Lighting for Literacy
This Meeting's Highlights
Program: Lighting for LiteracySpeaker: Doug McNeilMeeting for the week of June 20th to June 26th, 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!
Welcome Members & Guests!
Message from our Club President
Welcome, members and guests!Only a week or two ago, a horrible attack in Orlando killed dozens and struck a much deeper blow to our collective psyche.That is, we all hope that people will act in ways to respect and honor others, that disagreements can be addressed with care and intelligence, and that terror will not rob us of our belief in the good that we and others can do for anyone.The shooting and its coverage in the media may mean wildly different thing to different people. To me, however, it is a reminder that what we do to give others hope - our commitment to "Service Above Self" - is needed now, as much as it ever has been, and probably more.This week, do your part, in however small or grand a way, to serve others and spread kindness and hope. I believe our actions can live on for those we help far longer than the efforts of those whose goal is to prompt hate and violence.Act knowing what you do matters. Now more than ever.We are glad you are here, and we are excited to share insights, innovative efforts, and good news from Rotarians around the world. Additionally, we want you to know this is always a space in which you are welcome.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 PayPal.
Send via Google Wallet* to: ecsv.rotary@gmail.com
Send via check to the mailing address, below.
* To pay via Google Wallet, you’ll need to log in to your account to donate.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
An image can capture a story or a possibility in wonderful and powerful ways, and we share one or more great images each week in the hope that it will inspire something for you!
A good image can help us see the world in a new way, bring us closer to another piece of the world, or prompt us to get up and head somewhere new in the world. President Rushton was recently in Wyoming for a conference, and found this shot in Flickr from one of his favorite photographers.from Rushton:"I have been intrigued by HDR photography for years, and when I first begin learning about the technique, I soon found the work of Trey Ratcliff, a.k.a. Stuck in Customs, who has traveled seemingly everywhere. Here's one he did in Yellowstone in Wyoming, just a couple of hours west of Riverton, where I was in early June."You can find Trey's blog post about this shot here. Great reading!
The Power of Ideas
A great thought can spark a great response in shared word and deed. We share quotes in our meetings for that reason, and out of the hope you’ll share something from our meeting with someone else who may need the encouragement.
The beauty of the world around us can be matched by the beauty of an inspiring idea. This week, we share a quote on peace from the great Mr. Rogers:
When I say it's you I like, I'm talking about that part of you that knows that life is far more than anything you can ever see or hear or touch. That deep part of you that allows you to stand for those things without which humankind cannot survive. Love that conquers hate, peace that rises triumphant over war, and justice that proves more powerful than greed.- Fred Rogers
The Power of Confidence
You may have ideas that you need to act on regarding helping others, making the world a better place, losing a few pounds, or, in this case, learning to ride a bike.
Two thumbs up to cool edtech guy Kyle Pace, who shared that video with President Rushton, who was happy to pass it along to the club!
For Our Club Members: Reminders
Dues for July-December
Members, if you haven't already done so, please go to the dues payment page https://dev-siliconvalleyrotary.pantheonsite.io/dues/ and get this handled as soon as possible.
Our Events & Projects
We hold our meetings online, but we hold regular service projects and social events in the Silicon Valley every month! This section is updated every week with our upcoming events. We welcome guests to all of our events and service projects listed here. Also be sure to join our Meetup Group!
Upcoming Events:
Club Demotion/Promotion Potluck on July 16th
It's time to celebrate the passing of the torch, and do so with tons of good food! On Saturday, July 16th, we will descend on (soon-to-be Past) President Rushton's home for food and fellowship. Additionally, we'll be giving a big "Go get 'em!" to President-Elect Mitty, who takes the reins on July 1st. Please mark off some or all of 4 PM to 7 PM that evening. You can let us know you'll be there with either a note to Rushton (president@siliconvalleyrotary.com) or on the Meetup page.
Help Homeless Veterans Service Project on July 29th
Join us in Richmond, CA on July 29th in a little painting and hammering for the grand reopening of center for the Veteran's Resource Program which provides a clean, safe living environment for veterans who may be homeless, formerly incarcerated, or returning home from the military. They also provide services like employment placement and assistance with higher education. Let's get together and swing a paintbrush or stroke a hammer (or perhaps the other way around)! If you're interested, let us know on our Meetup where there's more info.
Second Harvest Food Bank Service Project on August 20th
On Saturday, August 20, from 9 AM to 12 PM – Come join us for a morning of sorting food at Second Harvest Food Bank! We will be at the Cypress Center in San Jose. This event will be capped at 5 people. Members who went in May said this was an event we absolutely had to do again so here we are! Members interested can RSVP with Andrew Taw (service@siliconvalleyrotary.com) or on Meetup.
The World of Rotary
Every week we bring to you a little snapshot of what’s going on in the world of Rotary.
Rotaract Doing Good in Ukraine
Rotarians, Rotaractors, and Interactors around the world regularly engage in actions that promote goodwill and hope. In this video, you'll learn about the work of Rotaractors in Ukraine as they seek to help the elderly in their country with the problems they face.
