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Service Above Self

We meet In Person & Online

Tuesdays at 12:14 PM

The Arbutus Club

2001 Nanton Ave
Vancouver, BC
Canada

In person meetings - 2nd Tuesday of each month. Visitors please use the calendar to select meeting registration and payment. All other Tuesday weekly meetings held on Zoom using the link below.

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Club Business September, 2023

At our Zoom meeting on Tuesday, September 5th we were honoured to listen to Tim Koepke’s very impressive classification talk. What fascinating stories you told! We're proud to know you.

During our in person meeting on Tuesday, September 12 the Arbutus Club we heard from Lisa Dominato, City of Vancouver Councillor.

As well, we were thrilled to be able to present a Paul Harris award to Margaret Carley, lead food/event planner/cook for our Ukraine fundraiser dinner. We are so grateful to Margaret for her work.

Teddie Pasut's son Robert presented our club with a $1,000 donation on behalf of Teddie. A very touching donation and a wonderful tribute to Teddie. We miss her.

Our Tuesday Sept. 19th, social was a dim sum lunch at Golden Ocean Seafood.

At our Zoom meeting on September 26 we were given an update by Hugo Velazquez of MOSAIC. Hugo advised that there are currently well over 37,000 migrant workers in BC and more are on their way. They are construction workers, fruit pickers, delivery staff, caregivers, restaurant workers, and more. They do the work that Canadians often don't want to do and our economy depends on them.

Hugo reported on the $5,000 we donated last year. $1,000 went to a Filipina care worker who needed emergency dental surgery for her child, another $1,000 to a Turkish worker who quit a job because he was bulllied, harrassed and then evicted, some funds went to three workers who were unpaid, abused and laid off. Another sum went to three workers (El Salvadorian and Mexican) who were promised jobs in Canada. When they arrived the employer said there was no work for them. MOSAIC was able to fund their meals and hotel for three days, after which they went to a shelter.

We in Canada have been accused of modern slavery. Many of these workers are undocumented and Hugo estimates 30% are living below decent standards. And it will only get worse. 40% of Canadian farmers intend to retire within the next few years and, by and large, they have no succession plan.

We discussed volunteer opportunities such as English conversation, interpretation services, attending events where workers are informed about their rights, meeting with caregivers to listen to their stories, etc.

Our member Dianna Smith is recovering well. In fact she recently got her driving licence! Congratulations Dianna! We look forward to having you back soon.

Club business August, 2023

At our August 8 in-person meeting we heard from Wally Kerchum of North Shore Rescue, one of the teams’ senior members. Our guests on this occasion were Ségolène Michallet and Donna Killgallin Webb. Welcome!

We loaded the container of medical supplies for the benefit of Ukraine on August 12th. It was a super-fast loading, with lots of volunteers assisting. The container included several skids of medical supplies and mattresses and portable ventilators, with an estimated value of $600,000 to $700,000.00!

Connie Cheung of Salvation Army's Harbour Light spoke at our zoom meeting on August 15th. Harbour Light provides treatment and other services for those released from correctional institutions. Nine of our hardworking members served lunch there on August 22nd.

On August 29th we met at Carlos & Brian’s Pub for an evening event. We were joined by newcomers Dr. Sriram Ananthan, Ségolène Michallet and Donna Killgallin Webb and her partner.

In other news:

Our scholar Erica McFarlane has arrived, Hans and Elena picked her up at the airport on August 15th. Erica's topic is Maternal & Children’s Health and she's studying at UBC. Erica will be living with Elena at 49th and Cambie area.

This month we remembered Teddie Pasut and Lana Wong and reflected on the loss of these valuable members.

We received our Rotary Citation for last year.

Our Treasurer, Gaming Committee and Projects heads are hard at work. More to come.

John Moldon has agreed to stand as an assistant chair on the Foundation Committee and is already working with Sam Wong in this position. Thank you John.

Club business July, 2023

Our Assistant District Governor, Mary Anne Velayho, attended our first meeting of the Rotary year on July 11, 2023 at the Arbutus Club.

Your new Board is hard at work setting goals and planning our activities for the coming year. At our Club Assembly on July 21st we discussed a number of topics including changing our Zoom meetings from Fridays to Tuesdays so they're more in line with our in person meetings. We also discussed meeting start times. As well, we are preparing for our August 12th loading of our container of medical supplies for Ukraine and our work with Surfrider on their beach cleanup on the same date. Lastly, we were excited to hear the wonderful news that our student Erica McFarland has secured accommodation for her term at UBC - she will be hosted by our own Elena.

