Take Action on Your Dreams
In briefAI summary — tap to read
George Lewis, a retired stockbroker and passionate Rotarian, shares his journey from installing cookstoves in Guatemala to creating sustainable water projects across 34 countries that have helped over 2 million people. He emphasizes the importance of overcoming negative thoughts and taking action on your dreams, and now funds these initiatives by painting pet and landscape portraits that he sells with proceeds supporting water projects.
Key takeaways
- Take action on your dreams by identifying and overcoming the 'negative thoughts' and deterrents that hold you back from pursuing meaningful goals.
- Sustainable development requires partnering with experienced NGOs and local partners who have deep community roots, not just external organizations imposing solutions.
- One person's passion and persistence can inspire entire organizations—George's initial water project in Guatemala eventually led to 135 club presidents expressing interest in similar initiatives.
- Creative fundraising and personal skills (like painting) can be leveraged to support charitable causes while building personal connection and recognition for donors.
- Personal experience of visiting projects and seeing their impact firsthand is transformative and strengthens commitment to service work.
About George LewisGeorge Lewis is a retired stockbroker and passionate Rotarian who has initiated water projects across 34 countries helping over 2 million people, and now funds these initiatives through selling pet portraits painted with oil and palette knife.
AI-generated from the meeting recording — AI can make mistakes, so check the recording for anything important.
Meeting for the week of October 25, 2021 - October 31, 2021
This Meeting at a Glance:
Program: Take Action on Your Dreams
Speaker: George Lewis
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!
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Read and watch the content below in its entirety.
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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.
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
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Is it the TRUTH?
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Is it FAIR to all concerned?
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Will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS?
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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 !
Halloween Costume?
I walked into a coffee shop on Halloween to find the woman behind the counter with a bunch of sponges pinned to her uniform.
"I'm assuming this is a costume, but just what are you supposed to be?" I asked.
The waitress responded proudly, "I'm self-absorbed."
Weekly inspiration
Every week we start our meetings with a short video highlighting innovation, inspiration, entrepreneurship, or social change.
Our stories matter. In this short video, a guest who has helped us connect with several speakers on the topics of mental illness and housing shares some good news. Thanks to all our members for helping spread the word on topics that can make a difference in our communities.
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.
I took this long exposure of boulders in the surf at Bowling Ball Beach in Northern California in Febuary 2009. The exposure in near dark conditions was 2 minutes at f/8 and 200 ISO. I cropped it to 1 by 2 for a more dramatic impact.
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.
Happy Halloween!!
This is something I found on YouTube. It's from the Garry Moore Comedy Hour in 1964 (when I was 8 years old). I loved the original song from the movie "The Flower Drum Song" (here's the link to that clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtQBrShqgls) BUT in honor of Halloween and the comedy rage of that day, "The Addams Family" and Morticia, I present to you Chita Rivera, Caterina Valente, and MY FAVE Carol Burnett!!
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.
powered by TypeformProgram: Take Action on Your Dreams
Speaker: George Lewis
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!
George Lewis is this week's speaker, and he will explore how starting to paint led him to see new possibilities for himself.
Better known as the Water Man, George was born in New York City and grew up in New Jersey. After graduating from Wagner College and serving in the Army, he played professional baseball for several years in the Boston Red Sox organization. George was a stockbroker until he retired in 2000. In 2002 he moved to Florence, Oregon, and joined Rotary, learning that his real passion is to help the less fortunate around the world.
The Rotary Global History Fellowship recently named him the first charter member of the HEROES which honors those Rotarians whose deeds and dedication to the ideals of Rotary are recorded for posterity. He is a Major Donor Level 2 and a member of the Paul Harris Society. The Trustees of the Rotary Foundation bestowed George with the prestigious "Citation for Meritorious Service" award. He currently is a member of the Rotary Club of Lakewood Ranch, Florida (District 6960).
He currently raises money for Rotary humanitarian causes by selling his paintings, with the net proceeds going to the cause of the buyer's choice. Ask for details.
Members and guests, please welcome George Lewis!
Learn more about George's art at: https://georgelewis.fineartstudioonline.com/
Learn about Water Team International at: https://waterteaminternational.org
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.
