How the Peace Corps/Rotary Partnership Helps Rotary
Meeting for the week of September 02 - September 08, 2019
This Meeting at a Glance:
Program: How the Peace Corps/Rotary Partnership Helps Rotary
Speaker: Steve Werner
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.Special thanks to member Olukunle Abolade for putting together the information for each week's meeting into this program page for all of us to enjoy. Thanks Olu!
Welcome to the Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley!
Here’s a message from President Tzviatko:
Greetings Rotarians and Guests,Happy September everyone!We had a very nice online social last week! Thanks Shags for hosting! If you couldn't make it, please let us know in the comments below what day of the week and time of day would have worked for you better. Our Online Socials committee will be putting together a schedule of regular monthly online socials and this information would be very helpful.We have a star of a speaker this week. Steve Werner will tell us more about the intersection between the Peace Corps and Rotary. Enjoy the meeting and looking forward to reading your comments!
Sincerely,
Tzviatko
President, Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley
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!
Weekly Funny with the Lady of Laughter (LOL)
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 Yvonne Kwan, our “Lady of Laughter!”
Whether your weather is heating up, or whether your weather is cooling down, these weather jokes are ready to weather some laughs!
Who does the best work when they're under the weather?Meteorologists!
Did you hear the new tagline for meteorologists?Weather... you like it or not!
I'd tell you an umbrella joke...But it might go over your head!
Weekly Inspiration
Every week we start our meetings with a short video highlighting innovation, inspiration, entrepreneurship, or social change.
Anyone who rides a mountain bike on downhill terrain knows how perilous it can be. Well, imagine riding downhill without being able to see. Brian Bushway is a pro at it. Known as the world’s best blind mountain biker, he lost his sight when he was 14.Wanting to discover alternative ways to explore the world, Bushway learned how to see with sound. Like bats, he relies on echolocation when he mountain bikes, using sound to locate objects.
Member Spotlight
This week's Member Spotlight is Heather Shaw! Here is what she has been up to lately:
"This past weekend, I had the honor of volunteering with my Mom at the Kids Against Hunger event in Pleasanton. I say it’s an honor because my parents instilled their volunteerism within us 7 kids. They had a lot going on and they still volunteered their time. Now Mom at 85, with loss of vision from a stroke, still wanted to get out there with me and contribute what she could. I must say the event benefitted her as much as the recipients of our labor by stimulating her brain and stamina. I am so proud to be her daughter."
World of
Did you know that Helen Keller once gave a keynote address at a Rotary International Convention? Learn more about this fascinating moment at this page on the Rotary Global History Fellowship pages.Learn more at https://www.rghfhome.org/first100/women/famous/keller/
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.
This coming weekend is the annual Reno Balloon races. I have attended a few times and took this panoramic photo in 2016. If you arrive before sunrise, you get to witness the "Dawn Patrol" where ascending balloons are illuminated by the firing of the gas jets.
Learn Something New
This section is curated by members Shags Shagrin and Rushton Hurley 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 Rushton or Shags.
Tech Tidbit: Packing the Bookmarks Bar
Hello, eclub! If you're someone who likes to get good websites to live only a click away in your browser, we've got a great tidbit for you this month.In this one, we'll remove the words taking up the valuable real estate of the bookmarks bar in order to pack as many good sites into view as possible.As always, you are welcome to critique the video without mercy. I'd welcome any thoughts you have, or perhaps a suggestion for another Tech Tidbit you'd like to see in the coming months.
Coffee With a Rotarian
A natural part of Rotary is the networking and the fellowship you get out of meeting other Rotarians. Coffee With a Rotarian is a monthly program of our club where we match participating club members for one-on-one virtual (or in some cases in person) coffee meetings, so they can learn more about each other. This program is organized by member Tzviatko Chiderov.
This week we have Nick from Vancouver, BC, Canada reporting on a chat with Olukunle from Lagos, Nigeria
We encourage all club members to participate in Coffee With a Rotarian. You can sign up here!
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
On the first meeting of every month, we feature service reports from club members for the previous month. Thanks for your service everyone!
Hurley, Rushton: Project LEAF - working with members of the Fremont Bridge Rotary Club on a community garden project in Fremont.
Hurley, Rushton: Helped an elderly community member move to a new home.
Shaw, Heather: Created a team to walk for relay for life in Campbell and walked to raise money for cancer
Gildart, Nate: A music fundraising event for mental health care npo TELL, based in Japan. As usual, it was to raise funds for the organization and awareness of their services.
Howell, Susan: Still helping three of my old clubs with various things. For two of the clubs I assist the treasurers of both the clubs and their foundations with Quickbooks. For another I post Rotary items on their FB page.
Hurley, Rushton: Kids Against Hunger Food Packing Event
Chiderov, Tzviatko: Helped a local business enhance their online presence.
Club Announcements
Haven't joined the conversation on Facebook yet? Consider joining the conversation by signing into our club members-only Facebook Group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/rotarysiliconvalley/
Our Events & Projects
We hold our meetings online, but we do regular service projects and social events in the Silicon Valley! This section is updated every week with our upcoming events. We welcome guests to all of the events and service projects listed here.
