An Epic: The Story of Magic Wheelchair
Meeting for the week of January 14-20, 2018
This Meeting at a Glance:
Program: An Epic: The Story of Magic Wheelchair
Speaker: Ryan Weimer
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; 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 to the Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley!
Here’s a message from President Andrew:
Greetings Rotarians and Guests,It's always fun when we can see something inspiring and bring more of that into our meetings! This week we have Magic Wheelchair's Ryan Weimer who, you might recall, was the subject of our weekly inspiration video back in July. We're incredibly excited to have him speak for our Club about this incredibly beautiful and fun project!
Sincerely,
Andrew Taw,
PresidentRotary eClub of Silicon Valley
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!”
It's been a wet and rainy January so far in Silicon Valley. Here are some jokes to help you wash some of the dreary weather away.
Why do you have to be careful when it's raining cats and dogs?You might step in a poodle!
What did one rain drop say to the other?Two's company, three's a cloud!
Can bees fly in the rain?Not without their yellow jackets!
Weekly Inspiration
Every week we start our meetings with a short video highlighting innovation, inspiration, entrepreneurship, or social change.
Magic Wheelchair, a nonprofit organization that builds epic costumes for kids and young adults with disabilities, made history by unveiling seven Star Wars-themed wheelchair costumes at San Diego Comic-Con.
World of
A concert for a causeAs a packed audience sang and danced to “Crimson and Clover,” “I Think We’re Alone Now,” and other hits from Tommy James and the Shondells, the Rotary Club of Ridgefield, Connecticut, USA was coming up clover, too.
Learn more at https://www.rotary.org/en/tommy-james-and-shondells-concert-raises-funds-fight-polio.
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 Nan from Penngrove, CA, USA reporting on a chat with Rushton from San Jose, CA, USA.
Rushton and I had a lovely time connecting this evening! This is my first ever CWR as a new Rotarian!
We immediately realized that we both have a passion for traveling, and he suggested that I email some pics from my recent trip to Ecuador and the Galapagos (see below; I attached 3 because I couldn't decide!). He told me of his trip to Cambodia which certainly whet my appetite! Rushton added two images from ruins in the area of Angkor Wat, Cambodia.
He also talked talked about the many delights of being a Rotarian, and encouraged me to take advantage of all that it offers including reviewing The 4-Way Test that is a guiding Rotary principle that contributes to leading a better life. We both spoke of our passion for connecting with people, and the importance of maintaining a quality of open-mindedness that allows us to see strengths instead of differences in each other, which is so key in this day and age!
Thank you! I am so excited to be part of this remarkable group!
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!
For Members Only
Past Announcements
Claim your @siliconvalleyrotary.com email forwarder! Email Webmaster Mitty at mittyc@siliconvalleyrotary.com to get set-up with your own @siliconvalleyrotary.com email address forwarder.
Join our 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!
Upcoming 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! What would you like to do? We’re working on putting together some exciting socials and impactful service projects for our upcoming quarter’s event calendar. 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.
Brian Liddicoat made a $15 donation.Back from two wonderful weeks in the Philippines visiting wife's extended family: beaches, great food and wonderful people. What's not to like?
Share your happy dollars thoughts with us and help with doing good around the world.
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.
Charlie Tuttle said:Greg, I thought the presentation was really good and informative. I don't know if others feel the same way, but for me, I feel like your presentation would have been even stronger if you omitted the terms "millennial" and "Gen-Z". I understand it's a quick way to refer to a certain age group, but the reason the the term "millennial" didn't resonate well with me is because I'm very used to hearing it used with derision. It's not that I'm offended (I don't think anybody would every really say they're offended), it's just have that my instinct is to tune out the person using those terms because usually they're used to blame us for something. I totally understand that you didn't mean it that way and I got used to it pretty quickly.
Sandy Stabile said:Very interesting presentation. It would be very difficult and expensive have to fill positions every 2-3 years.
Brett Sham said:Hi Greg, thanks for your presentation. Sounds like the challenges are similar to the challenges in the business sector, if not worse. Recruitment in the education sector is hot political topic at the moment here in Australia, and wanting to set minimum standards for potential teachers.
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: An Epic: The Story of Magic Wheelchair
Speaker: Ryan Weimer
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.
Ryan Weimer is a husband, a registered nurse and a dreamer, though first and foremost, he is a father.He and his wife have three children who were born with a form of muscular dystrophy called spinal muscular atrophy. These challenges of having children with differing needs have pushed them to always think out of the box and bridge the gaps that happen in a world built around "ability." Magic Wheelchair was created out of that drive, determination, and dream.What started as a costume for one of his sons has become a national nonprofit that has built truly epic costumes for over 150 kids since its start in 2015.Ryan describes it this way: "It is a labor of love, a dream, a passion, and an opportunity to learn and feel what life should really be about: loving each other."Members and guests, please welcome Ryan Weimer, a father who dreams!
Additional resources:
Learn more about Magic Wheelchairat their site: https://www.magicwheelchair.org/from the Great Big Story video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPGjUYCcsz0and on their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/magicwheelchair/
You might also be interestedin the Stan Winston School: https://www.stanwinstonschool.com/or our program on the accessible playground: https://www.siliconvalleyrotary.com/meeting-05-25-15/
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! 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. 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.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!
