A Bedtime Story - Making Your Dreams Real
In briefAI summary — tap to read
Brenda Cressey, a past Rotary Foundation chair and trustee, shares an inspirational bedtime story about making dreams real through the Rotary Foundation's work. She presents a collection of dreams for a better world—from universal literacy and clean water to ending discrimination and fostering global compassion—and explains how Rotarians can turn these dreams into reality through sustainable grants and personal action.
Key takeaways
- The Rotary Foundation funds sustainable projects addressing global needs like water security, maternal health, food security, and microfinance initiatives rather than temporary Band-Aid solutions.
- Rotarians initiate foundation grants by first understanding their club's passion and mission, conducting homework on community needs, and then pursuing local or global grants with proper documentation.
- Grant processing typically takes 30-45 days when properly prepared, and the Foundation encourages innovative, partnership-based projects like Programs of Scale that leverage external funding to multiply impact.
- Polio eradication remains a critical focus with only two endemic countries remaining, and the infrastructure created for polio vaccination has proved invaluable during the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Rotarians are encouraged to make early, strategic gifts to the Foundation annually and serve as role models by taking leadership gifts seriously to sustain the organization's grant funding.
About Brenda CresseyBrenda Cressey is a past chair and trustee of the Rotary Foundation, the charitable arm of Rotary International.
AI-generated from the meeting recording — AI can make mistakes, so check the recording for anything important.
Meeting for the week of November 22, 2021 - November 28, 2021
This Meeting at a Glance:
Program: A Bedtime Story - Making Your Dreams Real
Speaker: Brenda Cressey
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Welcome to the Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley!
Here’s a message from our Club President.
Hi everyone,
Welcome members and guests to the first November meeting of the Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley.
November is Rotary Foundation Month on the Rotary calendar. The Rotary Foundation was started in 1917 by then Rotary International President Arch Klumph “for the purpose of doing good in the world”. Since its inception, the Foundation has gone on to spend more than $4 billion on life-changing, sustainable projects around the world, transforming millions of lives.
The Rotary Foundation is only able to achieve this impact through the generosity of Rotarians, such as yourselves, that support the Foundation with donations and charitable contributions. As our club members have contributed to the Foundation in past years, so then our club has been able to benefit by receiving funds back from the Foundation in the form of District Grants. We have put the money from these grants towards many of our club’s projects in past years, including Laptops for Good, to help the communities that we serve. Our club has also received a Global Grant for our Soda Education Project in Ethiopia which again is only possible through the generosity of Rotarians supporting the Foundation.
The club’s Foundation and Programs Committees have worked hard to arrange some great presenters for this month, so you will have the opportunity to learn more about The Rotary Foundation and its projects and impact as you hear from them. If they leave you inspired, then I encourage you to donate to The Rotary Foundation, which you can do via the link below, which will enable the Foundation and Rotarians to continue to do good in the world as they Serve to Change Lives.
https://my.rotary.org/en/donate
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 !
Get Well Cards
Always keep several get-well cards on the mantel...
If unexpected guests arrive, they'll think you've been sick and unable to clean!
Weekly inspiration
Every week we start our meetings with a short video highlighting innovation, inspiration, entrepreneurship, or social change.
Thousands of people walk part (or all!) of the Camino de Santiago in Spain each year. The most common route actually starts over the Pyrenees in France, and there are a wide variety of reasons people go - exercise, adventure, and spiritual pilgrimage all among them. For Rotarians, being part of a service club is in some ways similar - a journey with others toward the best in ourselves. Enjoy the voices and views in this video, and feel free to explore the exhibit via the link in the YouTube description to Google Arts & Culture.
World of Rotary
Every week we will focus on a particular story that tells of our organization and the work of Rotarians in the world.
At the beginning of November, we had a program from Sara Backhouse-Wood of UK-based Medical Detection Dogs. They've sent us news! From Sara:
First, our COVID-19 dogs are out working in the field. What this means is we are currently working the dogs in a number of areas where large volumes of people need to be checked rapidly. This is the last part of our project and gives us the opportunity to gather all the data we need. I have attached two photos of our dogs Reggie and Storm putting their COVID detecting noses to work.
Second, puppies! We have three girls and three boys and they are all doing really well. Mum is a superstar, it always fascinates me how that mother instinct just kicks in with animals.
The puppies aren't doing much at the moment as their life currently involves eating, sleeping, and wiggling around.
In two-ish weeks their eyes and ears will start to open and then the next step will be their first steps, and that's when the hard work really starts for our volunteer who is caring for them all.
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.
Here is another cool photo submitted by Shags. Italian primary school teacher Marcella Pace has always had a passion for astronomy. Here, photos of the Moon are highlighted in 48 colors that she captured over 10 years.
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.
What the Heck is mRNA and How Does it Work as a Vaccine for COVID-19?
Here's an animated illustration of the process. I personally gave up chemistry when I had to think of a mole as something other than a critter or beauty mark!!
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: A Bedtime Story - Making Your Dreams Real
Speaker: Brenda Cressey
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!
Today we welcome Brenda Cressey. She is a Past Rotary Foundation Chair and Trustee and has enjoyed serving Rotary and its Foundation since joining almost 31 years ago. Many people, including her family, wonder why she is so committed to this great organization. The answer is simple: she’s a dreamer and a doer. Brenda has personally witnessed a number of incredible dreams that have come true, all because of The Rotary Foundation.
Please enjoy her short presentation today as she asks you to think about your own Rotary Dreams and how you can make them a reality.
As a Rotarian and/or humanitarian, have you ever laid your head down on the pillow at night and wondered about the things you have done or could do to make our world a better place? Please listen to Past Rotary Foundation Trustee Chair Brenda Cressey read a short and moving bedtime story by Melannie Svoboda about dreams for a better world and then think or share your dreams for a better world with all of us.
Members and guests, please welcome Brenda Cressey!
To learn more about the Rotary Foundation and to donate, go to:
https://www.rotary.org
https://www.rotary.org/donate
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.
