Update from the District Governor
Greetings Rotarians and Guests,
Happy middle-of-December everyone! Do you have travel plans for the holidays? Share with us in the comments below - maybe you'll be close to another member of the club and you can coordinate a meetup!This week we'll hear from our District Governor Ramesh Hariharan. Looking forward to seeing your questions and comments for the DG in the DISQUS section at the bottom of this page.
Sincerely,
Tzviatko
President, Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley
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
Is it the TRUTH?
Is it FAIR to all concerned?
Will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS?
Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?
Rory from Houston, TX, USA
Weekly Funny with the Lady of Laughter (LOL)
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 Yvonne Kwan, our “Lady of Laughter!”
The holidays are upon us in the United States! Here is part one of a two-part series of seasonal jokes. Merry jokes-mas!
What do Santa's elves drive?Minivans!
What do snowmen like to do on the weekend?Chill out!
What does a grumpy sheep say at Christmas?Baaa, humbug!
Weekly Inspiration
Every week we start our meetings with a short video highlighting innovation, inspiration, entrepreneurship, or social change.
This stretch of land in Berlin was once a militarized zone separating East and West Berlin, dotted with watchtowers and guard dogs. Today, it’s a beautiful public park where people gather every Sunday to sing karaoke in an outdoor amphitheater.Joe Hatchiban, who came to Berlin from Dublin, founded Bearpit Karaoke in 2009, and the event is still going strong a decade later. Amateur singers from all around the world perform in front of an audience that can grow as large as 2,000 people.
Member Spotlight
This week's Member Spotlight is Tatiana! Here is what she has been up to lately:
Hi eclub! I'm Tatiana, a new member from July this year. I'm really jazzed to be a part of this club and am really enjoying getting to know our members. For those of you who I haven't met yet, I live in Vancouver, BC and have lived here for nearly the last decade. While great weather brought me here, I spent a good portion of my earlier years living near Washington DC. This past week, for US Thanksgiving, I returned to the US East Coast with my family to spend time with my partner's extended family. My in-laws recently decided to move after living for nearly 40 years in their current home, so this holiday was a chance for us all to celebrate this wonderful chance to get together and the house we've loved for many years. I feel so lucky to have had the chance to go back for this special holiday and to share the occasion with so many special people to me.I look forward to meeting more members in upcoming Coffee with a Rotarians and also on our online socials. I haven't had a chance to participate in a social yet, but it's on my list to do for the new year. I wish all of our members a wonderful end of year and a happy and healthy 2020!And here's a special treat from Nick!Recently, I had a chance to visit San Francisco for a work conference. While I was there, I asked any local eclub members to see if we could meet up. Happily, Ferheen, Mitty, Sandy, Maxi and May. I'm a relatively new member to our great eclub and this was my first time being able to meet members in person. It was great! We had a wonderful time meeting for dinner and I enjoyed myself so much. I hope to be able to visit San Francisco and the valley again in the future or to meet other club members at a future convention or Rotary event. It was great to meet members of our club and I'm so glad so many people were able to get together!
Tatiana
World of
Bringing the world together through RotaractLearn more at https://blog.rotary.org/2019/10/30/bringing-the-world-together-through-rotaract/
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.
This week is our oldest grand daughter's birthday. Several years ago, I asked her to pose in our garden with different expressions. I then combined them for this fun sequence that capture her personality. She is now a freshman in college majoring in graphic art.
Learn Something New
This section is curated by members Shags Shagrin and Rushton Hurley 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 Rushton or Shags.
79 Common Mispronunciations
English is a strange language, and it's easy to mispronounce words. Here's a video with 79 examples.
Coffee With a Rotarian
A natural part of Rotary is the networking and the fellowship you get out of meeting other Rotarians. Coffee With a Rotarian is a monthly program of our club where we match participating club members for one-on-one virtual (or in some cases in person) coffee meetings, so they can learn more about each other. This program is organized by member Tzviatko Chiderov.
