Sproutel - Inventing the Future of Kids' Health
This Meeting’s Highlights
Program: Sproutel - Inventing the Future of Kids' HealthSpeaker: Aaron Horowitz, Co-Founder and CEO of SproutelMeeting for the week of February 6, 2017 to February 12, 2017
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
Teddy Bears!
Are you a new visitor? Then I want to welcome you to the Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley's online meeting! Every week we curate inspiring and educational content in an online format like the one you're seeing here. As you continue reading, watching, and scrolling, our hope is that you'll leave feeling a little bit more inspired. As an online Rotary club, we have these asynchronous meetings online, but we also meet in-person in the Silicon Valley / San Francisco bay area for service projects and for social events. Keep reading on, and feel free to also join us for one of our in-person events if you can make it!
Teddy bears and education. I'm truly excited about our program this week with our guest, Aaron Horowitz of Sproutel! Members and guests, you are all in for a huge treat. Aaron's passion for innovation and helping children is contagious! Besides, it's just fun to have a program combining epic teddy bears and education! Special thanks to member Yvonne for introducing Sproutel to us.
More photos and Youtube. Members and returning guests: notice a difference in the look of this meeting? (Hint: giant photo at the top!) I'm working on adding more vibrant images and graphics for our meetings. One of my strong beliefs is that we always have to continue improving our meetings and our club, especially as an online Rotary club where so much of the execution of our meetings depends on technology that is constantly evolving. You can continue expecting our meetings to keep evolving over the next few months. Also, did you know our club has a Youtube Channel? You can find videos in our Youtube Channel of every program we've recorded since our club's start in January 2015! For those are new to our meetings, some of our past guest speakers have been Olympic medalist Paul Kingsman, Academy Award film director Jeffrey Brown, global non-profit organizations like Stop Hunger Now and ShelterBox, startup founders like Brett Kopf of Remind and Cynthia Salim of Citizen's Mark, corporations like Google, and intergovernmental collaborations like UNICEF. Relive past programs or share them with your friends via our Youtube channel.
Happy Dollars Contributors: THANK YOU!! Each one of our online club meetings (what you are reading right now) has a segment called Happy Dollars. This is where our members and our guests can make a charitable donation along with a shoutout, a brag, or a positive thought. It's an opportunity for guests and members to speak about something good that's happened to them recently, or talk briefly about their business. The beneficiary of the donations rotates periodically and often goes towards powering our club projects. Over the past two weeks, our happy dollars have been going towards supporting 2 Interactors (high school students) by sending them to their annual Presidents Winter Retreat for leadership training. I believe the younger generations are our future, and it's one of our responsibilities to help support them whenever we can. A huge thank you to everyone who has donated to happy dollars over the past two weeks! Thank yous to Linda Tangren, Rushton Hurley, Nate Gildart, Keith Marsh, Rory Olsen, Heather Shaw, Monique Ziesenhenne, and Brian Liddicoat! We'll ask both Marilyn and Chris to give us a post-PWR update after this week!Enjoy this week's meeting!
And for our club members only: Club Elections end this week! A very quick reminder to all members that club elections close this week! Check your email for the election ballot!Yours in service,Mitty Chang, PresidentRotary eClub of Silicon Valleypresident@siliconvalleyrotary.comP.S. I'll make an announcement next week, but in a little over a month I'll be jumping out of a plane (with a parachute) to raise funds for The Rotary Foundation. (Did I mention I'm afraid of heights?) More soon! And yes, it will be filmed.
Weekly Inspiration: The Fabric of Mumbai's Social Change
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 Great Big Story on how a taxi company in Mumbai is creating social change with design and art.
In a bustling city of millions, how do you capture people's attention long enough to spark a conversation? Get them on the go, of course! That's how one graphic designer is approaching social change in Mumbai: by targeting taxis. He and a team of local artists are reupholstering taxis and rickshaws with social messaging about everything from women's rights to treatment of the deaf and mute.
It's great to see different innovative ways of implementing social change! What have been some of your favorite social change ideas?
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.”
