Meeting for the Week of Apr. 6th, 2015
This Meeting’s Highlights
Speaker: Kim Covill
Program: From Books to Brilliance
Meeting for the week of April 6th to 12th, 2015
Greetings
Welcome, everyone, to the Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley!
Last Sunday was Easter for many Christians around the world, and whatever your beliefs, I hope the day for you was one which recalls the power of renewal. That is, whatever your challenges, you can overcome them via the determination that comes from a larger perspective, the opportunities created by those dedicated to making the world better, and the intense power of the kindness of friends and loved ones.May this week be a week for you of renewal and inspiration.Guests, we welcome your comments, as well, and ask that you consider contributing the cost of a meal to the service projects our club is putting in motion. Feel free to use our donation system at the bottom of this page, or you can mail a check made out to the Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley to our treasurer: ℅ Allen Thompson, 13500 Cascade Ct., Bakersfield CA 93314.
Happy Dollars
Did you notice last week that you can toss out "happy dollars" to share a message with the club? Here are the first two that came in:
member Mitty Chang (California, USA) ($4.56)Hello! I'm happy that April is here, and that I have officially booked everything for my trip to Sao Paulo in June for the Rotary International Convention!
member Rushton Hurley (California, USA) ($5)Here's a Happy Five for our charter event having been so much fun!Feel free to toss in a dollar or two, and make sure to tell us why! It doesn't have to be about Rotary, either. If your kiddo aced a spelling test, or your favorite team won, or you simply saw a great sunset, you can add a little donation that will help our eclub be something special for both our members and those we serve.
Fill out my online form.
Happenings
District Conference
This is the annual spring biggie, taking place the 17th, 18th, and 19th of this month. Watch your email for more detailed info. We’d like everyone to join in for the Sunday morning breakfast, so if you haven’t already been in touch with Secretary Dean (secretary@siliconvalleyrotary.com) on that, please let him know whether you’ll be there.
Sing-Along
The Tri Valley Evening Rotary club presents Disney’s Frozen, Sing Along Edition, on the big screen at Amador Valley High School theater in Pleasanton on Saturday, April 11th. The showtimes are at 1:00 pm and 4:00pm, and this is a great opportunity to do something fun with your children, grandkids, nieces, and/or nephews. Of course, you can just bring yourself, if you’re still a child at heart, and if so, good on you! Tickets are $10, and for more info, visit www.trivalleyrotary.org.
Charter Party
Isn’t the charter party something we talked about last week? Yep, indeed it was, but there are more pictures to share, so we shall talk about it again now!
These first two are of the marble eclub “e” that Nathan McCully (Secretary Dean’s teenage nephew) made for the occasion. District Governor Ed also presented us with our charter and a letter from Rotary International President Gary Huang, but as we both are smiling in this picture, I’m thinking it’s better to start with the “e.”
The picture below is of our attendees applauding the members of the Rotary eClub of East Anglia (UK), who sent us a video congratulating us on our chartering (this was in last week’s meeting, but in case you missed it, here’s the link.
We also got in some kayaking time, and this is Rushton and Commander Nathan McCully of the SS eClub.
One more, and apologies for putting my mug in front of everyone so many times. The person to concentrate on this one, though, is the guy on the left. His name is Bart Laine, and he was the bartender for the evening.
Why do we highlight Bart? Because after hearing about our eclub and what we’re looking to do to make a difference in the world, he called me over to say he’s donating the fee for having him there to the club for our service efforts. How cool is that? Ridiculously cool, that is.
Point being, Rotary is much more than meetings and emails. It’s a way of living our lives that, when done well, inspires others. Thanks to all of you for helping make our young effort a great club already!
Service Time
Were you inspired to do something, small or large, to help others recently? If so, please tell us about it through our service survey.
The World of Rotary
When you read the selected comments below, you’ll notice a note from Santa Cruz Sunrise Rotary Club member Peggy Pollard, who visited us this week, and who is part of the team of that Rotary club, Santa Cruz Sister Cities, and partners in Uganda to bring clean water to a rural village there.
Providing clean water is one of six areas of focus for Rotary, along with promoting peace, fighting disease, saving mothers and children, supporting education, and growing local economies (more info on the Areas of Focus here).
To learn more about what’s happening now in District 5170, take a look at the March newsletter (PDF available here).
