The Glass Giving Project
This is the meeting for the week of October 2, 2017 through October 8, 2017
This Meeting at a Glance:Program: The Glass Giving ProjectProgram Description: Learn the story of how Glass Giving started, what they do, how the jewelry is made, and why they do this. The presentation will also touch on the previous work done for Rebecca's marathon fundraising, which all went to Action on Hearing Loss, and then how they moved over and started supporting the Rotary Foundation.Speaker: Rebecca Barley and Caroline Dobson, Founders of the Glass Giving Project and members of the Rotary E-Club of East Anglia
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 Stephen:
Greetings Rotarians and guests,Welcome to this week's meeting! For those of you who are new to our club, we seek to inspire you every week with stories about education, innovation, or entrepreneurship.I hope to see some of our members this week at the district's Avenues of Service project faire this Thursday in Santa Clara. Immediate Past President Mitty will be our club's group leader, so look for him if you are attending.I'm also excited to let you know that our board recently approved a few items that each member will be receiving in the near future. Look out for a message from the Membership Committee about this!In service,
Stephen Zhou,
President
Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley
president@siliconvalleyrotary.com
Weekly Inspiration: Helping Misfits Catch Their First Wave
Every week we start our meetings with a short video highlighting innovation, inspiration, entrepreneurship, or social change. This week we are featuring a video from Great Big Story about helping misfits catch their first wave.
After spending years teaching billionaires and celebrities to surf, Lambert Lo decided to trade in his high profile job to follow his heart. Now, as the founder of Mix Academy, Lo helps those who most need smiles catch their first wave. His students include a refugee from North Korea, a visually impaired 9-year-old, and a veteran recovering from alcoholism. His non-profit focuses on building a community by promoting surfing for all. For Lambert Lo, it doesn’t matter who you are or where you’re from, when you’re in the water, everyone is the same.
Coffee with a Rotarian
Every month our club members are paired with fellow members and special guests for an exclusive one-on-one coffee session called Coffee with a Rotarian. The idea is simple: spend 1 hour of your time during the month to get to better know a fellow Rotarian! Some of the greatest friendships were spawned that way. Members report on their coffee sessions here.
This week we feature a coffee session between two of our members, Tzviatko Chiderov and Brett Sham.
Here is what Tzviatko had to say about Brett:
Thank you, Tzviatko, for sharing!
A big shout out to Tzviatko Chiderov for continuing to chair and organize these Coffee with a Rotarian sessions! If you are not yet signed up for a Coffee Session, please email Tzviatko at tchiderov@gmail.com to sign up!
World of Rotary
The over 1.2 million members of Rotary Clubs around the world form the largest humanitarian service organization, Rotary International. We're part of this global family. This segment is a tribute to stories and to good deeds Rotary clubs around the world are conducting.
This week we take a look at an incredible service project from the Rotary Clubs of Conejo Valley in California. These Rotary clubs banded together to start a community playground project in Thousand Oaks, California for children with special needs and their families.
Learn more about the park at www.rotarydreamcatcher.org
For Members Only: Updates
This segment of the meeting is dedicated to our club members. This section includes announcements and new initiatives. Guests, you are welcome to read this section or just skip it.
Members - Please Update Your Info
The Membership Committee is working on ordering new magnetic name badges for each member. These name badges will have your name on it and your profession. Perfect for wearing when you attend any Rotary events or meetings. In order to do this, we need your most updated information. Members,
please click here to submit your info.
Past Member Announcements:
Active members now have yourname@siliconvalleyrotary.com email forwarders! Your forwarder should be your full first name plus the first initial of your last name. Emails going to your @siliconvalleyrotary.com email will be forwarded automatically to the email you have on file with our club. If you want your email forwarder changed to a different variation of your name, please email Webmaster Mitty at mittyc@siliconvalleyrotary.com.
Service Blotter Submissions: Click here to fill out The Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley Service Survey
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 for automatic calendar updates and to RSVP for our events! These are open to all guests as well!
https://www.meetup.com/siliconvalleyrotary/
Upcoming Events:
All times are Pacific Time! (San Francisco time)
Thursday, October 5, 2017 from 5 PM to 9 PM - Avenues of Service - Service Project Faire - Santa Clara, CA
Join Rotarians from across the San Francisco Bay Area for the district's annual project faire event, Avenues of Service. The event will be held on Thursday, October 5, 2017 from 5 PM to 9 PM at Santa Clara Biltmore Hotel, 2151 Laurelwood Road, Santa Clara. Registration is $49/person. (Members, this event qualifies to be covered underneath your annual $150 Leadership Development Grant! If you want to go, our club will reimburse you!) You can register at: https://events.rotarydistrict5170.org
Saturday, October 14, 2017 starting at 10:30 AM - Astrophotography & Lunch
Join us for an adventure starting at the Marin Art Gallery at 10:30 AM on Saturday, October 14 for a special VIP tour of the astrophotography exhibit with master photographer and club member, Keith Marsh! After touring the gallery, we will be having lunch shortly afterward.
Saturday, October 21, 2017 from 12 PM to 4 PM PST - Oakland Treasure Hunt
Join us for a treasure hunt fundraiser to support Game Theory Academy, a local nonprofit that pays high school students a stipend to take financial literacy and career development classes! The first person to e-mail pe@siliconvalleyrotary.org will get two free tickets!
