Last Tuesday we heard from Zion Yua, a work colleague of Dimitri’s at Thurber Engineering. Zion is a young geo-environmental engineer with a passion for helping others. He believes in approaching problems with action first. He said that young people in heir twenties are very time challenged as they are busy with their careers and lives. When they decide to make the commitment to help others they like to be able to really make a difference and learn about other people and places at the same time.
Zion’s commitment to helping others began in High School in Chilliwack, B.C., when he decided to get a group of friends together to help other people in the local community. In 2011, when the Tohoku earthquake struck Japan, he decided that he needed to go and help there. He spent several weeks helping clean up debris in the aftermath and in the process he met people from all over who had just decided to pick up and come on their own to help in some way.
This inspired him once he returned to Canada to get together with a group of friends to find a project that they could all help with. He heard through one of these friends about opportunities to build homes for people in the San Quentin valley of Baja Mexico. Most of the people there are descendants of Ouaxacan migrant workers who came there to work in the vegetable and fruit growing farms of the region. Their housing conditions are very poor, usually no running water or electricity and their homes are often built using whatever is at hand, such as packing crates, cardboard, sheets, and plastic held together by strapping or rope. They work in the fields and usually make about nine US dollars a day. Unfortunately, other costs such as school uniforms for their children, cost one hundred dollars a year, and the children are not allowed to attend school without them.
These house building projects are done by many different groups. He and his friends decided to partner with Youth With A Mission (YWAM) to help to build homes for two families in 2016 and also in 2017. They would need to fundraise to cover the cost of building materials and other supplies, in addition to personally covering their own travel and accommodation expenses. Since neither he nor his friends knew nothing about building homes, they learned framing and roofing by watching you tube videos. In August of 2016 they travelled to Baja and built two homes. They had to learn by doing, how to use carpenter’s tools such as hammers, tape measures and saws. The homes were very basic, twenty by twenty two foot, wood frame homes, built on a concrete slab, with rolled roofing on top. They built counters and bunk beds and also provided mattresses, tables and new outhouses. The homes still have no running water or electricity, as these are not available in the neighbourhood they are in. In addition, they provided school uniforms for the children. In 2017 they returned and built two more homes for two more families.
He said that he and his friends are now looking for another opportunity to help others and are looking at several different projects they might be able to help with. It was inspiring for our group to hear about this small group of friends who have independently taken it upon themselves to make the commitment of time and money to help others.
We would like to send our most sincere thanks and gratitude to our volunteers who have lent their time, talents, voice and support to Youth Empowerment and Support Services over this last year.
In celebration of the International Volunteer Week, from time to time, we come across interesting opportunities and we would like to pass this one on to you for your consideration.
We have a new association with GoAsAGroup.com, they provide discounted pricing on a wide range of local: Events, Attractions, Services and Dining options.
GoAsAGroup collaborates with professional sports teams, entertainment venues and local services. Venues like Edmonton Eskimos, Edmonton Prospects, West Edmonton Mall’s attractions, the Alberta Ballet, Roxy Theatre, Citadel and the Mayfield Dinner Theatre. They also work with local businesses: Golf Courses, Restaurants, Indoor Children's Facilities, Fitness Studios, Escape Rooms and Beauty services to mention a few. GoAsAGroup has no membership cost. You can also invite your friends and family to join and use the service as well. If you have any related questions, please feel free to contact GoAsAGroup directly: info@goasagroup.com.
To join GoAsAGroup select the following link:app.goasagroup.com/yessand create an account. Their system will send you an email to verify your email and activate the account. To complete this step, simply click on the link in that email and then login.
We hope you enjoy this service and again Thank You for all that you do!
A number of volunteer opportunities exists with YESS. The bingo events are listed below. Check also the one day event, YESS 2018 Gala for Youth at THIS LINK.
Hello, We are in search of volunteers to help work at a Caesars BINGO in West Edmonton Mall. YESS has been selected as one of the charities of choice. They require at least 2 volunteers at any of the following dates:
Sunday April 1st – Evening Shift
Friday May 25th - Evening Shift
Saturday September 8th – Afternoon Shift
Thursday October 4th – Evening Shift
Sunday November 25th – Evening Shift
Please let me know if you or anyone you know would be willing to volunteer a shift in support of YESS at the Caesars BINGO hall in West Edmonton Mall. Thanks you so much.
Our Rotary group has partnered in a joint venture with the Rotary Club of Pretoria to help raise funds for the New Hope School in Pretoria. Patrick Gibson has put together a presentation that he will be making to the other rotary clubs in our area to encourage them to help us with this venture. Our goal is to put enough funding in place for us to be able to apply for a Rotary International matching grant.
Patrick gave us the same presentation he will be making to other local rotary groups. It included a short introduction on the New Hope School, followed by a video that has been prepared by the New Hope School. The New Hope School has been one of the projects of our club for some years now, and most of our members are well aware of the work they do in schooling for handicapped children in the Pretoria area. They provide many services above and beyond the usual schooling activities, such as physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy and many others, as needed by their students.
They receive only basic funding from the local government, so must fundraise to provide these other services. Some of the specific projects our funds could be used for would be a specialised playground, or programs to provide technical skills such as kitchen skills, nail and hair salon skills and sewing skills. Patrick has also put together a ‘Go Fund Me’ page on the web, on which people can get more information, view the video and make contributions. We will also be adding a link on our Rotary web page to this site.
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