We welcomed a suntanned Allan back to our in-person meeting, joining Wayne, Rudy, Merle, Anthony, Stephen, Nora and Bob (on zoom) along with guests Wayne King, Brad Geddes, and Marilyn Piticco.
Following the call to order and O Canada (“We’re getting good at this”), Stephen asked for any Rotary business. It was his wife Irina’s birthday yesterday. Wayne has received eighteen scholarship applications, up from last year, so has quite a bit of reading and evaluating to do. We heard about a Volunteer Fair and will learn more about a SOAK wet party event. We agreed to sponsor a RYLA candidate, so we will be sponsoring both YAIL and RYLA this year. Good for us! We heard that Trisha Evans is moving to Edmonton – our loss, but we wish her and her family well.
Guest Speaker - Marilyn Piticco
Our guest speaker, Marilyn Piticco, took “centre stage” to tell us about her Hope After Stroke Foundation, how she became involved, and what positive effects it has for Langley residents. Marilyn was a realtor until her father had a stroke and she found there were no facilities to assist him in his recovery in Langley. With the help of Langley Township which provided space, she established the foundation and began assisting others. Handi Dart services began, and these proved handy (pun recognized) for those she wished to help. The program ran from 1995 - 2012 as she worked to get funding to keep it running. She then formed the Langley Community Support Society so they could do more than just help stroke victims. Fortunately, Cruise-In sponsored the program and she was able to continue with this work. Marilyn says she has spent 28 years doing this and is still invigorated by the work.
Pre-COVID groups met twice a week, and now Friday meetings (10:30-1:30) are held at Walnut Grove Community Centre. Stroke victims are taught how to speak again in a supportive environment, and they are now a community of friends who look forward to weekly meetings where they have coffee and play games. Scrabble is played as it helps with letter and word recognition, and other adapted games are included. Marilyn runs the Foundation out of her house and has a modest $30 000 annual budget. Students studying physiology at university volunteer their services, and get invaluable training and practice for themselves, a real win-win situation for all concerned. Marilyn pointed out that they are not to be confused with (nor connected to) the Heart and Stroke Foundation which focuses on prevention, while this group focuses on rehabilitation and recovery. A lively Q&A session followed before a round of applause thanked her for her presentation.
Rotary Moment with Wayne
Next we were on to the Foundation Moment sent from Jack Rae and delivered by Wayne.
WORDS FROM A ROTARY GLOBAL GRANT SCHOLAR
“During my time as a Rotary scholar, I learned to look at development differently. We often think of international aid in terms of poverty reduction, and we often see poverty reduction in terms of dollars spent and earned. The anthropology of development aims to analyze global aid in another way. We pay particular attention to how initiatives play out on the ground to determine just what local communities’ needs are and how those needs might be met sustainably and, eventually, autonomously.
Rotarians understand that to have the most impact, we need to learn from other cultures. As global grant scholars, that’s what we aim to do — during our studies, and afterward.”
— Levi Vonk, a global grant scholar and later a Fulbright fellow to Mexico
The Light Touch
For The Light Touch Wayne presented a story for beer aficionados.
There was a convention for brewers and brew masters from around the world attended. At the end of the convention a few of the brew masters decided to head to the local tavern together. They arrived and once seated at the bar, the bartender came around to take their orders.
The first to order was the brew master from Budweiser. He tells the bartender, “I’ll have the king of beers! One Budweiser please.”
The second was the brew master from Coors. He tells the bartender, “I’ll have the only beer brewed with pure Rocky Mountain spring water! One Coors please.”
The third was the brew master from Miller. He tells the bartender, “I’ll have the champagne of beers!. One Miller please.”
The fourth was the brew master from Guinness. He tells the bartender, “I’ll have a Coke.”
The other brew masters look at him astonished. “Aren’t you going to order a Guinness?” one of them asks.
The brew master from Guinness replies, “I figured if none of you were going to drink beer, I wouldn’t either.”
Other updates
Happy and Sad Dollars were donated by eight Rotarians for: an opportunity to chat with Kari Kutvonen; a wife winning in her category at the Toronto Dance Festival; happy to be back and, while it’s cold, the rain is not as heavy as in Hawaii; Marilyn, Wayne K., Brad, Irina’s win, and Easter; Allan’s return and our guest speaker; a trip to Newport with money being spent at Disneyland; happy to be able to attend our meeting; again for our guest speaker; and for a granddaughter interrupting the meeting by phoning to ask if she and her sister could open the package of chips. We raised $27 for polio Plus this evening.
We raised our glasses (actually, our cups and hands) in a toast to Canada and bid farewell until next week.
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