Fresh Lifelines for Youth (FLY)
This Meeting’s HighlightsProgram: Fresh Lifelines for Youth (FLY)Program Description: Learn more about the non-profit that is changing the lives of youth by providing a lifeline for them.Speaker: Susie Rivera, Director of Director of Client Engagement & Special Events at FLYMeeting for the week of March 27, 2017 to April 2, 2017Is 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
Club Jam Session is Next Week!
New to our meetings? 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!Members and guests, welcome to our last meeting in March! Both Spring and April are upon us! In different cultures, Spring has represented a time for cleaning your homes. The origins of Spring Cleaning are unclear, but some historians believe its origins are associated with the Jewish holiday of Passover or the Christian and Catholic holidays of Lent and Great Lent. Regardless of the origins, Spring can be a wonderful time to not only clean your home, but also do your first quarter reflection on any New Year Resolutions you may have committed to this year. Goals are meant to be evaluated periodically, and when necessary, adjusted. What's a personal goal that you have set for 2017? Share it with us in the comments! You never know when someone else is working on the same goal, and there's room for collaboration.This week's program comes from a local San Francisco bay area non-profit that plays a massive role in positively impacting the lives of youth in our area. When I have the opportunity to listen to these amazing stories and missions, I often wonder what our world would look like if we only had more good people taking the time to do tremendous work. I'm glad to be part of Rotary, because I wouldn't otherwise know about many of these organizations and the speakers we have listened to over the course of our club's history. As an eClub where a good portion of our members live outside of the Silicon Valley, we are always working on improving the experience for both our members and our clubs. An experience that I love being able to do at in-person meetings is connecting directly with speakers afterward. For all of our members and guests, I would love to get your feedback about how you would like to see that process improve. We currently ask our speakers to visit back and reply to comments, but there's always the opportunity to take that to another level and to organize a separate virtual networking session on Zoom video conference. Share with us in the comments about what would you like to see happen!Also, members -- don't forget about the Club Content Jam Session this Sunday, April 2nd!
Yours in service,
Mitty Chang,
PresidentRotary eClub of Silicon Valleypresident@siliconvalleyrotary.com
Weekly Inspiration: Korea's Yeot Candy Master
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 about Korea's Yeot candy master!
In Chungju, South Korea, Bong-Seok Kang and his family carry on a generations-long tradition of a sweeter sort than most: they make yeot, a taffy-like candy that dates back more than 1,000 years. Originally a treat for the privileged classes, the stretchy confection is more popular than ever among everyone, and Kang’s authentic version is based on a 140-year-old family recipe. Hand-pulling the candy to get the perfect texture and making sure that his yeot is never too sweet is a legacy of craftsmanship that Kang values highly, and all it takes is one bite to see why.
There's something amazing about watching a master of their craft at work. Is there a craft you have mastered or plan on mastering? Share it with us in the comments a little about what you're working on! Anything from candy to photography to toys!
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: Here are some spring time jokes for you, since it's that spring break time for many schools here in the states. (And I'm a teacher, so naturally my schedule revolves around the school schedule and their breaks.)
Spring has sprung!Haha get it? Think about it.
Can February March?No, but April May.
What did the big flower say to the small flower?What's up, bud?
How do trees get on the internet?They log in!
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 program of our club where we match our members with other Rotarians that they haven't had a chance to really get to talk to. This program is organized by member Tzviatko Chiderov.
In this week's Coffee with a Rotarian, we are featuring the continuation of the coffee meetup between Nate Gildarts and Mitty Chang, with Mitty's story this week. We are also featuring the coffee meetup between members Chris Cochrane (Toronto, Canada) and Nicole Pham (California, USA)!
Last week, member Nate Gildart shared with us what he had to say about chatting with Mitty. Here's Mitty's reply about Nate:
From Mitty:
"I had the wonderful opportunity with connecting with Nate again! Nate is one of our club members and has lived in Tokyo, Japan for many years. Originally from Halifax, Nova Scotia in Canada, Nate works as a history teacher and technology coach at Seisen International School in the Tokyo area with his wife. In Nate's free time, he is also the lead vocalist and guitar player of a Tokyo-based band. Here's a photo (to the right) of Nate in action with his band!
The first time I had the chance to meet Nate in-person was in June last year in Tokyo. It was pretty refreshing to meet up with a fellow Rotarian in Tokyo, but also just hang out with someone who spoke fluent Japanese and English at the same time. (My Japanese vocabulary is about 12 words.) Beyond living in Japan, Nate is also a world traveler and has been to many countries.
