In the Shoes of a Rotary Peace Fellow
This Meeting’s Highlights
Program: In The Shoes of a Rotary Peace FellowSpeaker: Lauren Coffaro, Rotary Peace FellowMeeting for the week of October 31, 2016 to November 7, 2016
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!
Message from President Mitty
Happy Halloween!
Members and returning guests, it's great to see you again!New visitors and visiting Rotarians, welcome to the Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley! My name is Mitty, and I am president of this Rotary club. Every week we bring to you a new meeting and a new program on education, innovation, technology, or humanitarian service. We are a group of global and local leaders who love helping make our communities a better place.This week we are celebrating World Interact Week and Halloween!I am thrilled that we once again have a packed meeting and a packed calendar! In addition to the upcoming calendar, we also have some mid-sized events coming up in the spring quarter that I'm very excited about! The first one will be a Skydive to End Polio fundraiser that we are helping organize with the clubs in our Rotary Area! As club president, I will be jumping out of a plane and raising money for the PolioPlus fund. I will be hoping that each of you will be willing to toss in a few bucks to see the video of me screaming as I'm skydiving out of the plane. (Did I ever mention to you that I have a fear of heights?)All in the name of a great cause.Stay tuned for more information about that!In the meanwhile, we are celebrating World Interact Week this week as well as Halloween! There's more information about World Interact Week in our youth service section, so let's talk about Halloween! I would love to see photos of everyone's costumes. If would post in the comments section a photo of your costume, I will be featuring my favorite costumes during next week's meeting! I'll also be posting my own costume in the comments section, but before that happens I would like to share with you all our dear Stephen Zhou's costume this past weekend. As many of you know, Stephen is one of my favorite people in the world, and he also happens to be president-elect of our club. Behold, President-elect Stephen:I saw Stephen this past Sunday when during some impromptu work hours that one of our newer members, Ken Oku, helped organize at a local coffee shop in Hayward. Stephen was fortunate enough to share with us this photo. Looking forward to next Rotary year already, President-elect Stephen!Speaking of the work/study/chitchat/brainstorm meetup, I am planning on holding more of these periodically as regular club meetup times. Some of these might be organized by myself, some might be organized by fellow members. The concept of these coffee hours is for our members to have a time to come together and see each other, work on your own projects while in the company of like-minded people, or get some extra minds to help you brainstorm an idea. Ken and I were joined this past Sunday by Yvonne Kwan, Andrew Taw, and Stephen Zhou. The photo to your right was taken by member Ken Oku who organized the coffee hours this past Sunday. Good work, Ken!I would love to see more members regularly! Whether or not we bring you in digitally by webcam, or if you're free to meet up in the bay area. Let's catch up!And for our guests and visiting Rotarians, I encourage you to share with us your Halloween costume in the comments as well! Thank you for visiting us, and please, enjoy the rest of the meeting!
Yours in service,
Mitty Chang,
President
Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley
president@siliconvalleyrotary.com
Weekly Inspiration: Positive Ticketing
Every week we bring you videos of innovation, inspiration, and entrepreneurship. This week we are featuring a video from youtube channel Great Big Story which features a story about how Canadian police are issuing positive tickets to youth for doing good actions.
We always knew our Canadians neighbors were super nice! Awesome positive reinforcement!
Laughing Out Loud (L.O.L.) with our Lady of LOLs
We believe that laughing a little every day keeps you healthier. Every week we try to share with you something that will make you smile! This section is curated by Rotarian Yvonne Kwan, our club’s “Lady of LOLs.”
What is a vampire's favorite fruit?
A necktarine!
Why do ghosts like to ride elevators?
It raises their spirits!
Why was the skeleton at the party upset?
He had no body to dance with!
Happy Halloween, everybody!
New Member (re)Introduction: Monique le Conge Ziesenhenne
Our members belong to a vast global network of over 1.2 million Rotary members, but they also join our own smaller Rotary family when they are accepted as a member of our club. This segment is dedicated to introducing the newest additions to our Rotary family.
Members and guests, Monique has been one of our new members for the better part of a month now. Due to some technical difficulties, we weren't able to get her self introduction video in until now. (A logistical hiccup by me, your dear president!) I am very excited though to be able to re-introduce Monique into the lime light, and to feature her self introduction video this week!
From Monique:
Monique, great to hear more about you!
Member Spotlight: Richard Knaggs
Our members are the lifeblood of our club, and we are thrilled to have so many community and global leaders in our Rotary family! This weekly segment is dedicated to a different member every week with an update about their life.
This week we are featuring global member Richard Knaggs who is based in South Africa!
