Doing Good in Fiji
This Meeting's HighlightsProgram: Doing Good in Fiji
Speaker: Dave Birch and Kelsi CoxMeeting for the week of January 11th to January 17th, 2016* * *
Is this your first time to visit us? If so, welcome to our meeting!Each Monday our week’s meeting is posted early in the morning, U.S. Pacific Time. These meetings are designed so that you can read and watch what we post anytime during the week. The entire meeting takes about 45 minutes to complete, with the video conference recording of the program being the bulk of the time.Note that you can easily read this meeting with your favorite device, so feel free to take our meeting on the go with you; read it while on public transit, waiting in line for coffee, or even at the park! Please also make sure to complete the attendance form at the bottom and leave a comment. Enjoy!
Greetings
Message from the President
The internet is expansive at an almost unimaginable level. Finding a piece of it that is designed to inspire you to see new possibilities for building goodwill and better friendships, to explore innovative approaches to serving others, and to connect friends around the world isn't easy.However, you did it.Our club, the Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley, works to explore how technology can serve the business of service. We attract people with a heart for improving communities who might never have considered a weekly service club. We help Rotarians facing challenges with health and mobility regain a meaningful connection to Rotary. We make it possible for every Rotarian, everywhere, to be a 100% attender, and enjoy the inspiration and positive energy that learning about this amazing organization brings.We're glad you've joined us, and look forward to learning what you think of our efforts!Rotarian guests, we ask that you consider contributing something - whatever for you is the regular cost of a Rotary meal, perhaps - to the efforts of our club. Please choose one of the options below:
Send via our secure Happy Dollars form.
Send via Google Wallet to: ecsv.rotary@gmail.com
Send via PayPal to: ecsv.rotary@gmail.com
Send a check via snail mail (see below for instructions)
To pay via Google Wallet or PayPal, you'll need to log in to your account with those companies.Those of you who prefer a more traditional approach can mail a check made out to the Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley to our treasurer: ℅ Allen Thompson, 13500 Cascade Ct., Bakersfield CA 93314.Non-Rotarian guests, there is no need for a donation from you. As we see it, your job is to simply enjoy what you read and watch, though at the end we do ask that you let us know you were here and also leave a comment letting us know what you think. This club is loaded with folks who love sharing ideas, and we look forward to your sharing yours!
Yours in service,
Rushton Hurley,
President
Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley
The Power of Images
We believe that there is power in imagery, and that a great photo can inspire in its own unique way.
This week's photo is by our club's "Camera Czar" Keith MarshFrom Keith:
"I received a message from an editor at the Rotarian Magazine that they want to publish one of my photos from my trip to Cuba in 2014. It is a photo that I submitted to the Photo Contest. It did not win a prize, but they like it enough to publish it in an upcoming issue.
The photo was taken in Havana near the Capitol Building near the end of our trip. I was out photographing street scenes and this old car drove by. It stopped at a light and the young man saw me shooting and flashed the "V" sign. I converted it to Black/White for impact."
May you find a simple way to spread a little peace this week!
The Power of Ideas
We welcome the chance to bring together ideas for making the world a better place, and tap the thoughts of thinkers near and far, modern and from the distant past.
Better than a thousand hollow words, is one word that brings peace.- Buddha
Building Peace
Bringing about peace may be the work of a great leader, a powerful philosophy, or something a little simpler. In this case, it was by some marketing genius at Coca-Cola.
May you enjoy a moment of unexpected connection and happiness this week!
For Members: Dues Reminder
There are still a handful of you among our members who have yet to pay your dues. This doesn't make you a bad person, but we would like you to go ahead and make it happen! Use the link below to go to our dues page, or follow the instructions in the email sent by Treasurer Allen to send money via PayPal or Google Wallet. You can email Allen at treasurer@siliconvalleyrotary.com if you need a reminder for how to do that.We also ask each member to donate something, however small, to the Rotary Foundation when paying dues. This is our way to unite with other Rotarians around the planet to address all kinds of issues. Let's make it happen!
The Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley Dues Page
Events & Projects
This section of our meeting is where you learn about both recent and upcoming events and projects our club is leading or supporting. We welcome guests to all of our events and service projects listed here.
Event Recap: Online Lunch Social from Wed. January 6:
"Why a screenshot of a Hangout?" you ask. Well, on Wednesday of last week, four members and a prospective member got together to share ideas building off the question, "What's the coolest thing you've seen in the last month?" There were great answers, cool sharing, and we look forward to doing this again soon!
In the picture is Nate Gildart in Tokyo (he got up at 5a to take part), and in the smaller pictures, Andrew Taw, guest Ferheen Abbasi, Shags Shagrin (he is not picking his nose, though it looks that way), and Rushton Hurley.
"How soon?" you ask. Well, for the next half-hour online gig, we're looking at 5 PM Pacific on Friday, January 22nd. We hope you'll join in! More info in the upcoming events section below!
Upcoming Events:
Did you miss our past events? Come join us for any of our upcoming events! Guests, you are welcome too!All times are in Pacific Time (San Francisco, CA, USA time!)
Rotary Means Business Online Networking Session on Friday, January 22nd, at 4:15p
Do you manage your own business? Are you looking to start a new venture? Or are you just looking to get some mentorship? Come join our Rotary Means Business session on Friday, January 22 at 4:15p over Google Hangouts! Members are encouraged to join the session ready to tell the group what is one thing they need help with right now. This could be "I need help with finding new clients" or "I need help learning about wine" or "I need help filing papers for a 501(c)(3) non-profit". The sky is the limit! This 45-minute networking session will happen immediately before our happy hour online social.
Happy Hour Online Social on Friday, January 22nd, at 5p
We will be having a happy hour social over Google Hangouts on Friday, January 22nd, at 5 PM Pacific time! Bring your snacks or drinks to your favorite device with a webcam, and come hang out with our club! Tell us about your day, and what you have been up to. Guests are welcome to join in as well.
Hiking Adventures at Point Reyes on Sun. January 24th, at 10a
Our eclub is taking a wilderness explorers’ adventure into Point Reyes on Sunday, January 24th, at 10a. Pack your own picnic lunch, and prepare for a nice 5-7 mile hike! We may also do a pit stop at the world famous Tomales Bay Oyster Company’s oyster stand. Details such as the exact meeting location will be available by mid-January. Keep your calendar marked! All members and guests are welcome. Free to attend.
Those of you outside of California: we are considering having a half-hour online get-together starting that morning at 6a (7a in Utah; 9a in Quebec, Ontario, and Michigan; 4p in Cape Town; 5p in Nairobi; and 11p in Tokyo). Would you be up for it? (Pun intended for California folks.)
Sexy Salad Potluck & Wine in Livermore on Sun. February 21st, at noon
Come enjoy the local extension of Napa Valley in Livermore. We will be having a salad potluck at the awarding winning Retzlaff Vineyard Winery in Livermore on Sunday, February 21st, from noon to 2p. There will be live music and wine. This is a sexy salad potluck! Sexy salad is a way for communities to come together and give gratitude for good food and for good company. Members and guests should bring an ingredient to contribute to the salad. For example: you could bring a bowl of cranberries, a bowl of sliced steak, a bowl of cherry tomatoes, etc. We will be providing organic assorted greens, the salad dressing, along with plates and utensils. All members and guests are welcome to attend; this event is also friendly for anyone under 21 as well! (Though those not 21 or older can’t have wine, of course.)
Nightlife Exploration at the California Science Academy in San Francisco on Thursday, March 24th, at 7p
Come with our club to explore the amazing exhibits and experiences at the planetarium during the evening for California Science Academy’s Nightlife program! We will be meeting at the California Science Academy in San Francisco on Thursday, March 24th, at 7p for an exciting night of science adventures! Open to all members and guests. Tickets will be available for purchase. More details coming in early March.
