Ghosts – Images of War
This Meeting’s Highlights
Program: Ghosts – Images of WarSpeaker: Carrie Zeidman, author of Ghosts – Images of WarMeeting for the week of November 28, 2016 to December 4, 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
The Months of Giving.
Members and returning guests, it's great to see you again -- welcome back!New visitors and visiting Rotarians, welcome to the Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley's meeting for the week of November 28th! My name is Mitty Chang, and I am president of this Rotary club!I want to start by giving a huge THANK YOU to everyone who donated to the happy dollars last week! Our club will be donating $200 towards meal supplies that will go towards feeding the hungry at our January Stop Hunger Now service project. With the amount we raised, we'll be able to buy over 600 meals of the 10,000 meals we will be packaging! Thank you to everyone who donated!This meeting is our transition from November to December. The end of 2016 is around the corner, and so are the holidays. The holidays are a time for being grateful and also a time to celebrate. For those of us who love helping others, this is also the time of the year that we're often asked to volunteer more of our time and to give more of our money. The call of service never stops, but I want to take this time to thank each of you who are giving back to your communities and to those who are less fortunate. The world is a better place because of people like you.This is also the time that as club president, I'm obligated to ask members and guests to consider making a charitable donation to The Rotary Foundation's Annual Fund. The Rotary Foundation is a 501(c)3, making your donation tax-deductible if you are a U.S. taxpayer. (May also be tax deductible in other countries too, as it's a global foundation.) While The Rotary Foundation has many funds (including PolioPlus), the annual fund is the fund that funds the vast majority of grants that The Rotary Foundation gives out. Money that you donate to The Rotary Foundation's annual fund also will come back to our club in future years as money we can use for our club projects.Donations to The Rotary Foundation's annual fund feeds the hungry, clothes the poor, houses the homeless, helps grow small communities, cures the sick, educates the uneducated, cares for children and mothers, and so much more.Our Rotary District is doing a big push for The Rotary Foundation right now, and has put together a drawing as an incentive and as a thank you for making a contribution to The Rotary Foundation's annual fund. For those of you (members or guests) who make a donation of $200 to The Rotary Foundation's annual fund, you will receive 1 ticket. Contributions of $500 receive 3 drawing tickets, and contributions of $1,000 will receive 7 drawing tickets. The drawing will occur on Wednesday December 7, 2016.Drawing prizes include golf for four at Cordevalle Country Club (in the Silicon Valley), Celebrity Forum Series tickets for two, pink tourmaline and diamond ring, gift pack of J. Lohr wines, padfolio and Rotary shirt + case of wines, basket of 15 rare award-winning wines, lobster dinner for 10, and much more!Members, I'll consider all of your The Rotary Foundation donations since the beginning of this Rotary year (July 1, 2016) cumulatively towards these drawing tickets.Members and returning guests will know that it's very rare to see me dedicate my entire president's message as an ask to donate. The Rotary Foundation powers so much good that Rotary does, and the funds donated to the annual fund do come back to our club in future years. If you enjoy this meeting or past meetings, I would strongly encourage you to consider donating any amount you are comfortable with towards The Rotary Foundation's annual fund by clicking here. That link will take you directly to a secure donation page on the Rotary.org website.If you are donating enough to qualify for a drawing ticket, please just email me at president@siliconvalleyrotary.com and I'll make sure to put an appropriate amount of tickets in your name into the drawing!Thank you for being here, and have a wonderful week! And members -- don't forget to check the Members Update section! We have Secret Santa signups going on right now via email!
Yours in service,
Mitty Chang,
President
Rotary eClub of Silicon Valleypresident@siliconvalleyrotary.com
Weekly Inspiration: Blind at the Bow - These Sailors Navigate with Sound
Every week we bring you videos of innovation, inspiration, and entrepreneurship. This week we are featuring a video from Great Big Story, featuring blind sailors who navigate with sound!
Sailing is a nuanced, complex process—now imagine doing it blind. That's exactly what Walt Raineri, Kris Scheppe and Scott Ford do as Blind Match Racing Team USA 1. Blind Sailing International organizes sailing races around the world for the blind. To navigate, sailors use audio sound buoys along the courses, as well as sound emitters on their boats to avoid crashes. For these competitors, a lack of eyesight is no hurdle. In Raineri’s words, “add a little bit of courage and you can do just about anything.”
Stunning!
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.”
November 28th is National French Toast Day! Here are some toasty jokes for your week.
What does bread do after it's done baking?
Loaf around.
What did the loaf of bread say to the police officer?