World of Rotary: A Look Back at Last Week's World Polio Day
Working with the youth and the next generation is something our club loves, but is also a key foundation of Rotary. One of Rotary's biggest projects has been the eradication of polio. This segment features an article about last week's World Polio Day and Rotary's involvement. For those of you who joined us last week, this is a continuation of our End Polio Now coverage.
Rotary's World Polio Day Event Looks Ahead to Ending the Disease for Good
By Ryan Hyland from Rotary News
While the fight to eradicate polio suffered a blow this year when the virus re-emerged in Nigeria, Rotary leaders and top health experts focused Monday on the big picture: the global presence of the paralyzing disease has never been smaller.
The headquarters of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, served as the site of Rotary’s fourth annual World Polio Day event. Some of the biggest names in the polio eradication campaign were there to reflect on the year’s progress and discuss what’s needed to end the disease for good.
More than 200 people attended the special live program, and thousands more worldwide watched online. Jeffrey Kluger, Time magazine’s editor at large, moderated the event.
In a question-and-answer session with Kluger, CDC Director Tom Frieden talked about the latest developments in the effort to eradicate polio.
“We have the fewest number of cases in the fewest number of places in the world right now,” said Frieden. “We continue to make ground against polio, but we’re still recording cases in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Nigeria.”
The total number of cases worldwide so far this year is 27, compared with 51 for the same period last year.
Unfortunately, Nigeria slipped back onto the list of countries where polio is endemic this year, after cases appeared in the northern state of Borno, which was under the control of Boko Haram militants until recently. The World Health Organization estimates that the virus has been circulating in the region for five years. The country was on the verge of celebrating two years without any polio infections.
But this hasn’t stopped Rotary and its partners, who are working with the Nigerian government, Chad, Cameroun, and parts of the Central African Republic, from executing a sweeping emergency response. Shortly after the outbreak, a robust immunization campaign targeted about 1 million children with both oral and inactivated polio vaccines.
“Because the new cases were only detected due to ongoing surveillance efforts,” said Frieden. “We shouldn’t be surprised to see more cases, because better surveillance means better detection of all polio cases.”
Polio eradication efforts continue to make progress in Afghanistan and Pakistan. In Afghanistan, cases dropped from 13 in 2015 to eight so far this year. In Pakistan, they decreased from 38 to 15.
Frieden cited innovative tactics for reaching children in Pakistan who were often missed in the past. These include placing permanent vaccination sites at entry points to the country, provinces, and large cities. Rotary has funded the purchase of cell phones for vaccination teams, so they can send data to health centers immediately.
“The virus is cornered, we just have to make sure never to let it out again,” Frieden added.
CELEBRITIES JOIN ROTARY’S GATHERING
Dennis Ogbe, a polio survivor and Paralympian athlete, told his personal story of survival. Ogbe contracted polio at age three at a clinic near his home in rural Nigeria while being treated for malaria.
Ogbe competed in the Paralympics in Sydney in 2000 and London in 2012. But he says the toughest challenge he’s faced is helping to rid the world of polio.
Shira Lazar, host of the show “What’s Trending,” gave a social media update during the live streamed event in which she announced that more than 3,000 World Polio Day events were happening around the world. In Pakistan, a huge End Polio Now message was illuminated at the Kot Diji Fort in the Khairpur district.
Video addresses came from Maryn McKenna, author and journalist, and new polio ambassador Jenna Bush Hager, chair of UNICEF’s Next Generation, a journalist, and an author. Hager’s father-in-law is a polio survivor.
Rotary, with support from the U.S. Fund for UNICEF, also debuted a virtual reality presentation that transported attendees to the streets of India and Kenya, where they interacted with polio survivors and heard their stories.
“This is very good technology to put people in places where polio has affected so many,” says Reza Hossaini, director of polio eradication for UNICEF. “It’s important we see the places and people we are helping with our polio eradication programs.”
Earlier in the day, Frieden and Rotary International President John F. Germ announced major contributions to polio eradication. The Canadian government committed $10 million, and Michael Bloomberg, businessman, philanthropist, and former mayor of New York City, donated $25 million.
Rotary has contributed more than $1.6 billion to polio eradication since taking on the virus in 1979.
“We started this more than 30 years ago,” said Germ. “We’ve stuck with it all this time. And soon, we’re going to finish it.”
Rotarians and guests, we are THIS CLOSE to seeing a polio-free world! You can get involved with history with even only a $1 contribution!
Just click here to donate to the PolioPlus Fund on Rotary.org
Youth Service: World Interact Week
This segment is curated by our club's Youth Service Chair, Yvonne Kwan, and is dedicated to providing updates about Interact! Interact is one of Rotary's youth programs and is a community service club for ages 12 through 18.
This week is World Interact Week! World Interact Week is a celebration of Interact Clubs and Rotary's mission to help support and mentor young leaders.
