fund Development for Langley Hospice Society, and she shared a power point presentation about the progress in building the new fifteen bed facility. They broke ground on August 7 and you can click November 12, 2020 to see her photos. Foundation chair Wayne read The Rotary Foundation announcement for this week. Click on What the Architect of the Rotary Foundation Had to Say to read the information from Arch Klumph. Happy and sad dollars were pledged, we raised our glasses and cups in a toast to Canada, and our meeting was done. |
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Memorial and Tribute GiftsMemorial and Tribute Gifts If you wish to honor or memorialize someone with a contribution to The Rotary Foundation, the best way is to use rotary.org/donate and choose “I would like to make this donation in honor or in memory of someone.” The donor making the contribution will receive gift credit and a tax receipt (where applicable). The person they wish to honor, or the person’s family in the case of a memorial, will be notified of the gift. Note: For tax and legal reasons, be sure to list your own name as the donor when sending funds to the Foundation, and not the name of the person you wish to honor. Consider giving Foundation Recognition Points to someone as an alternative if you wish to honor them with recognition. The process is simple, and honorees and family members can be notified by email or by a print-at-home notification. Interested in making a gift to The Rotary Foundation as a memorial or tribute to honor a loved one? Give today at rotary.org/donate. |
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November 5, 2020 As has become our custom, we visited and socialized for fifteen minutes before officially starting the meeting. “What time is it, Les?” asked Veronica, and when he replied that he had a minute to seven we continued chatting. After her official call to order Leon played a slow version of O Canada. It sounded good but was more difficult to sing along with, so most Rotarians just watched and listened. Announcements: Rotary Opens Opportunities; the 50/50 Mega Draw has now reached $67 670 in sales; District 5050 is having a friendly and voluntary blood drive competition: Lee’s Trees will be moving plants and trees from Les’ place to the Arboretum; Les and Allan will lay a wreath on Nov. 11. We welcomed Glen Brown from the Rotary Club of Port Moody as our guest once again. Glen updated us on the container shipped to Belize which has now arrived in that country. He went on to tell us about the large Kenya Global Grant Project focusing on water and sanitation, but also on education and food security. The Sunshine Coast Rotary Club is heading this project and other clubs are encouraged to become involved. A shift is being made from pit latrines to the use of composting toilets. We also heard how students may rent solar lamps to help them do homework, rather than having to burn gas lights inside their homes. Kenya Connect wants to provide greenhouses to schools in Kenya. Click November 5, 2020 to see some of the slides from Glen’s presentation. Foundation chair Wayne read The Rotary Foundation announcement for this week. Click on Memorial and Tribute Gifts to read the information. Happy and sad dollars were pledged, we raised our glasses to Canada, and our meeting was done. Get your Langley Rotary 50/50 Mega Draw tickets HERE or click the image below for your chance to win big!  |
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October 29, 2020 Following a great social time online, including enjoying and commenting on costumes, our conversations drew to a close when we heard, “According to my timepiece, it’s seven o’clock” from President Veronica. We listened to Alessia Cara sing O Canada, and some of us sang along. In attendance were the Bloody Bunch from Brazil, Al Capone and his moll, the Mad Hatter, Maid n Gold, Veronica Rabbit, Covid Avenger, Bear Naked, Meeeow, the 60’s Gal, Dad and Baby Yoda, and Clown. A fine group indeed. Announcements: Rotary Opens Opportunities; we watched an excerpt from World Polio Day; Les was featured in articles in two newspapers for his generous donations to the Arboretum. We welcomed Brazilians Manuel, Teresa, and Claudia’s niece, and Leon’s moll, wife Catheryn. To recognize World Polio Day (Oct. 24) Wayne shared a quiz about Rotary and TRF information and members self-scored their results. Leon auctioned Rotary face masks and had many purchasers at $10 each. Lana auctioned an original painting from a friend of hers which brought another $25 for Polio Plus. Well done! Foundation chair Wayne read The Rotary Foundation announcement for this week. Click on Our Rotary Success with the PolioPlus Campaign to read the short article. We shared jokes, stories, moments either funny or somber. Happy and sad dollars were pledged, we toasted Canada, and the meeting was done. For more photos please visit
Do you have your tickets for the Langley Rotary 50/50 Mega Draw yet? Help the four Rotary Clubs of Langley help others AND have a chance to win the jackpot! Get your tickets HERE or click the image below for your chance to win big!  |
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What is a Rotary Foundation Benefactor?What is a Rotary Foundation Benefactor? A Rotary Foundation Benefactor is a person who has notified The Rotary Foundation that they have made provisions in their final estate plans to Rotary for US$1,000 or more, or who has made an outright gift of US$1,000 or more to The Rotary Foundation’s Endowment. Benefactors receive a certificate and insignia to wear with a Rotary or Paul Harris Fellow pin. They are listed in the Benefactor Report and identified in the Club Recognition Summary. Clubs with 100% member support of Rotary’s Endowment are eligible to request a Rotary’s Promise Club electronic certificate. Qualifying support may be a commitment for a future gift to The Rotary Foundation in an estate plan or an outright gift of $1,000 or more to the Endowment. A US$1,000 gift to The Rotary Foundation creates a legacy of helping people live better lives around the world. Today there are over 100,000 Benefactors worldwide. Will you join them by making a gift of $1,000 to Rotary’s Endowment or by leaving a gift to Rotary in your estate? |
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Who is a Rotary Foundation Bequest Society Member?Who is a Rotary Foundation Bequest Society Member? Those who have made commitments for future gifts of $10,000 or more to The Rotary Foundation are invited to join the Bequest Society. Donors may elect to receive various benefits and recognition pieces commemorating their commitment at each new recognition level, including pins, crystals, named funds, and special seating at the Rotary International Convention. A bequest gift of at least $10,000 in your name to The Rotary Foundation creates a legacy of your generosity and compassion as you are helping many people live better lives around the world. Today there are over 18,000 Bequest Society Members worldwide. Will you join them by leaving a gift to Rotary in your estate? Ask me to put you in contact with The Rotary Foundation’s Planned Giving team. |
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What is Rotary Direct?What is Rotary Direct? Support Rotary’s Foundation year-round by making an automatic recurring gift with Rotary Direct. You choose how much and how often to give. It’s a simple and secure way to make a big impact! Online credit card contributions can be made monthly, quarterly, or annually, with a US$10 transaction minimum. Donors can also enroll using the Rotary Direct enrollment form, The Rotary Foundation Contribution Form, by calling the Support Center at 1-866-9ROTARY, or by going online at my.rotary.org/rotary-direct. Donors can change or cancel their recurring giving online at any time through My Rotary. After you sign in, go to Account Settings by following the link in the upper right. Then choose the Donor Self Service tab. Rotary Direct is safe, secure and easy… Sign up today! |
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October 22, 2020 As has become our custom, we sign in on zoom starting at 6:45 and visit with each other, enjoying the social time. Guests included Sue McCulloch from Langley memorial Hospital Foundation, and Alex Carmichael from the Rotaract Club of the Fraser Valley. A familiar voice announced, “Well, Veronica, it’s time you got going.” Our president called the meeting to order at 7:01. Leon played a version of O Canada that showed many people singing in tune. Announcements: Rotary Opens Opportunities, and we’ve had the opportunity to visit with Rotarians from Brazil; the 50/50 Mega Draw has now reached $54 340 in sales. Alex announced that her Rotaract club has a calendar fundraiser, featuring photos which illustrate Rotary’s areas of focus. Calendars sell for $25 each and monies raised will go to Starfish Packs for school children. Sue is the manager of LMH’s annual giving and donor relations. She thanked our club for donating $115 151 to LMH over the years. We certainly can be proud of that accomplishment. Sue spoke about the new MRI the hospital has just received (but not yet paid for) which develops a magnetic field 30 000 times more powerful than Earth’s. The new Emergency Ward at LMH will greatly increase the space available, allowing much more privacy and comfort for those needing the emergency services. Foundation chair Wayne read The Rotary Foundation announcement for this week. Click on Rotary’s Polio Challenge to read about Rotary’s contributions to Polio Plus. Our Membership committee reported to the club members, indicating that we will be using Rotary branding more on Facebook and twitter. Once we are allowed to meet in person, we recommend that at least once a month we meet via zoom, utilizing the technology which is becoming more familiar to us. Classification talks from older (been in Rotary longer) members will be encouraged so our newer members can learn more about the Rotary pioneers and our club history. Happy and sad dollars were pledged, we raised our glasses and cups in a toast to Canada, and the meeting was done. For more photos please visit October 22, 2020. Get your Langley Rotary 50/50 Mega Draw tickets HERE or click the image below for your chance to win big!  |