Rye so serious?
Why doesn't anyone want to work in a bakery?
It's a crumby place to work.
November Birthdays!
We love our members. Without them, this club wouldn’t exist. This section is a segment dedicated to appreciation them and their special days, curated by our Baroness of Birthdays Nicole Pham.
“Hello Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley! This is Nicole, your Baroness of Birthdays. I was thrilled when Mitty asked me to be your Baroness of B-days. My two favorite things are balloons and cake!! Every month, we’ll give shoutouts to our fellow Rotarians and I’ll give you all some fun facts that you might or might not have known before.“
For this month of November, we are celebrating Allen Thompson, Brian Liddicoat, Ferheen Abbasi, Keith Marsh, and Linda Tangren.
President Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address on Nov. 19, 1863, to commemorate the soldiers who had fallen in the battle fought on the Pennsylvania field. The speech lasted two minutes. The speaker who preceded Lincoln, Edward Everett, had spoken for two hours.
In the original Roman calendar, November was the ninth month of the year. It got its name from the Latin word "novem" which means nine. However, it became the eleventh month when the Romans added in January and February to the start of the year.
November is National Sleep Comfort Month and Peanut Butter Lovers Month!
“In November, the trees are standing all sticks and bones. Without their leaves, how lovely they are, spreading their arms like dancers. They know it is time to be still.” - Cynthia Rylant
Wishing you all a happy holidays! Happy November.
Happy belated birthday Allen, Brian, Ferheen, Keith, and Linda!
World of Rotary
Rotary is a 1.2 million member organization that exists in over 165 countries. This segment is dedicated to sharing a story or an update of what is going on in the global world of Rotary. This week we are featuring The Rotary Foundation and a huge thank you from Rotary to its donors!
Rotary Foundation Named World's Outstanding Foundation for 2016
By Rotary News
The Association of Fundraising Professionals has recognized The Rotary Foundation with its annual Award for Outstanding Foundation.
The award honors organizations that show philanthropic commitment and leadership through financial support, innovation, encouragement of others, and involvement in public affairs. Some of the boldest names in American giving — Kellogg, Komen, and MacArthur, among others —are past honorees.
“We are honored to receive this recognition from the AFP, which gives us even more reason to celebrate during our Foundation’s centennial year,” says Rotary Foundation Trustee Chair Kalyan Banerjee. “The continued strong support of Rotary members will help us keep our promise of a polio-free world for all children and enable the Foundation to carry out its mission of advancing world understanding, goodwill, and peace. We look forward to another 100 years of Rotary members taking action to make communities better around the world.”
The announcement came on 15 November, known to industry professionals since the 1980s as National Philanthropy Day. The award will be presented in early 2017 at the AFP’s annual conference in San Francisco.
Rotary Foundation Trustee Chair-elect Paul Netzel is set to accept the award on Rotary’s behalf, and Eric Schmelling, director of fund development at Rotary, will speak at the conference. The event is expected to draw more than 3,400 senior-level fundraising professionals from 33 countries.
“While almost everyone is familiar with Rotary, not everyone may realize just how much of an impact Rotary and The Rotary Foundation have had on countless people and communities across the globe,” says Jason Lee, AFP president and CEO. “On behalf of the entire charitable sector and people around the world, all of us at AFP are honored to be able to recognize The Rotary Foundation as our 2016 Outstanding Foundation.”
AFP’s committee of judges cited Rotary’s comprehensive campaign to eradicate polio as a major driver of the selection. They also mentioned that Rotary applies a methodical, purposeful approach to support a wide variety of causes, from providing clean water to educating the next generation of peace professionals.
That's amazing! It's also worthwhile to mention that Charity Navigator, an independent evaluator of charities in the United States, recently upgraded The Rotary Foundation's rating to the maximum score possible (100). The Rotary Foundation is now one of two charities in the United States that holds this perfect score.
It's really terrific to see The Rotary Foundation doing such great work!
Here are two stories of people who have had their lives changed because of grants from The Rotary Foundation:
Children at the Akha Training Centre in Mae Suai, Thailand
The photo above is of a child at the Akha Training Centre in Mae Suai, Thailand. The Akha Training Centre takes in children from 27 Akha villages. Some are orphans, and others are sent by their parents, who want them to receive an education. The facility teaches English and Thai, which helps the children function in mainstream Thai society. Rotarians from Australia, Canada, Thailand, and the United States have volunteered and provided donations. Funded in part by Matching Grants from The Rotary Foundation. Find the story in "The Rotarian," September 2005, pages 36-40.