In celebration of World Interact Week, we asked our area's Interact leaders to record us a short video message.
Here is a quick video message from Annie Dang, our Interact Area Director!
We're so happy to have young leaders that are so excited about Interact!
We'll be reaching out to them to ask them for an update, as well as to the Interact Club of KIPP San Jose Collegiate Prep, which is the club we officially sponsor!
Service Blotter: October Edition
Our main mission is to better our communities through service, and that's exactly what our members do! This segment is dedicated to showcasing the different service events our members have been participating in over the past month.
Here is the blotter for October, based off of the information our members submitted:
Rushton Hurley walked to raise money for cancer research and volunteered at the Oakland Ed Fund Gala for over 3 hours!
Hardeep Singh started volunteering for the Women on the Move Network
Yvonne Kwan volunteered at the Oakland Ed Fund Gala for over 3 hours, and at the Rotary Club of Warm Spring Sunrise's Evening of Sparkles charity gala for 7 hours!
Heather Shaw made preparations for her school goods drive, and hosted at her business a very successful school supplies drive event!!
Martin Fox did some non-profit board counseling!
John Lozano led a board member retreat the San Francisco Chapter of Children international summer village and helped organize and referee a youth wrestling tournament!
Raquel D'Garay-Juncal contacted sponsors and visiting schools to make a delivery of books and supplies in a rural community!
Andrew Taw checked in with his mentee who's just started college and he (the mentee) is doing great!
Mitty Chang volunteered at the Interact Fall Leadership Conference for 12 hours, and Rotary Club of Warm Springs Sunrise's Evening of Sparkles charity gala for 7 hours!
Members, didn't see your service listed? Then fill out the service survey!
Members, want to get your service update into the service blotter? Please share what you’ve been up to, as it allows us to get to know each other better in the process! Just click on the link below to let us know!
For Members Only: Click here to fill out The Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley Service Survey
For Members: Updates
This segment of the meeting is dedicated to our club members. Includes announcements.
Weekly Update:Events, events, events! Members, you'll notice that we've filled up our upcoming calendar with a variety of different club events in the Silicon Valley! The leadership team is working on creating some extended events next that will be online and abroad. Our goal is try to help connect our members who don't live in the San Francisco bay area! Members, if you have specific requests, please email those to president@siliconvalleyrotary.comFor starters, please feel free to share in the comments what your Halloween costume was!Additionally, we need more Member Spotlight videos! Please email those to president@siliconvalleyrotary.com or get in touch with President-elect Stephen Zhou, who will be coordinating the scheduling for these spotlight videos!
Happy Dollars
Each week we ask our members to share news with the club and toss in a few dollars to support our efforts. The primary goal for this section is to provide a fun way of getting to know each other, while giving back to a good cause.
Last week's happy dollars went towards supporting our club activities!
From member Rory Olsen ($15):
"Polio plus please"
From member Monique Ziesenhenne ($25):
"PolioPlus!"
From Kenneth Oku ($10):
"The positive karma worked I did better than I expected on my midterms. Let's keep the momentum rolling"
Thank you all for your donations last week!
Wondering about what is Happy Dollars?
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!)This week's happy dollars go towards supporting our club activities.
So what are you happy about? Share with us below!
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!
Upcoming Events:
All times are Pacific Time! (San Francisco time)Dining with Ferheen (Santa Clara), Thu. Nov 17, 2016, from 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM
One of our global club members, Ferheen, will be visiting the Silicon Valley, so we're hosting a dinner event in her honor! Rotarians and friends, come join us for this social with one of our Japan-based members! Tentative location will be somewhere in the Santa Clara area. Exact location is still to be announced.
Event chair: Yvonne Kwan
Bowling with Rotary (Fremont), Sun. Nov. 20, 2016, from 9:30 AM to 1 PM
Whether you are a three-time bowling league champion or a beginner with bumpers on, join us for this family-friendly Rotary bowling Sunday! We will be bowling at Cloverleaf Bowling in Fremont, California from 9:30 AM ot 1 PM. Family members, friends, and guests are welcomed! Look for the Rotary shirts.
Event Chair: Ken Oku
Los Altos JW House Service Project (Santa Clara), Tue. Nov. 29, 2016, from 4:30 PM to 7:30 PM
Join our members and members of the Rotary Club of Los Altos for a food-service related service project at the JW House in Santa Clara!
Event Chair: Ken Oku
Rotary White Elephant Potluck (Fremont), Sat. Dec. 10,2016, from 10 AM to 2 PM
Members, join us for a white elephant potluck party! We will be eating lunch at a private residence, while we do a present exchange in the form of white elephant! If you have never done white elephant before, just bring a present of your choosing that is completely wrapped in unidentifiable wrapping paper. We will randomly pick up presents, and share what we got!