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October 15, 2020 We were able to visit with each other and special guests from Brazil tonight before President Veronica called the meeting to order. Leon played a version of O Canada as performed by Angelica Hale, sung before a Panthers vs Senators NHL game. I saw only a few Rotarians singing along. Announcements: Rotary Opens Opportunities; the 50/50 Mega Draw has now reached $43 870 in sales; Anthony and Tracey Ball welcomed Caellum Zane into their family, and he slept through his first Rotary meeting. We welcomed Brazilians Marco and Leda Manica, Eduardo Arienzo (along with his two sons), and translator Lucila Tonelli to our meeting. Click October 15, 2020 to see screenshots of Eduardo’s presentation. They explained about their project to purchase a special microscope for their local hospital, and are looking for assistance in adding $16 500 US in DDF to their grant proposal. We enjoyed a video about their home city that they shared with us. Foundation chair Wayne read The Rotary Foundation announcement for this week. Click on PolioPlus is a Signature Program of The Rotary Foundation to read the information. Happy and sad dollars were pledged, we raised our glasses and cups in a toast to Canada, and the meeting was done. Get your Langley Rotary 50/50 Mega Draw tickets HERE or click the image above for your chance to win big! |
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October 8, 2020 We had our social time, exchanging greetings and checking on each other’s health, and allowed seven o’clock to pass while we visited. Once Les checked in, Veronica said we could begin and called the meeting to order at 7:05. Leon played a version of O Canada which showed our flag waving in sunlight, while some sang, more watched, and all enjoyed. Announcements: Rotary Opens Opportunities; this is Economic and Community Development month (see the PAJ for DG Carol’s message); the 50/50 Mega Draw has now reached $38 860 in sales; regrets from Jim See. We welcomed Peter Tam, a Rotarian from Haney, to perform and entertain at our meeting. Peter says it is now his mission to create enjoyment through music, and he played and sang several songs for us. He spoke about his life after he decided to go into music, and said all his original music is now over the internet, not on CDs. We were treated to the world premiere of “One Day in Your Eyes” and Peter agreed to a request to sing “Rocket Man.” Click October 8, 2020 to see screenshots. We received a report from the Public Image Committee and can expect to see changes to our website and Facebook pages. Wayne and Jonah are posting weekly updates on the website, and Veronica is hoping to work a little magic there as well. Foundation chair Wayne read the Rotary Foundation announcement for this week. Click on What is a Rotary Foundation Benefactor? to read the information. Happy and sad dollars were pledged, we raised our glasses and cups in a toast to Canada, and the meeting was done. Get your Langley Rotary 50/50 Mega Draw tickets HERE or click the image below for your chance to win big!  |
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October 1, 2020 We had our social time, exchanging greetings and visiting, and it seemed like no time before Les stated, “Okay, Veronica, it’s your time.” Our president responded with, “The Les o’clock has struck, so I will call this meeting to order.” Since Leon is traveling and not at his own home, Claudia played Carly Rae Jepsen’s rendition of O Canada, as performed at the NHL 2019 All Star Game. Some sang, some watched, all enjoyed. Announcements: Rotary Opens Opportunities; this is Economic and Community Development month; the 50/50 Mega Draw has now reached $29 440 in sales, and the committee will be working on a promotional video; the ABSL AGM will be on Saturday; October 24 is World Polio Day and we may have an event on October 29. We welcomed Dan Ferguson, Community Engagement Coordinator for Youth Unlimited, back to our meeting. He gave a six month summary of what’s been happening as his agency continues to provide resources needed by vulnerable youth. Youth Unlimited tries to meet the physical, intellectual, social and spiritual needs of their clients. Click Youth Unlimited to read more. We received reports from the Social Committee and the Environmental Committee. Click here to read the reports from Lana, Claudia and Nora. Foundation chair Wayne read the Rotary Foundation announcements for this week. Click on What is The Rotary Foundation’s Endowment Fund? to read the information. Happy and sad dollars were pledged, we raised our glasses and cups in a toast to Canada, and the meeting was done. For more photos please visit October 1, 2020. Get your Langley Rotary 50/50 Mega Draw tickets HERE or click the image below for your chance to win big!  |
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Youth UnlimitedDue to COVID restrictions they now have virtual chats to increase communication, including mailing letters and issuing daily physical challenges. Most of the youth had never received a physical piece of paper in the mail, so this was very special to them. Intellectually they were challenged to learn/do new things, including art challenges, online games, watching movies followed by discussion groups, and a graphic novel book club. Special triangle conversations helped youth with their spiritual life. A transitions program was set up at WGSS in July, providing office space and the ability to make connections and offer emotional support. In August Youth Unlimited lost their lease on Hangar 17 after six years. Fortunately they were able to find some space at Vineyard Centre for the time being. Their mobile drop-in centre trailer has been renovated and is ready for action. Danny expects these volunteer opportunities to start up in January. One need they have is a hitch for their van so they can properly tow the trailer, and a generator to assure operation of the lights and sound system. Social Committee and the Environmental Committee Reports. Lana reported that the Social Committee had a couple meetings and has outlined plans for the next few month. They are proposing a dress-up meeting and social evening for Oct. 29 (Hallowe’en), something about white poppies in November (promoting peace, not war), having a virtual meal together in December, and playing trivia games in January. Claudia and Nora reported that the Environmental Committee suggested litter pick-up days, world projects featuring different countries and continents, environmental projects inside Rotary (through Rotary), fostering partnerships with other environmental groups, and a shredding day. Expect more information from this committee as plans are developed. |
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What is a Major Donor and Arch Klumph Society Member?What is a Major Donor and Arch Klumph Society Member? Major Donor – The Rotary Foundation recognizes individuals or couples whose combined giving reaches US$10,000, regardless of the gift designation. This recognition level can be achieved only through personal contributions. Major Donors may elect to receive a crystal recognition piece and pin(s) commemorating the gift at each new recognition level. Since Rotary’s Major Donor recognition began there have been over 30,000 Major Donors. Arch Klumph Society – Donors whose cumulative gifts total US$250,000 or more are recognized as Arch Klumph Society members. Recognition includes an induction ceremony and your picture and biography in the Arch Klumph Society interactive gallery at the Rotary International headquarters in Evanston, Illinois, USA. Members also receive invitations to society events, along with membership pins and crystals that commemorate their giving level. Since the society’s creation in 2004, there have been over 700 Arch Klumph Society members. Are you interested in becoming a Major Donor or AKS member? |
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PolioPlus is a Signature Program of The Rotary FoundationPolioPlus is a Signature Program of The Rotary Foundation PolioPlus is Rotary’s priority program which supports global efforts to eradicate polio. It was launched in 1985, with the help of Dr. Albert Sabin, developer of the oral polio vaccine, as a worldwide program to protect children from the cruel and fatal consequences of polio. In 1988, the World Health Assembly challenged the world to eradicate polio, and since that time, Rotary’s efforts, along with partner agencies, including the World Health Organization, UNICEF, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and governments around the world have achieved a 99 percent reduction in the number of polio cases worldwide. As of 2018-19, The Rotary Foundation has raised over US$1.6 billion for polio eradication. By the time the world is certified polio-free, our contributions will make Rotary the largest non-governmental financial contributor to the global polio eradication effort. You can help end polio by making a gift to the PolioPlus Fund at endpolio.org. |
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September 24, 2020 Your scribe arrived just after the meeting was opened, so I have no social interaction or special version of O Canada to describe. President Veronica welcomed our Rotaractor guest speakers to our Meeting #13: Brenna Hay, Jake Sawatzky, Alex Carmichael and Adam Hill. She shared information about basic education and literacy in the world, and recommended that we check out the Peace Arch Journal and Rotaract Newsletter online. Allan reported on 20-24 people loading a container with equipment valued at $500 000 for World Help Network. Rotaractors are working with the Abbotsford Rotary Club to sell and deliver frozen blueberries (ten pound boxes) and are planning a calendar fundraiser. One club does twelve good deeds of Christmas, and helps take down invasive plant species. From the Rotaract Club of the Fraser Valley, Adam went on a volunteer trip to Guatemala last year. He first was introduced to Rotaract and rotary at RYLA in 2013. Alex is co-president and a charter member of the club and attended Youth Adventures in Leadership (YAIL) in 2010. Brenna is a distance member as a 6th year grad student at UBC. Jake, a member of the Rotaract Club of Semiahmoo, is also a student at UBC. Twenty-four Rotaractors raised $88 000 for Hands for Peacemaking, a most impressive undertaking which led to the trip to Guatemala. Click on slide show to find more information about this trip to install Aler stoves. Foundation chair Wayne read the Rotary Foundation announcements for this week. Click on What is The Rotary Foundation’s Endowment Fund? to read the information. Happy and sad dollars pledged, followed by raising our glasses and cups in a toast to Canada, and the meeting was done. For more photos please visit September 24, 2020.  Do you have your tickets for the Langley Rotary 50/50 Mega draw yet? Get yours HERE or click the image above for your chance to win big! |
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What is a Paul Harris Society Member?The Paul Harris Society recognizes Rotary members and friends of The Rotary Foundation who elect to contribute $1,000 or more each year to the Annual Fund, PolioPlus Fund, or approved global grants. The purpose of the Paul Harris Society is to honor and thank individuals for their generous, ongoing support of The Rotary Foundation. Paul Harris Society contributions also count toward Sustaining Member (Annual Fund contributions only), EREY, Paul Harris Fellow, and Major Donor recognition. Recognition consists of a chevron style pin and a certificate provided by your District Paul Harris Society Coordinator. Paul Harris Society members are listed in the Paul Harris Society Report. Are you interested in taking the next step in supporting our Foundation? Ask me for a Paul Harris Society membership form. |