An Educational Fellowship
You may know or remember from one of last summer's programs that Global Fellowships are one of the ways that Rotary works to connect its members with each other around the globe.
Among the many fellowships are ones for magicians, cycling, Esperanto, horseback riding, Pre-Columbian Civilizations, and even beer!
And as a club focused on innovation, entrepreneurship, and education, of potential interest to many of our members is this one: the International Fellowship of Rotarian Educators
You can learn more about Rotary's fellowships starting at this page on the Rotary website.
For Our Members: Service Survey
This section is dedicated for our members to report to us what service projects they have participated in recently. We love giving shoutouts to our members for the good work and the impact they’ve made in their local communities.
Like most Rotary clubs, we take pride in the creativity, accomplishments, perspectives, and all-around cool of our membership. We use our online space to inspire each other to find new ways to experience the joy of being of service to others, and one way that happens is via the Service Survey.The first full week of each month, we gather what has come in via the survey to tell the everyone what people have been doing. If you missed the last report, you can take a look at that section in the week of June 6th and let it inspire you to find something new you can make happen!We look forward to hearing what's new, as well. Click below to let us know!
The Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley Service Survey
Happy Dollars
What are Happy Dollars? They represent a chance to share news, or honor someone, or express a hope, even when the hope is prompted by not particularly happy news. Not only does the donation help with our club's efforts, but your shared thoughts allow our members to get to know you better.
Please consider finding something to celebrate and let us know using the Happy Dollars form below!
Member Linda Tangren ($20)We live in a very congested area. We tend to rush from place to place. It's tough for me to be back in this area full time and give up Hawaii. I still refuse to relinquish my Aloha spirit, frequently letting drivers into my lane; giving a wave to those who grudgingly allow me to merge into their lane. Well I'm giving a shoutout to the driver who showed me some Aloha this week. I couldn't merge; gave up, turned off my directional and was resigned to exiting the freeway. Suddenly, the person who had accelerated realized that I wanted to merge; he slowed down and let me change lanes. Yes, Virginia it was the old California this native remembers.
Guest Miranda Ming (Missoula Rotary Club) ($15)Great to be a visiting Rotarian doing a makeup with your club.
Guest Penny Noel (Rotary Club of Morgan Hill) ($20)The quality and depth of your content is a treat!
Birthdays
After a bit of a dry spell, we have a pair of members both celebrating birthdays on June 27th! "Shouldn't that be in next week's meeting?" you ask. Well, we want everyone to be able to send good wishes before, rather than after the fact.So, Heather Shaw and François Tessier, let's see what June 27th is known for, shall we? It is the birthday of Helen Keller, and this day is observed in her honor, largely as an opportunity to recognize work being done by and for the deaf and the blind.The 27th of June is also Multiculturalism Day in Canada, recognizing the contributions of people from over 200 different countries who have immigrated to the country.Celebrating the contributions of so many and the work of those battling challenges seems like a good pair of topics for Rotarians, doesn't it?
The Tidbit
Our Tidbit section is designed to help you learn some technology or other trick to help you out in some way. This week, we honor the inner kindergartner in all of us with this search trick.
The most recent version of OS X (El Capitan) for Macs has some cool features that might be hard to notice. This nice Tidbit from the CNET folks is a great way to learn five of them!
If you know a cool hack for tech or life in general, let us know by passing it along to president@siliconvalleyrotary.com.
A Little Humor
We make an attempt each week to prompt a chuckle via a little humor. It is often very little, but the attempt is an honest one, and we hope the good ones are shared the and chuckles ripple forward!
We try every week to share something that will generate a smile or a laugh. There have even been weeks when we succeeded!This week's program celebrates the possibilities of engineering, among several other topics, so we share this one with the group:
One afternoon, an engineering student was riding across campus on a shiny new bike. He ran into a friend of his, also an engineering student, who said, "Wow! That sure is a great bike. Where did you get it?"
"Well, the darndest thing happened," said the first engineering student. "A girl came riding up to me and got off the bike, threw off all her clothes, and said that I could have anything that I wanted."
"Wow!" remarked his friend. "Good move. Her clothes probably wouldn't have fit you anyway."
This testament to Silicon Valley social life was found at engineering-humour.com.
Selected Comments from Last Week
Each week we ask our members and guests to leave comments at the bottom of this page, telling what they thought of the program and the meeting. We hope you, will, as well, as it’s one way of getting to know you and each other better.
When we began the eClub of Silicon Valley, one of our goals was to provide a Rotary experience that would inspire members and guests to think in new ways, to share stories that move us to act, and to want to come back for more.The comments you leave allow us to continue to pursue this and all our goals, pushing ourselves to improve constantly. We look forward to what you share in the Disqus section, below!Here are some of the comments shared last week in reaction to our meeting and program from Chris Cochrane on how to fundraise using online video.
Guest Penny Noel (California, USA)I have been to two virtual meetings and I am very impressed with the content. For the meeting I just attended the YouTube video on the wolves effect on the surrounding ecosystem was something I will watch and refer to over and over. It was just so interesting x 100!I know these meetings are not a breeze to put together. You are doing a real service to Rotarians that need to do meaningful makeups!