At our Zoom meeting on July 28th the members approved the change of the meeting day of the week for our Zoom meetings - we'll be meeting Tuesdays at 12:15 starting this month. We also discussed items to help complete our Strategic Plan. Various avenues of service, such as PolioPlus, disaster response, protecting the environment, supporting education/youth (our 1,000x5 project) and promoting peace by finding peace scholars who would be funded by Rotary International are being considered. We also talked about liasing more with other clubs so that we can work together, build results and enjoy fellowship. A great start to the Rotary year!

We all have received an email from Ron Davis, the District Youth Protection Officer, reminding us that it's time to review our Criminal Records Checks. Look at the section in your Club Runner profile and apply if your term is up or soon to be.

On a sadder note:

Our member Teddie Pasut has been in hospital for some time. Mary Stark has been visiting Teddie and passing on our good wishes. Regrettably we now have news from Teddie's family that she passed away on July 31st.

Teddie was a well loved and respected member of our club and gave a lot to this organization. Among her many works, Teddie was the one who originally applied for Gaming Funds and she kept the club in good stead in that regard during her time with us. Her loss is a deep one and she will be remembered fondly.

Update - An Evening in Ukraine!

Club business June, 2023

First off let's celebrate our successful "Evening in Ukraine Fundraiser" on June 10th. Thank you to all the volunteers, the organizers, the entertainers, the chef and cooks, the clean up crew, the members who attended and brought friends along and the members who travelled to Langley to help make perogies. All of your efforts gave us a brilliant success. Well done! Plans are afoot to ship a container of medical equipment to Ukraine - stay tuned for a call for volunteers to help load that up.

In the morning of June 10th our Moritz Hirche completed the Ride for Rescue, an event in support of North Shore Rescue and Rotary Humanitarian Causes. Well done Moritz!

Also on June 10 (a very busy day!) Joy took time off from her work on the Ukraine event to visit Surfriders and present our cheque for $2,000.00.

John Berry installed our new Board and Committee chairs at our in-person June 13 meeting. Lydia and Jean finished up a great year - our goals were completed and a citation will be awarded. Onward and upward!

Here are the new Board and Committee Chairs:

Board
President	Hans Doge
Past-President	Lydia Marston-Blaauw
President Elect	Bishnu Chatterjee
Secretary	Jean Gardner
Treasurer	Yoonhi Green
Project Chair	D'Arcy Warner

Committee Chairs
Membership	Lydia Marston-Blaauw
Foundation	Sam Wong
Public Relations	Christine Mihailedes
Fundraising	Christine Mihailedes
Youth	Elena Murgoci
Plus there will be leaders to advise about	gaming, training, filing regulatory documents and speakers

On the District level Mary Anne Velayho will continue as our Assistant District Governor for one more year, we have a new District Governor in Shirley-Pat Chamberlain and Gordon McInally will serve as President of Rotary International.

On reviewing our year end goals we couldn't help but note that, while we had exceeded our goal of donations to the Annual Fund, we were very low on contributions to PolioPlus. Let's do better next year.

June 14 Yoonhi and Lexie attended a 'thank you tea' at Sexsmith School. Yoonhi reports that cake and drinks were served and entertainment was provided by the talented and enthusiastic students. That cake looks delicious!

On June 21st Yoonhi presented our donation of $3,000 to the Vancouver Lifeguard Association. These funds will go toward supporting several candidates for training in their Beach Alert Program. The funds will assist those "without the financial resources or water safety experience to take part in these week long camps by partnerships with Immigrant Services support groups, Indigenous organizations and community groups that support families in financial need."

Our speaker on June 23rd was D'Arcy Warner. It was great to hear D'Arcy's work and Rotary history. Thank you D'Arcy! we're lucky to have you.

Hoopathon bursary cheques were presented on June 24th at MacLean Park. We awarded $2,000 each to two students and $1,000 to Girls Who LEAP.

A number of us attended the Kitsilano Showboat show on June 24th to provide that organization with a donation of $5,000. They're struggling to rebuild after a major fire at their site and were ecstatic to receive our donation.

We provided the MOSAIC organization with a $5,000 donation and received a very nice thank you letter saying, amongst other things,

"The Migrant Workers Emergency Fund is truly innovative – without wait times or red tape we can provide people the essentials for living when they need emergency help and have nowhere else to turn.

Thank you again for your donation to the Migrant Workers Emergency Fund. You are truly making a difference in people’s lives."

What more could we want?