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September 17, 2020 We enjoyed our social conversation as we signed in, catching up with each other and discussing any concerns or topics of interest. Les reminded, “It’s time, Veronica,” but she exercised her presidential prerogative and delayed the start until concerns about the link for joining the meeting were resolved. She then announced that the Les alarm clock has spoken and called meeting #12 to order, reminding everyone of our theme, “Rotary Opens Opportunities.” Leon played a version of O Canada featuring photos from outer space, and a number of our members were so intrigued that they forgot to sing along. Announcements: Veronica and Doug celebrating an anniversary; September is Education and Literacy Month, and we donated $500 to the Guatemalan literacy Project; Trisha sent out information regarding a webinar on peace and environmental action; 50/50 Mega Draw tickets will be dropped off in Brookswood at Nora’s house; executive meeting next week. We sang Happy Birthday for Brendan and Jim C. We then moved into our Annual General Meeting chaired by Past President Wayne. Club members may click here for AGM information. Foundation chair Wayne read the Rotary Foundation announcements for last week and this week, incorporating them into his Foundation Committee report. Click What is Rotary Direct? and What is a Major Donor and Arch Klumph Society Member? to read the short articles. Our club has seven Groups of Five with members donating $100 US (or more) every year, earning each member a Paul Harris recognition once every five years. The Committee recommends that members become Rotary Direct donors having funds transferred directly to TRF each month. To ensure that the total equals at least $100 US per year, it was suggested that the monthly contribution be $15 CA (or up to $20 CA) and this would avoid the difficulties we’ve faced in the past getting all the $100 US donations in during October and November each year. It was pointed out that this year we will again need to collect the one-time payment, and that members could then sign up for their monthly payments and we’ll be in great shape for next year. Wayne shared information about how much our club has donated to Annual Fund and Polio Plus over the past five years and the numbers were very impressive. Happy and sad dollars and a toast to Canada and we were done. Get your Langley Rotary 50/50 Mega Draw tickets HERE for your chance to win big!  |
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September 10, 2020 What a great meeting we had tonight. DG Carol Tichelman joined us on her official visit and shared in the pre-meeting conversations. We easily could have chatted longer, but Les announced, “Veronica, it’s time.” So President Veronica called the meeting to order. Because Leon was having connection difficulties (he was not at his home station) he shared the screen with Claudia and Claudia played Ginette Reno’s version of O Canada, recorded at a Montreal Canadiens’ home game. Some of us sang very well. We delayed singing Happy Birthday until next week, when we can honour both Brendan and Jim, and spare Carol. Announcements: Rotary Opens Opportunities; we have a new member! Bob Hillmer has paper tickets for the 50/50 MegaDraw. Veronica formally and happily introduced her mother-in-law, Nora Truman, as a member of our club and DG Carol performed the official induction. DG Carol and PP Wayne then presented People of Action pins to deserving Rotarians from the past year. Wayne’s selections were Claudia Trigo and Leon Jensen, and he explained why. Then Carol and President Veronica presented pins to this year’s recipients. Veronica chose Anthony Ball, Trisha Evans, Jorda Maisey and Wayne Wiebe to receive these special awards, and she explained why. Carol Tichelman delivered an interesting, inspiring, and at times quite moving presentation as she spoke about herself, about the district, and Rotary International. She quoted RI President Holger Knaack’s invitation to endless opportunities, and reminded that everything we do provides opportunities for others. She asked us what should our club look like in five years, and advised us to select new members carefully to make sure they are a good fit for the club, and the club is the right fit for themselves. Carol urged us to continue efforts to support polio eradication, and commended our club on its very generous support of Annual Fund and Polio Plus over the years. She said Langley consistently donates above the district average, sometimes three times as much, and we should be proud of our accomplishments. We closed with happy and sad dollars for Polio Plus and a toast to Canada. Carol and the executive members then stayed for our executive meeting. For more photos please visit September 10, 2020. Do you have your tickets for the Langley Rotary 50/50 Mega Draw yet? Help the four Rotary Clubs of Langley help others AND have a chance to win the jackpot! Get your Langley Rotary 50/50 Mega Draw tickets HERE or click the image below for your chance to win big! |
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Langley Rotary 50/50 Mega Draw Start Today!Win Big Give Big! Tickets are now available for the Langley Rotary 50/50 Mega Draw! Visit https://langleyrotary50-50.rafflenexus.com/ or click the image below for details and get your tickets today!  Do you have your tickets yet? Get them HERE! |
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September 3, 2020 Our pre-meeting conversations are always enjoyable, and tonight we were having such a good time that we delayed the start of the meeting to allow more social interaction. President Veronica called meeting #10 to order and reminded everyone of our theme, “Rotary Opens Opportunities.” Leon played a version of O Canada from the Stanley Cup Playoffs to lead our singing of our anthem. Announcements: Rotary is moving to seven areas of focus; Veronica presented a video showing “Rotary Supports Education;” facemasks with Rotary imprinting are available for purchase; our 50/50 Mega Draw tickets will officially go on sale online on September 8, and members are encouraged to buy early; and DG Carol Tichelman will be visiting us next week. Foundation chair Wayne read the Rotary Foundation announcement for the week. Click What is a Paul Harris Society Member? to read the short article. Club members were reminded that the District’s offer to match recognition points for any donations of $250 US or more has been extended to the end of September. As neither the Social Committee nor the Tip ‘n Taste Committee has met, neither reported to our meeting tonight. We welcomed Kim Houlind from Ishtar Women’s Resource Society as our special guest and speaker. Kim will send her powerpoint presentation to Secretary Trisha so you may be able to review it here soon. Langley has two transition houses, Ishtar and Libra, to help women and families when needed. Anthony collected credit card payments, Wayne recorded happy and sad dollar pledges, some donated straight to their own collection containers, and we closed with a toast to Canada. For more photos please visit September 3, 2020. |
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What is a Paul Harris Fellow?What is a Paul Harris Fellow? Established in 1957, Paul Harris Fellow recognition is given to individuals who contribute, or who have contributions made in their name, of $1,000 to the Annual Fund, PolioPlus, or an approved Rotary Foundation grant. Recognition consists of a certificate and pin. Paul Harris Fellows can also be given on behalf of someone through Foundation Recognition points or through a combination of points and outright donations. Since it’s creation, over 1.6 million people have become Paul Harris Fellows, including notable figures such as U.S. President Jimmy Carter, Russian President Boris Yeltsin, and polio vaccine developer Jonas Salk. Use the Club Recognition Summary to see your club’s Paul Harris Fellows. Are you ready to become a Paul Harris Fellow and join your fellow Rotarians in financially supporting The Rotary Foundation? |
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August 27, 2020 We have come to enjoy our very pleasant social interaction and conversation before the meetings begin. Veronica waited for her cues, this time a fifteen second warning, then called the meeting to order. People are getting better at remembering our theme, “Rotary Opens Opportunities.” Leon played a version of O Canada showing Historical Canada which allowed some of us to sing, some to watch attentively, and all of us to enjoy. We then sang Happy Birthday to Allan, and in order to mitigate the delay via online group singing, this has become a slow version of the usually upbeat tempo. We did our best to sing together, and Allan survived the experience. Announcements: Rotaract is now involved as part of the Ribfest group; Sept. 19 will be loading day for the container to Belize, with social distancing being practised; RI President Holger Knaack announced that the African continent was now endemic free from the wild polio virus; and DG Carol will be visiting us in two weeks’ time. Wayne read the TRF announcement for the week. Click What is a Paul Harris Fellow? to read the short article. We welcomed Jim Calamunce, Executive Director of Langley Food Bank, as our special guest and speaker. Jim has been with the food bank for fifteen months and thanked our club for the support it has given. The food bank supports other agencies that are helping the homeless and the needy. Families assisted numbered 1000 to 1200 per month, and have dropped to 850 to 900 since some families have received CERB assistance of $300. They set up three tents in their parking lot and set out bins and carts of food, organized for families of 1-3 and 4-9. This faith-based food bank, motivated by the love of Jesus, has added hair cutting and hearing services, and is open MWF each week. Their need is for delivery drivers to take supplies to 27 family units as not all people are comfortable leaving their homes amid COVID fears. Wayne recorded happy and sad dollar pledges, some donated straight to their own collection containers, and we closed with a toast to Canada. For more photos please visit August 27, 2020. |
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What is a Rotary Foundation Sustaining Member?A Rotary Foundation Sustaining Member is an individual who personally contributes US$100 or more each Rotary year to the Annual Fund. These contributions also count toward Paul Harris Fellow, Multiple Paul Harris Fellow, Paul Harris Society, EREY (Every Rotarian Every Year), Major Donor, and club recognition. Use the Club Foundation Banner Report to see your club’s Rotary Foundation Sustaining Members. For $10 a month, you too can be a Rotary Foundation Sustaining Member and help provide life-changing opportunities for those in need on a yearly basis! |
