On a sunny evening we gathered for another great Rotary meeting. Attending with Rotarians Wayne, Rudy, Merle, Anthony, Allan, Nav, Nora, Gertrude, Brendan, Stephen and Lana were quite a few guests. Senator Gerry St. Germain was joined by Inga and Paul (didn’t get their surnames). Three scholarship students attended as well, with parents: Ashley Daemmig with mother Lucy and father Chris; Katina Davison with her mother Heidi; and Sophia Lee with her mother Sunny. Regrets were received from John B. who is in Boston no doubt consoling heartbroken Bruins fans.
Following the call to order and O Canada we had a minute of silence as we remembered two Rotarians who have passed away: member Kari Kutvonen who died unexpectedly of a brain aneurism and former member Pyaro Panjwani who died last year but we had not heard of his demise.
On May 20 Allan and Joan Richmond will celebrate their 57th wedding anniversary, and on May 21st Carl and Gaye Holm celebrate their anniversary (number not known).
Rotary Announcements
The SASSY Awards held last week inspired us with youth talent and spirit, and two of our scholarship winners were award finalists.
The District Conference last weekend featured tremendous speakers and Wayne encouraged the club to purchase the video of the conference once it becomes available.
Wayne shared the Certificate of Appreciation we received from the World Help Network.
Wayne announced that Miss Vicky will be riding again and Rudy added that Lee Harman will be our guest speaker next week and Miss Vicky will by at the RIC.
MegaDraw 50/50 ticket sales will begin on May 20 and we need volunteers from our club to help with the sales. Last year our club provided less than 10% of the total volunteer hours selling tickets, and we would like to do better this year.
Our tents and cash boxes have been requested for use by the ticket selling teams.
Our restricted funds from last year’s 50/50 sales are eligible for scholarships to students, so that gives us more flexibility for our non-restricted funds.
The Langley Foundation
Our first guest speaker was Gerry St. Germain who spoke about The Langley Foundation and introduced us to the other two speakers on the topic. Gerry has been a chicken rancher, horse rancher, and cattle rancher, as well as serving as a Conservative senator for Canada. He said The Langley Foundation is a vehicle for Langley citizens to support the community financially to help build things beyond what the government does. His heroes include Terry Fox, Mother Teresa, and Stanley Burke. Gerry stated he would get up to be seen, speak to be heard, and sit down to be appreciated.
Both Inga and Paul spoke about the The Langley Foundation which was started just over a year ago and funds projects throughout Langley with three strategic focus areas (see flyer):
Parks, Trees, and Trails
Infrastructure
Arts, Heritage and Culture
TLF was able to get $100 000 seed money from some generous families and wants to do big projects. Citizens are encouraged to add TLF in their estate/wills and may give gifts of property, life insurance, etc.
Scholarship Students Speak
We heard from three of this year’s winner s of our $1500 scholarships. We will have photos and information about each of the students on our website in the near future.
Rotary Moment with Wayne
WHAT IS THE ROTARY FOUNDATION CADRE OF TECHNICAL ADVISERS?
The Cadre of Technical Advisers is a group of Rotary members who offer their expertise and advice to clubs and districts that are planning and carrying out grant projects around the world. They also strengthen the impact of Rotary’s grants by safeguarding Foundation funds.
Cadre members provide guidance about conducting community assessments, incorporating sustainability, setting up monitoring or evaluation plans, and properly managing the financial aspects of a project.
More than 550 Cadre members who speak more than 80 languages come from 75 countries. You can connect with Cadre members who have expertise in a specific area of focus or in a particular language, country, or district.
This was followed by The Light Touch, which featured three groaners.
Two artists had an art contest. It ended in a draw.
A plateau is the highest form of flattery.
I have a fear of speed bumps. But I am slowly getting over it.
Other updates
We toasted Canada, and several great photos were taken. Remember, next week we’re at the RIC so it will be an in-person meeting only. Our special guest speaker will be Lee Harman with Miss Vicky, and Alexandra Hudson (scholarship winner) will be joining us as well.
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