Transforming Lives One Move at a Time - Locally & Globally

MEETING FOR THE WEEK OF JANUARY 16, 2023

This Meeting at a Glance:

Program: Transforming Lives One Move at a Time - Locally & Globally

Speaker: Elliott Neff

Is this your first time to visit us? If so, welcome to our weekly online meeting! To complete our meeting, please continue reading from here to the bottom of this page. 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 60 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. Please also make sure to complete the attendance form at the bottom and leave a comment. Enjoy!

To properly attend this meeting, please:

  1. Read and watch the content below in its entirety.

  2. Complete the attendance survey.

Everyone is also encouraged to leave a comment in the Disqus section at the bottom of the page.


Message from our President


Dear members and friends,

Happy New Year to you all! How were your holiday celebrations? Are you back into the swing of things or still taking it slowly?

During this break, I have been reflecting on all that we have accomplished since the start of the Rotary year. Our club has seen significant change and expansion in the past six months. Among some of the highlights, we invigorated our membership and engagement efforts ⎯ We inducted four new members and had one of our long-serving members, Phil Dean, awarded the Paul Harris Fellow recognition. In addition, we hosted FANTASTICALLY FUN club socials, including the Italy-themed online social and the annual Holiday party.

I am also pleased to share that our social media presence has grown, and we're exploring new strategies to reach our target audience and drive traffic to our website and programs.

Our objective to disseminate healthcare information and increase awareness was backed by some of our fantastic programs, which were carefully arranged by our Programs Committee. And speaking of healthcare, I'd like to request your assistance in inviting healthcare experts to speak to our club. Our goal is to establish a virtual community where healthcare experts, club members, and general program viewers can talk to one another about how to best address health needs. The spread of the coronavirus has accelerated the adoption of digital health, a term that encompasses a wide range of technologies and services, such as those used in telemedicine and teleconsultation. Being a technologically savvy club has its benefits, so why not put those skills to use by assisting in closing the gap between healthcare knowledge and innovation?

Finally, the Mini e-Grants project is back, and I couldn't be happier to share the news with you. This initiative has been laboriously developed by our club's Rotary Foundation Committee, and is now accessible to all club members. For those who are new to our Club, this program grants USD $1,000 to club members who want to do community service projects with a partner organization (who also needs to contribute at least USD$1,000). In the last few years, we've seen people from all around the globe produce some amazing results! This is a great opportunity to do service in your community or in any community around the world!

In 2023, we have the opportunity to rededicate ourselves to Rotary and to our fellow club members. Join our initiatives, and please don't forget to invite a friend (or two, three...or more) to one of our programs or social event this year so that we can all spread the word about what a wonderful organization Rotary is.

If you're reading this and you are not already a member, I hope you'll consider making a new year's resolution to "do good" by joining our Rotary family in 2023. When it comes to making an international impact, serving with passion, and bonding with people from all over the globe, trust me…we are the best!

Please accept my sincere gratitude for your membership in our club. Again, I hope this new year brings you all the best in health and happiness.

Yours in Rotary Service,

Angelica Marotta, PhD

President 2022-2023 Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley

Rotary International District 5170


WEEKLY FUNNY WITH SHAGS

We believe laughter is an important part of life, and we should all make time to laugh a little. This segment of our meeting is meant to tickle you just enough. These funnies are curated by member Steven "Shags" Shagrin!

Which Would You Pick?

A spiritual leader asked his pupils if they saw a $20 bill and a $100 bill on the floor which one they’d pick up.

Nobody answers but finally one guy meekly blurts out, “$100.”

The spiritual leader simply says, “I see.”

After a small pause, of his pupil asks him, “Which one would you have picked up, oh Wise One?”

Looking straight into his eyes the leader answers, “I’d have picked up both.”


INSPIRATION

Every week we share a short video highlighting innovation, education, entrepreneurship, or whatever we think might inspire you to see the world in new ways.