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How did the Rotary Foundation get started?How did The Rotary Foundation get started? The Rotary Foundation was founded in 1917 by Rotary International’s sixth president, Arch C. Klumph, as an endowment fund for Rotary “to do good in the world.” It has grown from an initial contribution in 1917 of $26.50 from the Rotary Club of Kansas City, Missouri to more than $4.4 billion dollars in total contributions. The Rotary Foundation made its first grant of $500.00 to the International Society for Crippled Children in 1930, and to this day, it continues to “do good in the world” in the name of Rotary. Thank you for supporting The Rotary Foundation and its work. |
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Rotary Foundation's Annual Fund What is The Rotary Foundation’s Annual Fund? The Annual Fund is the primary source of unrestricted support for the programs of The Rotary Foundation. From digging clean water wells for villages in Africa to teaching basic literacy skills to children in Latin America, during any given moment in a day, thousands of Rotarians volunteer their time and expertise to ensure that all contributions given to the Annual Fund are spent wisely on quality Rotary projects. In the 2018-19 Rotary year, US $126.1 million was donated to The Rotary Foundation’s Annual Fund. The Annual Fund is comprised of donations from Rotarians, friends of Rotary, corporations, workplace-giving vehicles and can be matched by corporate matching gifts to leverage your donations. There is even an online resource that allows you to see if your company has a charitable matching program…check it out at: www.rotary.org/matchinggifts. Will you support the Annual Fund with a $10 monthly gift this year? |
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August 20, 2020 As usual, we had a very pleasant social interaction and conversation before the meeting began. Veronica waited for her cues, then called the meeting to order. This time people remembered our theme, “Rotary Opens Opportunities.” Leon played a version of O Canada showing beautiful scenery without lyrics, and I suspect not all members sang. At some houses, though, it is claimed the singing was spectacular. We sang Happy Birthday to Nav, 84 years young, and our president’s comment was, “I think we’re getting better.” In person we can sing in unison; online it is more difficult to do so. Announcements: five solar lights have been installed in the arboretum parking lot, Rotary facemasks are available for $8 each (minimum 250), and our speakers for the next few meetings were announced. Wayne read the TRF announcement for the week. Click What is a Rotary Foundation Sustaining Member? to read the short article. We welcomed Phoenix MacLaren as our special guest and speaker. Phoenix is a member of the Rotaract Club of the Fraser Valley and is serving as District 5050 Rotaract Representative (among other positions). We have ten Rotaract clubs in our district, and they are in email contact with each other. Rotaractors are now serving on several district committees. Phoenix feels that RYLA is the best recruiting tool for Rotaract, and is pleased that there is no longer an upper age limit for membership. Wayne recorded happy and sad dollar pledges, some donated straight to their own collection containers, and we closed with a toast to Canada. For more photos please visit August 20, 2020. |
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Every Rotarian, Every YearWhat is “Every Rotarian, Every Year” All About? This initiative by the Board of Trustees of The Rotary Foundation encourages “every Rotarian, every year” to: Participate in a Foundation program that is making a difference in the world Contribute to the Foundation’s Annual Fund at a sustainable amount The Rotary Foundation even has banners to celebrate clubs where every member contributes at least US$25 to the Annual Fund with a US$100 per capita during the Rotary year. Today nearly 1/3 of Rotarians participate in this initiative. In 2019/20 The Rotary Foundation was able to award over 1,300 global grants for large scale sustainable projects due to the generosity of these Rotarians. Think about what Rotary could accomplish in the world if all of our 1.2 million worldwide members each gave at least US$25 to our Foundation’s Annual Fund. If you are a part of the “Every Rotarian, Every Year” initiative – I personally thank you for your support of The Rotary Foundation and its work. |
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August 13, 2020 Our meeting took on a true international flavour as we were joined by Marco and Leda Manica from Brazil. Claudia did the translating for them and for us. Each of our special guests is a Rotary club president this year, with Marco leading an all male club and Leda leading an all female club. PE Leon had us singing O Canada along with the Sultans of String, and with our mics muted, some of us sang along and in time. Well done! Rotary Opens Opportunities and this year we will have some new ones. President Veronica shared Rotary information with us, advising that the Board of Directors has approved a seventh area of focus: Supporting the Environment. She also announced that Jennifer Jones has been nominated to be Rotary International’s first female president. Wayne recalled his year as district governor when he chose and invited Jennifer to be the RI President’s Representative at our district conference. Jennifer and her husband Nick joined us at Harrison and she was very friendly and inspiring. She rated Wayne’s conference as the second best one she had ever attended, after only her own. We look forward to her year as RI President! Wayne read the Rotary Foundation report for the week, explaining about Every Rotariaan, Every year. Click Every Rotarian, Every Year to read the report. This was followed by our guest speaker Jim Purcell, Polio Plus Committee Chair for District 5050. Jim urged us to continue the fight to eradicate polio, as it will be more cost effective to eliminate the wild polio virus than to try to contain it and not allow it to spread. He estimated it will cost $4.2 billion to eradicate the virus by the new target date of 2023. Click August 13, 2020 Presentation to read his powerpoint presentation. The Langley club can be proud of its participation, as we donated $4111 US in 2018-19, and surpassed our stretch goal of $5000 US by donating $7050 US in 2019-20. The district is hoping each club will donate $2500 to the virtual Golfun this year. Our club has agreed to contribute $4000 at this time, sending $1500 to Polio Plus and $2500 to Annual Fund. Individual members are being asked to donate $250 or more to receive matching points from the district. Happy and sad dollars pledged followed by a toast to Canada closed our meeting. Hopefully our club committees will be holding Zoom meetings and report back to the club in the near future. For more photos please visit August 13, 2020. |
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August 6, 2020 Following an enjoyable social time, President Veronica called the meeting to order and asked if we remembered this year’s theme, “Rotary Opens Opportunities.” She wondered what treat Leon would have for us for the anthem, and he didn’t disappoint. We sang O Canada with the Wiggles from Australia! Sharing Rotary information, we were reminded that Rotary is not just a club you join; it is a vehicle which allows you to interface with endless opportunities. We were encouraged to continue our emphasis to eradicate polio, which we have been doing in our club. Club Foundation Chair Wayne reported that our club had done very well supporting TRF the past year. We finished third in the district donating $235.03 per member to Polio Plus, and first in the district donating $647.82 per member to the Annual Fund! He then read this week’s Rotary Foundation report. Click Rotary Foundation's Annual Fund to read about the Annual Fund. Our guest speaker was Una Chang, one of our scholarship winners, who was congratulated by Veronica for being valedictorian for WGSS. Una spoke to us about the Langley City Youth Advisory Committee. She is one of seventeen committee members who make recommendations to City council on a number of topics. Click Youth Advisory Committee to read the Terms of Reference for the Youth Advisory Committee. Una’s talk was very informative and we certainly enjoyed her presentation. We then shared stories about our first concerts and/or memorable concerts we had attended. Do you know who sang “Nothing Could be Finer Than to be in Carolina in the Morning” at Red Cross meetings? How about seeing Charley Pride at the PNE or the Beatles at Empire Stadium? Who remembers a Seals and Croft concert, or seeing Gordon Lightfoot in person, or Twisted Sister? Who saw Jan and Dean perform at Newlands in Langley? Who was followed in Moscow as he walked to and from the ballet? The answers to these and other intriguing questions were answered at our meeting. Following happy and sad dollars being pledged, we toasted Canada and bid each other good evening. For more photos please visit August 6, 2020. |
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July 23, 2020 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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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Welcome!Want to learn more about the Rotary Club of Langley and Rotary International? Follow @LangleyRotary on Facebook, explore our website, and contact us via the Officers and Directors sidebar located on the left-hand side of our home page. |
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Online Meeting Every ThursdayWhile in-person meetings are currently cancelled as a result of COVID-19, the Rotary Club of Langley continues to meet online every Thursday at 7pm! Thinking of visiting us? For more info contact our President or Secretary via the Officers and Directors sidebar located on the left-hand side of our home page. We look forward to hearing from you! |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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January 13, 2020
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February 6, 2020 Our Rotary theme this year is Rotary Connects the World. Our club has decided that we like to connect with each other every week, so welcome to meeting number 28 of this Rotary year. Announcements: Arboretum and RIC, Social Committee, Ribfest, Membership and Club Training Assembly Our guest speaker was Tyler Walton, relating “A Personal Story” to us. He told of his addictions, the troubles he went through, and how he has now become a sober, contributing member of society. Tyler’s story was very compelling, and members asked many questions, showing strong interest in the story he shared. Bob Lukie did the honours in collecting happy and sad dollars, and we closed with a toast to Canada. For more photos please visit February 6, 2020. |