Also be sure to join our Meetup Group for automatic calendar updates and to RSVP for our events! These are open to all guests as well!
Past Events:
August 28 Club Online Social!
Thanks Shags for hosting this fun online social, and thank you Rushton for the screenshot!
Upcoming Events:
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
What would you like to do?
Hey Members! Let us know what you want to do by posting in our members-only Facebook Group (if you don’t have access, please request it with Webmaster Mitty). Remember, you’re only taking advantage of the full impact of Rotary when you’re stepping up to get involved.
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 on the early hours of Saturday, so contributions made over the weekend may not be listed here.
Monique Ziesenhenne made a $20 donation.TRF-Annual Fund, please. Am going on vacation till Sept. 6. Yay!
Anonymous? made a $5 donation.Inspired at work and life these days.
Brian Liddicoat made a $15 donation.Looking forward to getting some flying time this week.
Rory Olsen made a $20 donation.Good week. Please apply my gift to Polio Plus.
Nan Herron made a $20 donation.I am SOOO happy that I was able to do a video program for our club with Ferheen hosting! It was priceless to watch her face as I showed my photos! <3
Selected Comments
Every week at the bottom of our meetings, there is a comments section for members and guests to tell us what they enjoyed about the meeting or to ask questions to the speaker. We select a few comments every week from last week’s meeting to be featured during this week’s meeting.
Here are the comments selected from last week’s meeting.
Flor Maurin said:
Specially to Ferheen: Congratulations! I think the topic is extremely easy as a theory and extremely hard to put in practice, but I just love the approach, the results from the survey and the ideas you bring as a result of the suggestions.Membership is my true passion and up to a certain point my biggest fear because it is NOT an easy comittee to be in and an easy task to accomplish. If and When I become a member of the club (I really hope to) I want to help in this comittee and see if I can offer new ideas to improve, specially the last R, the one i think is the most important one and the one that is least worked sometimes (and by most rotary clubs)
Tanya Martin said:
Ferheen, you are awesome! The $64,000 question is: How do you get people more engaged online, whether its Rotary or or any other organization? Part of it is a personal committment. I have been slacking as far as being active. Thank you for your presentation. It's a new month and it's time for me to get engaged. Period!
Rory Olsen said:
Ferheen, it will be a pleasure to work with you this year on the membership committee. If I may offer a comment: We should be very careful in attempting to adapt what traditional Rotary clubs do to our unique circumstances, particularly the classification system. Obviously, no one would want to join a traditional club in which most of the members were either lawyers; CPAs; or insurance agents, since this would limit referrals. But in our case, I do not care what our members do for a living. It has no relevance in an e-club.
One last thought, it would probably be good for anyone who wants one to have ID to have it. But it is not necessary, since traditional clubs are used to having visiting Rotarians. Over the decades I have made up at various clubs in Texas; New Mexico, Arizona; Nevada; California; the Cayman Islands and Bermuda. Never have I been asked to show ID. Odds are that most people that you meet will not know much e-clubs.
Be sure to leave a comment at the end of this week’s meeting after you watch the program below, and perhaps you’ll see your comment featured next week!
Program: How the Peace Corps/Rotary Partnership Helps Rotary
Speaker: Steve Werner
Every week we bring to you a new program on innovation, entrepreneurship, and education, and how those contribute to service to others. Special thanks to member Roger Plested for leading our club's Programs Committee in finding us amazing speakers each week.
If you have an idea for a cool speaker, please feel free to reach out to them directlyor submit THIS FORM so our Program Committee can contact them!
There are many benefits from the partnership between the Peace Corps and Rotary, from stronger international and community service projects, increased membership in Rotary clubs, and new volunteers for the Peace Corps.This week's speaker, Steve Werner, is a consultant working primarily with international nonprofit organizations by helping them to build stronger programs, fundraising plans, boards of directors, and long-term strategies. He served as Executive Director for Water For People, an international nonprofit organization based in Denver, Colorado, with the mission is to assist people in developing nations gain access to safe drinking water and proper sanitation. He also served in senior management positions with the American Cancer Society, CARE, Habitat for Humanity International and the International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect.Werner is a Fellow of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation in Battle Creek, Michigan, and of the Salzburg Seminar in Salzburg, Austria. He is a past chairman of the National Peace Corps Association, the Peace Corps alumni organization. He has also served in leadership positions at the club, district and international levels of Rotary, and with other community associations and NGOs.He and his wife served together as Peace Corps volunteers in South Korea, and Steve served as a Peace Corps Response volunteer two years ago in the country of Georgia. They have three grown children and five grandchildren. They also served as foster parents for over 14 years.Members and guests, please welcome Steve Werner!
Additional Resources
Share your thoughts or ask our speaker a question in the comments at the bottom of this meeting page!
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 https://zoom.us/j/5104080000. 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.
