giVING. receiVING. belieVING. There's a little VING in everything.
Meeting for the week of February 07, 2022 - February 13, 2022
This Meeting at a Glance:
Program: giVING. receiVING. belieVING. There's a little VING in everything.
Speaker: Liz Lefkofsky
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:
Read and watch the content below in its entirety.
Complete the attendance survey.
Everyone is also encouraged to leave a comment in the Disqus section at the bottom of the page.
Welcome to the Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley!
Here’s a message from our Club President.
Hi Members and Guests,
Welcome to this week’s meeting of the Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley.
Peacebuilding and Conflict Prevention is one of Rotary’s 7 areas of focus and is recognised during the month of February on the Rotary calendar. Promoting peace is a core part of Rotary’s mission, with Rotarians working to create a more peaceful world by carrying out service projects that aim to foster peace and understanding and address many of the root causes of conflict and tension, including poverty, discrimination, lack of access to education and other causes of inequality. Our club and our members have contributed to many projects in these areas, including our Global Grant school project in Soda, Ethiopia, that aims to improve access to education and greater education equality; and our Laptops for Good project, that provides laptops to low-income students that have been outstanding community leaders as they commence at university.
I also have some other important announcements:
Gabi has transitioned to a new role at work, and as a result, has stepped down as Treasurer. At the last Board meeting, it was resolved to appoint Cecelia to fill this vacancy, in accordance with our bylaws, section 3.8(e). Many of you would be familiar with Cecelia and know that she most recently served as Vice President during the past Rotary year. I would like to thank Gabi for the tremendous effort and contribution she has made since taking on the role and to also thank Cecelia for now taking over.
The Board has approved an extension to Sandy’s leave of absence until the end of the Rotary year. As most of you will be aware, Sandy has been a very passionate and hard-working Service Chair, and as such we are looking for someone to help act in this role for the remainder of this Rotary year. The focus will be on helping refine the changed Min-e-Grants program we launched last year and then identifying and selecting projects to receive the grants for this year. If you are interested and able to assist, please send me an email.
The Public Relations committee is currently dormant, and the Chair position is vacant (notwithstanding our website team continues to work hard, doing a great job of maintaining and updating our website, including the meeting page each week). The goal of this committee is to provide the public with information about our club and its service projects and activities. If you would be interested in serving on this committee or taking on the role as Chair, please send me an email.
Service to your club by actively engaging and participating on committees is an important part of Rotary service and a great way to enrich your Rotary experience, so I encourage you all to consider these positions as an opportunity to Serve to Change Lives.
Brett Sham
President, Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley
president@siliconvalleyrotary.com
Guests, we are happy to have you join us this week!
As we see it, our flexibility as an online, asynchronous club allows a special type of service to Rotarians around the world: we make it easier for anyone to strive for and maintain 100% attendance. That keeps you engaged with Rotary's events and ideas, and provides a moment of inspiration for devoting your creativity, talents, and resources to good causes.
You are certainly not required to pay anything in order to attend our meetings. However, if you would like to make a small contribution to our service efforts, you are welcome to do so in our secure Happy Dollars section down the page. This could be what you normally pay at your own club's meetings for lunch, for example. Any amount is welcome, but first and foremost, we're happy you've joined us, and hope you will share with others who we are and what we do to help inspire Service Above Self.
And don't forget to fill out our attendance form so you get an email you can pass on to your club's secretary!
The Four Way Test
The Four-Way Test is a nonpartisan and nonsectarian ethical guide for Rotarians to use for their personal and professional relationships.
Of the things we think, say or do
Is it the TRUTH?
Is it FAIR to all concerned?
Will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS?
Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?
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 !
Loaning Weight
I never actually lose weight anymore.
Apparently, I just loan it out and it comes back with interest.
And lately, I have been getting great rates of return!
Weekly Inspiration
Every week we start our meetings with a short video highlighting innovation, inspiration, entrepreneurship, or social change.
As service people, we are often challenged to look past the surface messages others send us, whether that is with those we are trying to help or those in our own clubs. This message from athlete and movie star Dwayne Johnson captures the importance of our living up to that challenge.
Through a Rotarian's Lens
Sometimes a photo can capture an amazing moment. In this section Member Keith Marsh shares his incredible photography!
If you'd like to submit a photo for this section please contact Keith.
The Floridita Bar in Havana is one of the most famous in the World for its rum based daiquiris. It was the hang out place for Ernest Hemingway. There is a bronze statue of him still sitting at the end of the bar. I took this night photo in HDR with an interesting effect. Notice the car is a newer model, but not US made as the embargo would not allow.
Learn Something New
This section is curated by members Shags Shagrin and aims to teach our members and guests something new, fun, and useful! If you have any ideas on a fun trick or skill you'd like to share please contact Shags.
Love Those Spuds!
Even more fun things to do with POTATOES -- meat free!!
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
Our Events & Projects
We hold our meetings online, but we do regular service projects and social events in the Silicon Valley! The section is updated every week with our upcoming events. We welcome guests to all of the events and service projects listed here.
Upcoming Events:
All times are Pacific Time! (San Francisco time)
District 5170 Events
All times are Pacific Time! (San Francisco time)
More events coming soon! All events are open to guests, unless otherwise mentioned. Feel free to join us! If you ever have questions, please email inquiries@siliconvalleyrotary.com
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.
Program: giVING. receiVING. belieVING. There's a little VING in everything.
Speaker: Liz Lefkofsky
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!
The VING project is a national movement sparking the next generation of givers. Through VING, teens have an opportunity to give an individual in need an encouraging boost by surprising them with $1,000. We started The VING Project to empower teens to make a difference in the lives of those around them.
From the organization: "By providing [teens] with small grants to give to people in need, we hope to provide an opportunity for them to experience the joys of giving – that feeling you get when you take the time to care about someone else who may be vulnerable. We hope we are giving teens more than just a $1,000 check to donate to someone in need. Our desire is to bestow young people with the confidence to lead with generosity and compassion. We recognize that more important than monetary donations is the consideration of others and the community around you. Our family is constantly inspired by the thoughtfulness and kindness we see from the VING community. With teenagers of our own, we see the power and influence that young people hold today. We hope the VING Project is a vehicle that allows teens to continue their journey of making the world a kinder, better place."
Liz Lefkofsky is a social philanthropist committed to championing initiatives that enhance the quality of human life. She has dedicated her professional career to various philanthropic initiatives, starting as a young child helping stuff envelopes in support of the American Brain Tumor Association, which her mother founded. From there, Liz served in numerous non-profit roles at Gallery 37, now known as After School Matters, and the Printers Row Book Fair.
In 2006, Liz and her husband Eric established the Lefkofsky Family Foundation where she serves as president, advancing high-impact programs, initiatives, and research in the areas of education, women’s health, medical research and the arts. Liz spearheaded a unique partnership between Chicago Public Schools and the University of Chicago to create a performance-enhancing curriculum called Success Bound that aims to redesign the middle school experience to give all middle school students preparation for high school and beyond. She also founded the VING Project, an initiative that empowers teens to support people in their communities that could use a financial boost.
In 2013, Liz and her husband became signees of the Giving Pledge, deepening their commitment to philanthropic causes. She also serves as a board member for the Museum of Contemporary Art, Peer Health Exchange, and Ravinia.
Liz is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin - Madison and currently lives in the suburbs of Chicago with her husband and three children.
Members and guests, please welcome Liz Lefkofsky!
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.
You’re Almost Done! Please complete 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!