Land Mine Survivor at The Kien Khleang Rehabilitation Center in Cambodia
Photo by Alyce Henson / Rotary International
In the photo above, a land mine survivor is doing rehabilitation exercises at the Kien Khleang Rehabilitation Center outside Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The center, which provides prostheses for land mine victims and physical therapy for polio survivors, is operated by Veterans International Cambodia, a program of the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation. Funding for the Kien Khleang Rehabilitation Center came in part from the Rotary Club of Salisbury, Connecticut, USA, a Rotary Foundation Matching Grant, and District Designated Funds. Find the story in "The Rotarian," August 2005, pages 36-43, and February 2011, pages 30-33.
For Members: 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.
District Drawing for TRF - Annual Fund donations by Dec 7:
Members, as I mentioned in the president's message for this week, our district is holding a drawing for some fantastic prizes. You can get a drawing ticket by making a donation to The Rotary Foundation's annual fund. This will help support current Rotary projects around the world. $200 gets you 1 ticket, $500 gets you 3 tickets, $1000 gets you 7 tickets. Any donation you have made to TRF annual fund since the start of this Rotary year (July 1, 2016) will count towards your total donated and how many drawing tickets you are eligible for. Members, I will be sending out an email with a list of everyone who has already received tickets. Please consider making a contribution at any amount you are comfortable with to TRF annual fund. Even $5 will save a child from going hungry. You can make that donation directly to TRF by clicking here.Members, be sure to use your own name / information for the donation to receive credit, and select recognition. Donations must be made by 12-noon (Pacific Time) on December 7, 2016 in order to qualify for a drawing ticket. Here is a photo of the prizes:
Coffee with a Rotarian:
Remember that Coffee with a Rotarian idea we mentioned in the meeting a couple of weeks ago? Well, expect an email coming to your inboxes this week from our member Tzviatko Chiderov! Tzviatko has agreed to step up to chair the coordination for the Coffee with a Rotarian initiative! He'll be assigning members to other members to reach out to them and have a coffee session (either in-person or digitally online). The goal of Coffee with a Rotarian is just to give you a chance to get to know one of your fellow club members better, and then to report back to the club about what you learned about that person!
Secret Santa!
Members, last week you should have received an email inviting you to the Secret Santa exchange! If you have not yet, please email president@siliconvalleyrotary.com. Another final email notice will go out this week! All members who sign up to participate by Wed. November 30 will be entered into the gift exchange pool.
Participating members will then be notified by the system of who you have been randomly selected to be the "Secret Santa" for! Your mission is to send a Christmas gift that you think the person you get would enjoy. Participating members will also be able to add wishlists and also be asked to complete a short survey about some of their favorite things, to help your Secret Santa with shopping for your gift. All members, regardless of where you live, are encouraged to participate! The beauty of living in a world with shipping and the internet is that an international Secret Santa is possible as well! Presents should arrive by December 23rd. Specifics will be explained in the members email.
Last call on the November Service Blotter - Don't forget to update!
Members, want to get your service update into the next 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
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)Los Altos JW House Service Project (Santa Clara), Tue. Nov. 29, 2016, from 4:30 PM to 7:30 PM
Join us in volunteering with the Rotary Club of Los Altos at the JW House in Santa Clara! JW House is a home away from home for families facing a medical crisis. It allows families to stay close together by providing a home near the Kaiser Medical Center. Join us and the Rotary Club of Los Altos in providing good food and company to those in need at the JW House!
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 at a private residence in Fremont. The exact address will be emailed out to members. This event is open to all club members and their family members or guests. Visitors interested in attending should email president@siliconvalleyrotary.com in advance with a self-introduction to request an invitation.
Event Chairs: Mitty Chang & Ken Oku
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.
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.
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 funding meals to the hungry that we will be packaging at our January Stop Hunger Now service project in the San Jose, CA area! Here are messages from last week's happy dollars:
From guest Rex Young ($25):"I am a member of the RC of Pacific Grove, CA. I found Dr Greenstreet's presentation informative. I have previously used your eClub as a makeup but also have enjoyed other programs and listened to them even though I didn't need a makeup."
From member Monique Ziesenhenne ($50):"Thanks for putting this money towards a great cause!"
From member Brian Liddicoat ($15):"This is the kind of stuff that got me into Rotary in the first place! Keep up the good work, Pattie!"
From member Rory Olsen ($15):"Happy Thanksgiving! Please apply my donation to Polio Plus!"