Club business May, 2023

We began the month mulling on the informative District Conference. It was a great success and good fun. We are proud that we had 10 members attending and thank Hugo Velazquez, who spoke on behalf of our efforts with Migrant Workers.

Our Ukraine project fundraiser is well under way. In addition, the required training to allow us to apply for grant(s) has been completed by Hans, Elena and Bishnu. Well done!

Our 1,000x5 project is racing along. In May we received books from Henry Hudson and Carnarvon Schools. We will also be obtaining some new books from the publisher. Labellers will be needed shortly.

Our President Lydia hosted a Fireside on May 5th. New members David, DB, Hugh, Jacob, Moritz and Mike Dirks took the opportunity to share some of their impressions and ideas. We look forward to hearing more.

Yoonhi went to Van Dusen Gardens this month and look what she found!

We've heard from the folks who organized Hoop-a-Thon. Their fundraising total is just over $52,000 so they beat their goal! They are considering 15 scholarship applications.

Grant reports that our Rotary Club's Youth Committee (with the assistance of Hans, Yoonhi, Michael Cowhig and Moritz) have made the final decision to award eight students with our $1,000 Bursary. The schools involved are John Oliver, Fraser Academy, Lord Byng and Eric Hamber. Congratulations to these ambitious young people.

We've received a reminder that Criminal Record Check applications must be provided. Please contact Jean or Hans if you're new to Rotary and not sure about this. Thank you.

Hans has been working hard on a Global Education Grant for Erica MacFarland of Texas, USA. The application, completed by the Rotary Club of Fair Oaks Ranch Texas, has been approved. Erica will be attending UBC and we will be her Host Counselors. We look forward to meeting Erica at one of our meetings this fall.

Mark your calendars - the next District Conference "Planting Seeds of Peace and Hope in Our Communities", is April 26/24 in Terrace. Registration is now open. https://rotary5040.org/page/2024-district-conference

Registration is limited to 200 and will be a sell out.

Contact Mike Storey mike@idealdoor.ca or Co-Registrar Joy Jones joyjones3131@gmail.com if you have any questions.

Thank you! Dyakuyu!

Club business April, 2023

At our April 11^th meeting at the Arbutus Club Elena and Christine formally launched our Evening in Ukraine. Ticket sales and donations of goods are needed for the silent auction (some first offerings above). Please keep that in mind – reach out to your contacts for this good cause. Christine also spoke about Bambora and reported that her Club Runner tutorials have started.

Hugh Robinson was inducted by Leigh and Hans. Welcome Hugh! We are now 30 members strong.

Our speaker Chris Loat gave us some background and information on the ShelterBox program. ShelterBox provides emergency shelter and the basic supplies people need to recover and rebuild after disasters and conflict. ShelterBox was founded in Cornwall, UK in 2000 and, with global Rotary support, has been able to help countless people around the world who have lost their homes, possessions and livelihoods. Thank you Chris!

Aunt Leah’s organization hosted a thank you lunch on April 18^th and Dianna attended to represent the club.

On April 21 we heard from Hans and Bishnu about their PETS experience. The two of them are busy preparing for next Rotary year and are setting their goals and plans for the year starting in July.

Hoopathon was held on Saturday, April 22, 2023. Thanks to Jacob, Moritz, Mike and Hans for sinking those balls for us and to Dianna, Jean and Dorien who worked the pom poms. The funds we at Rotary Arbutus raised this year as a team will go to the Girls who LEAP.

It was great to meet Mitha, the head of the LEAP organization on that day. Mitha expressed her sincere thanks for our contribution.

April 24-28 is the time for Random Acts of Kindness. Please share your stories at the May 5^th meeting.

The Rotary District Conference runs April 28 to 30. Our work with MOSAIC was part of the first day’s presentation. Hugo Velazquez spoke and set out how, with our help, they are working to create a system of inclusion, diversity and compassion for temporary foreign workers.

And: in other good news - Shail Mahanti is now available for visits.

For those of you who would like to visit our long time member (and now an honorary Rotary member), the stringent visiting protocols have been lifted and it is much easier to pop in and see him or bring him a good cup of coffee, which he loves. A fresh donut probably would go down well too …

Shail is at the Columbus Lodge at St Vincent hospital. 255 West 62^nd Avenue V5X 4V4. He would be pleased to have visitors and to see Rotary pals. Best time is just after lunch.

And lastly April, 2323.....

An Evening in Ukraine

Join us for an 'Evening in Ukraine' and help us ship a container of critically needed medical equipment and supplies to Ukraine!

