UPCOMING MEETING SEP 7, 2021
Club Day - 100 years of Rotary success, looking forward to 100 more
A fun, light meeting celebrating our club's historic successes through its first 100 years, leading into our current strategic plan and how we build on those successes.
UPCOMING MEETING, SEP 14, 2021
Darrell Evans, Executive Director & Founder, Canadian Institute for Information and Privacy Studies (CIIPS) Duty to Document
Darrell started the movement to enable the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act passed in British Columbia – widely recognized as Canada’s most progressive provincial Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act. This impressive accomplishment led to the creation of the BC Freedom ofInformation and Privacy Association (FIPA), which has just celebrated their 25thanniversary. Darrell was FIPA’s first President and acted as its Executive Director until December 2010.
Have you ever wondered if you could be a DG?
Do you know someone who would be a great DG?
Join us for an informal evening of sharing the joys and challenges involved with being a DG with Rotarians who have served as District Governor. You will learn more about the role of District Governor and how we select our candidates.
Nadja Gehriger, Secretary, hosted the meeting in-person & via ZOOM
Jill Pennefather, Sergeant At Arms, introduced the guests
Miya Otake played O Canada on the harp
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.
Rotary point of interest
One of the silver linings to the global response to COVID-19 is that we’ve had to reinvent ourselves while maintaining the important work we do serving our community and abroad.
Case in point ZOOM – two years ago who would have thought we’d all become comfortable making connections with friends and family around the globe via on-line video conferencing. Members who we haven’t seen in years, e.g., Tom Calkin (40-year member and past president), now regularly joins us from Nova Scotia and is a member of our Community Service Committee.
As we move forward, eventually away from COVID restrictions, we need to think outside the box to ensure that our membership grows and thereby our ability to serve more and more.
We, the Rotary Club of Vancouver, is steeped in tradition, tradition that has and continues to serve us well. In looking at possible ways to ensure we are a vibrant club; with increasing membership we need to think outside the box. One suggestion from RI has been creating cause-based clubs, or perhaps cause based club divisions. What exactly is a cause-based club?
It is a club whose members are passionate about a particular cause and who want to focus their service efforts in that area.
What is a cause based Rotary club? Good question. A club whose members are passionate about a particular cause and focus their service efforts in that area. Its members are people who want to connect with others while addressing a particular set of problems.
Do you think this suggestion may help us increase membership? Perhaps it will be a means of increasing collaboration between Rotaractors and Rotarians.
As Paul Harris once said, " This is a changing world; we must be prepared to change with it. The story of Rotary will have to be written again and again.”
I look forward to hearing your thoughts and ideas for our club’s future.
Secretary's announcements:
reminders of upcoming events/meetings (see above)
birthdays, member club anniversaries, wedding anniversaries (see above)
Special presentations and Members' Moments:
Gerry Glazier:Volunteers needed! There will be a RWH container loading on September 18th. The container is heading to Montevideo, Uruguay. Our club sponsored the costs for this container. Though due to covid there is still a restriction on volunteers, there is opportunity for 6 of our members to help. It’s a great opportunity to get to know other Rotarians and supporters of RWH, just ask our regulars, Kaz, Gerry, and now Mekdes. Let Carolyn know if you are interested, it’s a first come, first serve opportunity.
Program:
Gabby Dickert introduced Sandra Radic, President of UBC Rotaract Club. Sandra is a 3rd year UBC cognitive systems student. She has been involved in Rotary for 6 years having started with Interact. She helped start the Winston Churchill Interact Club when she was a student there.
Sandra’s Rotary resume:
The Winston Churchill Interact Club founder and president (2017-19)
District 5040 Interact conference co-organizer (2018)
UBC Rotaract fundraising director (2019-20)
UBC Rotaract community service director (2020-21)
UBC Rotaract president (2021-22)
UBC Rotaract’s initiatives and projects:
Virtual Visitation Initiative, a COVID-19 project
Weekly trivia with Cooper Place (a seniors assisted living home in the heart of Vancouver’s downtown eastside)
Bi-weekly chats with Villa Cathay (a long-term seniors’ care home in Vancouver)
Ghana Project – Womens’ Menstrual Health, an international project
Sewing 100+ reusable period pads
Interviewing members of the Awutu Senya District
Creating resources through infographics
Working in collaboration with King George Interact club
They are still looking for funding to cover shipping.