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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 |
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January 30, 2020 On January 30, 2020 meeting #27 of our Rotary year opened in the usual fashion. Then our president welcomed us and asked us, “Our Rotary theme this year is Rotary Connects the World. What have you done this Rotary year to bring new members to our club? What should our club be doing to attract new members?” Allan and Les updated us on the arboretum and RIC (will need furnace replaced), the social committee has plans for next month, and Wayne reminded us about the Rotary Citation and what we still need to do to earn this award. We had two guests (we don’t include Nora with the guests anymore), Karen Moraes and Margaret Ann. Margaret was our guest speaker and she spoke to us about the New Directions English Langley School, telling us about the programs and the clientele. It turned out one of our members has taken classes there, and speaks highly of the school. Claudia is showing us up by becoming fluently bilingual. Happy and sad dollars for Polio Plus were collected, and we closed with a toast to Canada. For more photos please visit January 30, 2020. |
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January 23, 2020 President Wayne called the meeting to order and led us in O Canada. In his welcoming remarks, he commented, “Our Rotary theme this year is Rotary Connects the World. We didn’t do much connecting ourselves last week as the Rotary Interpretive Centre froze up. Let’s make an effort to invite guests and potential members to our meetings.” We welcomed four guests to our meeting: Lisa Block, Paul Goldberg, Carrie Hadden, Linda Weatherly, and Alia Ali. Announcements topics included Arboretum and RIC, Social Committee, Membership, Wagner Hills visit, and Rotaract. Alia brought us news about Rotaract in our district and events being planned. She has already been in touch with our local Rotaract Club of Langley. Lisa, a previous guest speaker, was here to receive a cheque from us to enable Hope for Women Pregnancy Services to provide low income women/families with baby supplies through their Baby Boutique. Our official guest speakers were Paul, Linda and Carrie from the Langley Senior Resources Society. Many seniors in Langley rely on LSRS for companionship and a source of inexpensive meals. Paul explained how the cost of meals is kept lower (subsidized) to assist those seniors in need. Allan thanked our speakers and presented them with a book to sign for us to deliver to Nicomekl Elementary. We collected happy and sad dollars, raised our glasses/cups/mugs in a toast to Canada, and then executive members reconvened for an executive meeting. For more photos please visit January 23, 2020. |
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January 9, 2020 We welcomed the new calendar year with Meeting # 25 of our Rotary year. Following another fine rendition of O Canada, Wayne welcomed us with “Our Rotary theme this year is Rotary Connects the World. I’d like to see our club connect with a few more people and increase our membership. How to do this will be one topic for our meeting next week.” With the recent resignations of Jim Armstrong and Reza Mahmoodi, our club committees have been rearranged slightly as follows. Club Committees: Membership Claudia, Les, Rudy, Wayne, Sonia Fundraising Leon, Bob H. Social Lana, Navnit, John Foundation Veronica, Wayne, Brendan, Jorda, Stephen Scholarship Jonah, Claudia, Wayne, Bob H., Stephen, Veronica Funding Requests Allan, Wayne, Claudia, Rudy, Stephen, Veronica, Lana Rotaract Jonah, Veronica Arboretum Les, Navnit, Bob L. LRCCF Brendan, Navnit, Veronica Investment Anthony, Jonah, Allan Ribfest Bob Hillmer, Leon Jensen Our guest speaker was Michelle Sweeney from St. John Ambulance, who shared information about her organization. Among other things we heard about Paws 4 Stories, a therapy dog program. As people become more aware of the benefits of therapy dogs and how they help calm people, the demand for the program is increasing. We collected happy and sad dollars for Polio Plus, then closed with a toast to Canada. For more photos please visit January 9, 2020. |
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December 19, 2020 Our final meeting of 2019 was held at the Timms Centre and was an unusual one. In his welcome, President Wayne stated, “Our Rotary theme this year is Rotary Connects the World. Tonight we plan to connect with each other as we have our first regular social meeting. Tonight we do have some business to attend to first, and that should also be enjoyable.” The business was the induction of a new member, Sonia Gill, to our club. Sonia has attended previous meetings and expressed a desire to give back to the community. She is especially interested in hands-on projects that we might do. For the first time in a long time, we had food (other than cookies or cake with coffee) at our meeting, and we certainly seemed to enjoy it. Under the leadership of our Social Committee chair, VP Lana led us through a number of activities and games, and even awarded prizes. This opportunity to get to know each other a little better and to simply relax and have fun was probably overdue, and it is our hope to have more meetings of this type moving forward. For more photos please visit December 19, 2019. |
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December 5, 2019Tonight we met at the home of Allan Richmond to enjoy a catered Christmas dinner. Great appetizers, a delicious meal, and friendly company made for a truly enjoyable evening. We sang Christmas songs and tried to embody the Christmas spirit. Sorry, no photos. |
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December 12, 2019 We met as usual at the Timms Centre, and after our rendition of O Canada, Wayne welcomed us with “Our Rotary theme this year is Rotary Connects the World. With our efforts to end polio, we certainly have made many world connections.” The big event this evening was the election of directors for the 2020-21 Rotary year. Our new executive, six months away, will be Past President Wayne Wiebe, President Veronica Lopez, Vice President Lana Hart, President Elect Leon Jensen, Secretary Trisha Evans, Treasurer Anthony Ball, and Directors Les Clay, Allan Richmond, John Brynjolfson, Claudia Trigo, Bob Lukie and Stephen Richardson. For more photos please visit December 12, 2019. |
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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. |
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November 28, 2019 At our meeting this evening we received updates on the arboretum, Groups of Five and Ribfest. We also heard from the social committee and received an invitation to an anniversary event at Gateway of Hope. Our guest speaker was Zosia Ettenberg, Executive Director of Langley Pos-Abilities Society. Zosia told us about a pilot program she hopes to offer to have people’s wheelchairs serviced or repaired at low or no cost to the individuals. Experts would be hired to be available to look at the wheelchairs at a central location, and people who cannot afford the regular repair rates would be able to become mobile again. Zosia is seeking funding for this project. Club President Wayne Wiebe was in a cheerful mood as he presented a cheque from Ribfest to Treasurer Anthony Ball, and another cheque from our club to Les Clay for the ABSL. For more photos please visit November 28, 2019. |
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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. |
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November 21, 2019 Some things are becoming predictable (or is that dependable) this year with Wayne as the club president. We are allowed time to socialize, we get called to order, we sing O Canada, and he reminds the club about this year’s Rotary theme: Rotary Connects the World. Usually he has some words of welcome to follow that. The topics for discussion are stated and the club members are invited to add to them. Then we proceed through that list with ample opportunity for members to ask questions and share. Sometimes the discussion gets a little off the official topic, but rarely is the gavel used, and the president guides the discussion back to the agenda. Tonight we heard from the Social Committee, received an update about the arboretum, were reminded about the Groups of Five (get your $100 US payments in for TRF’s Annual Fund), were told about the Foundation Dinner, were given an invitation to an event at Gateway of Hope, and listened to “Readings” from Wayne, quoting our RI President. Our guest speaker was Karen McDiarmid. Karen works as a Consultant with ASTTBC, wearing many hats including, among others, Coordinator of the TechAbility project which she spoke about tonight. She is also a cat lover and volunteers fostering cats/kittens with Cat Therapy and Rescue Society. Karen has been a Rotarian with the Rotary Club of Vancouver Yaletown since 2011. Her presentation captured our attention, and her power point graphics were great. Allan presented her with a book to sign to be placed in the Nicomekl Elementary School library on her behalf. We contributed happy and sad dollars for Polio Plus, and closed the meeting with a toast to Canada. Then the executive members regrouped for their own Executive Meeting. What fun! |
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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. |
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November 14, 2019 Wayne called the meeting, #19 this year, to order and Les led us through O Canada. In his welcome President Wayne stated, “Our Rotary theme this year is Rotary Connects the World. We are working to help the world by fighting polio, and by helping fund projects around the world through our personal and club giving to the Annual Fund.” Announcements included the following topics: Arboretum and RIC, Social Committee, Groups of Five, Ribfest, Foundation Dinner, Gateway of Hope invitation, and a message from Allan Richmond. Our guest speakers were Alison Nicol and Kirstie Strange, speaking about the Langley Youth Hub. It is located not far from the Township Civic Building and is providing a much-needed service to homeless youth. Alison and Kirstie told about the programs offered and why they are needed in Langley. We were invited to tour the building sometime in the future if we wished. Happy and sad dollars (and extra, if you missed giving on World Polio Day) were collected. As is our custom, now that we don’t sing God Save the Queen to end our meetings, we had a toast to Canada. For more photos please visit November 14, 2019. |