Sharings
Selected Comments from Last Week
One hope we have for our guests is that each will leave a comment at the end of the meeting, sharing what she or he found interesting and engaging in the discussions that can happen each week. If you would prefer not to join the Disqus system we use, though, you are also welcome to email your comments to President Rushton (president@siliconvalleyrotary.com).
guest Martin Brocklebank (Norwich, UK)
it is great to be part of your first charter event, and thank you for showing our greetings. The power of the Internet and technology is only bound by our imagination … let’s keep imagining together!
member Art Taylor (California, USA)
I loved the program, and the Google video brought tears to my eyes. Thanks.
member Martin Fox (Utah, USA)
Loved the Reunion video by Google – this video needs to ripple around a few million times more. Keith, your bristlecone pine photo is breathtaking, as is your perspective. 172 million children vaccinated in 1 day. That is mind-boggling. 🙂
member Rushton Hurley (California, USA)
Sometimes we get into a kind of thinking that categorizes the service we can do as doing something small yet significant. Then we look at what Polio Plus has been to hundreds of millions of children and their families around the world, and we see what kind of scope is possible when we think big (as member Martin Fox would surely say). Very cool stuff!
member Yvonne Kwan (California, USA)
Amazing work, Keith! 172 million children vaccinated in one day is incredible. I’m hoping to go on a NID trip myself one day 🙂 (Also, your photos are simply breath-taking.) Rushton hinted to me that he had an awesome inspirational video lined up for us this week — boy, was he right! That Google video is going straight to my social media outlets. So moving and beautiful.
member Andrew Taw (California, USA)
Great presentation! Absolutely lovely and heartbreaking images. It’s an act of great ambition and compassion to eradicate a disease
guest Peggy Pollard (California, USA)
Thanks Keith, Rushton and Shags! I will be going on my first trip to India this summer with my work and I’m glad to know I’m a part of an amazing organization that has already rid that country of polio. I will spread that good news to my international scholar alumni from UCSC that I will visit there.
Then August 24 – September 6 I’m organizing a Santa Cruz Sister City trip to Kasese, Uganda. Keith, Rushton, and any other Rotarians, I invite you to join our delegation to meet with the Kasese, Uganda Rotary club, and to see the water and sanitation project they are doing and collaborate on developing more of their project. We are working with Kasese mayor Godfrey Kabbyanga, who is also a Rotarian.
Cheers from Santa Cruz Sunrise Rotary and from Kasese, Uganda Rotary!
member and presenter Keith Marsh (California, USA)
Thanks for all the comments. This was my third International Service trip for Rotary. They are very rewarding and are great ways to promote international peace. Peggy, let us know more about your trip to Uganda. I have been a member of the Rotary SIG* on Water and Sanitation for several years and would love to work on a project.
[Members, if you haven’t heard of the many Rotary Fellowships, check out the list at this page.]
This Week’s Program
There is little that can renew a community more than instilling hope in children for a better future.
This week’s program is about a wonderful organization called From Books to Brilliance, which focuses on creating and supporting libraries in impoverished areas. The founders, Wisconsin products Kim Covill and Maggie Covill, are aunt and niece, and share a love of languages in addition to a heart for those in resource-poor places.
Kim Covill spent many years in the private sector before switching to teaching Spanish to middle schoolers. With a grant from Qwest Technology, her students wrote and illustrated age-appropriate books for impoverished children in Central America. Kim began promoting literacy in impoverished villages of Central America while volunteering for University of Texas medical delegations that served in remote areas of Nicaragua.
Maggie Covill is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire with a major in Spanish for Latin American Business with a certificate in Medical Translation and is also certified in Teaching English as a Foreign Language. She has worked in both elementary education and adult education settings, and currently works for Hobsons Inc, an international education company. As part of From Books to Brilliance, she works to provide support to the organization, as well as insights from her time living and studying in Latin America in Bolivia, Costa Rica, and Nicaragua.
Prepare to be inspired! (And watch for a cameo by John Wintersteen of the Rotary eClub of the Southwest USA, from which seven of our charter members came to help start our eclub.)
You can learn more about From Books to Brilliance at its website.
I Attended!
As always, make sure you’ve put your name properly in the blanks and clicked on “Submit” – not difficult, but it is required of members and guests wanting credit for making up a meeting. It is also something that makes our record keeping much, much easier.
And please add a comment while you’re here!