Days of Kindness, a local project
Brightened people’s day at UBC and BC Children’s Hospital – gave out flowers
This simple initiative increased Instagram engagement by 100 followers
Will be repeating the project, possibly with cupcakes this time.
Plans for the 2021-22 year will include:
Mentorship
Interact Clubs
Membership Sustainment
Passions & Projects
Increased General membership involvement
Project request form, encouraging all members to put forth ideas
Commitment
Milestones for the year will include:
Members = 50
Instagram followers = 1000
Engage with 3 new Interact Clubs
The UBC Rotaractors meet on Tuesdays 7:30 – 8:30 p.m., for now online. All Rotarians are welcome to join in and participate in discussions, projects, etc.
Joan Posivy introduced Robbie Bishop who is very active with VYP as the club laison director, working to build relationships between themselves, Interact and Rotary. He has been very active on our club’s youth committee. Is a UVic grad, currently working in the retail appraisal industry.
The past year, despite that covid challenges they stayed very active. Lost some members but added others, resulting in a net growth for the year.
The current membership: total 31, active 25, 2021-22 goal is to have 35 active members
Social media has been successful in creating interest.
They are planning to collaborate with north shore Rotaract club this year to help increase membership.
Projects for the 2021-22 year:
Physical & Mental Health
Support the hoop-a-thon project
Mini-triathlon fundraiser
Motionball event
Hiking & snowshoe events
Strava club for biking, hiking & running (phone app)
Family, Friends & Social
Karaoke night
Murder mystery event
Paint night
Professional Development
Mentorship program, grow throughout the District
Career presentation night, each member can present what they do and/or what they are passionate about
Creativity & Arts
Comedy night fundraiser
Trivia fundraiser (on-line & in-person)
Paint night
Sustainability & Environment
Invasive plant removal
Medical equipment container loading
Speakers on individual sustainability
Refood – org started by A Rotarian to redirect food from restaurants and stores to those in need
Equity, Diversity & Inclusion
Urban native youth association (UNYA) – have a speaker to educate and show where VYP can contribute
Poverty, Education, Food & Security
Salvation Army – once per month, serving food downtown eastside
Ronald McDonald House – at least once per year, preparing food
Shoebox Project – annual support
Donating non-perishable food items – at each meeting every member brings an item to be donated.
Gabby Dickert introduced Arial Qi, District Rotaract Liaison. Arian started her Rotary experience with Interact in Grade 10, she was the President of the UBC Rotaract club last year, and is now the District representative – a huge job. Arial is currently a 5th year UBC Science student.
As mentioned Ariel began her Rotary journey in G 10 when a friend brought her to a meeting. She hasn’t looked back since and has been a very involved participant.
From the District perspective she want to explore joint grants with Rotary. Pooling Rotary Club fundraiser funds and distributing to Rotaract clubs in the district. They will provide updates as they flush out the details on how this would work.
Some additional intitiatives:
Connecting with district 5050 to plan joint initiatives with them
Planning a District Rotaract retreat – want to bring the various clubs together, get to know each other better, share ideas and foster collaboration.
How many Rotaract clubs in the district? There are 10 clubs right now spread throughout the District covering a huge geographical area. It’s difficult to connect given the physical distance between them. Working on strengthening support networks.
Ariel is very enthusiastic about bringing Rotaractors together. Supporting them and providing opportunities for them to increase their leadership skills.
If you, as a Rotarian, are interested in getting involved with our younger members, whether it be Interact, Rotaract, or both, please reach out. Your support, advice, and simple participation is more than welcome. As John Bathurst said is it a “very fulfilling area of service.”
Contact our either Gabby Dickert or Joan Posivy for more information. Or join the RCoV Youth Committee to explore even more options to get involved with youth.
Meeting adjourned with a toast to our youth and all the programs they are involved with.