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November 7, 2019 President Wayne Wiebe called the 18th meeting of this Rotary year to order and Les led the group in the singing of O Canada. As has become his custom, President Wayne listed the topics for discussion/reports on the agenda and welcomed further topics. We enjoy weekly updates on the arboretum and Rotary Interpretive Centre from Allan and Les. Our guest speaker was Sherry Taylor from Flip City Gymnastics Club. While there are no aspiring gymnasts in our club, we enjoyed the presentation. Sherry kindly answered questions, even after the thank you book signing, as club members were interested in learning more. Happy and sad dollars were collected, and Canada was toasted. For more photos visit November 7, 2019. |
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October 24, 2019 The Rotary Club of Langley’s 17th regular meeting of this Rotary year was held on October 24, 2019. President Wayne called the meeting to order and gave his official welcome, reminding us that our Rotary theme this year is Rotary Connects the World. We are working to help the world by fighting polio, and tonight we have a special program to bring us up-to-date on the subject. Our guest speaker was Rachel Sledding, the Director of Development at Wagner Hills. As a daughter of a Missions Pastor she grew up in a family where they lived with a passion of helping others and a call to serve. In her own words, “I am excited to be part of an organization that brings healing, growth and transformation to those in addiction. Thank you for having me share with you.” Rachel spoke about the work done at Wagner Hills and the success rate they have with the addicts who come to them. As a club we are invited to visit Wagner Hills and plan to do so in the spring. Members were very impressed with the presentation and the program they offer. Then we moved on to the topic of polio eradication on World Polio Day and the program featured our own Brendan Martin and Veronica Lopez, with technical assistance from Claudia Trigo. Rotary, in cooperation with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, has done so much to eradicate this disease, and we have much to be proud of. Descriptions, numbers and facts were shared with on-screen graphics. We realize, though, that because the wild polio virus is still endemic in two countries, we must be vigilant and continue our fight. We are “this close” to ridding the world of polio and protecting all the children of the world from this terrible disease. We collected generous happy and sad dollars for Polio Plus and closed the meeting with a toast to Canada. Thank you to Claudia, Veronica, and Brendan for their excellent presentation. To see more photos please visit October 24, 2019. |
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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. |
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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. |
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May 7, 2020 The Rotary Club of Langley’s 401st 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. |
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April 30, 2020 The Rotary Club of Langley’s 40th 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 2nd. 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. |
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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. |
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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.  |
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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. |
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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! |
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October 10, 2019 President Wayne opened the meeting and asked members what they had done to help Rotary connect the world. Announcements included Rotary Interpretative Centre (Wayne and Jorda met with Township officials), Rotary World Help (we renewed our membership), Club Website (Wayne and Jonah are posting weekly updates), District Grant (appears to be all in order), Arboretum (the tarp was stolen so we couldn't varnish the "roots" bench), Social Committee (plans made for Christmas party), Groups of Five (time to pay your $100 US contributions to TRF Annual Fund), and World Polio Day (we will be having a special program on Oct. 24). Our club funded two indoor gardens for Langley School District, and Susan Cairns received the cheque for $3500 from President Wayne. These gardens use little water and no soil and produce a variety of vegetables for student lunches. Susan will be in touch with us when we can visit a school to see the garden in action. Our guest speaker was fellow Rotarian Tony Malyk who spoke about his book, Leaky Bucket of Profits, and his journey along the road to writing the book. Many blue-collar businesses fail to profit as they should because of poor business planning, not because of good or bad ideas. Tony has learned firsthand that common business processes and principles reside in virtually every industry and are transferable with the right knowledge and insight. Happy and sad dollars, including half the sales from Tony's book to club members, were gathered for Polio Plus. For more photos visit October 17, 2019. |
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October 3, 2019 President Wayne called the meeting to order, and after O Canada, encouraged members to bring in new members so we can increase our impact on the community, just as DG Brad had suggested. Announcements took up a fair bit of the meeting time, with topics including club website, arboretum, Groups of Five, Know Your Neighbours, work groups, social committee, World Polio Day, Foundation Dinner, Taste of Fort Langley, and RLI. Our guest speaker was Laura Sandgren, President of CDART (Canadian Disaster Animal Response Team) SWBC. She and CDART founder Cheryl Rogers spoke about their agency and informed us about how to prepare a disaster kit for our pets and the needs the pets face in case of disasters. Ours was Laura's first presentation and her enthusiasm showed. The lengthy Q&A which followed the session showed that a high degree of interest was sparked within the club. Pets often become parts of families. We sang Happy Birthday to Rudy Storteboom, who admitted he might be having a birthday but divulged no numbers. For more photos visit October 3, 2019. |
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Sept 26, 2019 This was a very special meeting for our club, with three (or four) key features:1. We welcomed and heard from our District Governor, Brad Whittaker; 2. We inducted a new member, Brad Jalbert, into our club; 3. We officially inducted four members into the newly resurrected Langley Rotaract Club: Jonah Johnson, Mikayla Johnson, Sydney Morfitt, and Abran Johnson; 4. We enjoyed wonderful treats brought by John Brynjolfson. AG Jorda Maisey introduced DG Brad and he delivered a very impressive and inspirational message to the club. He wants us as Rotarians to make an impact this year, and to learn more about Rotary. He asked us to google Rotary Action Groups, Rotary Friendship Groups, and Rotary Leadership where we will surely find items of interest and increase our knowledge. President Wayne announced that we were successful in being awarded a District Grant for improvements at LCSS and that club and Rotaract members would be asked to lend a hand at the painting project. Visiting Rotarians were Bill Lindahl and June Jones, who brought her granddaughter as well. Plans are being made for us to have some type of celebration of World Polio Day on October 24. Wayne thanked Jonah for his great work in getting comments and photos onto our website, so now we have a visual record of our meetings and you can catch up when you miss a meeting. DG Brad met with the club executive after the regular meeting, encouraging us to implement a membership plan. For more photos visit Sept 26, 2019. |
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July 25th Meeting We met this week at the new Rotary Interpretive Centre at the Doubleday Arboretum. As our club had donated $250 000 plus over 9900 hours of labour on this project, we wanted to experience a meeting inside this unique building. President Wayne shared information from the executive meeting held last week, and announced that Judi Piccolo was reaffirmed as an honorary member of the club. Funding requests have been forwarded to our new funding committee for recommendations to the executive. Plans are well underway for Ribfest, and members are encouraged to sign up to volunteer. With no speaker for the evening, Wayne decided to play Name That Tune and provided the music. We went back in time as Wayne played parts of several songs and club members attempted to first name the songs and artists, and then arrange the tunes by year and tell which had remained #! on the Billboard music charts the longest. Who knew that It's All in the Game (Tommy Edwards) and Purple People Eater (Sheb Wooley) each remained at #1 for six weeks in 1958, or that Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White (Perez Prado) was #1 longer than Rock Around the Clock (Bill Haley) ten weeks to eight in 1955? For more photos visit July 25, 2019. |
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Sept 19 Meeting President Wayne opened the meeting with the singing of O Canada, once again led by Les Clay. In reminding members of our theme, Rotary Connects the World, he encouraged as many members as possible to meet DG Brad Whittaker next week when he makes his official visit. All directors should be in attendance for the executive meting to follow. Three wedding anniversaries were announced: Brendan and June Martin on the 20th, Bob and Maria Hillmer on the 22nd, and Stephen and Irina Richardson on the 23rd. Rivers Day celebrations will be going on at the Arboretum from 11 to 3 on Sunday, and Rotaract will be holding a Meet and Greet from 1-4 p.m. on Sunday as well. The Yorkson Block Party we helped sponsor was a success, despite the rainy weather. Trisha, Jonah, Leon and Claudia volunteered at the event, and Wayne brought his granddaughter and four relatives from the United Kingdom to participate in the activities. Brendan has brought to our attention World polio Day on October 24, and our club will plan special activities to honour this day. The executive will bring suggestions to the club, but here's a hint. Start saving your change and small bills (large ones welcomed as well) for the happy dollars that night. Our guest speaker was Lisa Block, site manager at Hope for Women in Langley. She has a strong desire to help women who find themselves in crisis situations, and finds Hope for Women to be an incredible fit. She spoke about their programs and showed videos of some of the clients who have had their lives changed for the better by contacting the agency. Women who find themselves with unplanned and often unwanted pregnancies are given options, and are not left on their own to cope. Sadly, despite the counselling, about 80% choose to end the pregnancy as their perceived best choice. Following the regular meeting, the executive met and HISTORY WAS MADE. For the first time in the history of the Rotary Club of Langley, the majority of the executive members at an official executive meeting were female. Twenty-five years ago Wayne Wiebe was our club president when he sponsored and inducted the very first woman into our club. Now, a quarter century later, he is again our president and chaired this historic meeting. A selfie of the group was taken to commemorate the occasion. For more photos visit Sept 19, 2019. |
