Boasting a 33% increase in in-person member attendance, our hybrid meeting featured our first in-person guest speaker(s) in two years. With conversations going in the room and online, it was more difficult to record all the topics, but some comments were: “He got a bad haircut so he stayed home (ouch)”; Allan could not attend in person because he has to quarantine for fourteen days (even though he tested negative); Wayne served on a district committee reviewing 89 proposed enactments to be voted on at the upcoming COL; we have received nine scholarship applications; Leon has his eyes on a one year-old 21 ft. motor home with a removable toilet ( a true porta potty); some political talk going on in the background, possibly about an American judge; and our zoom meeting link is now appearing in RoteNotes. Delays in starting were because they were trying to get a room with a view, or a view of the room, to have an effective hybrid meeting.
At 7:05 President Leon waved the gavel (his enjoyable first experience with the power weapon) and officially opened the meeting with the version of O Canada played at the recent Olympics when our flag was raised to celebrate the Canadian women’s hockey team’s gold medal victory. Cheers! He told us about his busy week, preparing for the camper purchase and a planned trip. The “eternally youthful” (he says so himself) Bob Lukie celebrated his 39th birthday again last Friday. Then we moved on to the Rotary Foundation Moment.
Rotary Responds
The war in Ukraine is having devastating consequences on civilians as families flee their homes. According to the United Nations, more than 3.5 million people, most of them women and children, have sought refuge in neighboring countries and across Europe, while about 7 million more people have been displaced within Ukraine.
Rotary and Rotaract clubs in Europe and around the world have taken swift action and are working with members nearby to provide food, water, medical equipment, and shelter for refugees. Some of the latest projects include:
Rotary District 2231 in Poland is using a $50,000 disaster response grant to provide transportation, accommodations, food, and medical assistance for refugees who crossed the border from Ukraine.
Rotary District 2240 in the Czech Republic is purchasing $50,000 worth of sleeping bags, medicine, food, and defibrillators, EKGs, and oxygen concentrators for victims.
District governors in Germany created a national task force to coordinate member initiatives and relief efforts on an online platform. A liaison office for government agencies and nongovernmental organizations has been established in Berlin.
Rotary clubs throughout France have mobilized to collect and distribute necessities to refugees.
District 1910 in Austria is using a $25,000 disaster response grant to provide accommodations, baby supplies, medicine, hygiene materials, psychological care, food, and appliances to Ukrainian refugees in Austria.
Learn more about Rotary’s Disaster Response Fund here:
We welcomed Lorraine and Chuck Marr to the meeting as our guest speakers. The Marrs plan to retrace their honeymoon steps fifty years later in a cross-country trip, but in a much more comfortable camper with their golf clubs, and with a goal to raise $50,000 to support a Langley School District program called Project Resiliency. This is a three-day counselling-based program that offers young people the opportunity to address whatever might be preventing them from achieving their full potential. Chuck and Lorraine hope to raise awareness of mental health and substance abuse and help children in the school system during their formative years to avoid future problems. Having lost a son to drugs in 2009, they hope their campaign will prevent another family from going through the same anguish.
Project Resiliency was developed by Langley School District staff for all Langley School District secondary students, to offer a strength based, supportive assessment and intervention, services their son, Todd, never had access to. The Marrs would like to raise $50 000 before they start their trek in May 2023, have donated $5000 to get things started, and have raised $10 485 since February. You can read all about the Marrs, their plans, and Project Resiliency in the Langley Advance Times. The Langley School District Foundation, a registered not-for-profit organization, will be their official charity partner. All donations will be eligible for a tax receipt. More information is available at online at:
Happy and sad dollars were donated thanking our guest speakers and in appreciation of their efforts, for celebrating a birthday, for travelling next week, for the Russian journalist who crashed the news demonstrating against the war that Russia started, for celebrating another’s year of sobriety, for seeing the Marrs again (Wayne taught their son Dean), and for being able to get out and visit other people again.
We closed with our toast to Canada, wishing each other well.
Remember that our zoom meeting link for those unable to attend in person is :
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