Dare to Dream: A Story of Courage, Innovation and Commitment
Meeting for the week of October 18, 2021 - October 24, 2021
This Meeting at a Glance:
Program: Dare to Dream: A Story of Courage, Innovation and Commitment
Speaker: Wyn Spiller
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.
Hi everyone,
Welcome to this week’s meeting of the Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley.
To our guests, thank you for joining us this week; we are glad that you have taken an interest in our club and what we are up to and hope you enjoy what our club has to offer.
To our members, thank you for your passion and commitment to our club. Our club is only able to function through the hard work and countless hours that so many of you commit to keeping our club running and it is only through your efforts we are able to have an impact and do good in the world.
Earlier this week, my home state of New South Wales, Australia, lifted its strict lockdown and started to ease some of the restrictions for those people that have received both doses of the COVID-19 vaccination. As I write this, the state has hit the target of 80% of the eligible population being double vaccinated, meaning that many more restrictions will be further lifted.
The pandemic has shown how important vaccines are in preventing the spread and transmission of disease, and it is an important reminder that Rotary - and us as Rotarians - must remain committed to the polio vaccination efforts. With World Polio Day at the end of this week, it is a timely opportunity for you to show your support by making a donation to End Polio Now, and your contribution will be tripled by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation:
https://www.endpolio.org/donate
As always, our meeting this week is packed full of content and I hope that it keeps you entertained, engaged, and inspired 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 !
Jewish Jokes -- I'm Jewish, so I can tell them!!
Chaim Yankel was a good man but, OY, was he stingy. He would bargain and haggle on a price, never paying the price asked. He especially hated paying his medical bills.
One day, while eating fish, a bone became lodged in his throat and within minutes he could scarcely breathe. His wife frantically called Dr. Goldman, who arrived just as Chaim Yankel’s face was turning blue. Dr. Goldman quickly removed the bone with a pair of forceps.
After Chaim Yankel was breathing normally again, although overwhelmed with gratitude to the doctor for saving his life, he began to worry about the medical bills.
Trying his best to keep his costs down, Chaim Yankel turned to Dr. Goldman and asked, "How much do I owe you for this small two-minute job?"
Dr. Goldman, who knew his patient's miserly habit all too well, replied, "Just pay me half of what you would have when the bone was still stuck in your throat!"
Weekly Inspiration
Every week we start our meetings with a short video highlighting innovation, inspiration, entrepreneurship, or social change.
Jehiel Oliver is a guy who combined a sense of business possibility with a passion for helping others. Thanks to USAID for sharing this story, and hello, tractor!
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.
Charter member Shags Shagrin sent this image of the winner of the 2021 Drone Photograpy contest. I'm sure the photographer was praying that one of the geese didn't take out his expensive drone.
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.
Back to "Life Hacks"!
Eleven Simple and Fun Things to Do!
Relay for Life
Well, the Relay for Life '21 effort for our club is a wrap! From the eClub, 41 of us raised over $1300 to fund research for fighting cancer, educational programs, and support for caregivers and survivors. Here's our '21 team:
We also shared messages of support and remembrance:
And on Saturday the 3rd, several of us walked ("relayed"), enjoyed the tasty donations from restaurants supporting the effort, and helped with the setup and cleanup. The event as a whole raised over $44,000 - that's less than pre-pandemic years, but not bad, given the scaled-down nature this time around. And it's funding that helps a phenomenal cause.
Keep an eye out for word of Relay '22! We don't know yet whether it will be in the fall again or back in its regular time in the spring.
Most important, for those of you fighting cancer and supporting those who are, stay strong.
For those of you we've lost, we love and remember you.
Thanks, Rotary eClub of SIlicon Valley, for helping make a difference.
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.
Rory Olsen made a $20 donation.
It has been a good week for me. Please apply my gift to Polio Plus.
Program: Dare to Dream: A Story of Courage, Innovation and Commitment
Speaker: Wyn Spiller
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!
Our speaker this week is Wyn Spiller. Wyn is a past Governor of District 5190 (2008-09) and has served in a variety of club, district, and zone roles since joining the Rotary Club of Grass Valley in 1994. She is the immediate past District Rotary Foundation Committee Chair, a past Regional Rotary Foundation Coordinator, and is honored to be currently serving as the Zone 27 Endowment Major Gifts Adviser. Wyn served as a Lead Facilitator for the Regional Leader Global Institute in May, providing training for Regional Leaders around the world. She is also the 2022 Council on Legislation Trainer for Rotary International.
Wyn and her husband Steve share a deep commitment to our Rotary Foundation and its humanitarian work, including a special interest in the Rotary Peace Centers and Polio eradication. They are Major Donors as well as Paul Harris, Bequest Society, and Triple Crown members. Wyn is the proud recipient of The Rotary Foundation’s Citation for Meritorious Service.
Wyn will speak to us today on Ending Polio, now and forever.
How did we begin? When we will be there and how will we know? Why is it taking so long? What have we learned along the way? What about containment for possible future vaccine needs? What does the fall of Afghanistan mean to our efforts?
This is a journey that continues to matter to each one of us, our children, grandchildren, future generations. What will be our legacy when this story is finally written?
Members and guests, please welcome Wyn Spiller!
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.
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Thanks for reading and watching this week’s meeting. You have two last things to do before you’re done.
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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.
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