Conflict and violence displace millions of people each year. 90 percent of those killed in conflicts are civilians and half of those are children. Often conflict starts and continues over long periods in competition for dwindling resources and as environmental changes force people to migrate.
Volatile rainfall and temperature trends in many parts of the world have exerted significant pressure on available land, water and food resources leading to diminishing food stocks, inadequate water supply, mass migration and desertification.
Rotary aims to look beyond the temporary cessation of violence in many parts of the world. There is a need to identify over the longer term conditions that lead to conflict management and mutual cooperation among those who have previously been adversaries.
While the world hopes for peace, Rotary International works to make it a reality by training the next generation of peace leaders.
The Rotary Club of Ladner, and the Rotary Clubs of Tsawwassen and North Delta, are now recruiting local, Delta candidates for the Rotary Peace Fellowship, a program that gives up to 130 fellows the opportunity to obtain professional development certificates or master’s degrees in Peace and Conflict Resolution from one of seven universities around the world.
“Today, there are still far too few mediators who are experienced practitioners in conflict resolution. There is an urgent need to produce another generation of people who can play a mediating role in the future,” said Professor Paul Rogers, University of Bradford, in the United Kingdom. “This program is the most significant development in graduate work in conflict resolution in decades.”
Food Plant Solutions Rotarian Action Group (FPSRAG) is a dynamic project that focuses on addressing malnutrition, hunger and food security using readily available local food plants.
FPSRAG creates educational resources to help people, particularly women, understand the connection between plant selection and nutrition. It empowers them to grow a range of plants with differing seasonal requirements and maturities.
Rotary Club of Ladner, one of 34,000 clubs in 200 countries and territories of 1.2 million members in Rotary International, celebrated the 116th Anniversary of now the world's oldest and second largest service organization on February 23, 2021. The date is known as World Peace and Understanding Day. Club members enjoyed a virtual tour of the Rotary International headquarters in the Chicago suburb of Evanston, Illinois.
Rotaract is Rotary for young professionals and college/university students, aged 18 to 30+ years. There are 203,298 Rotaractors in 10,698 Rotaract clubs in 180 countries worldwide.
At the 2019 Rotary International Convention in Hamburg, then Rotary International President Barry Rassin presented Rotaract leader, Phoenix MacLaren, with the Rotary International Award of Honor for helping lead her District into increasing overall membership by 150%. Phoenix talks about Rotary on February 23, 2021, the 116th Anniversary of Rotary.
Rotary Club of Ladner collaborated with the North Delta Rotary Club which requested our assistance in delivering 180 free dictionaries to elementary students in South Delta. North Delta Rotary has managed this project in recent years through in-person visit to the schools, not possible because of pandemic restrictions.
The international Dictionary Project aims to assist school students in becoming good writers, active readers, creative thinkers, and resourceful learners by providing them with their own personal dictionary. Educators see third grade as the dividing line between learning to read and reading to learn, so the focus is on elementary school children in the third grade.
26 Ladner Rotarians and partners gathered over dinner, to celebrate the Lunar or Chinese New Year, as usual, or not.....via zoom. Gung Hey Fat Choy. Thank you, Chris Offer. Guillermo and Paulette read fortune cookie fortunes for some of us. We gave toasts as we start the Year of the Ox. The event included two breakout sessions in smaller groups.
One of the biggest teams showed up for the periodic street clean up of Arthur Drive on February 20, 2021. Thank you to the 12 who picked up bags of anything from cigarette butts and candy wrappers to drinking cups and straws scattered along the sides of the road and under hedges along Arthur Drive, from its start at the intersection with Ladner Trunk Road along to 44th Avenue, under the City of Delta's Adopt-A-Street program. -- photos by Chris Offer and stock shot by Alamay
Paul Harris Fellow honourees are individuals who meet high professional and personal standards set forth by Paul Harris, the founder of Rotary International. Honourees may have contributed more than US $1000 to The Rotary Foundation or may be recognized with this award by their club for extraordinary service above self.
Former Chair of the Delta Foundation Noel Philippot received the prestigious Paul Harris Fellow Award from the Rotary Club of Ladner, which founded the Foundation in 1986 for his service above self to the Delta community as board director and chair of the Delta Foundation over several years.
Dr. Gordon McInally Gordon, of the Rotary Club of South Queensferry, Lothian, Scotland, spoke to Ladner Rotary on February 9, 2021 from his home in Scotland about “Scotland Today”. Gordon is the past president of Rotary International in Great Britain and Ireland and has served on the Rotary International board of directors.
When the Mission to Seafarers began in the 1830s, at the port of Bristol, England, the goal was then, as it is today, "to care for the spiritual, physical and emotional needs of all seafarers and their families." Seafarers, who run the container ships and other cargo ships, bring us 90% of what we have in our typical households and lives. In doing that, they are isolated from their families and the rest of society spending many months at sea, sometimes 12 to 16 months and more.
The Mission to Seafarers is a ministry of 'presence' and 'hospitality' by leaders in different faiths visiting seafarers on their ship, listening and letting them know we care, by providing centres a 'home away from home' where they can go and relax, speak with family, watch TV, play pool, send money home, buy a snack or two. We provide transportation to take them to the centre or to the mall. The Mission also advocates for seafarers, keeping a watchful eye on conditions on board and helping them know their rights.
Dr. "Bowtie" Todd Jenkins currently serves as the Senior Diversity, Inclusion, and Innovation Leader in Corporate America at a Fortune 400 company and as a Global Inclusion Trainer, Strategist, and Speaker with Bowtie Leadership, Inc. As a consultant, he has worked with several companies such as Walmart, Google, Facebook, American Airlines, Deloitte, etc., oil and gas companies, small and large non-profits, and entrepreneurs.
He'll deliver the keynote speech at the 2021 District Conference on Friday, June 4 as we celebrate the Rotary Family, June 4 and 5 in a live, virtual event.
Judith Diment has held many senior positions in marketing and communications including Head of PR for the National History Museum, London.
A dedicated Rotarian, Diment has worked as an advocate for polio eradication for more than 20 years. She is currently the Coordinator of Rotary International Polio Eradication Task Force and a member of Rotary International Polio Plus Committee (IPCC).
She will join us online on Saturday, June 5.
Register now for the 2021 District Conference for $79!