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Sept 12th Meeting President Wayne repeated our theme, Rotary Connects the World, and reminded the club that our District Governor would be visiting in two weeks' time. He would like to meet as many members as possible before the regular meeting, and then with the executive after the meeting. All directors should be present to answer questions. Wayne gave the directors their "assignments", including which ones would be responsible for the five avenues of service. September birthday wishes go to Trisha (16) and Brendan (older). We continue to sing both verses of Happy Birthday, quite heartily. Members had some difficulty naming I Guess Things Happen That Way by Johnny Cash, this week's tune, after the opening sounds. From that Johnny we switched to John Brynjolfson, who filled in for an absent guest speaker with the second part of his medical update. This time he spoke about Parkinson's and the advances being made in fighting that disease. He sees a future where medicine will be available to stop the spread of Parkinson's, and people will not have to suffer as they do now. Many of us wish that day were here right now. For more photos visit Sept 12, 2019. |
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Sept 5th Meeting Following the call to order, we opened our meeting in the usual fashion, singing "O Canada". We seem to blend the old and new versions, singing "in all your sons command" and "in all of us command" with no difficulty. Wayne noted that for the first time in many years we have not prepared to participate in the Langley Cruise-In. He circulated member information sheets, the first step in preparing to conduct a study of our members' occupations, working on a goal in the Rotary Citation. Our guest speaker was Bill Hendricks from Pacific Riding for Developing Abilities and he spoke to us about horse therapy for children (and others). He brought a number of visual aids and explained how the program works, helping individuals with physical disabilities relax and become comfortable with their horses. Children gain confidence and appear, at least for awhile, to be pain free. He offered to host our club on a field trip to his facility, and club members expressed interest in doing that. For more photos visit Sept 5, 2019. |
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August 29th Meeting President Wayne encouraged us to show Rotary Connects the World by bringing in some new members. Les Clay replied that he had one in mind. Stay tuned. On behalf of the Foundation Committee, Wayne wrote the proposal for a District Grant to include three projects at Langley Community Services Society. For the two garden areas, including building an Allan Block wall two courses high, we would provide oversight but hire someone to do the work. For the third, we would provide the labour and invite Rotaractors to join us in preparing a ramp for painting, and then doing the actual painting. Now we wait to see if our application is successful. Club members were challenged to identify a song and name the artist after hearing only the opening chord. Veronica and Rudy were able to recognise A Hard Day's Night by the Beatles by hearing only that iconic chord. Our guest speaker was our own practising physician and past president of the club, John Brynjolfson. John brought us all kinds of incredible facts about research findings and new developments about prostate cancer, and he feels positive about medical breakthroughs coming to make our lives better. Words like benign prostatic hyperplasia and 5 alpha reductase inhibitor just flowed freely from his lips. He saved the second part of his talk for another day. For more photos visit Aug 29, 2019. |
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Aug 22 Meeting Our Rotary theme is Rotary Connects the World. Some of us were able to hear RI President speak to the theme at Ribfest. Wayne was lucky enough to sit with him and enjoy some very tasty ribs! Early indications are that we surpassed last year's profits with this year's event, and comments have all been extremely favourable. President Wayne reported on the results from the last Executive Meeting, keeping members informed. Our guest speaker was Nichole Marples, Executive Director, Langley Environmental Partners Society. Did you know that over 1700 km of streams and ditches have been mapped in Langley? Much information was shared, and a great Q&A followed. Nichole signed a book destined for Nicomekl School as a thank you for her presentation. For more photos visit Aug 22, 2019. |
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Aug 15th Meeting President Wayne reminded us that we can help Rotary Connect the World at Ribfest this weekend. He announced we were getting a second quote for services for the proposed district grant for work at LCSS. Special guests were Lillianne Fuller, Brooke Lindberg, and her parents, Clayton and Cathy. Brooke, a recent graduate from Langley Fundamental Middle Secondary School, spoke about her volunteer experiences and her plans for the future. As a winner of one of our $1500 scholarships, she was most appreciative and thanked us for helping her, and stated, "I plan to continue to volunteer and make a difference in the world around me." Lillianne spoke about the Nicomekl Elementary School lunch program and her involvement with that project. Students behave better and learn more when they are not hungry, and the results of providing food for the students who otherwise would not receive the nutrition needed are obvious and heartwarming. Lillianne has been able to obtain sufficient sponsorship funding for this year, but may be back to see us next school year. For more photos visit Aug 15, 2019. |
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Aug 8th Meeting President Wayne handed out Rotary pins to commemorate our theme, Rotary Connects the World. Members were informed that Rotary International President Mark Maloney would be attending Ribfest on Aug. 18 and would be meeting with the four Langley club presidents. We held extensive discussions about where we should meet, and whether we should move to the Rotary Interpretive Centre . Allan showed photos of the new sign in place at the building. After full discussion, we decided to stay at the Timms Centre but hold occasional meetings (up to once per month) at the Rotary Interpretive Centre. Negotiations with the Township will be needed to get this approval. For more photos visit Aug 8, 2019. |
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Aug 1 Meeting President Wayne encouraged the club members to make plans to do our part to see that Rotary Connects the World, and to have fun while we're doing it. For the second week in a row we met at the Rotary Interpretive Centre, this time on the lower floor. Our guest speaker was Chantelle Bowles, Development Coordinator for Corporate and Community Partnerships -- Fraser Valley, for Canuck Place Children's Hospice. Chantelle's presentation was both informative and compelling, as evidenced by the questions and answers which followed. If she could find time among her many volunteering experiences, Chantelle would be welcomed to join our club to help us meet community needs. For more photos visit Aug 1, 2019. |
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July 18th Meeting President Wayne opened the meeting by reiterating Rotary's theme, "Rotary Connects the World", and stating that he felt confident our club would be doing its part. Our speaker this evening was Roxci Bevis, Program Coordinator for the Derby Reach /Brae Island Parks Association. Roxci gave an interesting and informative presentation about the parks association, its goals, and what services it offers. She is in charge of planning recreation and conservation events in Derby Reach and Brae Island Regional Parks. Wayne asked her to sign a book which will be donated to Nicomekl Elementary in her name. For more photos visit July 18, 2019. |
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July 11th Meeting President Wayne reviewed the requirements of the 2019-2020 Rotary Citation for Rotary Clubs, and mentioned various targets we should be able to meet. Setting up a Membership Committee is easy, though getting all members to bring prospective members to the meetings is more difficult. If we're successful, we'll have the net gain in membership we need. We are actively supporting a new Rotaract Club, and our Director Jonah Johnson has been named the president of the new Langley club. Our own member, Jim Lee, provided the program for the evening. Jim recounted many memories from his years in Rotary. For more pictures visit July 11, 2019. |
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Rotary Connects the World.JPG) President Wayne welcomed the members to a new Rotary year and emphasized the new Rotary Theme, "Rotary Connects the World." He read a welcome from R.I. from President Mark Maloney and wished the club an enjoyable and successful year. One sign of success would be to gain new members. We had two speakers: Lewis Nikkel and Jared Woolhether. Lewis, a winner of one of our scholarships this year, has completed grade twelve at D.W. Poppy Secondary School and told us about his interests, goals, and aspirations. Jared, a recent RYLA attendee sponsored by our club, spoke about the positive and enjoyable experience and shared his enthusiasm for the program. For more pictures visit the Rotary Connects the World Photo Album. |
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2019-2020 Installation.JPG) PDG Wayne Wiebe called on his former assistant governor, now PDG Sean Hogan, to install the new executive members of the Rotary Club of Langley for 2019-2020. Wayne is returning to the post twenty-five years after first serving as club president. Executive members are listed on the left-hand side of our first page on the website. For more pictures see the 2019-2020 Installation Photo Album. |
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Medical Goods for UkraineOn November 12, members of the club and numerous volunteers loaded a container of Medical Goods and Supplies, destined for Odessa, Ukraine. The club is paying for the shipping cost, while all the goods, valued at over $300,000 were donated to Rotary World Help from various sources. Rotary World Help is a registered charity operated by 35 BC Rotary Clubs.