Tickets - click one of the red bars below to purchase your tickets:

Option 1) $60 NO tax receipt Purchase $60 ticket

Option 2) $75 includes a $35 tax receipt Purchase $75 ticket ($35 tax receipt)

All net proceeds go directly towards the cost of shipping medical equipment and supplies.

Club business March, 2023

On March 3rd at our members meeting we heard from Dan Gallant and Janice Froese of Rotary World Help (https://rotaryworldhelp.com/). Janice has been a Rotarian for 32 years, she has been club President at least three times and has sat on many District committees. Janice is currently on the Board of Rotary World Help. Dan is a Rotarian of 43 years and has volunteered with Rotary World Help for the last 20+ years. He is also the Director and Warehouse/Transportation Manager for the organization.

Rotary World Help collects equipment from the Provincial Government when hospitals replace items with updated versions. They then fill a container (the value of contents can be valued in the six figures) and a Rotary Club or Clubs pay to ship the container to a country where it is needed. They have found a way to get these containers from Poland to the Ukraine at a cost of shipping from Vancouver of about $10,600 each. The last one they sent had 300 hospital beds, but the contents vary with each container. To date Rotary World Help has shipped 444 containers to various countries. We have helped 15M people around the world!

At the same meeting we heard from the Rotary (Halifax Dartmouth East) group and their members as well as Qasim Hassan Zada who, in part as a result of Yoonhi's efforts, has settled his family in Dartmouth. Quaise has been here a year and is amazed at the change in his life. He has been given more than he needs, an unexpected amount of help, and is so grateful. He's encouraging other Afghans to join Rotary and get them involved. Since Rotary helped him, he joined Rotary so he can help new arrivals - not just Afghans but all new arrivals.

On March 10 Ron Suzuki attended our Zoom meeting and took the opportunity to give us further information about Hoop-A-Thon and its history. They have raised over $500,000.00 in support of Youth Leadership Projects over the years. Ron has been part of this organization from the beginning, starting in 2006, and provided this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_Dao4rz0M0 to inspire us further. We are proud to participate in this fundraiser. Please sign up and join our team!

At our March 14 in person meeting we launched our new Land Acknowledgement. Many thanks to Tim Koepke who spearheaded this initiative.

We also inducted Jacob Van Meirlo as our newest member. Welcome Jacob!

On the same day we heard a most affecting presentation by Tung Chan on the 100th Anniversary of the Chinese Exclusion Act. Tung shared a piece of history that many Canadians are not aware of. The explanation of the "Head Tax" was particularly shocking.

On March 24 Leigh Higinbotham gave his talk on "Rotary Beyond the Club". The PDF version of Leigh's presentation is available in Club Runner at

Rotary Beyond the Club (PDF) if you'd like to revisit this excellent topic.

On March 28 John Moldon transferred his membership from Halifax to Vancouver - welcome John!

March 26 was the Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) leadership program at Camp Elphinstone, Gibsons. Hans and Elena attended this RYLA (South) event, as well as four young people sponsored by Rotary Arbutus.

This month's book drive was with Bayview Elementary School. We received and processed a whopping 858 books - our biggest book drive so far. Thanks Lexie for hosting us and Bishnu and Mike for transporting the books.

Christine has made some updates to our Club Runner website in conjunction with setting up Bambora for payments. Have a look!

Club business February, 2023

Tim visited Shail on February 2^nd and reported: “I had a delightful visit with Shail today, photos attached. We revisited old engineering sagas we had 40 years ago when he worked of my Underhill office in Whitehorse when he was electrical consultant for the construction of Yukon University and the Andrew Philipsen Law Courts, both in Whitehorse. My Underhill firm was involved in some of the functional planning and community consultation for both projects and so we made some office space for an architect who Carlsberg Jackson Partners from New West moved a rep into, one for Shail for his visits and a third for the mechanical consultant. He is a brilliant electrical engineer highly respected by his professional engineering peers and a fine gentleman. All of those qualities shone through again today and his ever present smile in the photos attests to that.

He is a John Grisham fan and Jan gave me his latest to read on the plane and I’ll swap with him next week when I am back. A very rewarding visit for me and I hope, him.”

At our Zoom meeting on February 3^rd we heard from Fazineh Keita and Ava Vanderstarren of the Innocence Lost Foundation.

Innocence Lost Foundation is a registered charity with the mission to help former child soldiers and communities after war to find healing and opportunities. They are currently working on phase one of their project in Kabala, Sierra Leone, West Africa: a community centre which will include a water well, medical, education, skills training and therapy programs.

