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One of the main facilities of the Port of Vancouver, Canada’s largest port system, is in Delta. Deltaport is a deep sea port for companies shipping containers and coal, amounting to much of the activity in the system. Tanya Hawke provides an overview on port operations in Delta and an update on the proposed Roberts Bank Terminal 2 project.
"Rotary Opens Opportunities" encourages Rotarians around the world to seize the many opportunities Rotary offers to enrich their lives and the communities in which they serve. Rotary International President Holger Knaack said Rotary isn’t just a club for people to join, rather it's "an invitation to endless opportunities," for members to improve their lives and the lives of those they help through service projects. He adds, " Every new member changes us a little bit," bringing a new perspective and new experiences. Our members will, "grow stronger as we learn from new members.”The Rotary Club of Ladner continues to meet on Zoom at noon on Tuesdays through in response to health advisories. Please contact Chris Offer if you wish to join the meeting featuring any of the guest speakers listed in the right hand column.
Coast Mental Health (CMH) believes that people living with mental challenges can thrive in our communities if they are given the right resources: housing, support services and employment and education opportunities. With compassion and courage, recovery from mental illness is possible when clients take the lead in their recovery, working with the team at CMH. Port Moody Rotarian, Darrell Burnham, speaks about the impact of Covid-19 and the opioid crisis on our community.
Our long-time club member and Rotarian of 58 years, Michael Cruise, suddenly passed away at age 95 at Waterford Delta, in Tsawwassen, where he had recently moved. He had contracted the COVID-19 virus and was in isolation, but was not suffering serious effects as some have done. Michael was a Past District 5040 Governor (1995-96) and a Paul Harris Fellow, who made many contributions to Rotary over the years here in this community, this province and overseas. Michael’s wife Beryl died in 2018.
As we all suffer the hardship of this pandemic in one way or another, we are inspired by the best in generosity and creativity among people in our communities. We are sometimes ashamed or disgusted by the poor judgment and bad behaviour of far fewer people among us in public and private life.
One way to describe many of the kind of supportive, caring actions of volunteers among us is vocational service. That is the essence of any service club: "service above self" to make the community and the world a better place, by working with integrity and contributing expertise to the problems and needs of society.
One way to describe many of the kind of supportive, caring actions of volunteers among us is vocational service. That is the essence of any service club: "service above self" to make the community and the world a better place, by working with integrity and contributing expertise to the problems and needs of society.
Ladner Rotarian and Past District 5040 Governor Chris Offer appears in the January 2021 edition of the international Rotary Magazine. He has also been appointed to the Board of Directors of The Rotary Foundation Canada.
Optometrist Dr. Joan Hansen, a member of Tsawwassen Rotary, tells us about the four common problems with eyesight for those aged 40-50 years and more. It's important to understand these challenges as 80% of what we learn comes through our eyes, she says.
About 70 people in the South Delta Family and Peer Support Group for special needs adults were delighted to receive full Christmas dinners from the White Spot in Tsawwassen and gifts, all sponsored by the Rotary Club of Ladner, thanks to organizers and delivery teams on Sunday, December 20, 2020. This home delivery distribution replaced the normal evening of dinner and entertainment for the Group at the Ladner Community Centre because of pandemic restrictions.
A wide range of performers, among members in the 50 clubs of our District 5040, put on a virtual Christmas Concert, hosted by District Governor Dave Hamilton and thanks to the organizing by Past District Governor Darcy Long, Santa Charbonneau and team. Despite the technical limitations of Zoom the performances shone through.
Special visitors helped Rotary Club of Ladner celebrate Christmas in a fun way, including Santa Claus, himself, the Prime Minister, plus Rotary District 5040 Governor Dave Hamilton, District Governor Nominee John Berry and Assistant Governor Dean Hseih. Special thank you to Chris Offer for our Christmas production 2020.
The 25 families supported by Delta Secondary School students in a festive season food drive, and the South Delta Food Bank, will receive the 1,750 food and toiletry items as well as over $2000 in cash and gift cards for the purchase of food, thanks to the students’ and school staff’s “Twenty Days of Giving" campaign. The 42 student members of the school’s Interact Club, sponsored by the Rotary Club of Ladner, played a significant part in the campaign by hosting a community Drive-Thru Donation event in the school parking lot on December 1st.
Patients in the 58 acute care beds, outpatients, 92 long term care residents, their visitors and the more than 110 hospital and medical staff at Delta Hospital are getting a lift from the Christmas lights now brightening up the main entrance and the Healing Garden at the hospital's central courtyard. A team of 10 Rotary Club of Ladner members, including several from Pure Sunfarms, put up the lights and seasonal figures over the past weekend.
