P.O. Box 48358, Bentall Centre
Vancouver, BC V7X 1A1
admin@rotaryvancouver.org
www.rotaryvancouver.org
Vol. 103 No. 31
Gerry Glazier, President
Gabby Dickert, Secretary
UPCOMING MEETING FEBRUARY 23, 2021
Karen Tanaka, COO, Vancouver Chinatown Foundation Chinatown Museum and the Story Centre
Karen Tanaka is the Chief Operating Officer of the Vancouver Chinatown Foundation. The Foundation is dedicated to building a more resilient and inclusive community by promoting the well-being of those in need while preserving Chinatown’s irreplaceable cultural heritage.
The Chinatown Storytelling Centre is a purpose-built cultural space that shares the stories of the arduous path from Chinese immigrant to Canadian citizen told through the lens of Vancouver’s Chinatown. This Centre will give voice to those who contributed to the city and the nation and explores the themes of immigration, social justice, inclusivity, and our shared intercultural history.
Message from the Interact Club of Sir Winston Churchill School
(sponsored by the Rotary Club of Vancouver)
On February 25th, our club is going to participate in Covenant House’s Sleep out event. For one night, we will be giving up our beds and sleeping outside in order to raise money and awareness for Vancouver’s homeless and at-risk youth, ensuring that they have somewhere to stay in times of strife.
Are members of the Rotary Club of Vancouver interested in supporting us in any way? It would be a huge help for us, as well as a great way of making a difference in people’s lives.
Here’s a link to the fundraiser’s website, please look for SWC Interact team: CLICK HERE
Message from Jack Zaleski and the RCV Hearing Foundation
As you are probably aware, our Club and its Hearing Foundation is embarking on a major fundraising project for the new St. Paul’s Hospital. We have committed to raising $6 million for the new Rotary Hearing and Balance Centre at the new St. Paul’s Hospital and we are asking for your support in this endeavour.
Some of you have already agreed to serve on the Steering Committee and I will be contacting you again shortly about our next steps.
To our other members, I invite you to be a part of this exciting project! We need your support and help first in identifying potential donors and second, if you are willing, we need your help in approaching these contacts.
The first step is identifying donors. If you know someone, either a business associate, friend, or family member who might be interested in learning about our plan for the new hearing centre, please send me their contact information. That’s all, we will do the rest.
But if you would like to be a part of the process, then join our steering committee and learn how you can play a part in this venture. Your relationship with your potential donors will be a very important asset when we make contact and tell our story. Don’t fear that you will be left alone to approach your potential donors. Few if any of us are professional fundraisers so we will be relying heavily on the support from the staff of St. Paul’s Foundation who do this for a living.
Let me know if you can help and if you would like to be a member of our steering committee. Thank you for reading this and I hope that we will be able to work together to make this Rotary Club of Vancouver DREAM come true!
L'Arche Greater Vancouver has been a repeat recipient of funding from our Community Service Committee. Denise Haskett, Executive Director/Community Leader of L'Arche Greater Vancouver spoke to the group. Below is a copy of her words:
L’Arche is an intentional faith-based community of people with and without developmental disabilities who share life together in our six homes and two day programs. Thank you for the invitation to speak to you today on behalf of L’Arche. Joining me to say hello, is a long-time L’Arche community member Theresa, who lives in one of our homes, and also attends the Emmaus Center day program, and Zenaide Correia, an assistant at the Emmaus Center.
I’m pleased to have this opportunity to personally thank the Rotary Club of Vancouver for your recent grant to L’Arche and for your faithful and generous support over the past few years. We, at L’Arche,rec ognize that 2020 was a challenging year for everyone, with the pandemic impacting a lot of organizations, particularly non-profits, and including the Rotary. So we are especially grateful to the Rotary Club for choosing to continue to give to L’Arche.
With your recent grant of $3200, we were able to purchase and install a new chairlift in one of our homes, the Crossing. There are a number of people in this home who are benefiting from your generosity. Theresa whom you met earlier, is one of our members with mobility issues who needs to use a stair lift. It makes it a lot easier for individuals to safely go up and down the stairs as needed, without having to worry about incurring injury that may result from a fall. Thank you for making a difference in the lives of the people in our L’Arche community.
Speaking of our L’Arche community, I’m pleased to share with you that we have been managing and adapting well during this extraordinary time. Continued support from donors and funders like the Rotary Club, enables L’Arche to be more resilient and creative in how we live as a community, and to ensure everyone’s health and well-being while staying connected with each other, family, and friends.
