UPCOMING MEETING MAY 17, 2022
Sharon Dobin, President, Sancta Maria House Making a Difference in the Lives of Women Struggling with Addictions
Sharon Dobin has been the President of Sancta Maria House Association and Executive Director of Sancta Maria Healing/Recovery Home since 2004. Her background as a registered nurse has been influential and helpful in providing and welcoming women from all backgrounds and ethnicities into the home. Sharon will share the history of Sancta Maria House and how the home helps women on their road to healing and recovery. How the rotary club's recent funds have been used to help women learn and build new skills and a way to give back to the community. Joining Sharon will be Elizabeth who will share her personal story to recovery with the help of Sancta Maria House.
Fatty liver disease is on the rise in Canada and is estimated to be the primary indication for liver transplant in the near future.
Liver disease is often silent. When there are symptoms, it's often too late.
The Canadian Liver Foundation (CLF), BC/Yukon Region, is pleased to launch the Liver Beware Project, offering testing to identify fatty liver disease and liver scarring or cirrhosis. Testing is through a Fibroscan, an easy, painless, and needle-free test that accurately determines the amount of fat in the liver and estimates if the liver has sustained scarring (cirrhosis).
Testing will be done in the London Drugs Pharmacy located on West Broadway/Cambie & Guilford Mall locations for a total of 20 weekends, starting April 30 - Sept 11.
Please contact Monica Chui, Director Development and Community Engagement, for more information. She can be reached at 605-512-5116 or mchui@liver.ca
Due notice having been given; the following individual member has been declared elected as a member of the Club.
Brittany Ford
“Healthcare - Nutrition & Technology”
Proposer: Gabby Dickert
Seconder: Franz Gehriger
*
Juliet Wong May 10
Brian Gusko May 11
Christian Nelsen May 12
Anne Lippert May 15
at our Club
Mindy Tulsi-Ingram 18 years
Rene Fluri 58 years
wedding
Mindy Tulsi-Ingram & Steve Ingram
26 years May 17
Jack & Donna Lee Zaleski
34 years May 14
Gerry & Marlene Glazier
54 years May 18
* come in person to celebrate with Purdy's chocolates!!
Last Meeting May 10, 2022
Wayne Fraser, President, chaired the meeting
Nadja Gehriger, Secretary, hosted the ZOOM meeting and introduced guests
Miya Otake played O Canada on the harp via video
President’s Announcements:
Thank you to all of you who came to Tuesday’s meeting. It is wonderful to see you all, both those in person and those attending virtually.
Something that may be of interest to you: we received a note from the Canadian Liver Foundation with an invitation to all of us to get screened for fatty liver disease, liver scarring, and cirrhosis. Fatty liver disease is on the rise in Canada – it’s a silent disease and often once symptoms are experienced it’s too late. Testing will be done for a duration of 20 weekends from now through to September 11th. If you are interested see above or contact Carolyn to get the booking details.
Another volunteer opportunity: the Canadian Cancer Society is looking for help with their Relay for Life event. A commitment of two hours is all they ask. Contact volunteer@cancer.ca for more info.
Announcement regarding the use of Zoom. Terminal City Club charges us $400 per meeting for the use of their technology. Though in the industry the price is reasonable for our club it is very expensive and hard to justify. So starting next week we will be moving to a much more limited use of Zoom. We will be using one of our laptops to host those attending remotely. We will do our best but there may be some issues, particularly with sound.
We do have some speakers coming up who are remote and can only attend via Zoom so we will use the TCC’s setup for those meetings.
Another announcement, this one regarding our meals. We will be requesting that the setup goes back to buffet starting next week. The only food restrictions we will make special accommodations for are allergies, in those cases please let Carolyn know. This is because the normal buffet selections allow members to choose items according to their specific food preferences. Registration will still be required per TCC's request to confirm numbers prior to the day.
Secretary's announcements:
reminders of upcoming events/meetings (see above)
birthdays, member club anniversaries, wedding anniversaries (see above)
Special announcements and members' moments:
John Bathurst presented Darren Radbourne with his 1st Paul Harris Fellow award.
