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.