From Yvonne: "In honor of this week's program featuring Sproutel and Jerry the Bear, I've compiled some bear-y good jokes!"
How do teddies keep their houses cool in summer?
They use bear conditioning.
How do teddy bears keep fit?
They do a lot of bear-obics.
How do you start a teddy bear race?
Teddy, set, go!
Why is a teddy bear never hungry?
Because he's always stuffed.
World of Rotary: One Rotaract Club's Mentoring Program to Help High School Students Succeed
Rotary is a 1.2 million member organization, with clubs in over 170 different countries. In the Silicon Valley alone, there are over 50 Rotary clubs. Our club is one of many Rotary clubs out there, and this segment is dedicated to sharing stories about what's going on in the world of Rotary.
This week's story comes from the Rotary Blog and features the Rotaract Club of Birmingham's mentorship program.
Rotaract Program Prepares Students for College
By Deblina Chakraborty viaRotary Blog
When Birmingham, Ala., high school students Amber Watts, Elizabeth Duke, and Nailah Shearer got a boost in 2014 from Rotary, it was in more than just their ACT scores. As mentees in the local Rotaract Club of Birmingham’s Ready 2 Succeed program, the three girls, photographed at a quarterly event alongside mentor Chappell Stewart, got the opportunity to rock climb and elevate their leadership skills, too.Rotaract of Birmingham created Ready 2 Succeed to help local high school juniors and seniors prepare for college, but the program’s mentor coordinator, Sydni Willis, says recreational activities like rock climbing and zip-lining are vital to the program’s mission. “When you’re working with kids, there’s got to be some type of personal relationship outside of just talking about college,” Willis says.The club launched Ready 2 Succeed as a two-year pilot program in 2014 at Birmingham’s A.H. Parker High School. Tools for participants include ACT prep courses, help with financial aid applications, mock interviews, and an Alabama-specific scholarship database.Additionally, Rotaract mentors share perspective gleaned from their own college experiences, such as what it’s like to live in a dorm. “For a lot of [mentees], they may be a first-generation college student,” says Lora Terry, chair of the Rotaract Club of Birmingham.Students also have fun in groups at larger events the club organizes, like the event that Watts, Duke, and Shearer attended, which combined rock climbing and a public speaking class. Ready 2 Succeed has seen results: Of the seniors who participated in 2015, more than 75 percent became college freshmen. The club also took home a regional prize in the Rotaract Outstanding Project Awards last summer.“Our core business is developing leaders in our community, and I think this allows us to develop the next generation of leaders that are going to come behind us and ensure that our community continues to thrive,” Willis says. –Deblina Chakraborty• See more stories from The Rotarian
February Birthdays with the Baroness of 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.
“
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 February, we are celebrating
Kristofer Telfer and Mark Dohn
! Happy February to the two Birthday twins!
Having only 28 days in common years, it is the only month of the year that can pass without a single full moon. It is also the only month of the calendar that once every six years and twice every 11 years, will have only four full 7-day weeks.
The Roman month Februarius was named after the Latin term februum, which means purification, via the purification ritual Februa held on
February 15
(full moon) in the old lunar Roman calendar. January and February were the last two months to be added to the Roman calendar, since the Romans originally considered winter a monthless period.
February is Chocolate Lovers and Potato Lovers month!
"Freezingcold winds,biting chills, andwhite snow fluffed hillsValentines day, oh how gay!presidents' day is coming our way.February, sweet and small, greatest month of all."- Eric Lies -
28 Word Poem for February
New Member Welcome: Meet Roger!
Members are the lifeblood of our club. Whenever someone joins our international family, it's a cause for celebration. We are always looking for more like-minded people who want to make a positive difference in their communities to join us. This segment is for introducing our newest member, Roger Plested!
Normally we introduce our new members with a self-introduction video, but we haven't received one yet from Roger. So in lieu of the video, President Mitty will be introducing Roger!President Mitty here:
"As club president, it is my distinct honor to welcome Roger Plested to our international family!