Treasurer for Rotary Zone 32 (includes most states in the Northeastern USA), Past District 7500 Governor, leader trainer and Major Donor to The Rotary Foundation, Horton Hickerson, spoke to Ladner Rotary from Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. He advises clubs to take new approaches to meeting, such as using Zoom, and blend with in person meetings when safe to do so indoors. Rotary could not only adapt to the pandemic by using newer technology to apply to traditional formats for meeting, it could be developing new ways to do new things in service to the community and the world.
Rotary Club of Ladner looked back on the 2019-20 year, with the theme, “Rotary Connects the World,” and looked forward to 2021-22 with the election of its new board of directors at the club's Annual General Meeting on December 1, 2020. In the past Rotary year, club President Bridget Jacob and the Board of Directors encouraged greater connections between club members, our local communities and Rotarians around the world. The year of connections then evolved into the year of the pandemic necessitating a complete reimagining of how Rotarians, People of Action, could in fact “connect”. As we Rotarians rose to the challenge and, despite the pandemic restrictions, by the end of the Rotary year our club was able to achieve the Gold level international Presidential Citation and special recognition for our Polio contributions.
Vancouver's Women in Blue is a tribute to the 125 women who have served the Vancouver Police from 1904 to 1975, from their early roles as matrons and, after a long, slow course, eventually as police constables.
In 1904 Mata Raymond was the first woman Vancouver Police hired as a matron to supervise women in jail. In 1912, Canada’s first two women started serving as full constables on active duty. In the mid-1930s women continued to double as police constables and matrons. It wasn’t until 1973 that Sharon Smith was the first female constable to be sent out in a patrol car with a male partner.
Paul Engleman is a Chicago-based freelance writer who is a frequent contributor to the Rotary magazine and Contributing Editor for Rotary Canada magazine. He is also an award-winning novelist whose articles, essays, and interviews have appeared in many publications, including the New York Times and Playboy. Paul is a polio survivor.
Founded over 100 years ago, The Rotary Foundation is recognized by international foundation rating organizations as one of the world’s most trusted and effective foundations. It is the foundation for Rotary International, the world’s original service club. Over time it has spent more than US$4 billion on life-changing, sustainable projects. It is the powerhouse behind many of Rotary’s contributions to communities here at home, such as the Ladner Rotary Splash Park, and around the world.
Members of the three Rotary clubs in Delta, including the original Rotary Club of Ladner, throughout BC and around the world raise funds for, and donate to, The Rotary Foundation because as little as 60 cents can protect a child from polio, $50 can provide clean water to help fight waterborne illness and $500 can launch an antibullying campaign and create a safe environment for children.
Eight Ladner Rotarians shared stories about their family members who served or were serving their country in the military as a salute to all those who lost their lives, limbs and peace of mind in that service on the occasion of Remembrance Day. As Ladner Rotarian Rev. Graham Witcher says about sacrifice: "to make something holy by giving it away for love."
At least 50 of the 600 low income families throughout Delta, registered with Deltassist, will enjoy a happier Christmas thanks to $4,900 in net proceeds from a paper Shred-A-Thon which Ladner Rotary held on November 7, 2020. The funds will be used by Deltassist to purchase food gift cards, replacing the usual Christmas Hampers of food collected through local schools and other organizations because of pandemic restrictions. Raising the cash, rather than the food, has proven to be a large, extraordinary challenge, but a big "THANK YOU" to all the Delta residents who drove up in 135 vehicles to clear their homes and offices of 4.5 tons of paper and contribute to the shredding fundraiser, bringing some Christmas joy to those who have little for themselves.
E-Comm is the first point of contact for 9-1-1 callers in 25 regional districts in British Columbia. It handles over 1.8 million 9-1-1 calls a year. That amounts to 99 percent of B.C.’s 9-1-1 call volume.
E-Comm 9-1-1 emerged from the chaos in coordinating first responders during the 1994 Stanley Cup Riots in Vancouver, as a multi-municipality agency which provides emergency communications operations for the province. The company coordinates 9-1-1 service for police, fire, and ambulance service, providing call-taking and dispatch services for multiple agencies in the Lower Mainland area.
Immediate Past President of the Rotary Club of Ladner Bridget Jacob receives at a social distance an award from the club for her service as President in 2019-20, presented by current President Peter Roaf.