Something new about Nate is that he is actually moving out of Tokyo soon, and accepting a position at another school in Japan. Nate has always been a technology and a history buff, so I'm sure he'll continue teaching students and making a positive impact on young lives wherever he is. Nate also shares with us some pretty awesome 360 videos that he has been recording lately. If you're ever planning on visiting Japan, I'd encourage you to reach out to Nate for advice. Who knows, if the stars align, you might be able to meet up in-person too! Nate is full of some great history facts and random pieces of information that will probably come in handle at a future trivia night. I'm grateful to know Nate, and glad he's part of our club!"
Now we are featuring a coffee meetup between members Chris Cochrane and Nicole Pham!
Here's what Chris had to say about Nicole:
Here's what Nicole had to say about Chris:
From Nicole: "I was so lucky to be able to have an animated and entertaining conversation with Chris. He was a city slicker who moved to a small town in the middle of no-where in his country of Canada. At first, he had an unexciting impression of Rotary due to to the lackluster club meeting he had attended. After joining another club and discovering e-clubs, it brought him to the Rotary E-Club of Silicon Valley in which he is a charter member. I learned so much about Chris's travels and he gave me advice about how to deal with the cold as I am a California girl born and raised who doesn't know how to deal with temperatures below 50 degrees Fahrenheit. He is semi-retired but works when a project interests him! Chris is SUPER cool and is in the media/film industry. I thoroughly enjoyed his anecdotes!!!"
More Coffee with a Rotarian featured stories coming soon! Members, it's never too late to join in on Coffee with a Rotarian. You can sign up by reaching out to Tzviatko!
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.
Reminder - April 2nd!
Reminder for the first club content jam session next week, Sun. April 2nd! See events section. Both online and in-person!
Reminder - 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!
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
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!
Club Jam Session in San Jose - Sunday, April 2, 2017 from 11 AM to 2 PM
Members! We are putting together a club content jam session in San Jose. Join your fellow members and club leaders as we have a work party creating some of the content for the upcoming club meetings. Snacks, lunch, drinks, and fun times included! Location will be sent to members.
Charity Chili Cook Off for Justin's House - Sunday, April 23, 2017
For the past two years, our club has been volunteering at Justin's House. The mission of Justin’s House is to provide a variety of services that inspire youth to live beyond abuse and addiction. Our club is looking for members and guests who are interested in volunteering this year on Sunday, April 23, 2017 for their annual Chili Cookoff in Santa Clara, California. Interested members or guests, please contact our event chair, Rushton Hurley at rushton@gmail.com - thank you!
Our club's event chair: Rushton Hurley
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! Members, be sure to let President Mitty know the dates you will be there!
Our club's event chair: Mitty Chang
Club Charity Fundraiser - Sunday, August 6, 2017 at Retzlaff Vineyard in Livermore, California
Save the date for Sunday, August 6, 2017 for our club's first annual charity fundraiser! This delicious food and wine lunch event will indulge your taste buds while we enjoy amazing company, live music, silent auctions, auctions, and ticket drawings. More info coming soon.
Our club's event chair: Andrew Taw
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 dollars went towards our club's general fund. Here were the happy dollars donations from last week:
Thank you to member Rory Olsen for his $15 donation, to be donated to The Rotary Foundation's PolioPlus Fund! Rory had this to say:"My shower and my A/C have all been fixed. Life is good! Please apply my gift to Polio Plus."
Thank you to member Brian Liddicoat for his generous $15 donation! Brian had this to say:"Off to Napa for a 2-week construction law trial. Can't wait! For a trial attorney, a trial is the most exciting part of working life, a real high, like performing in a stage play."
Thank you all for your donations last week!
This week's donations will go towards supporting club operations!
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 the Upendo Mmoja project in Tanzania:
Member Yvonne Kwan (California, USA) had this to say:"So much good stuff in this week's meeting! The foodie in me is drooling over the Great Big Story video. Mac and cheese, cake, sushi, brunch... those are seriously on my list of all-time favorite food things! Brian, thank you for that joke! I definitely LOL'ed at the end! Nate, totally cool video!! I love that in the process of telling us about Mitty, we also got a glimpse into your life as well. Abigail, thank you so much for sharing the Upendo Mmoja Project with us! I absolutely love it when Rotary helps us find something that we're passionate about -- it's one of the awesome things about the organization. I also love that this project has a focus on self-sustainability. The reading lights that Mitty mentioned are from a project called Lighting for Literacy: http://www.lightingforliter.... Local youth construct these reading light boxes to send to places that need light. I think this could be a great opportunity to reach out to some Interact/Rotaract clubs in our area over here and potentially partner up to support Upendo Mmoja!"