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Oktober Fiesta for Langley LodgeThe club's Oktober Fiesta & Auction (Oct 15) raised $7,500 for the Langley Care Foundation, operators of Langley Lodge. The club has also announced a grant of $10,000 to the Langley Memorial Hospital Foundation to purchase a Pediatric Ventilator.
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2016 Secondary School Scholarship WinnersWe are pleased to announce the winners of our secondary schools graduation scholarships of $1000 each, pictured below with Past District Governor Wayne Wiebe.
 Belah Lee
.JPG) Bethany Hitchman
 Kayley Boutcher
 Jenna Richmond
 Kayla Salisbury
 Arshpreet Sidhu
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Welcome New MemberThe club is pleased to welcome Dominique Denis as our newest member!
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Welcome New Members - Anne Guite and Leon JensenWe are pleased to announce that Anne Guite and Leon Jensen have joined the club. Welcome!
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Tepehua Maternity Clinic UpdateThree of our members, and one very enthusiastic spouse recently made the trip to Tepehua to help work on the new Maternity Clinic! Please check out the video in this story!
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Six Langley Students win $1000 ScholarshipsThe club has awarded 6 x $1000 scholarships to graduating Langley secondary school students. The winners are: Eric Cho, Yi Wei Zhao and Boyuan Zheng from R.E. Mountain Secondary (pictured below), and Nicole Godlar (Langley Fundamental), Tori Nikkel (D.W. Poppy), and Brenna Waugh (Langley Fundamental).
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Music Access SocietyThe Music Access Society is doing well, in part due to a grant from our club. Pictured below is one of the students with her "new" violin.
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Three New Grants to the CommunityThe Board has approved:
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New Scholarship FundedAt the Langley interclub meeting Jan. 16, president Garth Hansen presented KPU President Allan Davis with a cheque for $25,000, which will fund a $1250 scholarship in perpetuity at KPU in the name of Marion Laurie, benefactor to our club. |
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Langley Leads Foundation DonationsWow! Half way through the Rotary Year, and the Rotary Club of Langley leads the way in District 5050 in donations to the Rotary Foundation. Over $20,467 has been donated to the Annual Programs Fund; an average of $682 per club member. A substantial portion of this was from the estate of former member Rick Buck. In addition, $2876 has been donated to Polio Plus; $96 per member.
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Les Clay HonouredMember Les Clay has been honoured for his long service to Rotary and the community with a Distinguished Service Award. Les has been a Rotarian for 45 years. The award was presented by Past District Governor Wayne Wiebe.
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Langley Ukes Bring Christmas CheerThe club Christmas dinner had a surprise visit from the Langley Ukelele Ensemble, lead by our own Peter Luongo. Although they had been up since 4 AM and done three prior performances, the Ensemble honoured us with a rousing rendition of our favourite Christmas songs.
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New Members Sworn InThe Rotary Club of Langley is pleased to welcome two new members. Pictured are Manjit Gill and Jasvinder (Jolly) Dhaliwal.
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15 Christmas Food Hampers for Apex FamiliesThe Rotary Club of Langley will be supporting 15 families with Christmas Food Hampers this year. The families in need all have students attending Apex Secondary School. . |
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New Board and President NomineeThe result of Club elections held on Dec. 6 are as follows. The new board takes office on July 1, 2013. President: Gaetan Myre Vice President: Jorda Maisey Secretary: Bob Lukie Treasurer: Gary Brackenbury Past President: Garth Hansen President-elect: Dr. Brendan Martin (President for 2014-15) Directors: Allan Richmond, Kay Easingwood, Wayne Wiebe, Anthony Ball, Bev Droulis, Alex Blackburn. President-nominee Dr. Brendan Martin |
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Rotary Impact in Gulu, EthiopiaBelow is a letter from one school we supported last year with school supplies, sporting equipment, music instruments and bolts of material for their dance competitions. It sure is nice to see our funds having such a positive impact on a community and a village being so appreciative. - Myriah Lea Tucker, Rotary Club of Langley
We received the this letter this year from the Principal at Koch Koo primary school. Principal Alice has given us a letter each year…and those letters usually included a shopping list of needs (not wants!) for the benefit of the school and the children. Over the years – we have passed the hat amongst the group and repaired the school’s borehole, built teachers desks, provided hand washing stations, provided math/geometry sets etc. The list of our work at this school is long. Last year we were asked for what on the surface seemed like some “wants”…being sports and music/dance supplies (in addition to other school supplies). We deliberated this request --- however had fun doing the shopping for the supplies which were delivered to the school by our fellow Rotarians in Gulu.
This year – the letter from Principal Alice…was a big huge thank you! No asks…no needs….just thank you --- to each one of you who has helped elevate this school to a level of education (and pride in their school) that would not have been possible without your (and your Clubs’) contributions over the years. - Carol Tichelman, Rotary Club of Chilliwack.
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$1000 Awarded to Langley StudentThe club has awarded $1000 to Nicole Godler, a student at Langley Fundamental Middle and Secondary School. The funds will be used for a school humanitarian project in Nicaragua. She is pictured with Dr. John Brynjolfson and President Garth Hansen.
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$8,000 donated to Langley Memorial HospitalThe club has donated $8,000 to the Langley Memorial Hospital Foundation to purchase a " flexible rhinolaryngoscope". This instrument is used to diagnose breathing problems.
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Tip 'n Taste Event makes $11,000
The results are in from 2012 Tip 'n Taste. The three club event profit was over $11,000, which will be shared evenly between Langley, Langley Central and Langley Sunrise clubs. The event was dedicated to improving Child Health and Literacy. Thank you to all the businesses, attendees and Rotarians who made the event a success.
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St. John Ambulance Thank YouA letter of thanks has been received from the St. John Ambulance society for our $10,000 donation. You can see the letter in the "Downloads" section of our web site, or follow this link: http://www.clubrunner.ca/Data/5050/253/HTML/174375//CCF090612_00000.jpg
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Container of Goods to ChileAs a member of the Rotary World Help Network, the club is paying $5000 to ship a container of badly needed goods to Chile. Club members are encouraged to help and/or watch the container being packed on the morning of JULY 28.
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Langley Rotary Supports the ArtsThe Rotary Club of Langley is making a $2500 donation to Bard in The Valley. This group provides free summer performances of Shakespeare plays each summer in Langley.
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Gala and Auction Coming SoonIt's less than a month to go before the club's Fall Gala and Auction. A terrific number of quality and unique items will be up for auction including:
Full event details and tickets are available at: http://langleyrotaryauction.org |
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Clubrunner Setup
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Sean had a really good breakfast