 Charles Ramos introduced our speaker Susie Caswell, representing the VIU Foundation and Alumni Relations as the Advancement Manager, Gift Planning and Donor Relations. She is also a former member of our club. Her talk focused on the VIU endowment fund. Susie started her talk recalling that our club has two legacies with VIU’s endowment fund. The two endowments of $10K each have actually awarded far more than the initial investments and has made a huge difference in the community. Endowment funds are invested and none of the principal dollars are touched. VIU’s large endowment pool consists of donated gifts that are invested and assigned shares within the pool. As the pool grows, it is held in trust in perpetuity and managed by VIU’s Finance Committee and the VIU Foundation board. Today’s threshold to establish an endowment is $20K with VIU matching funds of 50 cents on the dollar. Endowment awards create stability with invested funds, allowing VIU to make significant awards to its students every year. Donations that come in as gifts, and do not go in the endowment fund, simply go to where the donor directed. Different types of awards from the endowment fund include: an award of tuition credits with criteria set up by the donor; a scholarship based on academic excellence; and a bursary based on financial need. International students do not qualify for bursaries. VIU handles all the selections, using an online application portal.  Our Rotary Club will be donating $20K to the endowment in honor of our 100th anniversary. After a few questions, Doreen Charbonneau thanked Susie and presented her with a Rotarian-made pen. Janeane then introduced Doreen Charbonneau who presented her new member talk.  Highlighting her 60 years of life, Doreen grew up in Southern Ontario, the youngest of eight kids. Her parents immigrated from Holland with five young kids and had three more in Ontario. They were very involved in church which got them involved in community and gave their family the values of contributing to community. She was a very rebellious teenager, quitting high school, left home at 17 and flew off for Calgary, then to Banff exploring the Rockies and fell in love with the area. She enjoyed the area for 8 years, then went to Calgary to do nurses training and had a successful 33-year career in nursing. She was fortunate to be able to explore various aspects of nursing in the hospital. Doreen met her husband Paul in 1989 and moved from Canmore to Vancouver Island for a few years, got married in Victoria, spent several years in Vancouver where their son Luke was born, then settled in Golden. There they were blessed with adopted son Ben. They spent 14 years in Golden where she worked in a challenging hospital situation, with lots of “highway trauma” and adventure sports injuries. When Paul received early retirement, they decided to move back to the coast. She worked in the Duncan ER, enjoyed it very much and she retired last summer on her own terms. Life suits her just fine. She debated on sharing a sad, but important part of her story, but went ahead and told the tale of how her athletic, outdoorsy husband had set out on an extensively planned 450 km solo ocean kayak journey in August 2015. They were able to keep in touch through “modern technology” and track his journey at all times. On September 15, with approximately 2/3 of his journey behind him, while crossing an 8 km sound, Paul suddenly passed away. They believe it was a medical incident and after the Coast Guard launched a search, they found him and his wonderful journal and photos. Needless to say, the family’s life was forever changed. Luke had left home, Ben was in 12th grade and good friends and family were at a distance. Doreen continued to work for the next four years and stay close to her sons. She also did some travelling with new friends and family. Her new life today includes travelling, hiking and kayaking and she recently started curling and playing pickle ball. Besides having fun though, Doreen realizes the importance of giving back. She met Carlene at the book sale, which led her to Rotary and she is very impressed with the initiatives and projects. And while she is still exploring her place in Rotary, Doreen will be joining a friend at the Rotary International Convention in Honolulu! We’re very proud to have you Doreen! Janeane thanked Doreen and adjourned the meeting by reminding members to bring a friend to Rotary.
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Most donations are for food programs, sports equipment, class materials, technology and summer meal programs. Janeane estimates since 2001, the total donations are in excess of $160,000.
Dawn reminded us all of the Valentine’s dinner and social at The Nanaimo Golf Club on February 14. Only 4 tickets remain!
Wayne Anderson fined all those not sporting their Rotary Pin. Wayne also fined Dave Hammond for egregious introduction of guests. (Merriam-Webster defines this as extraordinary in some bad way)
Many happy bucks today including Jason celebrating the upcoming Mount Washington ski trip for Youth Exchange Students, Charles was happy to locate a Paul Harris award in his desk, possibly belonging to Ian? 