More Socials!
You can sure expect more socials to be coming up! Members, if you are interested in helping plan socials, please reach out to President-Elect Mitty or leave a comment on this meeting. We would love to get you more involved with the social planning!
The World of Rotary
We are part of the Rotary International family, with over 1.2 million members in over 180 countries around the world. Rotary’s reach is global. Here we tell our members and guests about Rotary’s initiatives and events.
You have read a number of blurbs in our meetings about Interact (a Rotary program for middle and high school students) and Rotaract (a Rotary program for those 18-30, with less formality than regular Rotary). We've had a couple of talks on Rotaract, but do you have a good sense of what Interact is?Interact clubs are typically sponsored by Rotary clubs (like we do with the Interact Club at KIPP San Jose Collegiate High School), but govern and support themselves. They do at least two service projects each year - one for the local community, and one to foster international understanding.You can learn more about Interact globally via its official Facebook page, but it's worth knowing that our district, 5170, has the largest Interact program in the world, with thousands of young people from schools around the Bay Area!Interact District 5170 does a number of programs each year, raising more than $100,000 for good causes. Take time to give the Interact 5170 website a look to see if there is something coming up you want to support.
Service Survey
One piece of being a Rotarian is finding ways – both big and small – to help others. Our members not only get involved in projects our club organizes and/or supports, they do lots of their own good works! We report in to inspire each other to find new and interesting ways to improve our communities.
Members, tell us what you have been up to!
The Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley Service Survey
Happy Dollars
Good news is a good thing, and sharing it can spread that good news with others. It's also a chance to get to know the club's members a little better, so if you've got something fun to share, toss it in using the form below! The dollar amount is totally up to you - we're happy for you to add a single dollar to the club's efforts, but primarily happy that you're sharing news!
Here are our happy dollars from last week:from member Catherine Liu ($50)I would donate it to our Annual Fund. Happy New Year!from member Linda Tangren ($20)To help eradicate polio!
Birthdays
There are no birthdays this week, but we're looking ahead to the 22nd and 23rd, when members Art Taylor and Frank Tripicchio become the targets of our birthday fun!
The Tidbit
Every week, we feature a new tech tidbit or life hack to make something easier, more convenient, or more fun!
Two or three times last year, we had Tidbits that focused on cool extensions to the Chrome browser. We'll do more of these in the coming months, but today we'll take a moment to introduce what extensions are and where to get them.
That link for the Chrome webstore is: chrome.google.com/webstore
A Little Humor
We believe laughter is like medicine. We believe peace is easier when one is laughing.
Here is some fun with words to try and generate a chuckle:
When fish are in schools, they sometimes take debate.
A thief who stole a calendar got twelve months.
A dentist and a manicurist married. They fought tooth and nail.
A will is a dead giveaway.
When you've seen one shopping center you've seen a mall.
Police were summoned to a day-care centre where a three-year-old was resisting a rest.
Did you hear about the fellow whose entire left side was cut off? He's all right now.
The guy who fell into an upholstery machine is now fully recovered.
He had a photographic memory which was never developed.
When she saw her first strands of grey hair she thought she'd dye.
Acupuncture is a jab well done. That's the point of it.
Those who get too big for their pants will be totally exposed in the end.
Selected Comments from Last Week
Sharing thoughts is an important piece of our meetings and our efforts to get to know one another. Has something in this meeting struck you as interesting in some fashion? What do you think of the message from the presenter? We hope you'll leave a comment at the end of this meeting, so we can get to know you better!
Last week's meeting with the program by Jessica Tribbe of the UNICEF Innovation Unit generated plenty of thoughts, some of which we share below.
Member Manju Ramachandran (California, USA)Really surprised to hear that the Innovation Team are not a group of engineers and designers but researchers on the ground, mostly, with a lot of great vision who are working with product people to create new things! I didn't know that about UNICEF! Thanks for presenting! Neat stuff.