On February 4^th Hans, Ilan, Amy, Bishnu, Dianna and Lydia attended the Rotary Foundation Fundraiser/Chinese New Year celebration on behalf of the Arbutus Club. Our Co-President Elect Bishnu took up the charity drive challenge and did 31 pushups in one minute!

At the event Hans spoke with Dean Rohr and John Berry about Erica McFarland, a student from San Antonio, Texas. Erica is currently finishing her senior year at The University of Texas at San Antonio. The International Club sponsor, Rotary Club of Fair Oaks Ranch Texas (District 5840), has provided a Global Grant Scholarship (a Rotary World Grant) so that Erica can attend UBC for one year with maternal and child health as her Rotary Area of Focus. An International Host Club was required for her and we have agreed to serve in this role. We look forward to meeting Erica!

At our February 14^th at our in-person meeting Bishnu repeated (and exceeded) his previous pushups record to benefit ShelterBox. This resulted in our club making a donation of $1,200 (the cost of a fully equipped tent) to aid victims of the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria. An incredible impact on families affected by this disaster. Thank you Bishnu and all who donated.

At the same meeting we installed D’Arcy Warner:

and inducted David Grewal.

And our Co-President Elect Hans was presented with a new Paul Harris pin. Congratulations, Hans!

Our district grant application on behalf of MOSAIC has been submitted (Rotary Emergency Fund for Migrant Workers). We should hear whether we are successful within the next few weeks.

We have sponsored the cost of registration at RYLA South for three students.

At our February 23rd Club Assembly we unanimously agreed that we would explore sending a shipping container of medical equipment to Ukraine, in conjunction with Rotary World Health. Total shipping cost for a container is approximately $10,600. Elena, Christine and Mary will spearhead a fundraiser, probably a Ukranian dinner on June 10, 2023.

February 24 Mike Dicks collected books from Sir Wilfrid Laurier Elementary, photos below. Next up Bayview Elementary!

Club business January, 2023

This month we had a hugely successful 1,000x5 book drive at Sexsmith School. The labelling was completed on January 28th and the books have been delivered.

On January 10th at our in person lunch (photos below) we enjoyed a presentation by Dr. Chris Hunt, a former member of The Flying Surgeons of Queensland.

Chris regaled us with stories of adventures in Australian working as a young anesthesiologist.

Dr. Hunt was trained at St. Bartholomew’s hospital in London, graduating in 1970. He worked for three years in the UK before moving to Australia. He was young, adventurous and wanted a look at the world. He did not know at the time that he would be looking from an airplane.

Chris later moved to Canada, took more training and worked in several small communities, eventually settling in Vancouver and starting a varied and wide ranging Family Practice.

With so much focus currently on the need for more family doctors, it was interesting to hear from someone who has been just that and lived to tell the tale. Thank you Chris!

On January 20th we had the pleasure of hearing from Laura Rhead, the Principal of Sexsmith Elementary School.

Laura has been an administrator in VSB for almost 10 years now. Before that, she taught K-12, focusing mostly at the grade 6/7 level and with teaching grade 10 summer school courses. Her education background is homegrown-- from SFU and then UBC, and she grew up with her extended family in Richmond.

Laura values social emotional learning, meeting kids where they are, student leadership and connecting with community. In her personal life: she sings in a choir, works on two non-profit Boards, loves to be outdoors on the Westcoast with her family and above all- she is a “mama’ to their 2 year old, Maggie.

Our speaker on January 27th was Elena Khvostova, Director of the Ukraine Harmony Foundation.

Elena was born and raised in the beautiful city of Dnipro, Ukraine. In 2007, she and her family left for Canada settling in Vancouver. Elena is now a medical student working towards her board certification. She is the second member in her family to become a doctor.

In the past year, since the beginning of the war that started in February 2022, all her spare time has been dedicated to helping her fellow brave Ukrainians who are left back in Ukraine to fight for their continued existence.

Recalling the first few hours of the invasion on February 24th…that whole week remains inbred in her mind. Elena, her family and friends were glued to screens of their cell phones and TVs waiting for more news to come out of Ukraine. By the end of Day 2, they set-up donation boxes in a few condos in their Burnaby condo area but they knew that more had to be done.

Hence the birth of Ukraine Harmony Foundation. On February 27th 2022, the family submitted paperwork and officially registered as a non-profit organization. Her goal and hope is to be able to make a difference for the brave Ukrainian nation as the organization develops and becomes stronger through their joint humanitarian efforts with other Canadian and US-based non-profits.

Donations to the Ukranian Harmony Foundation can be made at https://ukraineharmony.com/.