For our members who are abroad and cannot make it in-person for this event, we would encourage you to be online during this time! We'll have our webcam on and would love to do some story exchanges with you online!
This event is open to all club members and their family members or guests. Please RSVP accordingly. Event Chair: Mitty Chang
Rotary Wilderness Expedition to Big Basin (Boulder Creek), Sun. Jan. 29, 2016 from 11 AM to 3 PM
Join fellow Rotarians and friends for an adventure expedition into the gorgeous redwood giants of Big Basin Redwoods State Park. We will be meeting at 11 AM (exact location to be announced) and will aim to return to our cars by 3 PM. Please pack your own lunch and water.
Event chair: Andrew Taw
Rotary Area 8 Talent Show (Cupertino), Sat. Feb. 4, 2016
Join Rotarians from through Cupertino and Sunnyvale for an area-wide social featuring talent from every club! Details to be announced.
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 about National Girls Collaborative:
From member Monique Ziesenhenne (California, USA):“Thanks for such a great program this week! I'm always interested in Rotary's work to end polio. Even though we may not see new cases here, those who are old enough either experienced it in their lives or continue to have medical issues because they had polio as a child. Two family members who are still living were affected by it: one woman's husband came home on a Friday, felt ill, was diagnosed with polio, and passed away by the next Monday - they had been married less than 2 years at the time; another woman, who had polio, continues to have pain and problems with her foot to this day. I always think that this is one of the best things Rotary has ever done! I also enjoyed participating in the program with Erin - a great way to communicate about STEM resources in our communities!“
From member Rushton Hurley (California, USA):“Erin, I love the work you guys are doing to strengthen so many amazing programs, and I've already added FabFems to my newsletter resources to share in my November issue. I did a search on the site for San Jose (my new hometown), and found info on women mentors in the fields of telecommunications, computer science, and aviation. Keep up the great work!“
From member Mark Dohn (Michigan, USA):“Thank you Erin! I worked in public schools for many years and I can't wait to share with them about NGC! Mitty thanks for pulling together the material and reminding us about the commitment to ending polio, and that there are multiple ways to support the effort.“
From member Nicole Pham (California, USA):“As a woman in STEM, I applaud you Erin and I am thankful for all of the people in my life who encouraged me to follow my passions in science. If not for my mentors, I would not be the person I am. (:“
From member Linda Diekman (Illinois, USA):“Erin, thank you for sharing your story. In turn, I'm going to be sharing it with my colleagues as we work at the elementary school level to encourage our students to embrace a growth mindset through STEM activities.“
From guest Felmer Lenida (California, USA):“Amazing presentation, Erin! I always a big advocate on gender equality in the STEM field. Your approach to training is superb. Keep up the great work!“
Thank you everyone for attending last week’s meeting!
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!
The Program
Every week we bring to you a program on innovation, education, entrepreneurship, and humanitarian service. This week our program's guest speaker is Lauren Coffaro, a Rotary Peace Fellow.
What are Rotary Peace Fellows?
Each year, Rotary selects up to 100 individuals from around the world to receive fully funded academic fellowships at one of our peace centers. These fellowships cover tuition and fees, room and board, round-trip transportation, and all internship and field-study expenses.In just over a decade, the Rotary Peace Centers have trained more than 900 fellows for careers in peace building. Many of them go on to serve as leaders in national governments, NGOs, the military, law enforcement, and international organizations like the United Nations and World Bank.Check out the Rotary Peace Map to see where our alumni are creating positive change.
Lauren Coffaro is currently in her second year as a Rotary Peace Fellow, studying at the University of Bradford in the United Kingdom.
Prior to starting her journey as a Rotary Peace Fellow, Lauren was working as a Manager at CCI Greenhart, a non-profit international education exchange organization dedicated to the promotion of cultural understanding, academic development, environmental consciousness and world peace. Lauren is also a Rotaract alumnus, having been part of the Rotaract Club of Northwestern University and involved with Rotaract in Chicago. Lauren has also attended Rotary International Conventions, and also was part of Rotary International's Young Professionals Summit and focus group.Lauren joins us this week in speaking to us about her journey as a Rotary Peace Fellow. Follow part one of her introduction below as a teaser to her program recording for us.
Members and guests, please join us in welcoming Rotary Peace Fellow Lauren Coffaro!
Related links:
Reach out to Lauren
If you have any questions for Lauren, please feel free to leave a comment or question at the bottom of this meeting page.
Meeting 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 30 minutes long, and are subject to change without notice. (Sometimes speakers cancel on us!)
Upcoming Records:
No recordings at this time.
Upcoming Meetings:
Week of November 7 - Inner City Advisors Fund Good Jobs
Week of November 14 - TBA
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 though. 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!
