Our President Rick is a very thoughtful person. It seems he thinks of everyone all the time. This week was no exception.
Neil had a birthday and we all know Neil for his 'puns' as well he is the Secretary of our Rotary Club..... Our President presented Neil a book of 'Wit & Humor'
Brian W. is so very passionate about Belize and particularly about the education that our Rotary Club is providing for that country. Brian supports a school in Belize and has been on many trips to help out there. President Rick presented him a book- Maya.
Khayanga Wasiki was visiting from Kenya and told us about what is going on in her town. What an amazing woman who has a school there for the children and has started many programs. One is making menstruation pads 'Days for Girls', and now is the biggest supplier of these because they have taught the woman how to make them and now have a little business doing so. Also an automobile that wasn't working was given to them and the men take it apart, drive it for a while, and then then next group does the same, learning auto mechanics. Fantastic!!!. Khayanga has now started a Rotary Club in her town and has already 30 new members who are taking classes to know what Rotary is all about so they too can live by the Rotary motto - Service above Self.
PP Al Stjernegaard is the International Chair this year and he talked about all the projects we have going on Internationally.
Updates are:
South Africa - Andy is the lead person on this project. There is a Global Grant applied for this project for a home that houses severely handicapped children and the grant is in the process to help them.
Kenya - AG Glen is handling this project for wells and laterins. Again a Global Grant that is well on its way.
PP Al - Global Grant application for Belize Rural Schools. This is an amazing project and has total support from our Rotary Club. We had 4 members of our Rotary Club go to Belize last project and if you are interested in helping out this April, please let Al know. The application is going in an the Port Coquitlam Centennial Club was the first to offer money towards this Grant.
September 24th - Please come to City Hall as they will be reading a Proclamation to announce our 25th Anniversary and make it Rotary Club of Port Moody day.
September 26th - Our 25th Anniversary Tacky Tourist Party at the Legion. 6:00 PM Start. Get your tickets now as we have cut off date next Tuesday. The Legion needs to know the numbers 10 days in advance.
October 6 - Rotary is about helping and here is a hands-on project we can all do. Please come and help at Steve and Lauralea's 'weed' their garden. They have had a busy time going back and forth for treatments for Lauralea and their garden is overgrown. Many hands make light work 'AND' Steve will BBQ after we are done. There was an email that went out to 'sign up' so please do that so they know how many people will be there. Bring something to share and your beverage please. xoxo
The Port Moody Terry Fox Run was well supported by our Rotary Club. Thank you to Glen for the great video that you put on Facebook. Nice to see so many people out for the first run in many years in Port Moody. Well organized by Mark Pettie and Peter Kobayashi.
Gayle, Peter M, Peter C, Mayor Meghan, Joan & Gary, Lee & May, Bill, Al S, Glen & Marcia, Krista and myself. I hope I didn't miss anyone. We were busy at Registration which was well done.
A real treat for everyone was that Doug Alward was at our run. Doug was Terry's best friend and he drove the van for Terry Fox for 153 days in 1980.
Doug spoke 'Terry's' words and it was a very emotional to hear his words. We are blessed that Doug was there.
Terry believed in a world without cancer. The annual Terry Fox Run has become a fall tradition in Canada, with nearly 600 communities, big and small, urban and rural, English and French, fundraising for cancer research
About Terry Fox.[from their website]
Eighteen-year-old Terry Fox of Port Coquitlam, BC never saw himself as remarkable. Granted, he displayed an unusual determination to achieve the goals he set for himself but his orbit was local – family, school, sports and friends. But Terry’s cancer diagnosis of osteogenic sarcoma just above the knee, the subsequent amputation of his leg and experience in the cancer wards changed all that. A newly nurtured reservoir of compassion, combined with a fierce determination to bring an end to the suffering cancer causes, set Terry on a path that, quite simply, changed the world.
Terry’s personal experience and research led him to a simple conclusion – more money was needed for cancer research. And so, in the modest but motivated style that would prove to be his trademark, Terry started training and planning for his cross-Canada run to raise funds for cancer research. He dipped his artificial leg in the Atlantic Ocean on April 12th, 1980 and proceeded to unite Canadians in a way never before, nor since, seen. The only thing that could have stopped Terry from reaching the Pacific Ocean did. Cancer returned in his lungs and he was forced to stop on September 1st, 1980 after having run 5,373 kilometres.
Before his death on June 28, 1981, Terry had achieved his once unimaginable goal of $1 from every Canadian. More importantly, he had set in motion the framework for an event, The Terry Fox Run, that would ignite cancer research in Canada, raising more than $850 million since 1980, and bring hope and health to millions of Canadians.
