Investing in Inclusion
Meeting for the week of March 21, 2022 - March 27, 2022
This Meeting at a Glance:
Program: Investing in Inclusion
Speaker: Gordon Hartman
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.
Members and guests,
Welcome to this week’s meeting of the Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley!
March is Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene month on the Rotary calendar. According to Rotary International, clean water, sanitation, and hygiene education are basic necessities for a healthy environment and a productive life and when people have access to clean water and sanitation, waterborne diseases decrease, children, stay healthier and attend school more regularly, and mothers can spend less time carrying water and more time helping their families. Through water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) programs, Rotary members mobilize resources, form partnerships, and invest in infrastructure and training that yield long-term change. Through our Min-e-Grant program, our club is supporting a WASH project in Nepal that aims to construct new sanitation facilities and provide reusable menstrual pad kits to young women so they can continue school attendance with dignity. The project aims to benefit 1,400 young women across three schools in a remote area in the west of the country.
7 to 13 March is also World Rotaract Week. Rotaract is one of Rotary’s programs for young people, and it is a global movement of young leaders who are developing innovative solutions to the world’s most pressing challenges. Rotaract clubs bring together people ages 18 and older to exchange ideas with leaders in the community, develop leadership and professional skills, and have fun through service. There are over 200,000 Rotaractors in over 10,000 clubs from 180 countries, and Rotary and Rotaract members work side by side in communities worldwide to take action through service. Many of our club’s members are Rotaract alumni and our club is proud to be a co-sponsor of the Rotaract Club of Cupertino.
Also, if you are planning on attending the Rotary International Convention (4 to 8 June) and have not yet registered, please note that the preregistration discount ends on 31 March. If you are considering attending, please let me know so that I can connect you with our other club members that will be attending to coordinate for our club members to meet. To found out more about the convention and to register, please visit: https://convention.rotary.org/
The Rotary International Convention is a wonderful opportunity to connect with fellow Rotarians from around the world and to learn of the impact that Rotary is having across the world. I’m sure you will leave inspired and full of great ideas 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 !
A Question
Why does the milk stool only have 3 legs?
Because the cow has the udder.
Weekly 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.
What does it mean to volunteer? Rotarians work with this idea all the time, and we may enjoy seeing this example of some perhaps unlikely community members stepping in to keep an ambulance service going. If you like this one, look up Steve Hartman's On the Road series on YouTube.
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.
“Simplicity is about subtracting the obvious and adding the meaningful.” ―John Maeda “What is important to the concept of line is the impression of movement leading the eye along the edges of forms. In a very real sense all lines can be considered pathways that connect up shapes and form that serve to emphasize movement.” –Richard Martin, Visual Rhythm, Photo Life magazine (Photo by Richard Martin)
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.
Some Pretty Cool Facts!
Something a little different -- not a video, but a link to an article with not 13, but 60 interesting things you may not have known. Enjoy! I did!! [CLICKBAIT: Betty White is Older than Sliced Bread]
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: Investing in Inclusion
Speaker: Gordon Hartman
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!
Native San Antonian Gordon Hartman sold his successful homebuilding business in 2005 to pursue his and wife Maggie's dream of helping children and adults with special needs. He built Morgan's Wonderland, the world's first and only Ultra-Accessible™, fully-inclusive theme park, and the home of Special Olympics Texas Summer Games. Gordon followed award-winning Morgan's Wonderland with other ventures that now comprise Morgan's Inclusion Initiative, an umbrella organization that strategically coordinates among all Morgan's Wonderland-associated endeavors. These include Morgan's Inspiration Island splash park, Morgan's Wonderland Sports complex, new Morgan's Wonderland Camp, and the Multi-Assistance Center at Morgan's Wonderland, or The MAC.
Gordon's inspiration for all that he's accomplished is his 28-year-old daughter Morgan, who has dealt with physical and cognitive special needs since birth. He continues to firmly believe, "Together, we ARE making a difference!"
In today's talk, you will learn about a father who has made it his life's mission to change the world for the better for individuals with special needs and their families.
Members and guests, please welcome Gordon Hartman!
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!
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