This is the meeting for the week of February 19, 2018 through February 25, 2018

This Meeting at a Glance:Program: How a Newspaper Article Changed the Mental Health SystemProgram Description: In this week's program we examine with our guest speaker how a newspaper article spurred change in the mental health system.Speaker: Rory Olsen, Judge

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!

Here's a message from Past President Mitty:

Hello fellow Rotarians and guests!

Welcome to the Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley's meeting for this week!

Past President Mitty here! I'm excited to have the opportunity to fill in for President Stephen and preside over a meeting. Happy Lunar New Year to all of you who celebrated it last week!

Can you believe it? We're already halfway through the first quarter of 2018, and now entering the final weeks of the 2017-2018 Rotary Year! (Our Rotary Years are July 1 to June 30.) That means President Stephen's year is wrapping up, and President-elect Andrew Taw is ramping up preparations for his year! If you're a member of our lovely club and have been thinking about ways to get more involved, please reach out to Andrew directly to have that conversation with him. Whether it's a position you already know about, or if it's a project or an initiative you are dreaming about the club taking on, let's discuss.

One of the reasons why I love this eClub is because of the flexibility of the club, and also the potential for growth here. We are just celebrating our 3rd year anniversary of our eClub (chartered in 2015), and we have come a long way since the day we were chartered. Take, for example, the member exclusive grant programs we've created to empower our members such as the Leadership Development Grants and the Service Min-E Grants. Or the evolution of the website and our weekly meetings from 2015 to now. (Did you know we used to host meetings and programs on Google Hangouts?) Or even just how involved we are now with the local community through our youth programs such as the Interact Club at KIPP San Jose Collegiate we sponsor and the speech contest we host. (We didn't do either when we first chartered!)

We are constantly looking for new ways to improve our Rotary experience for our members, and we recognize it's definitely far from perfect. We have gotten some great feedback from members and guests lately, and are looking forward to rolling out some more improvements to the club experience this month and over the coming months. Members can look forward to seeing more transparency when it comes to board decisions and minutes, as well as a member only discussion forum on this website! We'll constantly innovate and improve, because we recognize that if we don't keep changing, we'll just get left behind.

This week is also the 113th birthday of Rotary International! The first Rotary Club was founded in Chicago on February 23, 1905. Happy World Rotary Week, y'all! If you're in the bay area and free this Friday, think about joining the Interact x Rotary networking mixer happening this Friday in the afternoon. Check our Youth Service Update for more details.

Yours in service,

Mitty Chang,

Immediate Past President

Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley

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!”

From Yvonne: “Happy Lunar New Year! This year, we celebrate the Year of the Dog, so here are some pawesome jokes to start the new lunar year."

What did the dog say when he sat on sandpaper?

Ruff!

What type of markets do dogs avoid?

Flea markets!

What are caterpillars afraid of?

Dog-erpillars!

Weekly Inspiration: Robot Dog

Every week we start our meetings with a short video highlighting innovation, inspiration, entrepreneurship, or social change. This week we are featuring a video from Abt Electronics about Aibo, the robot dog.

If you are allergic to dogs but have always wanted one, perhaps there's a technological fix to that. Sony Electronics is back with a new version of their robot dog, Aibo. Watch this featured interview about Aibo from the 2018 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) that happened last month.

Would you ever get your own robot dog? Not picking up poop does sound convenient! Let's discuss in the comments.

Youth Service Update

Some of Rotary's programs include clubs and initiatives that work directly in empowering young leaders. This segment of our meeting appears during weeks when we have an update for you about one of the youth programs we sponsor, such as Interact Club for high school students.

Are you interested in meeting the Interactors of our area? This is your chance!Interact Area 6 (the Area that the Interact Club we sponsor is a part of) has invited our Rotary club to their Rotary/Interact Potluck on Friday, February 23rd! It will be a great chance for Rotarians and Interactors to mingle and learn about each other, and it's a wonderful opportunity to get to know these dynamic young leaders. Interact Area 6 will be providing food, but you are also welcome to bring your own dish.Interact Club is a community service club for high school students. Our district is proud to have the world's largest Interact district, with 100 Interact Clubs and over 8,000 Interactors. Our Rotary eClub is the proud sponsor of KIPP San Jose Collegiate Prep Interact Club in Interact Area 6.WHEN: Friday, February 23rd, 12:00PM-2:00PMWHERE: Milpitas Police Department Community Room,1275 North Milpitas BoulevardMilpitas, CA 95035

Fun fact -- February 23rd (the day of this event) is the birthday of Rotary! Celebrate the birthday of Rotary with our young leaders!For members or guests going, be sure to look out for our club's Youth Service Chair, Yvonne Kwan, who will be there at the event.

Register for free at the link here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/interact-area-6-rotary-potluck-tickets-43209627158

For Members Only: 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.

Club officer elections for the 2018-2019 Rotary year are out! Please check your emails!

