Clubs' achievements and activities in our District for October

Posted on Nov 07, 2023
Achievements and activities of some of our clubs in Rotary District 5040 in October.
 
Some recent achievements and activities in District 5040 clubs as reported by Assistant Governors
for end of October 2023. There is much more planning and other activity in clubs,
but these are current results, projects completed.
Network with other clubs for ideas and stay tuned for future reports.
also visit the expanding list of projects in our new District 5040 Showcase
 
Bowen Island
  • The club hosted an information and fundraising table on October 21st in advance of World Polio Day in Village Square. An article on End Polio was published in the community newspaper “The UnderCurrent”.
  • Goodwin Greenhouses Supply and Service installed the greenhouse for the Grafton Commons Greenhouse Project on October 16th and 17th, including erection of the main greenhouse structure, with electrical, water hook ups and internal infrastructure and soil base to follow.
  • Club members attended a community sponsored workshop on Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Access on October 21st.
 
Burnaby – Deer Lake
  • The annual Festival of Lights at Lougheed Town Centre is being set up with decorated Festive Trees. 100% of the funding goes to the Boots for Kids community project.
  • In the Boots for Kids program, club members/volunteers measure students’ feet at seven elementary schools in Burnaby, purchase the boots and socks, prepare the tags and delivered 210 pairs of boots. 
  • Interact Club of Burnaby South has donated funds to the Bali project. Both clubs have been informed of Rotary’s project to update polio and World Polio Day.  Also promoting the STEP program.  They are meeting every two weeks to reactivate the Rotaract Club of Burnaby. 
  • Club members attend all loadings of Rotary World Help shipping containers.
  • The club is collecting items for school children for Project Amigo.
 
Burnaby Metrotown
  • This year, the annual Coats for Kids distribution was completed in just one month with distribution to elementary age children and social agencies in Burnaby. Demand for winter coats was at an all-time high, so additional coats had to be sourced on an urgent basis.  They distributed roughly 1,800 coats across 25 schools/ social agencies. Total volunteer hours for just working on the truck came out to roughly 380 hours.
 
Burns Lake
  • The club is finalizing its annual lottery calendar, which sells for $20 and has 11 smaller prizes with a grand prize of $1000, Prizes are drawn in January and is expected to raise $1000 to $2000.
  • It is also putting the finishing touches on the Rotary Auction, online as well as in-person, in collaboration with the local Legion. Any member in the District will be able to bid on auction items at www.rotaryburnslake.org .
 
Dragon
  • Dragon Club conducted an Installation & Fundraising event at Riverway Golf Club in Burnaby with 140 guests attended from community partners and business owners. Event raised $5,000.
  • Dragon Interact Club members perform at West Vancouver Senior Retirement Residence every Sunday.
  • Half of the Dragon Club members joined and supported the Burnaby Hospital Foundation Annual Gala on October 27th, at $250 per person.
  • To support Rotary World Interact Week Celebration October 30th to November 5th, the Interact Club is actively participating for Interact Awards.
 
Gibsons 
  • October 19th the club held a social at 101 Brewery
  • The online auction prep is in progress.
 
Ladner
  • The club held a social “Dinner & Movie Night” on October 3rd for 25 members and guests with fellowship, plenty of food, pizza, wings, sliders, fresh vegetables, a cash bar.
  • On October 13th local residents joined Ladner Rotary members and City of Delta workers to refurbish the garden surrounding the gazebo at Ernie Burnett Park.
  • At the October 14th Shred A Thon 12 club members and six Interact members raised almost $1,900 at a fall Shred-A-Thon event on October 14th.
  • For a weekend of vehicle parking management at the Barnside Harvest Festival Fundraiser the club received $7,500.
  • On October 10th Simran Walia spoke on the presence of Artificial Intelligence, and on October 24th, when acknowledgement of World Polio Day as given, Nathan Wilson (Delta School District Indigenous Cultural Enhancement leader) spoke on his passion and commitment to his work. District Governor Shirley-Pat Chamberlain visited on October 31st.
  • The club has been working with the City of Delta for the planting of 65 trees to celebrate the Rotary Club of Ladner’s 65th Anniversary, with help of a District Grant and a corporate sponsor. The City changed the site to a small park on Westham Island for planting this winter.
  • The construction portion of Westham Square at the centre of Ladner is complete. The club has contributed funds, with help of a District Grant, to the City of Delta for benches and two e-bike charging stations. 
 
Lions Gate
  • The club is taking itself through an extensive Strategic Planning process
  • Working with the Interact Club on their initiatives to leverage with the Rotary club.
  • Investigating how a new Senior Learning and Lunch program can be supported by the club in the near future.
 