Roger is an estate attorney who hails from Kamloops in British Columbia, Canada. Born on June 24th, Roger has a wife named Sushma, and four children named Reanna, Joshua, Whitney, and Priya. Roger has been a Rotarian since 1979, and was last with the Rotary Club of North Kamloops in District 5060. He has served as Rotary club president, club secretary, and club director. Roger is interested in contributing to our Rotary club, and appreciates the flexibility of our meetings! His hobbies include photography, cooking Chinese and Thai food, and being physically active.
Roger, as a Rotarian of over 30 years, you know the amazing work that Rotary does around the world. We thank you for your continued service and welcome you to our club, the Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley. It is because of dedicated Rotarians such as yourself that Rotary continues healing the sick, feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, educating children, helping the poor, and eradicating polio.
Members and guests, please join me in welcoming our newest Rotarian, Roger Plested of Kamloops, Canada!"
Welcome to the eClub of Silicon Valley, Roger! We are thrilled to have you part of our eClub! We are also expecting your self-introduction video soon!
January Service Blotter
Service is at the core of our organization. Every month we dedicate a segment to sharing a little bit about what service projects and volunteering our members have been up to the previous month.
Last month...
Heather Shaw visited and treated a couple home bound people
Ferheen Abbasi volunteered at an animal shelter in Osaka
Brett Shaw attended a community forum and a Rotaract Conference
Andrew Taw organized the Jumpstart awards and gathered speakers for a regional student leadership conference.
Mitty Chang, Nicole Pham, and Felmer Lenida spent a Saturday morning with 40+ other Rotarians to package 10,000 meals for the hungry through a joint Rotary & Stop Hunger Now service project!
Members, didn't see your service report in the blotter? Then fill out the service survey!
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
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.
Members, Club Elections THIS WEEK!
Members, voting has been extended and now ends this Saturday, February 11, 2017 at 11:59 PM Pacific Time. For those of you who check meetings on Sundays, the election will already have ended. Results will be posted for our next meeting, the week of February 13th. All instructions have been emailed to you.
Challenge Coins for Donations to The Rotary Foundation
From our Club Foundation Chair Andrew Taw: "To celebrate the 100th anniversary of The Rotary Foundation, District 5170 is currently offering beautiful challenge coins for donations to TRF during the 2016-2017 Rotary Year (which is from July 1, 2016 to June 30, 2017)! These coins have the 100th anniversary logo on one side and the 4-Way Test on the other."
Members who donate the following amounts will receive the following coins:
$1000 - Gold$500 - Silver$200 - Bronze
Donated enough to The Rotary Foundation since July 1, 2016 to qualify for a challenge coin already? Go ahead and request your Challenge Coin via the online form here then!Haven't donated enough to qualify for a coin yet? Then consider making those donations over the next few weeks!
February's Photo Theme
If you didn't see Kristi's message last week, here is the photo theme for February:
"To honor our current Rotary theme of “Rotary Serving Humanity” our February theme will be:
HUMANITY.
The goal of this entire photo project is a way for all of us to get to see snapshots (literally!) of our respective corners of the world. A visual glimpse into each other’s lives, if you will. It isn’t a contest and is completely optional. In fact, if you want to submit a photo every week of the month showing us a picture you’ve taken of HUMANITY we’ll take that too! We’re still working out a few details about how we’re going to compile and share them, but will keep everyone updated as we move forward. Additionally, if you still want to take and submit a photo for January (theme: NEW), don’t hesitate to sneak that into this week’s comments too."
Coffee with a Rotarian Update
Here's a message from our Coffee with a Rotarian Chair, Tzviatko!
"Hello and thank you to all who have participated in the Coffee With a Rotarian program thus far. It has been two months since we launched this initiative and it's so great to see people's reports on their meetings as it seems everyone is enjoying it!
I truly believe that this is one of the best ways for us to get to know each other in the context of an eClub. Spending some time online one-on-one with another member of our club brings the concept of fellowship (the perceived lack of which is the biggest point of criticism I've heard about the eClub format) to the new age.
I hope you all will continue to participate and learn about your fellow members of our club. Not surprisingly we have awesome members, so get to know each other better through our club's activities and through this initiative. We are building an amazing community. Let's keep it up."