Member Richard Knaggs (Cape Town, South Africa)Cool Tidbit, I am sharing it with everyone. :) A really educational program; thank you Jessica. We have the kids at our school developing some interesting solutions to world problems. It is amazing what they come up with. One of our teams has developed a fully modular, expandable, low-cost house made out of recycled plastic with a sanitation bay on the roof that filters grey water. It is all in concept but we are looking to build it soon. We even have a Google Cardboard fly-through of the house. What I am trying to say is perhaps you should look at bringing school children into coming up with solutions to challenges you are facing - they are an incredible resource.
Member Chris Cochrane (Ontario, Canada)Great start to a new year. Love Rushton's photo and Mitty's tidbit.member Deepali Mehrotra (California, USA)Nice to learn about the Innovation Unit at UNICEF and see how collaboration and sharing ideas needs to happen at the community level to make a difference. Great meeting.
Member Shags Shagrin (California, USA)Loved the shoelace trick. I beat it all by wearing slip-ons whenever I can! Great program about UNICEF, Jessica -- as I may have mentioned during the recording, I remember collecting coins at Halloween in the orange cardboard boxes.
Guest Brian Liddicoat (California, USA)Jessica, thank you! This was great. I, too, spent my youth filling up those Halloween donation boxes. :)
Member Yvonne Kwan (California, USA)Jessica, thanks for this awesome presentation! Always great to hear about UNICEF; I had no idea there was an Innovation Unit and, even more surprising, that it's not completely made up of engineers and designers. I love that the innovators here don't just create a new product and find a market for the product, but they find the need and create a product to fit the need. Definitely an innovative way to think about innovation.
The Program
Each week we share stories of fascinating people around the world doing great work for others. You may remember a short video we showed last July telling the story of educational service being done in Fiji. If not, feel free to give that video (below) a quick look.
The overriding question for many of us in the educational field is how to help students, teachers, and schools that aren't connected to the information ocean that is the internet find ways to do so in order not to fall irreversibly behind their peers learning to navigate the changed world.In this week's program, you'll hear from Dave Birch and Kelsi Cox, working in New Zealand as part of an effort to work with under-resourced schools like the one in Fiji, above.Dave is a member of the Rotary Club of Newmarket in Auckland, and project leader for the Digital Learning Room Projects. When not doing Rotary work, he runs a commercial finance company focused on accounting firms. Dave is an avid boater, and a proud resident of New Zealand, home of the Rugby World Cup.Kelsi Cox hails from Vancouver, British Columbia, and was a Rotary Exchange Student in Turkey in 2002, and then a Rotary Scholar in 2013. She, too, works with the Digital Learning Room Projects, and runs a mentoring program for young women in low-income communities with the Auckland YWCA.(We did experience some connection challenges during this recording - please excuse the hiccups.)
Members and guests, welcome Dave and Kelsi!
Learn more about the Digital Learning Room at the organization's website.
Upcoming Programs
Now that you have completed watching this week’s program and meeting, here are some programs that you can expect in the coming weeks.
• Week of Jan 18th: The Revolution in Education• Week of Jan 25th: Greening Saudi Arabia
You’re Almost Done! One last thing: The Attendance Survey..
Thanks for reading and watching this week’s meeting. You have two last things to do before you’re done. First, we have a very short attendance survey below for you to fill out to record your attendance.
Visiting Rotarians, this is how you can get an email receipt to pass along to your club’s secretary as proof that you’ve attended our meeting if you need it for makeups.
Non-Rotarian Guests, we would love to see who is dropping by our meetings! This part is optional for you though.
More importantly, for all members and guests — we strongly recommend and ask that you leave a comment below in our comments area below. Tell us how you enjoyed the program. Ask this week’s speaker any questions you might have. Or just stop by and say hello and tell us where you’re from!