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!)
Last week's happy dollars went towards powering our club's projects and service grants.
Thank you to member Rory Olsen for his generous $15 donation to PolioPlus! Rory had this to say:"I have had an interesting week dealing with contractors and adjustors. Still alive and doing well as can be expected under the circumstances. Please apply my gift to Polio Plus!"
Thank you to member Monique Ziesenhenne for her generous $10 donation! Monique had this to say:"I'm happy that Brian was happy about Cal last week! Look at us now! 3-0! Woo Hoo."
Thank you to member Brian Liddicoat for his generous $15 donation! Brian had this to say:"Boy Scout "Mountain Man Rendezvous" camp with my son this weekend. It's like a PG rated version of the Revenant: yes on hiking and woodworking, no on having to cut open animals to sleep inside to keep from freezing to death."
Thank you all for your donations last week!
This week's happy dollars donations will be going to help fund our club projects and service grants!
Happy dollars is also a great opportunity to share with the group about something good that has happened to you, while giving back to a great cause.
So what are you happy about? Share with us below, and help support one of our future leaders!
Selected Six
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 six comments every week from last week’s meeting to be featured during this week’s meeting.
Here are six comments selected from last week's meeting featuring the program on Working with Students in Oakland:
Guest Richard Knaggs (South Africa) had this to say:"It was wonderful to hear your passion Geral. We have introduced the following extension opportunities into our school day, Mobile Application Development, Robotics, Film, Animation, Hospitality, Sound Engineering etc. and it works very well in engaging our kids so that they can create things to solve/address real world challenges. Our students are doing amazing things. All the best with your truly incredible ideas and approach."
Member Ferheen Abbasi (Osaka, Japan) had this to say:"Geral, you are the standard for what teachers should be like all around the world. Thank you for your passion and energy and drive to change the lives of students. I know it much be hard to be a role model 24/7 but those kids need you. Well, they need all of us to help guide and support them so your presentation helped reaffirm my decision to teach part-time here in Japan! Good luck with your Master's! I will be finishing mine next March so I know what you're going through right now!! Sending you all my good karma!"
Member Mark Dohn (USA) had this to say:"Thank you, Geral. You’ve presented a very compelling perspective on our education system and how to reach our at-risk youth. Having worked with teachers and students in incarcerated and adjudicated programs. I agree that creating the environment where students in survival mode feel comfortable and know that taking a risk is ok. I’d love to hear more about your program."
Member Brian Liddicoat (California, USA) had this to say:"If you want to "work for social justice": do what this guy's doing. Geral, you're doing a lot more good in the world than I am, that's for sure. Need to get off my butt and start doing more. And sending you good wishes for that Masters degree!"
Guest Sean Straker (Australia) had this to say:"Some really good points in Geral Lowe's presentation. With school students tending to be more focused with online learning and communication, he seems to go the opposite and focuses greatly on face-to-face communication - ie: parents attending the school instead of calling, visiting their home, acting as a role model even outside of school hours and courting. All to better understand each individual student and tailor the requirements to meet their specific needs. Also agreed with viewing students as citizens and valuable members of their community who later give back with their success and life experiences."
Member Rushton Hurley (California, USA) had this to say:"What would I fill a vending machine with? Messages of encouragement might be good! As for that Rotary video, I think that last face belongs to Benjamin Rasmus, one of our speakers from the third week of our club's existence! Find it here: https://www.siliconvalleyro... Geral, thanks for your message, and good luck with that final class for your master's degree! Your memory of Ms. Gaines (I hope I'm spelling her name correctly) is a compelling example of the power of a dedicated to teacher to change lives. The story of visiting the young man from the drug-infested home was heartbreaking in its circumstances, but inspiring in his turnaround and success. Keep telling those stories!"
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: The Glass Giving Project
Every week we bring to you a new program on innovation, education, technology, and humanitarian service. This week our guest speakers are Rebecca Barley and Caroline Dobson on their Glass Giving Project!
Rebecca and Caroline are members of the Rotary eClub of East
Anglia, and run a website and various social media pages (Facebook, Etsy, etc) in order to promote and sell handmade glass jewelry, the money from which goes to the Rotary Foundation. The idea started when Rebecca was fundraising for the London Marathon and has grown from there. Caroline makes the jewelry with her husband in Scotland.
Their presentation will take us through the story of how Glass Giving started, what they do, how the jewelry is made, and why they do this. The presentation will also touch on the previous work done for Rebecca's marathon fundraising, which all went to Action on Hearing Loss, and then how they moved over and started supporting the Rotary Foundation.
Members and guests, please join me in welcoming Rebecca and Caroline!
What did you think? Let's hear from you!
Share with us your thoughts in the comments at the bottom of this meeting page! If you have questions for Rebecca and Caroline, feel free to ask him in the comments too!
Upcoming Program Schedule
All of our guest speakers and programs are recorded live online. We welcome members and guests to join us in one of these upcoming recordings. Recordings are approximately 45 minutes long and are subject to change without notice.
Upcoming Recordings:
More coming soon
If you would like to join us for any of the live recordings, please email president@siliconvalleyrotary.com with your request. Requests will be checked up until 5 minutes prior to the recording time. Please note the timezone is all California, USA time.
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!