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)February to April events coming soon! Here are some of the major May and June events to look forward to!
Rotary District 5170 Conference - May 5-7, 2017 in Santa Cruz, California
Join hundreds of Rotarians from throughout our Rotary district for our annual Rotary District Conference! This year's conference will take place in Santa Cruz, California at the Boardwalk! This family-friendly event will be open to all guests and family members to attend. We hope to see more of our eClub members join us this year!
Our club's event chair: Yvonne Kwan
Rotary International Convention - June 10-14, 2017 in Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Join over 35,000 Rotarians from around the world at the annual Rotary convention! This year's convention will take place in Atlanta, Georgia, USA and features the centennial celebration of The Rotary Foundation! The Rotary International Convention is the largest regular gathering of Rotarians, and is also one of the best networking opportunities anyone can ever experience. Our Rotary eClub will have member events and experiences in Atlanta! Come join us in Atlanta!
Our club's event chair: Mitty Chang
Happy Dollars: Support Our Club
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 dollars went towards sponsoring our second Interactor, Chris, to attend the annual Interact President's Winter Retreat! Here are messages from last week's happy dollars:
Thank you to member Rory Olsen for his $15 donation, to be donated to Rotary's PolioPlus! Rory had this to say:"Please send my donation to Polio Plus."
Thank you to member Keith Marsh for his generous $15 donation! Keith had this to say:"I am donating $15 for the three club members who found my photo in the Rotarian Magazine. Thanks to Yvonne, Tzviatko and Raquel. Remember that photos for this year's contest are due February 15th."
Thank you to member Nate Gildart for his generous $15 donation! Nate had this to say:"Best of luck Chris! I'm impressed with such a genuine and reflective introduction."
Thank you to member Rushton Hurley for his generous $10 donation! Rushton had this to say:"Happy to help Chris!"
Thank you to member Linda Tangren for her VERY GENEROUS $50 donation! Linda had this to say:"This week, this grandmother is bragging about her granddaughter. Kendall is a senior, attending high school in Honolulu. She bleeds social justice and for her 18th birthday gift, she and her mom went to the Women's March in Washington, D.C.. This was a valuable lesson in democracy for her. So that others may have the opportunities we give her, I would like to split my donation in this manner. $25.00 for Chris and $25.00 for RYLA."
Thank you to member Mitty Chang for his kind $5 donation! Mitty had this to say:"Always happy to support Interactors and young leaders! This one goes to Chris for PWR! Also really looking forward to the Rotary International Convention in Atlanta this June!"
Thank you all for your donations last week! The money from the donations last week went towards sponsoring our second Interactor, Chris, to the President's Winter Retreat for Interact this February! Massive thanks to everyone who made a donation! Chris sent us his thanks, and we're also really excited to be helping send such an energetic young leader to an amazing leadership development event happening this weekend!
This week's donations will go towards supporting club operations such as our Min-E Service Grants.
Happy dollars is also a great opportunity to share with the group about something good that has happened to you.
So what are you happy about? Share with us below, and help support one of our future leaders!
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 Bringing Together Community Organizations Digitally with xPollinators:
Guest Fernando Morales had this to say:"Hello everyone! So many great things on this week's meeting! It's great to see things such as the Jumpstart Award which have a direct impact in students' lives. Kudos to you all for being involved in this! Personally, the story of the two young sisters launching their weather balloons was exactly what I needed to hear after a long day. The future is bright indeed! Crystal, I have really enjoyed hearing about your project. I believe you are absolutely right in that community organization is how we should tackle issues without being intimidated by the size of the task at hand. I particularly identify with what you said about not having to reinvent the wheel every time, putting efforts into things that have- more often than not- already been approached by other groups or people and sharing this knowledge is a great way to move forward. It's so valuable that you're so open to hearing from community organizers and others as to what they would like to see in a platform like this. If I could give a suggestion as to things you can look into as you grow, it would be getting your contributors to also share results and tools that have worked for them so other communities facing similar issues can learn from them. I'm very much looking forward to hearing more from you and I wish you all the best with xPollinators!"
