UPCOMING MEETING OCTOBER 11, 2022
John Berry, District 5040 Governor District Connection and News
John Berry has been a member of the New Westminster Rotary Club since 1987, where he's served three times as Club President.
John will bring us up to date on the District's goals and aspirations for the year.
UPCOMING MEETING OCTOBER 18, 2022
Ardath Paxton Mann & Danison Buan Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, A Discussion
from the District 5040 website:
At Rotary, we're committed to treating everyone with dignity and respect, allowing everyone's voice to be heard, and providing equitable opportunities for fellowship, service, and leadership.
Our members want and expect Rotary to be a diverse, equitable, and inclusive organization. We're committed to creating supportive environments that foster open communication and shared learning.
Rotary International has adopted a development strategy around Diversity Equity Inclusion (DEI). While Rotary overall is a model of DEI, many of our 35,000 clubs are not. An international Task Force has been conducting research within Rotary and, as of January 2022, has started presenting its findings and recommendations. In 2021 Rotary District 5040 formed a DEI Committee to work with our 48 clubs on ways they can choose to reflect the communities they serve, develop and become more relevant by engaging with them, and become more sustainable through their own strategies related to DEI.
Thank you to George Sandwith, from RC New West, Paul McCrae, and Graham Coleman who spoke about these two wonderful human beings, Ralph & Darren, at our meeting.
Both shall be missed beyond what words can express.
May they rest in peace.
Darren Radbourne
Oct 27, 1976 - Sep 27, 2022
Ralph Towsley
Aug 06, 1926 - Sep 26, 2022
As per Ralph's wishes there will not be a public ceremony.
Darren's funeral will be on Tuesday October 11th, starting at 1:00 p.m.
at Mount Pleasant Universal Funeral Home, 306 East 11th Ave., Vancouver V5T 2C6
Public viewing will be held at 12:00 - 1:00 p.m.
The ceremony will be webcast. It can be viewed live or on replay at:
* come in person to celebrate with Purdy's chocolates!!
Last Meeting October 4, 2022
Kendall Jessiman, President, chaired the meeting and gave the invocation.
Sandra Lowe, Secretary, introduced guests and hosted the Zoom portion of the meeting
Peter Clarke, Sergeant at Arms, introduced guests
Miya Otake played O Canada on her harp
President’s Announcements:
Thank you to all of you who came to enjoy the companionship of your fellow club Rotarians.
A special welcome to Dennis Radbourne, Darren's Dad, and Dan VanKeeken, Darren's father in law, who are visiting from Alberta.
Secretary's announcements:
reminders of upcoming events/meetings (see above)
birthdays, member club anniversaries, wedding anniversaries (see above)
Special announcements and Members' Moments:
Parisa Adrangi – there have been growing human rights worldwide protests in response to the egregious death of a young 22 year old woman in Iran allegedly at the hands of the country’s so-called morality police. Further deaths of young women who were protesting the actions of the police and the persecution of women. CLICK HERE to read International Federation for Human Rights article, Iran: We stand in solidarity with women and protesters. Please attend next week to see Parisa’s and Navid’s presentation on this topic.
In memoriam
Darren Radbourne – Graham Coleman, who worked with Darren at Iredale, shared some thoughts. Darren was an incredible human being. A passionate architect who believed that his profession could change lives and build community. Darren’s willingness to mentor younger architects was deeply appreciated. He expressed how much Darren was respected and loved by those in his life, his people – his professional colleagues, Rotarian colleagues, hockey mates, musical mates. He will be missed! See above for information about Darren's memorial service.
Ralph Towsley – George Sandwith, from RC New West, began his association with Ralph in 1997, the year Bill Richwa, Ted Segodnia and Ralph started the Rotary World Help Network. Ralph & Bill Richwa were friends for many, many years working together on the prairies before both moving to BC. They were both lovers of crossword puzzles. Ralph was always there helping out wherever he could, he was a guiding force, not just within Rotary but in his Delta community as well. His wife Sue would usually be alongside, helping as well. Ralph was a great man.
Paul McCrae continued – Ralph came to BC in 1979. Between meat & vegetables, Ralph knew an awful lot about food making him a perfect candidate to join in on Wunday Ranch boys weekend. Before Covid interrupted, not a year went by without him attending the weekend. Paul’s strongest memories of Ralph are from those times at the ranch. Ralph would make some of the most outlandish statements that got the group going in some hearty “discussions”. Such as, lightening doesn’t come from the clouds down but from the ground up. Or, never put soap on an umnmentionable area. It was about 6 weeks ago when Ralph came to our luncheon meeting that Paul mentioned to him, “Ralph, every time I reach for the soap in the shower I think of you”, sending Ralph into a great bout of laughter. Ralph outlived his life expectancy so don’t feel sorry for him but rather for us who are now left without him.
Miya Otake played Abide with Me on the harp.
Program:
Gabby Dickert & Wayne Fraser, co-chairs of the youth service committee provided an overview of the work done by their committee.
The acknowledged that there are members of the committee who are so well-versed in the work they do for youth, they just get on with it. Thank you to those members.
Part of our strategic plan is to support the youth in our communities. The Rotary Club of Vancouver identifies youth as our future leaders. We aim to provide leadership and personal development opportunities to youth through Rotary supported programs, provide financial support to historically underserved youth to further their education and betterment, promote youth literacy, and support youth programs with annual fundraising.
Rotary’s youth programs are focused on kids, teenagers and young adults.
As a club committee, they support RI initiatives:
Rotary youth exchange
Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA)
Interact Clubs
Rotaract Clubs
Pacific Canada Experience (PACE)
Adventures in Citizenship
Adventures in Healthcare
The RCoV initiatives that the committee works on are:
Stay in school scholarships
One to one literacy program (volunteers needed)
Dictionaries for youth (Britannia & Norquay Elementary Schools)
iPads for youth
hoop-a-thon (51st year)
All are encouraged, if you haven’t done it already, to complete the Criminal Record Check (CRC) application. It is easy to do, free of charge, valid for 5 years, and allows you to work with youth and vulnerable adults.
If you are interested in joining the committee, contact either Gabby or Wayne. Everyone is welcome!
Meeting adjourned with a toast to Darren and Ralph.
John Berry has been a member of the New Westminster Rotary Club since 1987, where he's served three times as Club President.
