Conserving Antarctica's Historic Buildings in Earth's Most Challenging Environment
MEETING FOR THE WEEK OF Dec. 11, 2023
This Meeting at a Glance:
Program: Conserving Antarctica's Historic Buildings in Earth's Most Challenging Environment
Speaker: Camilla Johns
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!
To properly attend this meeting, please:
Read and watch the content below in its entirety.
Complete the attendance survey.
Everyone is also encouraged to leave a comment in the Disqus section at the bottom of the page.
Message from our President
Greetings Members and Friends of Rotary e-Club of Silicon Valley. As President of our Club, I want to welcome you all today.
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!
The Previous Pastor
The previous pastor had been a paragon of virtue. He lived up to all the people's expectations and was willing to live on a very low salary to boot. He loved to work around the church and kept both the church house and grounds in pristine condition.
But the new pastor wasn't that type. He hired someone to do a lot of these chores, including the mowing of the lawn. Naturally, this cost more money. This change of pattern was of concern to some of the elders of the church. One day, one of them approached the new pastor and tried to bring this up tactfully. He said to the new pastor, "You know, our previous pastor mowed the lawn himself. Have you considered this approach?"
The new pastor replied, "Yes, I'm aware of this. I asked him, but he doesn't want to do it anymore."
INSPIRATION
Every week we share a short video highlighting innovation, education, entrepreneurship, or whatever we think might inspire you to see the world in new ways.
An inspirational video about a washing machine? Yep! This is the story of Nav Sawhney, and his innovative insight that could help thousands and thousands of families. Thanks to Shags for spotting this one!
LEARN SOMETHING NEW
The Scent of a Flower
You may be getting floral arrangements for the holidays, or you may just be pining for spring to arrive for the flowers to bloom. Either way, here's something interesting about how pollution in the air impacts the scent...and why that's a problem.
Club News
Members
During the holiday season, many of our members are actively joining with Rotary Clubs and District events in their local communities. This week, we are happy to share the experience of Lisa Akselrad and Terri Schinkel representing the eClub on the Train of Lights! What are you doing this season that we can share? Send your photos to Mike with a brief description.
Is your latest information posted on our ClubRunner Members site at: https://portal.clubrunner.ca/8370/Page/ShowHomePage. After logging in, please be sure to access the MyClubRunner tab, and select My Profile. Please update your personal information here, which automatically updates our club directory.
Your Service Hours reporting will now take you directly to your ClubRunner Login and Entry for Volunteer Hours. From this point forward, your Service Hours will report to Rotary from ClubRunner.
TRF and EREY - It’s time to consider your gift to Rotary for the annual TRF Fund. There are several ways to give: outright payment (Check or Credit Card), monthly payments billed to your credit card, allocation to several funds, etc. Our TRF Chair, Phil Dean will be in touch with us soon regarding your pledge and methods for collecting. Our Club is striving to be designated as “Every Year, Every Rotarian”. Your gift matters, either a small amount or a large amount (that is up to you - we will never tell you how much to give). A portion of our Annual Fund giving will come back to us for our DDF usage.
TRF THOUGHT OF THE WEEK: 11 DECEMBER 2023
The Annual Fund - The Annual Fund is the primary source of unrestricted support for the programs of The Rotary Foundation. It funds programs in more than 180 countries on seven continents. From digging clean water wells for villages in Africa to teaching basic literacy skill to children in Latin America, during any given moment in a day, thousands of Rotarians volunteer their time and expertise to ensure that all contributions given to the Annual Fund are spent wisely on quality Rotary projects.
If Every Rotarian makes a gift to the Annual Fund Every Year, we will assuredly be able to continue to do the great work of our Rotary Foundation.
Here is why EREY is important to our Club: Did you know that Rotary conveys a special honor to each Club that achieves 100% member participation contributing to TRF? The award is called Every Rotarian, Every Year (EREY). This year, we ask that you consider a pledge to the TRF Annual Fund in November of at least $25 which will qualify your participation and count towards our Club achieving this honor. Also, please note that the District will have two drawings to encourage donations to the Annual Fund. For the first drawing, each Club will get chances in the drawing based on their total giving. The more each Club donates the better the chance of winning. The prize is significant as it is $5000 in DDF, worth $9000 when used in a Global Grant. In order to support smaller Clubs and promote EREY, there is a second drawing where each EREY Club has an equal chance at a prize of $2500 in DDF, worth $4500 when used in a Global Grant. As you may remember, District 5170 had a record setting year in 2021-22, with over $1 million to the Annual Fund, followed by almost $1 million in 2022-23.
Your generosity is always voluntary and very much appreciated. This year why not help our Club achieve the EREY honor, and perhaps, as a result, we will have a shot at some extra DDF funds to continue funding our great service and work as Rotarians.
Remember, to achieve EREY, each Club member needs to make a contribution of at least $25.00 to the Annual Fund. We are happy to accept your check or credit card for the Annual Fund.
District 5170
Read the latest news from District 5170 - https://rotarydistrict5170.org
SERVICE REPORT
Tell us about the service you’ve done recently for the Club or in your community. Also, post here if you attended another Rotary Club meeting this week
Click here to post your Service Hours directly to ClubRunner
SERVICE PROJECT OPPORTUNITIES
For upcoming club projects in District 5170, check out the District 5170 website. Also, if you have some time available for projects, be sure to let your local area Rotary Club know that you are available to volunteer for their upcoming projects.
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.
PROGRAM: Conserving Antarctica's Historic Buildings in Earth's Most Challenging Environment
SPEAKER: Camilla Johns
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 or 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!
This week's speaker, Camilla Johns, is Head of Development at the UK Antarctic Heritage Trust, a charity not-for-profit that preserve's six historic sites in Antarctica. This includes Port Lockroy, the southernmost public post office in the world which is surrounded by a vocal gentoo penguin colony. Each of the six sites has an amazing history and story, and the Trust works to protect the buildings and share Antarctica's amazing past with everyone at home.
Imagine painting your garden shed, but doing so 10,000 miles away on a rocky outcrop in biting Antarctic winds. Each year, for the UK Antarctic Heritage Trust team, this is a reality as they work to protect and conserve historic science bases frozen in time in Antarctica. These six sites are modest wooden huts surrounded by penguins, but each holds a story of discovery, courage and survival.
Camilla has worked in the not-for-profit sector for over 15 years for different causes ranging from national parks to symphony orchestras. She has a lifelong interest in exploration and Antarctica, and first visited the continent this year to see their work in action.
Members and guests, please welcome Camilla Johns!
To learn more, go to:
Or listen to their podcast series:
https://tinyurl.com/ukahtpodcast
To send or receive a limited-edition postcard from Antarctica this year, go to:
https://tinyurl.com/antarcticpostcard
Orders should be submitted by 5 October. Cards can be posted to the US and all orders support UKAHT conservation efforts.
To learn more about the Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley, go to:
Important Announcement - “Weekly Rotarian” Full Meeting Podcasts
Announcing: Our main program speakers are now available as audio podcasts in addition to YouTube videos! Each week they are available on Spotify, Google, and Apple podcasts.
Or you can simply click below for this week’s speaker:
And our original podcast, featuring Some of the best of our previous speakers is still available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Google Podcasts
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.
THE ATTENDANCE SURVEY
Thanks for reading and watching this week’s meeting. You have two last things to do before you’re done.
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.
For all members and guests — we strongly recommend and ask that you leave a comment 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!
Important: Once you submit the Attendance Survey below, please make sure you see the confirmation message. If you get an error message instead, please try the 'submit' button again, and if that doesn't work, please refresh the page and fill out the form again. Thanks!