This week we have Nick from Vancouver, BC, Canada reporting on a chat with Vandana from New Delhi, IndiaVandana and I had a great CWR. I enjoyed being able to talk to Vandana about our business experiences as well as our Rotary experiences. It's great to hear different perspectives. I'm glad I was able to talk with Vandana and I look forward to many more opportunities.We encourage all club members to participate in Coffee With a Rotarian.
You can sign up here!
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
On the first meeting of every month, we feature service reports from club members for the previous month. Thanks for your service everyone!
Club Announcements
Haven't joined the conversation on Facebook yet? Consider joining the conversation by signing into our club members-only Facebook Group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/rotarysiliconvalley/
Our Events & Projects
We hold our meetings online, but we do regular service projects and social events in the Silicon Valley! This section is updated every week with our upcoming events. We welcome guests to all of the events and service projects listed here.
Past Events:
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 on the early hours of Saturday, so contributions made over the weekend may not be listed here.
Carl Mianecke made a $25 donation.Happy to be a new member of Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley.
Rory Olsen made a $20 donation.We are havin' a bit of real Texas weather. In the eighties today and the fifties tomorrow.
Please apply my gift to Polio Plus.
Monique Ziesenhenne made a $20 donation.TRF Annual Fund, please.
Selected Comments
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 a few comments every week from last week’s meeting to be featured during this week’s meeting.
Here are the comments selected from last week’s meeting.
Mitty Chang said:
As an avid coffee drinker myself, I found the inspirational video this week to be great! Coffee is definitely interwoven into our culture - and it's not coincidence that our club has a program called "Coffee with a Rotarian." I also love reading about some of the coffee similarities and passions from the comments.
John, thanks so much for speaking to our club! Very cool about HIP's diversity, and I also love that mission to spread the love of Rotary. It's really interesting to hear about some of the difficulties and obstacles of the indigenous people, and how your team is embracing technology to create solutions. The drone delivery was cool to hear about, and how involving youth to get inspired with STEM! Thanks for all you are doing!
Special thanks to Heather for reminding me to attend the meeting this week. I've been buried with work lately, so have not shown up as much as I should!
Kelly said:
It’s always good to hear the four way test again. Thanks, Rushton!
The video about coffee around the world was so interesting. I’d love to try coffee in Ethiopia and Turkey.
The segment about 'names for things you did not know had name' was super fun and informative. Who is everyone’s googlegaenger?! It was fun to see some German words sprinkled in there.
Welcome to the club, Carl!
John, I was pleased to see you on the agenda today. I used to be a member in District 7070 and my Rotaract Club partnered with HIP. There’s definitely more that Canadians can do to help the indigenous community and I’m glad to learn of some of the new initiatives that are helping the community, such as the partnership with Drone Delivery Canada. The cultural/knowledge exchange between the students in Moose Factory and Toronto is a great idea. Hopefully you can update us on how the trip goes this month.
Sandy Stabile said:
John, thank you for speaking with us. HIP is an amazing program. It makes me so proud to be a Rotarian.
Rushton, loved your version of the 4 Way Test.
Carl, Welcome to the eClub!
Enjoyed the video about coffee. Not so sure about the egg coffee but would like to try it sometime.
Keith, loved this weeks photo. Fall is my favorite color.
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!
Program: Update from the District Governor
Speaker: DG Ramesh
Every week we bring to you a new program on innovation, entrepreneurship, and education, and how those contribute to service to others. Special thanks to member Roger Plested for leading our club's Programs Committee in finding us amazing speakers each week.
If you have an idea for a cool speaker, please feel free to reach out to them directlyor submit THIS FORM so our Program Committee can contact them!
District Governor Ramesh Hariharan will provide us with an update on the strategic vision for our home Rotary District 5170.He will also tell us about all the exciting activities happening in the district and how we can best make use of the resources the district makes available for all Rotary clubs.
Share your thoughts or ask our speaker a question in the comments at the bottom of this meeting page!
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 https://zoom.us/j/5104080000. 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.
You’re Almost Done! Please complete 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.