Rotarians are people who understand that they can make a difference in the lives of others. That's also an important idea related to tapping into the leadership potential within ourselves, and understanding that it can happen at moments that don't seem that important to ourselves is a powerful insight. Take in this very short TEDx talk from Drew Dudley on Everyday Leadership, and see if you agree.


LEARN SOMETHING NEW

Super Glue Tricks With Cigarette Ash & Filters

I'd have to bum one from a neighbor, but these are cool fixes!


SERVICE REPORT

Tell us about service you’ve done recently in your community.

Click here to fill out The Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley Service Survey


HAPPY DOLLARS: Do Good by Sharing Something Good

Each week we ask our members to share stories with the club and toss in a few dollars to support our efforts. The primary goal of this section is to provide a fun way of getting to know each fellow members and guests, while giving back to a good cause.

Happy dollars is an opportunity to share something positive that has happened in your life whether it is personal or business. Think of it as your opportunity to brag a little, but also put a little bit into a karma jar. The money donated through happy dollars is put to charitable use, and the message that you leave for happy dollars will be posted in our online meeting the following week for the entire week for folks to see! (Pending that it’s appropriate!)

Here are the happy dollars contributions from last week!

This section is usually updated in the early hours of Saturday, so contributions made over the weekend may not be listed here.

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PROGRAM: Transforming Lives One Move at a Time - Locally & Globally

SPEAKER: Elliott Neff

Every week we bring to you a new program on innovation, entrepreneurship, and education, and how those contribute to service to others.

The Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley seeks to explore perspectives on service from across the world. The views of the speakers in our programs are their own, and unless stated otherwise, are not necessarily reflective of the views of our eClub nor Rotary International.

If you have an idea for a cool speaker, please feel free to reach out to them directly or submit THIS FORM so our Program Committee can contact them!

What does a slum in Katwe, Uganda, and a Head Start preschool of 3 & 4 year olds in Washington State have in common? Chess! The ancient game of chess has become a vehicle for upward mobility for these and many others.

In this talk, you'll discover how the game of chess is being used to positively impact the lives of poverty level, disadvantaged preschoolers, dramatically changing the trajectories of many kids from slums in Africa, as well as being used in schools across the United States to help kids develop essential skills to thrive, not just survive, in our rapidly changing and challenging global environment.

Our speaker, Elliott Neff, is a National Master in Chess and Founder/CEO of Chess4Life,which exists to help kids develop life skills through the game of chess. What began for Elliott as a childhood fascination with chess blossomed into a mission to positively impact one million kids learning life skills through chess.

Elliott has personally trained more than 10,000 students from beginners through national champions, and holds the Professional Chess Coaching Certification Level V, the highest awarded certification by the USCF (US Chess Federation). Elliott is also the author of A Pawn’s Journey: Transforming Lives One Move at a Time, a novel inspired by true stories of students' life experiences in learning the game of chess.

Members and guests, please welcome Ellioyt Neff!


UPCOMING PROGRAM RECORDING SCHEDULE

All of our guest speakers and programs are recorded live online over Zoom video conference. We welcome members and guests to join us in one of these upcoming recordings. Recordings are approximately 30 minutes long and are subject to change without notice.

Our online video conference room link for these recordings is always http://zoom.siliconvalleyrotary.com/. You are welcome to join us! Please note the timezone listed for all recordings is US Pacific Time (San Francisco, California, USA).

If you can’t join the live recording, please send your questions for an upcoming speaker to programs@siliconvalleyrotary.com.


THE ATTENDANCE SURVEY

Thanks for reading and watching this week’s meeting. You have two last things to do before you’re done.

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. If you think you may want to join our eClub at some point in the future, we would strongly recommend you fill out the attendance form as it will improve your chances of success for your membership application.

For all members and guests — we strongly recommend and ask that you leave a comment 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!

Important: Once you submit the Attendance Survey below, please make sure you see the confirmation message. If you get an error message instead, please try the 'submit' button again, and if that doesn't work, please refresh the page and fill out the form again. Thanks!

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