Making CHAMPS in Rotary
This is the meeting for the week of March 12, 2018 through March 18, 2018This Meeting at a Glance:Program:Making CHAMPS in RotaryProgram Description:Get "On Board" with Surfers Unite Rotarian FellowshipSpeaker: Brett Morey 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 President Stephen:
Hello fellow Rotarians and guests! Welcome to the Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley’s meeting for this week.Hello E-Club Rotarians,I want to thank all those who voted and especially those who stepped up and ran for a club leadership position! This club would not be where it is today without the efforts of each and every one of you. I am pleased to announce that elections have concluded and we will be sending out a message to the club this week to announce the newly elected positions. Be on the lookout for an email from Andrew with the election winners. Besides that, I hope you all enjoy this weeks meeting!
In service,
Stephen Zhou
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!”
Joke of the week -Rocks
From Yvonne: “I spent this past weekend at the Rocky Mountain Rotaract Summit in Oklahoma, so here are some rocky laughs."What did the shy pebble want to be when he grew up?A little boulder.Do you want to hear a joke about the mountain?Nah, you’ll never get over it.
Weekly Inspiration: Scars Won’t Stop This Bodybuilder
Every week we start our meetings with a short video highlighting innovation, inspiration, entrepreneurship, or social change. This week our video features an inspirational story about the human condition, from Great Big Story.
When Isaiah Griffin was 17 years old, he developed a skin condition called keloids that left his body covered in scars. The extreme changes affected his self-esteem and he began to battle depression. But Griffin stood strong and started dedicating himself to the gym. Today, he’s a bodybuilder, on his way to becoming a world champion. For Griffin, his is a journey of self-improvement, not one of medals and competitions. With only the sky as his limit, there’s nothing that stands in his way from reaching the top.
World of Rotary: Happy 50th Birthday, Rotaract!
There are over 1.2 million members in Rotary in over 168 countries. Rotary is more than just our club; it's an interconnected, international family of changemakers and people of action. This segment of our meeting is dedicated to sharing a piece of the Rotary world outside of our club.
Rotaract 50th Birthday
Rotaract Turns 50
50 years ago on March 13, 1968, the first Rotaract Club was chartered. Every year, the week that March 13 falls on has been celebrated as World Rotaract Week. This year is little bit more special because this year, Rotaract turns 50 years old.Rotaract clubs and Rotary clubs around the world are celebrating Rotaract in their communities, and growing Rotaract will be an emphasis for the upcoming Rotary year under Rotary International President-elect Barry Rassin's presidential goals.Our club has worked with Big West Rotaract MDIO in the past to help support and sponsor the Rotaract training events for the Rotaract club leaders of the west coast of the USA and Canada. We are proud of what Rotaractors locally and internationally have done and continue doing, and thrilled to have Rotaract alumni as members of our club.If you haven't heard about Rotaract before, you can learn more about it here.If you haven't heard about Big West Rotaract MDIO before, you can more about it on their website here.If you are planning on going to the Rotary International Convention in Toronto this June 2018, consider arriving a day early to attend the Rotaract Preconvention happening Friday, June 22 and Saturday, June 23, 2018.
Happy Birthday, Rotaract!
Follow more about what's going on with the 50th Anniversary of Rotaract by visiting the official Rotaract 50th Anniversary Website by clicking here.
Were you a Rotaractor or are you a Rotaractor? Share with us your favorite Rotaract moments in the comments for this week's meeting.
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.
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!
Upcoming Events:
All times are Pacific Time! (San Francisco time)
Online Rotary Hour Social on March 24, 2018 at 5 PM Pacific Time
Save the date to join Andrew Taw and Brett Sham for an online social that spans the Pacific! There will be many stories, much laughter, and maybe a beer or two because we can assure you that it is certainly 5:00pm somewhere. President-Elect Andrew will send out a link for members the day of the event.
Time: 5:00pm - 6:00pm PST
Date: March 24, 2018
March 31, 2018 – Service Project: Event Assistance with Gardeners, Landscapers, & Urban Farmers at The Plant Exchange in Oakland, CA
Join us for a lovely morning to help set up for The Plant Exchange, an event that encourages reuse, recycling and organic living. This community-wide free event is where gardeners, landscapers, urban farmers, and beginners come to exchange plants, equipment and information about ways to make our urban environment more sustainable, aesthetic, and healthy.
Set-up is from
8:00am – 12:00pm.
The event is from
12:00 – 4:00pm.
The plan is for us to help set up and to check out the event during the first half hour or hour of the event before we head over to lunch (location: TBA). Please remember to dress comfortably in closed-toe shoes.
The event location:
Ability Now Bay Area
Please contact President-elect Andrew Taw at pe@siliconvalleyrotary.com if you can attend.
