Wed Aug 26 - SOS Children's Village, BC by Michelle Bernard
SOS Children's Village is the world’s largest organization caring for orphaned and abandoned children. SOS meant socially responsible society (Societas Socialis in Latin). The first SOS Village was founded in 1949 in Austria by Hermann Gmeiner. The BC Village was founded by our club's long time friends Gilles and Lois Bouchard in 1999.
SOSBC provides family-based foster care for children and youth in the communities through the Village model. This includes support to caregivers, youth, and kids through residential services, program and support services, and wrap around care.
Michelle is the Director of Development, she is passionate about raising funds, educating and advocating for children and youth who are currently, or have the potential to be, vulnerable and at risk. Read more...
Zoom online Meeting 12 noon to 1:15pm (Members and friends, looking forward to see you)
Join from PC, Mac, Linux, iOS or Android, follow this "link" to launch Zoom or download and run zoom.
Meeting ID: 429 869 456 Password: 202020
You can also install zoom app in your phone from google play/apple store first. Then click the "link."
Or iPhone one-tap (CA Toll): +17789072071,429869456# or +14388097799,429869456#
Many thanks to our generous members and friends who contributed prizes to Big Game Day. Many thanks to our honorary members Tony and Nancy Yurkovich, Joan Nielsen and Kenny Chiu. We extend a big welcome to our guests today, Madeline Hermary, PDG Penny Offer and District Learning Committee Chair Jan Gisborne.
Imagine Honorary Member Tony Yurkovich, being in Rotary for nearly 60 years. Imagine the stories he could tell. Today was a special gift to our club, Tony and Nancy provided some background and history, capturing a fraction of those sixty years as well as detailing how our Rotary Hospice House started as a concept, and developed into a 10 bed facility, right here in Richmond. The members of the Rotary Club of Richmond turned that concept over a span of 15 or so years, into reality in 2005. (Rotary Hospice from Dream to Reality..) Tony, a retired family doctor and Nancy, a retired nurse have dedicated their lives to service, for Rotary, for Rotary Hospice, for the Richmond Hospital, for Pathways and numerous other local community endeavours. Richmond is fortunate to have such a generous family so deeply involved in local charities.
L: Tony & Nancy in the 1960's Rotary R: Tony recognized as Honorary member
What was Big Game Day? A series of questions was posed to our attendees, questions about our Club and about Rotary in general. After the top scores were identified, bottles of wine were announced as prizes to James Hsieh and Chris Browne. But everyone was a winner today because we had randomly awarded prizes for all participants.
Join us Wed Aug 26 as we will hear a presentation by SOS Children's Village BC. You folks will remember the fine people who take foster children into their families and provide them with a care and attention that they would not otherwise receive. A great organization, for whom we helped organize two fundraising walks. Click the link next week at Noon here.
Classification: Media Commentator, joined the Rotary Club of Richmond Jul 1, 2014, was member of Vancouver Chinatown Club since 1981.
James is a well seasoned Rotarian with almost 40 years of Rotary experience behind him. He served as Club President from 2016 to 2018. He was also Chair of the Richmond Rotary Foundation. He is the "go to" person if we want to find out rules and protocol of Rotary. In his year as president, our club started the tradition of hosting Lunar New Year Gala celebrating this joyful event with family and friends.
James is a Public Interest Director with The Immigration Consultants of Canada regulatory Council (ICCRC) since June 2017. He is a CPA-CA (Chartered Professional Accountant) and has retired from teaching accounting and leading the related Co-op Education development at Simon Fraser University in 2008 after 24 years of tenure. He has also worked with Public accounting firms for over ten years mainly in the field of audit and taxation.
After his retirement, he served six years as an appointed Board member with Vancouver Coastal Health Authority B.C. During that period, he was an active member of the Finance & Audit Committee, Board member of Health Employers Association of BC (HEABC) and Chair of Finance & Audit Committee of HEABC. He is currently also a member and the Vice-Chair of the Richmond Intercultural Advisory Committee appointed by the Richmond City Council as a representative of citizens since November 2013.
In his spare time, James enjoys playing Badminton, swimming, hiking, Ball Room Dancing, singing, Martial Arts, traveling, attending cultural events and collecting unique and special things. James recently donated a valuable 3 foot Wuikinuxv totem pole to UBC’s Museum of Anthropology (MOA). The pole was carved by well-known indigenous artist, Frank Hanuse.
Since March, clubs have been forced to abandon their weekly face-to-face meetings in favour of meeting online. Some, sadly, have not met at all. Can Rotary capture the thousands of people who volunteered during the pandemic or will the ‘new normal’ be – just normal?
It is important to get new members into our Rotary, but we should be looking at retaining our members at this challenging time. We are missing our face to face fellowship and networking. If you have any ideas how we can find a ways to get together, please share with our Club Service Chair Angie or President James.
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