Thursday evening found the Rotary Club of Langley meeting for the 44th time this Rotary year. John, Allan, Anthony, Nav and his wife Rehka joined President Leon at the Timms Center. Wayne, Bob and Lana joined in via zoom. Two screens were on at my house: the main one for Rotary, the second one showing the hockey game. While we could hear the person speaking to the group from our remote locations, we could not pick up on the conversations that were going on in the meeting room. If I had, I’m sure this summary would be more interesting. I heard something about travel plans, and something about the danger of lithium batteries.
Leon played a rap version of a song about Canada. It started out as O Canada but soon changed, and it was impossible to sing our national anthem. Those in the meeting room bravely stood, and then wondered why. We all agreed that it didn’t qualify as a version of the national anthem, but it did succeed in generating conversation. Who knew that Lana liked rap?
Discussion about Tip ’n Taste ended with support for the decision made by our fellow Rotary clubs to drop the event in favour of focusing on Ribfest. More and more beer tasting events are available now, and we would have to come up with something unique to attract enough customers to make the event worthwhile. We still need a club representative to serve the club organizer for the 50/50 Draw and Ribfest. Our Ribfest Committee volunteers, Jim See and Jim Armstrong, were not present to provide any updates. Some talk was about having tables for groups we have supported in the past so others can see where proceeds have gone. As we haven’t heard back from Bob Hillmer re. serving as a liaison with the clubs in Mexico where we have supported several projects, Allan and Lana expressed willingness to work on a committee. We also discussed how we could best display all the club banners we have from around the world.
Rotary stands with the United Nations General Assembly in expressing grave concern at "the ongoing human rights and humanitarian crisis in Ukraine, in particular at the reports of violations and abuses of human rights and violations of international humanitarian law by the Russian Federation."
As a global humanitarian organization, Rotary takes a proactive stance toward peacemaking by addressing the underlying causes of conflict.
We support recent UN General Assembly resolutions calling for an immediate ceasefire and withdrawal of Russian military forces from Ukraine. This aligns with Rotary’s deep commitment to promoting peace through dialogue and conflict resolution.
We are working beside our partners in the international relief community to help provide resources to the more than ten million Ukrainian refugees forced to flee the field of battle.
Scholarship Update
Our Scholarship Committee Chair gave an update on the scholarship situation, reporting that four of the five candidates who had been offered an opportunity to show increased awareness of Rotary International, the Rotary Club of Langley, the 4-Way Test and how it and the goals of Rotary might impact their lives, as well as expanding upon their volunteer experiences, had done so. Now the new essays need to be read and evaluated.
Bard in the Valley
Bard in the Valley is planning to have a Rotary Appreciation Night on July 28 at Douglas Park, while performing the romantic comedy “Measure for Measure.” We may decide to cancel our regular meeting that night so we can attend this special event. Our club has been generous in financial support for Bard in the Valley annually for many years.
The “Light Touch” (remember Reg?) returned after a long hiatus as John told about three men giving special Mother’s Day gifts and how they were received by their mother. I won’t give away the punch line. You hadda be there. After that the sound from Timms became more garbled and I had some difficulty in understanding what was being said. I think I heard about someone planting a tree where someone else was going to build a garage. Les is wheelchair bound but is anxious to get outside and properly prune a rose bush he sees is not being handled in the way he thinks it should be. Allan set off the alarm when he sat on Les’ bed and then stood up, and reported that Jackman Manor is short on staff (a predicament common to many health care facilities and businesses right now). If you go to visit Les, note that parking is at a premium (no space).
We heard that the Fraser Blues are no more, so you won’t be able to join them on flights over the local cenotaph services at future Remembrance Days. Allan is very appreciative that he did have that experience.
We moved on to happy and sad dollars, and pledges were made again for: the miserable weather we’ve been experiencing; not being able to put flowers out as it is too cold for them to flourish; a wife’s poor health; saying farewell to the Fraser Blues; having Nav and Rehka join us at our meeting; a successful surgery; a propane tank fixed; Happy Mother’s Day; eye surgery; and the rap about Canada (some happy, some sad).
We closed as usual by raising our glasses in a toast to Canada, wishing each other well.
