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An annual event for the Rotary Club of Vancouver Yaletown is providing a Pumpkin Patch at Admiral Seymour School in Vancouver, along with skilled guidance for creating Jack-o-Lanterns for Halloween. This year, due to COVID-19, the students carved over 125 pumpkins without our help and had their usual enthusiastic, fun time with candy to round out the day.
A message from Club President Jane LePorte:
"As you may all know, the response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) has been quickly evolving, and the Rotary Club of Vancouver Yaletown will change all upcoming in-person meetings to virtual meetings until the B.C. Ministry of Health advises it is safe to gather together again. We send best wishes to all for good health and a positive response to this global crisis. Thank you for your understanding."
You are welcomed to join our virtual club meetings. Please contact us at VancouverYaletownRotary@gmail.com or by Facebook.
Lots of fun at our first ever online Halloween themed Scavenger Hunt! Great to see members, Rotaracters, friends, and guests having fun in costumes and staying safe. With combined team effort, we were all able to find the spooky items hidden around our house! More social game meetings to come in the future!
This year our Club continues to support Amarok Society with their newspaper program in Bangladesh, which provides funding for daily newspapers and literacy programs to women living in the poorest villages. The women read the newspapers out loud to other women and children who cannot read or afford books. Amarok informed us that with access to newspapers and reliable information, the families they reach can better understand what's happening throughout the country during COVID-19 lockdown. Reliable news sources are always important, but during a pandemic, a food shortage, and mass evictions, staying informed is actually changing lives.
News Release: Large, new eyeglasses collection to bring precious gift of vision to developing countries.
Neil Mort, recipient of the Don Evans People of Action Award
On May 24, 2020, the Rotary Club of Vancouver Yaletown’s member and Past President Neil Mort received the Don Evans People of Action Award at the District 5040 “Roskars” awards presentation online.
Neil was recognized for his efforts in the Water Harvesting Project by facilitating the construction of a sustainable water supply system that was desperately needed at community schools in the Suswa region of Kenya, to enable more students to stay in school and to benefit the entire community. Neil kept the Vancouver Yaletown Club interested and engaged after first hearing about this efficient water system in 2012 from Chip Morgan, CEO of Africa Water Bank. In 2015, Chip visited again with more details and began the preliminary work with Neil. The project was completed in 2019.
Neil guided the project by communicating with Rotary Club partner, Hurlingham Nairobi, who assessed the need and feasibility with the Osupuko Oleng’ Community Based Organization (CBO). With Neil’s leadership, RC Vancouver Yaletown raised funds and proceeded with writing the Global Grant. Neil made two personal trips to Kenya; one prior to work commencing and one after completion.
In response to the COVID-19 situation, our club is supporting the lunch food program at Admiral Seymour School, an elementary school located in the Downtown Eastside. Andrea Pieters from the school joined our web-based club meeting and thanked us for our donation and explained the school's food pantry.
Thanks to our club members, friends, and supporting businesses, our club raised a total of 360 pairs of glasses for Third World Eye Care Society (T.W.E.C.S). Our Rotary District 5040 raised over 3400 pairs of glasses in total. Dr. Marina Roma-March gave an online presentation to our District to recap her efforts over the last 25 years and her vision for the future. Thank you for restoring not only vision, but the quality of life for those desperately in need around the world.
This meeting we found out about the activities at RC Downtown Victoria from Linda Murray, former member of RC Vancouver Yaletown. We also congratulated Paramith Rudrappa for winning this year's Rotary FDU Scholarship!
Vancouver City Hall, BC Place Stadium and Telus Science World lit up on Sunday, April 26, 2020 to salute Rotary and its fight to rid the world of polio.
This week we had multiple meetings virtually in preparation of our featured fundraiser event in May. This was our biggest turnout online so far!