Phil Webber received from Adrian Zylmans and her family a couple of very generous donations to pass on:
2x Starbucks gift cards for the VYP Rotaract UNYA fundraiser
an incredible $10,000 cash donation for the St. Paul's Hospital new Rotary Hearing Clinic
Visiting Rotarian Ahmed Ghazwan from Jordon told us about their unique Rotary District. Their District, 2452, has multiple countries -- Armenia, Bahrain, Cyprus, Georgia, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, and Sudan. Very diverse!!
Program:
Jim Evans introduced speaker Tim Stevenson. They met in Nanoose Bay in the 60s at a United Church camp. Tim went on to become the 1st openly gay minister, then went on to politics.
Tim spoke about how his life intersects with huge social change that is happening in society now. It has been quite unbelievable. He grew up in west Vancouver – a very insular upbringing. One never spoke about sexuality – homosexuality was unacceptable, in fact it was illegal. Tim struggled enormously with being gay and trying to deal with that.
The last person criminally charged was in 1967; he was given a life term for sleeping with another man. Thankfully Pierre Trudeau did away with that law.
Tim tried to be straight as his friends were, and eventually married a woman. The radical change for Tim personally came 55 years ago while married to a woman and he found himself thinking that he wished someday he could marry a man. Of course, that was ridiculous and really unthinkable. Well, Tim has now been legally married since 2004 to his life partner, a man. He has 3 daughters and lots of grandchildren.
Though before this he really did not know how to get out of the personal predicament he was in. He was gay but didn’t want to be. He experienced a total mental break down and ended up in hospital. Thankfully he survived and has since actually thrived.
As a result of his experience coming out, Tim decided that he would do whatever he could to ease the path of young people who are travelling a similar path he did. At the time, by just being gay, you could legally be fired, or be thrown out of your apartment. He worked on righting the ship and changing the laws.
He went to university at 30, completed 3 master’s degrees. He was the 1st openly gay student in theology school. After a 12 year struggle with the church across Canada, he was finally ordained in 1992. The church sent Tim to South Africa, around the time Mandela was released. He worked with ANC, where Mandela was elected party president – that was when he became truly political. Mandela had always said he would put sexual orientation into the South African constitution – he did do it. It was a pivotal time in terms of Tim’s political learning.
The NDP approached him to run for office. He never left the church but recognized this was the path he wanted to travel. He was instrumental in changing a number of laws including the definition of “spouse”. Changed it to include same gendered “spouse” which led to the legalization of gay marriage. By the time he left provincial office most of the discriminatory laws had been changed to be inclusive.
He had the privilege of officiating the 1st gay marriage on the steps of the courts.
Tim became deputy speaker of the house, at which time went to Mauritius. Spouses were invited so he planned to bring his spouse, Gary. When he registered, he was quickly told it wouldn’t be possible to bring Gary. Homosexuality was illegal in Mauritius, and they could end up in jail upon landing in the country. 500 parliamentarians from around the world were in attendance. When it was Tim’s turn to speak, he told them that they should never book the event in a country where homosexuality was illegal again. Did get some attention for that!
Tim ran for Vancouver City Council, with Larry Campbell et al, who started up Vision Vancouver. They were in power for 10 years running in Vancouver, 16 years total. They brought a lot of initiatives forward, e.g., rainbow sidewalks, something so small that was and is helpful for so many as a visible symbol of acceptance. The City decided Tim, as Deputy Mayor, should go to Sochi for the Olympics. Putin had come out with many inflammatory comments about gays. Tim advocated to the IOC for change, and as a result, the IOC changed their constitution to ensure gays would not be discriminated against.
Tim has had an amazing life. He never saw himself as an advocate when he was growing up. There are still many countries around the world that make it very difficult for LGBTQ communities. So many live in fear for their lives, literally. He feels strongly that it is important we watch out to make sure that the changes continue, and everyone is treated equally and fairly around the globe. The younger generation must pick up the gauntlet and stay diligent.
Meeting adjourned with a toast to champions though out the world and the work that they do.
Sharon Dobin has been the President of Sancta Maria House Association and Executive Director of Sancta Maria Healing/Recovery Home since 2004. Her background as a registered nurse has been influential and helpful in providing and welcoming women from all backgrounds and ethnicities into the home. 
