Bruce Beck is the current Director of Community Service with the Abbotsford Rotary Club. A multiple Paul Harris Fellow, he has been involved with the creation and growth of Starfish Packs since its inception in 2013. More about Bruce.
What started out in a single Abbotsford school with six weekly backpacks every Friday afternoon for kids in need and their families has now grown to nearly 500 students in Chilliwack, Abbotsford, Aldergrove, Langley, Delta, Coquitlam, Vernon and Duncan receiving weekly backpacks with other communities considering starting their own Starfish Packs program.
Starfish Packs was featured in the national Rotary Canada magazine in 2015. The program has recognized by several local and regional awards, including being named the Most Outstanding Community Service Project in Rotary District 5050 at last year’s District conference.
Members please check your email with procedure from Past President Keith. Calling all members to be there to cast your vote.
March 16 Meeting Highlights
Mina Haghighi, Business Development Manager of Futurpreneur Canada spoke to us about their national non-profit organization that provides financing, mentoring and support service to help entrepreneurs aged 18-39.
Mina indicated 70% of the jobs in Canada come from small businesses of which 12% overall are owned by those under 39 and 46% are female owners.
Futurepreneur Canada has three pillars of service:
Financing – up to $45,000 in start up financing
Mentoring – providing one-on-one mentoring with industry leaders for two years (they have over 3000 volunteer mentors)
Pre-launch Coaching - to help create a viable business plan
The organization is funded by the Federal government, the Business Development Bank of Canada as well as numerous sponsors. It has over 100 employees with offices across Canada including 7 offices in BC.
Our guests today were Lois and Giles Bouchard and Renita Raju. Lois and Giles are long time friends of our club and Paul Harris recipients. Lois mentioned while she and Giles have stepped back from chairing the annual SOS Children’s Village Run they are, as founders, still very much involved with SOSBC Childrens’ Village BC. Lois hopes our members will continue to support the run.
Renita is Past President and previous member Peter Raju’s daughter and a Rotarian with the Sunrise Club. She has attended several of our functions over the years. The third guest was Frank Lin from Taiwan, a guest of James Kao.
Thanks you to Dixie Tang for the St Patrick’s Day accessories and in particular the green moustaches. The fact that many of our members ‘wore’ these moustaches either as eyebrows, moustaches, or adornments of their glasses is a testimony to Dixie’s persuasive skills.
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