Guest Maxi Bustos had this to say:"Great meeting! My first one after almost a year of Rotary inactivity. Abigail, congratulations, your efforts are really inspiring! Keep doing great work! :)"
Member Shags Shagrin (California, USA) had this to say:"Another fun meeting to attend and a great program! I remember an old (bad boy) joke about animal husbandry, but I know better to keep my mouth...and keyboard...on silent mode! For the Betty Crocker video, the last time the company put together a composite of BC for the 75th anniversary of her introduction, they used an amalgamation of 75 women across the USA for the image. One selected was a friend of mine, which was a great thing! Regarding the salmon shushi/sashimi piece -- II thought the sushi was the seasoned rice and the fish with it was either nigiri if on the rice pad or sashimi if on the side. Nonetheless, the most melt n your mouth and flavor wonderful for me are salmon and yellowtail (hamachi) Plus tuna at times. Most of all of my favorites is uni, which is sea urchin naughty-bits!"
Member Chris Cochrane (Toronto, Canada) had this to say:"Brian... A quaking good joke! Nate, you've raised the bar for club coffee meet video. Game on! Excellent programs. Looking forward to April 2 gathering."
Guest Bec Weragoda (Sydney, Australia) had this to say:"Thanks for another great meeting! Betty Crocker is also a significant brand in Australia; had heard the fun fact re the egg, thought had no idea she wasn't a real person! Love a great marketing campaign. Super impressed by Nate's club coffee meet video! Had no idea you studied PR Mitty! Thanks for sharing your story Abigail, will keep posted via Facebook."
Member Heather Shaw (California, USA) had this to say:"Abigail it's great that your project will be self sustainable shortly --all that hard work will continue on and hopefully you can continue to visit the place you luv so much"
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!Tip: If you participate in the monthly photo contest via the comments, you're much more likely to be featured in the next week's meeting! Guests can participate too! Read our Members segment of our meeting to learn more about the theme for this month.
Program: Fresh Lifelines for Youth (FLY)
Every week we bring to you a new program on innovation, education, technology, and humanitarian service. This week our guest is Susie Rivera, Director of Client Engagement & Special Events at Fresh Lifelines for Youth (FLY).
In this talk, Susie will be sharing with us the origin of the Fresh Lifelines for Youth (FLY) program, their mission, along with a story with her special guest, Evelyn.Susie Rivera earned her B.S. in Criminal Justice Administration and Sociology from San Jose State University where she maintained a 4.0 average, was a member of the National Dean’s List, President Scholar list, National Criminal Justice Honor Society, and Golden Key Honor Society. She was one of two Outstanding Student Award recipients among her entire San Jose State University graduating class. Also, Susie received her Master in Justice Studies where her thesis focused on the effects of incarceration on Latino families where she continues to do research when the opportunity arises. Susie received the Hispanic Heritage Leadership Award from the San Francisco 49ers. In addition, Susie obtained her Juris Doctorate and her Certification as a Professional Coactive Coach (CPCC) and a Victim Offender Mediator. Additionally, Susie has completed The Fund Raising School receiving certificates in Principles & Techniques of Fundraising, Annual Sustainability and Developing Major Gifts.Susie currently serves at the Director of Client Engagement and Special Events and has served as the Santa Clara County Director of Programs from 2010-2013, the Director of High Touch Programs from 2006-2010, the Peer Leader Program Director from 2004-2006, a Peer Leader Case Manager in 2003-2004, and worked in FLY’s Mentor Program from 2001-2003. Prior to her employment at FLY, Susie was a volunteer FLY mentor. Additionally, Susie is a Lecturer at San Jose State University for classes titled Drugs and Society, Juvenile Delinquency & Justice, Justice Management and Ethics, Media and Justice, Corrections and Society, Penal Policy, and JS100W/HPRF writing work shop. Susie is passionate about youth development and helping them see their full potential in this world. She is a life-long learner and believes heavily in professional and personal growth. She is fluent in Spanish and conversational in three other languages. Susie says about FLY, “FLY is unique and special as we are about coactively building the future for our young people and not allowing barriers or past mistakes to block the access to opportunities, All the while, we are playing a part in unlocking the sacred power and greatness in each young person.” Susie joined FLY in 2001.
Members and guests, please join us in welcoming Susie from FLY!
Related Links
Official website: flyprogram.org
Like us on Facebook! https://www.facebook.com/flyprogram
Ask a question. Leave a comment!
Have a question for Susie? Leave a comment or a question in the comments below! Or just tell us how your week has been!
Upcoming Program 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:
Tuesday, March 28, 2017 at 10 AM Pacific Time, with speaker Kuda Nyemba about Econet
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!