Guest Miranda Ming (Montana, USA)Great to hear alternatives to traditional fundraising. Very excited to try an e-club out. Referred here by my friend Kristi Govertsen.
Member Richard Knaggs (Cape Town, South Africa)I really enjoyed the relevance of the Wolf video and for the message that it's the small things that count. Thank you for the information Chris. One thing I have realised is that if you are a Google Apps for Education user, Google does not pay you for your video views even though you have monetised them. You have to use a private account. Everyone loves video and it is a great way to promote any club. I love the idea of building a video footage collection of speakers from Rotary clubs all over the world. This eclub and its videos have globalised my awareness of special projects on the go all over the world. It has also allowed me to connect with incredible thinkers and innovators everywhere. I will share this when I present to the local Blouberg Rotary club.
Member Rushton Hurley (California, USA)Chris, wonderful program! Let's all share it everywhere. Delaine, thanks again for this totally fun Tidbit. You should think about joining Rotary, too - you have the heart for it!member Nate Gildart (Tokyo, Japan)Thanks for the show Chris. Video promotion is certainly an area I think is less explored and I'm curious if a couple of NPOs I volunteer with have done this and if not pass along your suggestions. Your other suggestions such as Kickstarter and monetization of YouTube are important. I believe Google's AdSense also has to be activated for monetizing YouTube videos.More inspirational vids, pics and humour in the meeting. Cheers!
Member Paul Mosso (California, USA)Thank you for the education Chris; I enjoyed learning how the raise money using video. I think back to my years with Rotaract and trying to raise money for different causes, this would have been a great low-budget way to raise funds.
Member Mahmood Khan (California, USA)Chris, A great simple message and even I can do what you shared. In fact, I will use you advise to raise some funds for SJCCCS (501-c) and the skills training program I am running for the past 8 years at my Job Search Group. Google Monetize - what a simple great idea WOW! - online movie creation and raise funds for a worthy cause. Thanks Chris. Also loved the light bulb joke.
Member Yvonne Kwan (California, USA)Chris, thanks for reminding us about the importance of videos and, more importantly, how easy it is for each of us to make our own. Everything that you said definitely resonates with me whenever I stop for a video on my news feed rather than continue scrolling. Thank you for your presentation (and for creating those videos for our club way back when!)LOVE the video about wolves and the message it carries!
Member Tzviatko Chiderov (Zimbabwe)Loved the story on the wolves! Great program Chris! Thanks for sharing your expertise with us. What simple tips/tools/apps would you recommend for editing videos directly on your phone?
Response from Chris That's a personal choice. I use several on my iPhone to edit video including iMovie, Video Editor and more. In addition I use an app called Movie Pro to record video. It has settings than are not available on a standard iPhone which means choice in creating.
The key is to always try any free app (either for recording or editing or other) and to decide for yourself. You'll soon have personal favourites. To me ease of use and quality of results are what I want.
Guest Nicke Salen (Sweden)Thanks for sharing this. Best greetings from Sweden.
The Program
A major point of pride for the Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley is our work to find fascinating people to share stories of service in our programs, particularly when these stories touch on our focuses of innovation, entrepreneurship, and education. This week, we have Rotarian Doug McNeil with us to discuss his work with Lighting for Literacy, which addresses all three!
As a member of the Los Gatos Morning Rotary Club, Doug's volunteer work has focused on inspiring and mentoring youth in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM), developing the next generation of engineers. In 2012, Doug chaired his Rotary club's Earth Day for Youth event and co-founded the Lighting for Literacy Program, which now brightens the lives of international, underserved youth who are living off-grid in remote areas around the world.Embracing the White House's "Educate to Innovate" initiative, this transformational Lighting for Literacy Program teaches science, sustainability, and service above self while also providing healthy, free light to underserved youth. This program has now broadcast to multiple Rotary organizations, schools, and community youth organizations to develop the next generation of "Champions of Change." Doug’s work was recognized at Rotary Day at the White House as a 2013 Champion of Change.Doug is a Senior Director at Kinestral Technologies, Inc., in San Francisco, California. He is a native Californian, born and raised in the Santa Clara Valley. Doug is a parent of two children and resides in Monte Sereno, California, with his wife, Sherri. Doug started his career working for NASA-Ames Research Center as an engineering intern, paving the way for an exciting career. Inspired by the space program in the 1960's, he designed, developed, and launched over 118 satellites with several launch service providers from three continents during his tenure at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Space.Doug has held executive positions in several cutting-edge companies, developing and launching new products for the aerospace, wireless telecommunications, laser communications, biometrics, and high-throughput materials research industries in the Silicon Valley. Doug's efforts have taken him around the world, working with and developing International business partners.Members and guests, please welcome Doug McNeil!
Related Links:You can review Doug's slides at this address.
Upcoming Programs
Week of June 27th: Rushton Hurley - Something SpecialWeek of July 4th: Mitty Chang - First Meeting of the New Rotary Year!
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!