Member Roger Plested (Canada) had this to say:"Excellent meeting. Thank you Crystal for you presentation. Your concept was different from what I expected. Last January, Kamloops BC Canada was the third city in Canada to apply to become a Bee City - that is, a city that supports pollinators like honey bees. It is bees and all it's pollinators The purpose is to encourage people to plant pollinator-friendly habitats, so that those populations can flourish and survive"
Member Tzviatko Chiderov (Illinois, USA) had this to say:"Crystal, very cool idea to get community organizers to share knowledge and resources. Have you thought about introducing a Facebook Messenger chatbot to get people to quickly search for and find organizations that they are interested in? Once you have your database, this should be a fairly easy thing to create."
Member Heather Shaw (California, USA) had this to say:"The weather balloon video was very cool. Those are 2 young girls to watch out for in the future. I think Crystal might have been as curious about things are they are. Crystal keep your goals in mind and keep striving no matter what the results of your experiment are- you are doing good things"
Member Ferheen Abbasi (Osaka, Japan) had this to say:"Crystal! Thank you SO much for your awesome presentation. What an amazing story. I want to be a community organizer for women's reproductive rights someday so your story inspires me! Hope to use your platform one day. PS. Mitty, I affirm you. Thank you for being an incredible President!"
Member Rushton Hurley (California, USA) had this to say:"Awesome video about the girls and the balloon, that was! Also, I really enjoyed seeing the videos from the girls who received the laptops. Talking to them that night made it clear we had two wonderful representatives for our club's work. I'll add a photo below, too. Not sure it's a good match for the "Humanity" theme, but it certainly was beautiful - we'll have to go back to Castle Rock again! Crystal - great message and cool community you've created! I think the economic opportunities of the 21st century will be more about energy than anything else, and that means alternative energy. Very glad to return to programs where the speaker is speaking directly to us, as well."
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: Sproutel - Inventing the Future of Kids' Health
Every week we bring to you a new program on innovation, education, technology, and humanitarian service. This week our guest speaker is Aaron Horowitz, the CEO and Co-Founder of Sproutel - a company focused on inventing the future of kids' health.
Aaron is a maker; from sculptures to business, he is fascinated with the process of taking an idea from concept to reality. He is passionate about creating interfaces that drive a shift towards ubiquitous computing. He is currently Co-founder and CEO of Sproutel, the creator of Jerry the Bear – a platform for pediatric health and wellness education. Aaron has shared his expertise in robotics and social entrepreneurship through speaking at numerous conferences including TED@IBM, Hardware Innovation Workshop, Big Ideas Fest, MakerCon, TEDxUnisinos, CUSP, and Stanford MedX. Aaron has also been recognized as one of 50 honored makers by the White House in 2014. He holds a degree in Mechatronics and User Interaction Design from Northwestern University. When unplugged Aaron is likely either carving stone or surfing.Member Yvonne Kwan found Aaron and his company Sproutel featured by the official U.S. White House Instagram. We're excited and incredibly honored to have Aaron take time out of his busy schedule to speak to our Rotary club about the origins of Sproutel and the exciting innovation they are working on!
Members and guests, please join me in welcoming Aaron Horowitz!
Special thanks to member Yvonne Kwan for introducing Aaron to our club!
Here's a detailed photo of Sproutel's Jerry the Bear below!
Related Links:
Want to Connect with Aaron?
We have asked Aaron to periodically check back on this meeting page during the week of this program, February 6, 2017 through February 12, 2017, and respond to comments as necessary. Feel free to leave a comment and direct it to Aaron at the bottom of this page.
From Aaron:"Interested in collaborating on the next big product for kids' health? Let's see what we can build together! Email us at info@sproutel.com"
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:
Wednesday, February 8 at 5 PM Pacific Time - Recording with Ashish Basuray and Roman Kazantsev, the Co-Founders of Nanolumina
Thursday, February 16, 2017 at 12 PM Pacific Time - Recording of Thuy Nguyen, President of Foothill College
Want to be one of our upcoming program speakers? Email president@siliconvalleyrotary.com with information about what you would like to speak about!
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.
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!