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 Rory Olsen for his generous $15 donation to ending polio through The Rotary Foundation’s Polio Plus fund. Rory had this to say:“The walls in my house are almost ready for painting. Please apply my gift to Polio Plus!”Thank you to member Brian Liddicoat for his generous $15 donation! Brian had this to say:“New family rule: Dad needs to stay off the new hoverboard. It's designed to entertain children and drop foolish grownups on their rear end...”Thank you to member Rushton Hurley for his $20 donation! Rushton had this to say:“I managed to make it through a very busy February - rock and roll!”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 Students Rising Above:
Nathan Dudden said,
"This is my first ever Rotary e-Club meeting and I am thoroughly impressed. I met Mitty at the Rocky Mountain Rotaract Summit this last week and he suggested I look into this club. I am definelty going to check out the other meetings that are available. Great presentation Carolina, Cindy, and Gerry, thank you for sharing the SRA program with us."
Mark Dohn (Club Member) said,
"Box Wars. I'm in! What a great organization! I love hearing everyone describe the program as holistic. Getting into a school is just the tip of the iceberg and there are so many other stressors in school. Thanks for sharing!"
John Lozano (Club Member) said,
"Thank you Carlonina, Cindy, and Gerardo for your presentation. I remember hearing about the program years ago so I enjoyed hearing about the great work SRA continues to do, now almost 20 years later. Keep up the great work!"
Brett Sham (Club Member) said,
"I'm travelling back and forth to Melbourne at the moment so might have to see when the next box war is on!
Carlonina, Cindy and Gerardo, thanks for presenting and sharing your stories with us. The work you do sounds like it is truely valued by those that benefit from it. It seems to be opening so many doors and creating opportunities that wouldn't otherwise have been possible."
Andrew Taw (Club Member) said,
"Carolina, Cindy, and Gerry, thank you so much for your presentation! I used to work in education in Oakland for a number of years and a few of my students were beneficiaries of SRA. Thank you so much for what you do!"
Rebecca Frysaid,
"Thanks so much to Carolina, Cindy and Gerry for your insightful and inspiring presentation on Students Rising Above. It’s incredible to see the educational and life outcomes you’re achieving through this holistic program. Many immigrant students in Australia face the same disparities. I hope our local organisations can learn from your model and provide the support and partnerships required for sustainable outcomes.
Ps. Why am I not surprised Boxwars was invented in Australia by a bunch of mates over a couple of bevies. Aussie, Aussie, Aussie! 🇦🇺"
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: Making CHAMPS in Rotary
Every week we bring to you a new program on innovation, education, technology, and humanitarian service. This week our guest speaker is Brett Morey.
Brett Morey has been a Rotarian since 2002 when he joined the Rotary Club of Brentwood in the San Francisco Bay Area. He has served as Membership Chair, Community Service Chair, Board of Directors, received the Humanitarian of the Year Award in 2005 for Disaster Relief Efforts following the Hurricane Katrina and Rita in New Orleans, joined the Rotary Club of La Jolla Golden Triangle in San Diego in 2008 and served as Public Relations Chair, Fundraising Chair, Board of Directors, President 2013-14, Foundation Chair and currently serves as Rotarian Advisor to the UCHS Interact Club, Youth Service Chair for District 5340 and Founder & Chair of Surfers Unite Rotarian Fellowship (SURF). Brett has been surfing for over 34 years and started SURF as a way to take a hobby and replicate youth-oriented events he has done throughout the San Diego community with other non-profits. SURF exists to CONNECT Rotarians, Rotaractors & Interactors around the world, HOST Learn to Surf Events and Host Rotarians, ATTRACT younger people to Rotary, MENTOR others, hold PADDLE OUT for POLIO events and SHARE the Aloha spirit. Together we can make CHAMPS in Rotary while creating fun projects and social events. Learn how you can get involved and join this fun and exciting Rotary Fellowship.On a personal note, Brett graduated with a B.S. in Business Administration Management in 1994 from California State University San Marcos and spent 12 years of his career in the automotive industry as a factory rep and at corporate for American Honda Motor Company and Fleet Director for Toyota. In 2011 he joined a chemical engineering firm, Total Power Inc. as Director of Sales for North America. The company works with power generation, mining, transportation and manufacturing firms to reduce toxic emissions and fuel consumption with 100% Biodegradable Synthetic Fuel Additives. Brett has been married to his college sweetheart for over 23 years and they have two adult children who are students at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and Chapman University. Holly has been an educator for over 20 years teaching K-6, served as Principal of Schools K-8 and has a Masters in Educational Leadership in addition to an Administrative Credential. Brett's career has taken them around the country however being back in San Diego the past 10 years has been extremely rewarding.
Members and guests, please welcome Brett Morey to our meeting!
Share with us your thoughts in the comments at the bottom of this meeting page!If you have questions for Brett, 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.
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!
