We gathered at Timms Centre for another interesting meeting. This week we had Rudy, Anthony, Wayne, Leon, Merle, Nora, Stephen and John on hand, with Bob Lukie participating on zoom. Our special guests representing Langley Seniors Resource Society were Wayne King and Nancy Rathgeber. Gertrude is still in Africa and will be back next month.
Following the call to order and O Canada, Stephen announced that we have a quorum for the executive meeting to go ahead following our regular meeting. Also, Rudy will be reporting to us about his PETS experience next week.
Langley Seniors Resource Society
Wayne and Nancy (his interpreter, as he is hard of hearing) are both volunteers with LSRS. The agency has been around for about 35 years, delivering services to people who need help in order to exist. Imagine people living in one bedroom apartments and without the mobility to leave their premises. LSRS keeps in touch with seniors, even by telephone calls. The volunteers try to alleviate loneliness.
The vision of Langley Seniors Resources Centre states, “We envision a community in which all seniors, are supported and empowered to socialize, learn and enjoy life.” Their values are “caring, respect, empathy, independence, safety and equality.” Their mandate is “to connect people 50+ with recreation, resources and programs designed to meet individual and specific needs to improve their quality of life.”
LSRS is serving a valuable function in our community, offering social recreation programs, adult day care programs, outreach and better at home programs, and caregivers support from professionals. Volunteers provide transportation for shut-ins, and will take them grocery shopping or even do the shopping for them. They offer food programs, dine in, take out, and catering. LSRC has over 1200 recreation members and 225 volunteers. Their outreach program had 742 referrals in 2022.
For more statistics and/or a full set of slides of the presentation, contact Wayne. Then we were on to the Foundation Moment.
Rotary Moment with Wayne
WHAT ARE DISTRICT AND GLOBAL GRANTS?
The Rotary Foundation has spent more than US$3 billion on life-changing, sustainable projects around the world. Rotary members can work with communities through Foundation grants, and two key options are district and global grants.
District grants fund small-scale, short-term activities that address needs in your community and communities abroad. Your district chooses what activities it will fund with these grants, such as humanitarian projects, scholarships, youth programs, or vocational training teams.
Global grants fund large, international activities with sustainable and measurable results in Rotary’s areas of focus. These can include humanitarian projects, scholarships for graduate-level study, or vocational training teams.
Learn about another kind of grant next week!
Other updates
Happy and sad dollars were pledged for: the evening’s presentation – a real eye-opener; another theft from the storage room at the condominium building; Wayne King’s presentation, very informative; more for the presentation and for finally finding the key on her computer so it doesn’t print French symbols; and for learning about LSRC and Nora’s happy ending.
We toasted Canada and then most of us stayed for the executive meeting. Please join us next Thursday to receive a presentation about the Fort Langley Jazz & Arts Festival from Karen Zukas, Executive Director, and Dave Quinn, Artistic Director.
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