New Westminster
  • The Chamber of Commerce has been invited to present at a meeting as a way to recruit more members in businesses.
  • The club’s Fireside for newer members was well attended.
  • Club members volunteered for shifts at Don’t Go Hungry.
  • The City of New Westminster Proclaimed October 24th be World Polio Day in New Westminster.
  • Interact Club members and some Rotary youth committee members did a Polio Day table at the high school.
  • The club scheduled our volunteers for the Salvation Army Poppy Campaign.
  • Exchange student, Muki, is doing well.
 
New Westminster – Royal City
  • A number of younger Rotarians, who all came from Rotaract, and new to the club said, when asked what this club does to attract them and what Rotary needs to do to attract younger members, the following:
    • don’t promote Rotary and Rotary is not known among this generation; rather promote serving the community, a concept which will resonate with many of them;
    • when they volunteer, make sure they do meaningful work and not just “work the coat check”;
    • use social media to reach out and make your brand.
 
Pemberton
  • The club approved $300 for the Downtown Lake Fire Recovery, discussed taking part in Rotary Youth Exchange this year, and received information on the Pemberton Community Foundation and ideas on how to grow that fund.
  • The club received the DEI 101 session on October 18th.
  • At the Purple Pinkies for Polio campaign on October 24th and 26th, Rotarians and Interactors were outside Pemberton Valley Supermarket collecting donations for 2 hours each night.
  • On October 25th the club held a social event at one of our member's houses with drinks and appies.
  • On October 21st club members volunteered for fall clean-up at the Signal Hill Elementary School Garden which the club initiated in 2020.
  • On October 25th to 27th, club members helped with the Signal Hill Elementary Pit Cook, with food prep taking part in the ceremony, helping deliver food to classrooms, and clean-up.
  • Club members and Interactors helped on October 29th with the PORTION Halloween Family Ride,  which included decorating the trails, handing out candy at the event.
  • October 31st club members helped with the Signal Hill Elementary Soup prep, food prep and setting up all the crock pots. That day the Pemberton Interactors went out on Halloween to do an "Interact Scare Hunger" campaign, collecting cash donations for the Food Bank.
  • The Village of Pemberton council declared October 24th as World Polio Day and shared a information about Polio on their social media feed after the presentation.
 
Pender Harbour 
  • October is the beginning of a two-month trial run to change our meetings from Friday at noon to Wednesday at 5 pm
  • October 20 to 23 – Rotary Club of Pender Harbour participated in the Sunshine Coast Art Crawl – setting up a gallery in the Community School to display art that had been donated and the club owned, as well as commissioned paintings and prints.  The club made a profit of $3,000 from sales. 
  • To mark World Polio Day Ian Grant gave the club a presentation on POLIO as well as the Foundation, ahead of Foundation month in November. A Foundation dinner was held on October 27th at a member’s home.
 
Powell River
  • The club organized an evening at Townsite Brewery on October 4 and invited several young professionals in the community to come and learn more about Rotary in a social situation.
  • Upcoming event -Membership, Foundation and our social committee are partnering for us to have a Polio Potluck and Curling night on Sat. November 4th.
 
Prince George
  • The Prince George clubs are having a Quad-Club Foundation Dinner on Friday night, Nov 1st at our Otway Ski club.  There will be approx. 80 attending.  The Presidents are cooking dinner, and your ticket includes a $25 donation to the Foundation and different games will raise additional funds.
 
Prince George Downtown
  • This club will be continuing their school lunch and breakfast programs as a joint project with one of the local businesses. The additional funds provided by their partner allows them to service more schools along with the volunteers provided by the club.
 
Prince George Yellowhead
  • The work on the Rotary Community Garden is finished for the season and will start up again in the spring. The main building of all the garden beds was completed.  The club will work on building the central gazebo next summer.
 
Prince George Nechako
  • The club contributed funds for the Railway Museum to buy 250 pumpkins to give away at the Halloween Pumpkin Express for kids and families.
  • The club has also started the usher program with the Prince George Cougars. We volunteer at least once a month and receive approx. $4200 that must be given out to a local charity as the funds are paid out of the 50/50 draws.
 
Quesnel                                                                                                 
  • The club is aiming to have all members with their Criminal Record Checks.            
 
Richmond & Delta Area
  • The eight-month process for distribution of OWL 3 hybrid meeting units to these 16 clubs, from grant application to final purchase and delivery at a cost of $33,500, was completed: Ladner; Richmond; Richmond Sunrise; Richmond Sunset; Steveston; Whistler; Sunshine Coast Sechelt; Mountainview; Prince George Nechako; Williams Lake; Regal Rotaract; Whistler Millenium; Terrace; Vancouver Waterfront; Pemberton; Pender Harbour; Gibsons. The units will support hybrid meetings and bring in remote speakers. The intended impact sought is increased performance of our clubs and the District. Media coverage, regarding the Richmond and Delta clubs which received the grant, was carried in the Richmond News, Richmond Sentinel and Delta Optimist, covering South Delta.
  • Leaders of Richmond Rotaract held a Meet and Greet event on October 7th outside on a sunny day in a plaza next to the main branch of the Richmond Public Library.
 