From member Heather Shaw ($25):"stop hunger now"
From member Mitty Chang ($5):"So glad we had Pattie from Stop Hunger Now sharing their mission! Very excited for our Stop Hunger Now service project in January! Special shoutout to Rushton for his recent move to a new house, to Andrew Taw for recently getting engaged, and to Ken for recently being elected as the Vice Chair and regional representative of 13 community colleges! Hoping to reconnect with more members soon!"
Thank you all for your donations last week! Our club will be donating an amount of $200 towards the Stop Hunger Now project! We could not do this without your support and help!
This week's donations will go towards funding club projects, such as service grants and to send a young high school student to leadership camp (RYLA)!
So what are you happy about? Share with us below!
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 Stop Hunger Now:
From member Martin Fox (Illinois, USA):
"Great work Pattie. Love how you tied the presentation of your organization's work into Rotary's key focus areas. I also love how you collaborate with on-the-ground partners instead of building duplicate in-country infrastructure on your own (more NGOs need to follow your lead.) Thanks for helping to change the way our world works. :-) :-) :-) :-) :-)"
From member Andrew Taw (California, USA):
“So cool Pattie! I'm blown away by the $33 to feed a child for a year statistic. I'm not sure if I'm doing the math correctly but is this 3 cents a meal or are they fed more/less than three times a day?"
From member Monique le Conge Ziesenhenne (California, USA):
“Happy Thanksgiving to all of you! I want to let you know that I'm thankful for such an engaging and active Rotary club, with interesting new people to meet!"
From guest Jayprakash Deshpande (India):
“Happy Thanksgiving! Pattie' s presentation was nice. My club organizes two/three dinners every year in Boys' n Girls' Observation Homes and celebrate festivals with the children. We also utilize services of a meal packing NGO for distributing food to volunteers around 100 on Polio Immunization Days."
From member Raquel Juncal (Costa Rica):
“Pattie, great program on serving those in need! In fact, one of the goals of UN's sustainable development program is to end hunger, achieve food security and improve nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture. Thus, by creating strategic alliances, investment could be increased to improve agricultural production capacity in developing countries. Happy Thanksgiving week everyone!“
From member Shags Shagrin (California, USA):
"Great program, Pattie - thanks for all you do. Mitty - that video on trying different Thanksgiving foods was hilarious! And the comic of the turkey on its last leg was over the top, Yvonne! Reminded me of the National Lampoon album/CD cover based on the comic that appeared in The New Yorker back in the 70s.
"
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. Our guest speaker this week is Carrie Zeidman, author of "Ghosts - Images of War."
Carrie Zeidman is a digital artist and photographer. She started her art career over twenty years ago as a commercial graphic artist, one of the first to use a personal computer to create art. She founded a successful graphics art company, Elán Studios, where she created advertisements, company materials, and websites for large and small businesses including Hewlett Packard and Cisco Systems. Her commercial artwork even appeared on display at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia.About ten years ago she left the commercial art world to devote her time to fine art, her first love. She used her computer illustration expertise to create her own unique style, a style that combines the techniques of digital illustration with the expression and creativity of traditional painting. Since she moved into fine art, she has won numerous awards and honors for her art, including being named “Distinguished Artist of the Year” by the Fine Arts Commission of Cupertino in 2013. Her piece Freedom Rises in the East is on permanent display at the Checkpoint Charlie Museum in Berlin, Germany.Carrie’s passions are photography, art, travel, and history, all of which are found in her book, Ghosts – Images of War. She is a tenth-generation Californian and a fourteenth generation American. Many years of researching her extensive family history, traveling to historic battle grounds, and creating her unique art all come together in her first book.Carrie lives in Cupertino, California with her husband Bob, who is also an author of several books. She lives on a mountain top that affords her a different breathtaking view of the sunrise over the Santa Clara Valley every morning, providing endless artistic inspiration.Members and guests, please join me in welcoming Carrie Zeidman!
Related Links:
Reach out to Carrie
If you have any questions for Carrie, 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 to 45 minutes long and are subject to change without notice. (Sometimes speakers cancel on us!)
Upcoming Recordings:
Recording with Tracy Straus and Daniel Rubinoff of Celebrate the Beat on Thursday, December 1, 2016 at 4 PM Pacific Time
Recording with member & Master Photographer Keith Marsh on Monday, December 5, 2016 at 5 PM Pacific Time
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.Upcoming Meetings:
Week of December 5 - Celebrate the Beat with Founder Tracy Straus & Executive Director Daniel Rubinoff
Week of December 12 - Photography Mastery with Master Photographer Keith Marsh
Week of December 19 - 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. 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!