Dear members. Elections for the 2018-2019 Rotary Year (July 1 to June 30) has begun! We are currently in nominations for a President-nominee (to serve as President-elect starting July 1, 2018 and then as President on July 1, 2019), a Secretary, a Treasurer, and a Director (note: Directors serve 3-year terms). President Stephen and President-elect Andrew are coordinating the election. Members, if you did not receive an email from President Stephen, please reach out to him at president@siliconvalleyrotary.com

Past Member Announcements:

Member namebadges delayed but will be shipped out in February
Active members now have yourname@siliconvalleyrotary.com email forwarders! Your forwarder should be your full first name plus the first initial of your last name. Emails going to your @siliconvalleyrotary.com email will be forwarded automatically to the email you have on file with our club. If you want your email forwarder changed to a different variation of your name, please email Webmaster Mitty at mittyc@siliconvalleyrotary.com.
Members Only Facebook Group: If you haven't joined our members-only Facebook Group, consider joining! Request an invitation from mitty@siliconvalleyrotary.com
Service Blotter Submissions: 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)

Other Upcoming Club Events:

June 1-3, 2018 - San Jose, CA - Rotary District Conference for our home district, District 5170 - conference activities begin Friday night at 6 PM, includes an all-day Saturday conference, and Sunday morning service projects in San Jose
June 22, 2018 - Toronto, Canada - Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley's RI Convention Friday Happy Hour in Toronto from 5:30 PM - 6:30 PM
June 22-27, 2018 - Toronto, Canada - 2018 Rotary International Convention
August 2018 - Our eClub's second annual charity fundraiser is coming up! More details coming soon!

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

What would you like to do?

Hey Members! What would you like to do? We're working on putting together some exciting socials and impactful service projects for our upcoming quarter's event calendar. Let us know what you want to do by posting in our members only Facebook Group (if you don't have access, please request it with Webmaster Mitty). Remember, you're only taking advantage of the full impact of Rotary when you're stepping up to get involved.

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!)

Last week's happy dollar contributions went towards supporting our Interact high school students attending leadership training events such as PWR and RYLA. Here are some of the happy dollar messages from last week:

Thank you to member Brian Liddicoat for his generous $15 donation! Brian had this to say:"Thankful for a good weekend of skiing with my son Richard."

Thank you to member Rory Olsen for his generous $15 donation to ending polio through The Rotary Foundation's Polio Plus fund. Rory had this to say:"Reconstruction of my flood damaged home is continuing slowly. My cats are unhappy! Please apply my gift to Polio Plus!"

Thank you to member Monique Ziesenhenne for her generous $20 donation! Monique had this to say:"Happy that I can watch the Winter Olympics! Please apply to Annual Fund."

Thank you to guest Paul Andrus for his $10 donation! Paul had this to say:"The Vietnamese new year and celebrating it with my wife. Good food, red envelopes and fireworks."

Thank you all for your donations last week!

Happy dollars is also a great opportunity to share with the group about something good that has happened to you, while giving back to a great cause. This week's donations will go to powering our club's projects and helping with sending Interactors to PWR and RYLA!

So what are you happy about? Share with us below to help with doing good around the world.

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 featuring the program on International Fellowship of Rotarian Educators:

Guest Rebecca Fry had this to say:“Thoroughly enjoyed this meeting! Astounded to hear there was not a Fellowship for Education prior to last year! Incredible job in starting the fellowship! You also mentioned you're involved in RYLA Charles? I am personally deeply passionate about RYLA and am heavily involved in Australia. Would be keen to learn more about RYLA in your district and the USA more broadly. It sounds like you have some very grounded strategies regarding the engagement of young leaders. Please let me know if you'd be interested in a Skype chat, or if you're heading to Toronto, would love to meet you in person. Thanks so much for an inspiring presentation.“

Member Rory Olsen (Texas, USA) had this to say:“Dr. Grant, I am a member of the Rotary e-club of Silicon Valley who resides in West Houston, Texas. I can say in complete candor that hearin' your talk was a fun experience, 'cause you--unlike most of our speakers--know how to talk properly. Thank you for taking the time to speak to us and letting us know about your fellowship.”

Member Catherine A. (California, USA) had this to say:“Thanks for your service and dedication to educators and education, Charles! What a super idea to create a Rotary International Fellowship for Educators. (Hmm....how about a RI Fellowship for Librarians---Monique, can we do this?) The Tatsuo Horiuchi Great Big Story on his Excel artwork was so wonderful! Thanks to the team for finding these excellent short stories. Can someone contact me about purchasing a Rotary name badge asap? (I need one this month.) Thanks!“

Guest James Bellefeuille had this to say:“interesting program, looking forward to next week.“

Guest Celine Neal (Belize) had this to say:“Thank you for the presentation Charles. I hope you and the members of the Rotary International Fellowship for Educators continue to grow and create great project and ideas.”

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: How a Newspaper Article Changed the Mental Health System

Every week we bring to you a new program on innovation, education, technology, and humanitarian service. This week our guest speaker is Rory Olsen, a member of our Rotary eClub and also a judge in Texas, USA.

In addition to his law degree from Duke University, Judge Rory Olsen holds an M.B.A. from the University of North Carolina, a Master of Laws in Taxation from Southern Methodist University, and a Master of Judicial Studies from the National Judicial College.

He has spoken and written extensively on various aspects of probate and mental health practice, and is well-versed on the issues that arise in Probate Court Number Three.Judge Olsen has taught at both the National Judicial College and at the law school at the University of Houston. His professional experience in the area encompasses more than thirty years, and he is a dedicated public servant of Harris County.

Members and guests, please welcome our own Rotarian and Judge, Rory Olsen, to the speaker's screen!

Share with us your thoughts in the comments at the bottom of this meeting page!If you have questions for Rory, feel free to ask in the comments!

Upcoming Program 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.

Upcoming Recordings:

If you would like to join us for any of the live recordings, you are welcome to join us. Our online video conference room link for these recordings is always https://zoom.us/j/5104080000. Please note the timezone for all recordings are listed for San Francisco, California, USA time (Pacific Time).

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!

How a Newspaper Article Changed the Mental Health System