Toronto: We've Been Expecting You!
This is the meeting for the week of March 26, 2018 through April 1, 2018This Meeting at a Glance:Program: Toronto: We've Been Expecting You!Program Description: Introduction to the host city for this summer's Rotary International Convention, Toronto.Speaker: Andrea TironeIs 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 Everyone!
Welcome members, guests and Rotarians around the world to this week’s meeting!
Rotary’s International Convention held in Toronto this year is right around the corner' and this week, we have Andrea Tirone speaking to our club about what wonderful things the beautiful city of Toronto has to offer. For those of you traveling there for the convention in June, I’m certain you will find this week's program very helpful, as Andrea has lived in Toronto for over 30 years. It is unfortunate that I won’t be able to make it out to the convention this year, but for those of you who will be going for the first time, it is definitely a life-changing experience! As always, if you have any questions you would like to ask Andrea after the program, please don’t hesitate to leave a comment in the Disqus section at the bottom.
In service,
Stephen Zhou,
PresidentRotary 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: "Spring has sprung! Here are some jokes to really wet your plants."What kind of garden does a baker have?
A flour garden!
What’s a baby chick’s favorite plant?
Egg-plants!
What did the big flower say to the little one?
You're really growing, bud!
Weekly Inspiration
Every week we start our meetings with a short video highlighting innovation, inspiration, entrepreneurship, or social change.
One morning, mailman Ferdinand Cheval stumbled across an interesting pebble on his delivery route. He picked it up, and from there, an obsession began. Using stones he collected on his routes, Cheval began working each night to create Le Palais Idéal, an 85-foot-long, 30-foot-high castle of grottos containing Chinese, Algerian and Northern European influences. Built by Cheval alone, entirely by hand, the palace took 33 years to complete. Now, it just might take your breath away.
For Members Only: Updates
Past Member Announcements:
Member name badges delayed but will be shipped out soon
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!
Past Events:
Online Happy Hour CatchupThis past Sunday we had our online happy hour social. We had several members join us! Here is what we learned about everyone when we asked them for a highlight from the past few weeks:
Carlos - encouraged a guy to start his autobiography
Raquel - took part in a great model UN program in New York
Ange - attended an epic Rotaract's 50th Birthday Party following a peace event
Brett - scored a super-upgrade while doing some work in Melbourne at the same time its F1 race was happening
Cecelia - on her way to a great friend's birthday party
Mitty - just visited Amsterdam, Brussels, and Luxembourg and was completely charmed by the cities!
Andrew - started a new job working on grants to help homeless people find mental health services
Rushton - read Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe and found it amazingly cool
Chris - bad wifi kept him from joining in the activity, so whatever his cool recent event was, it wasn't the wifi in Vegas where he was staying
Very cool! We hope you all can join our next online happy hour social!
Upcoming Events:
All times are Pacific Time! (San Francisco time)
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 we had a couple of happy dollars contributions. Here they are!Member Rushton Hurley made a $10 donation to happy dollars. Here's what Rushton had to say:"Wasn't planning to donate, but saw Catherine's note about having managed to drop 25 pounds, and wanted to toss in some kudos for that. Way to go, Catherine!"Member Rory Olsen made a $15 donation to The Rotary Foundation - Polio Plus Fund. Here's what Rory had to say:"The reconstruction of my home is continuing. Please apply my gift to Polio Plus."So what are you happy about? Share with us below to help with doing good around the world.
Program: Toronto: We've Been Expecting You!
Every week we bring to you a new program on innovation, education, technology, and humanitarian service. This week our program is about Toronto, Canada, where this year's annual Rotary International Convention will be taking place this coming June. If you aren't sure about attending the convention yet, we hope that you'll find some reasons to go in this week's program segment featuring guest speaker Andrea Tirone of the Rotary Club of Toronto.
Having lived in Toronto for over 30 years, Andrea will showcase the best the city has to offer both on and off the Convention track. From its eclectic neighbourhoods to its vibrant food and entertainment scene, Andrea is looking forward to sharing some of the most interesting and not-to-be-missed experiences all Rotarians will enjoy.Born in Toronto, Andrea has been engaged in community and international service, both in Canada and abroad, through Rotary International for the past 14 years. Andrea is the Chair of the 2018 Rotaract Host Committee and is very excited to welcome the Rotary Family to Toronto in June.Members and guests, please welcome Andrea to our meeting!
Share with us your thoughts in the comments at the bottom of this meeting page!If you have questions for Andrea, 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!