Richmond
  • The club celebrated the Moon Festival with dinner at Shady Island Seafood Bar & Grill for Christmas hampers for the children and youth at SOS Children’s Village BC, raising $2,000.
  • The club is participating in a small international project, “Care facility for the Indigent Elderly” for Bucerias in Mexico and held a fundraising event on October 25th in the Little Mexico Cantina at Steveston and raised $2,666.
  • Our club is excited that our Past President & Past AG Dean Hsieh is nominated to be District Governor in 2026-2027.
  • Lilian Sayegh, who arrived in Canada as a refugee from Syria in 2016, and who is now working on a Master’s degree, was inducted as a new member induction by DG Shirley-Pat Chamberlain.
 
Sechelt
  • Celebrated World Polio Day with an information booth at the mall including Interactors and a story in the Coast Reporter newspaper
  • Chris Loat from ShelterBox spoke to the club
  • Planning continued for annual Rotary Auction (with Gibsons Club) plus planning the 2024 cash calendar with all 4 Clubs on lower Sunshine Coast and setting up online sales of Sunshine Coast jigsaw puzzle to help fund the SC Mothers School project in Bangladesh.
  • Created and using a new dedicated Club Website. https://secheltrotary.ca
 
Squamish
  • The club held a successful fundraising gala on October 14th, with almost 100 guests and a few local dignitaries in attendance, which proved to be a social triumph (the “older Rotarians” were impressed), a financial win, and a ton of fun. The focus of the fundraising was for both international service and the club’s Oceanfront Park project. Funds were also raised for the joint club John Gullo Home project.
  • On October 21st 17 Squamish Rotarians volunteered 62 hours on a project spearheaded by the Downtown Business Improvement Area, “Pumpkin Patch in the Park”.  The town’s little people came out in costume for live music, hot dogs, pumpkins, and games.  Additional funds were raised in support of the Oceanfront Park.
 
Sunshine Coast Sechelt 
  • David McIlwraith from SCRD FIRESMART program made a presentation on how we can be better prepared for wildfires as they grow ever closer to urban areas.
  • During our Rotary Engagement week the members heard an update from the board meeting.
  • The club is starting an email chain aimed at introducing new members to Rotary, essentially a mentoring program. The club started to use them as its Rotary Moment at each week’s meeting (eg history of the 4 way test).
  • October 27th was the club’s Foundation Dinner: a group of 11 met and participated in a zoom session with DG Shirley-Pat and Foundation Chair PDG Lorne.
 
Tsawwassen
  • The WASH global grant, to bring a gravity flow water system and WASH programs to thousands of villagers in 7 villages in Irimya, Uganda with partner club Rotary Mbarara, was approved on October 16th for $111,659.  The total project is over $500,000 Canadian dollars.  This is the first Global Grant for the club .
  • The Rotary Satellite Professional Networking Club met on October 12th and had 17 young professionals show up to our networking event, thanks to the District grant a of $500 to help start this group.
  • Polio Plus raised over $5,800 with a fantastic vaccination clinic courtesy of Tsawwassen Pharmacy with 333 vaccinations administered in one day and the Rotary Foundation team connecting with over 214 people in the community.
  • Social activities included an Open Mic night at Kin Village, a Pub night at the Rose & Crown and a Theatre night at Tsawwassen Arts Centre.
 
Vancouver Cambie
  • President Q Doh Pae visited sister club, Seoul Jeil (1st) Rotary Club in District 3640 in South Korea.
 
Whistler Millennium
  • We received our OWL from the Rotary Clubs of Richmond and Delta. With the club’s new 40” TV/Monitor, it has great tech for speakers and Zoom guests.
  • Yuriy Tustanovskyi, presented to the club on October 19th, from Lviv, Ukraine on REKAVA, which recycles coffee grounds into coffee cups and scented candles. Sample cups and candles were at the meeting.
  • Hannah Edelston, presented to the club on October 26th, from Lahore, Pakistan, as an ex-club member who moved with her fiance Taimoor, on life in Pakistan including the experience the culture, language, family and life in general.
 
Whistler
  • The Don McLauren Forestry Scholarship is ongoing and donations are being sought.
  • The club made a contribution of $1,000 to the Adopt A Village Laos water project in northern Laos following a presentation by project leader Steve Rutledge of RC Whitby, Ontario.
  • The club canvassed for Polio Plus on October 20, 21 and 28.
  • A social meeting was held on October 24th, when Murray Wood spoke on the Polio Plus Proclamation signed by the Resort Municipality of Whistler.
  • Grant Loyer gave a presentation on DEI on October 3rd and Whistler Fire Chief Thomas Doherty on October 17th.