L’Arche has been supporting people with developmental disabilities for 47 years. Many of the people in our homes and day programs are aging, and we are aware that there is a great need to expand our mission. We are looking at creative ways to welcome more people to experience the richness of intentional community, especially for younger individuals who may be living at home with their parents.
We look forward to welcoming members of the Rotary Club of Vancouver to come and visit us after the pandemic is over.
Thank you, once again, to all the members of the Rotary Club of Vancouver for making a difference in the lives of people at L’Arche Greater Vancouver. A special thank you to Dr. Rene Abi-Rached for his faithful advocacy on behalf of L’Arche.
Gabby Dickert, Secretary, hosted the meeting via ZOOM & introduced guests.
Miya Otake played O Canada on the harp via taped video.
President’s Announcements:
Welcome to our guests, new and returning, as well as our own members who have taken the time out of their busy lives to be with us today. Thank you for joining us.
Secretary's announcements:
reminders of upcoming events/meetings (see above)
birthdays, member club anniversaries, wedding anniversaries (see above)
Member moments and special announcements:
Rene Abi-Rached from the Community Service Committee introduced Denise Haskett, Exec Director, from L‘Arche Greater Vancouver, a recent recipient of club funding. Thank you so much for the donations so that they can purchase what they need for their residents. Exciting morning, having pancakes today for lunch. See above for Denise's full message.
John Hayto shared that Mt Etna erupted on February 16th. Ash is falling on his son's, Bruno, property.
Jack Zaleski shared that his eldest daughter is retiring. How did that happen, time flies!
Cherie White, one of our prospective members thanked our club for including her in meetings. She feels very welcomed and looks forward to being able to apply to join us. She invited us all to join in on her company's "Brain Trust" meeting to participate in a conversation about how they can expand and communally reach the goals to improve Vancouver's eastside..
John Bathurst let us know, on behalf of the Youth Service Committee, the Winston Churchill Interact club will be participating in the 2021 Covenant House sleep out activity. 10 members will be sleeping out somewhere, and are looking for our support. See above for more information.
Jack Zaleski, a few words about Rotary and the new St. Paul's Hospital
Rotarian face masks are still available, $10 a piece. Contact Gabby or Carolyn to order.
Program:
Nathan Hesketh introduced Kyle Petz, Regional Manager, RBC Global Asset Management. Supports Nathan with his clients to enhance their investment strategies and retirement plans. Kyle’s role is to support financial planners and investment retirement planners at RBC.
2021 is such a different world than any of us could have anticipated. When investing, it is important to make rational vs emotional decisions. Difficult to do when we are in the face of such uncertain times. Whenever we see volatility in markets, emotions tend to take over. How can we start to identify potential poor investment performance due to emotional decisions? Don’t be moved by headlines, don’t let the emotions they evoke and dictate what would be a good investment plan.
The investment world saw a 34% drop in the 32 days at the initial stages of COVID. It is steadily returning to a more normal level. Economic data lagged, with the 2nd wave having a real impact but not nearly as much as the 1st.
We are seeing data that spending and employment are starting to recover. However, areas such as industrial production, travel & tourism that are still hurting. When we bring it all together, from a global stand point, specifically thinking about recovery and growth, we are anticipating strong growth in emerging markets.
Fixed income is still an important piece for Canadian investors. When looking at the last 12 months, fixed income has been negatively impacted. Not expecting much change for some time. Interest rates will remain low.
It is an important factor to avoid home country bias when balancing investments. Need to balance how much Canadian investment with what opportunities lay outside our borders. RBC has global expertise with offices around the world. Their approach to investing runs through ESG factors (Environmental, Social, and Governance). RBC rates as A+ across the board for the United National Principles for Responsible Investment.
Thank you for the opportunity to speak, and apologies for tech issues.
Upcoming financial planning seminars:
Taking Control: An Active Approach to Investing with RBC Vice-President David Richardson – February 23rd at 6pm to 7pm
Please email Nathan Hesketh at nathan.hesketh@rbc.com to receive a unique invitation to RSVP
Pros and Cons of Downsizing in Retirement – March 16th 6pm to 6:45pm. Session capacity is limited.
Please register here: CLICK HERE
Meeting adjourned with a toast to recovery not just in financial markets but also from COVID.
Karen Tanaka is the Chief Operating Officer of the Vancouver Chinatown Foundation. The Foundation is dedicated to building a more resilient and inclusive community by promoting the well-being of those in need while preserving Chinatown’s irreplaceable cultural heritage.
