Jeff Norris from the Royal Columbian Hospital Foundation was our guest speaker.
Jeff is a member of the Ladner Rotary Club and has been involved in non profit fundraising for his whole career. His first project was for the Heart and Stroke Foundation’s Big Bike Tour in Saskatchewan. He loves his work and finds it very gratifying. When people are making a donation they are doing it for personal reasons and are doing it from their hearts. This makes them feel great Jeff says and that is the rewarding part of his job.
Jeff worked at St Paul’s hospital for 8 years before joining The RCH Foundation. At St Paul’s he got to experience the benefits that foundation fund raising can have. Jeff helped organize a golf tournament that was to raise money for hospital equipment. One of the pieces of equipment purchased was a monitor for babies in the delivery room. Jeff was starting a family at the time and when his wife was at St Paul’s delivering their daughter that piece of equipment was used and both mom and baby were fine.
The Royal Columbian Hospital is the oldest hospital in BC at 152 years! First built be the Royal Engineers the hospital now serves the Fraser Health region which is from Burnaby to Boston Bar which has a population of 1.8 million people. Only 13% of the 1patients to RCH come from New Westminster. Royal Columbian Hospital has the busiest cardiac care centre in the province. The cath lab at RCH does as many procedures as VGH and St Pauls combined.
The RCH is also a top trauma hospital, top neuro sciences hospital and top neo-natal hospital. There are over 1250 brain surgeries done annually and 85% of those are unscheduled. The hospital`s neo-natal ICU is the busiest in Canada, deliverying 800 `premies`` annually.
The foundation was started 43 years ago and uses the funds raised to create new programs and buy new equipment. Often times foundation iniatives bring new technology into the hospital prior to it becoming mainstream. For example, the foundation purchased the first CT scanner in the province in 1978. The foundations challenge going forward is the 1.5 billion dollar RCH expansion and a goal of increasing services by 70%.
I cannot put into words what getting the morning "hello" videos has meant to me.
On top of that the visits from Roy, and Bob and occassionally Patrick...... Your visits give me such a huge lift. And notes with love and kindness in them. They can turn a disastrous day into a day of joy and sunshine.
When I was approached to join this club I saw something among its members. That something is the love and care I receive from you all in person, on the great videos and by the notes I receive from some of you.
You can reach down into my despair and put me in front of a great day.
What incredible superpowers. I'm so glad you all use them for good not evil!
From: Les Hodgkins [mailto:les@statusemb.com]
Sent: Tuesday, June 02, 2015 9:33 AM
To: Roy Prevost
Cc: Alana McAllister-Hoem
Subject: Re: From the gang
Thanks for the hello!
Hello back to all my Rotary friends.
Our very old new house is being raised today for a new foundation.
We are getting our fill of lobster but miss our annual feed of spot prawns.
My fishing dates will be in August so will visit then.
Kelly reminds the club that we sponsor a student in Kenya. She is doing well in school and has a B average. She has written the club to tell us how she is. If there are any club members that can find away to write her back she would love to hear from her friends in Canada. Andrew's daughters are corresponding with her.
It is Lauren Kelly here. For those who I didn’t meet or don’t remember me, I am that crazy Australian exchange student from 2007. Since exchange I have graduated from both high school and University. I completed University with a Bachelors in Marketing and Tourism/Hospitality in 2013 and have continued on into a career in IT. I am currently working as an IT analyst with Accenture, specialising on a project for The Australian Department of Health which will digitalize Australian’s health records and streamline the entire health industry.
Whilst I am writing to check in on how everybody is doing, I am also writing to talk about a challenge!
In August, myself and three team mates will be walking 100km through challenging Australian bushland to raise money and awareness for Oxfam. The event is Oxfam Trailwalker.
Teams of four enter this event and have 48hours to walk or run the 100km trail, although my team is aiming to complete the challenge in under 24hours. It is very likely that we will walk through the night without break and complete the track with no sleep. The event is to raise vital funds for Oxfam; an independent, secular, non-government organisation working in more than 28 countries.
My team, the Dino Waddler’s, are hoping to raise over $4000 to help some of the worlds’ poorest. The funds raised will assist Oxfam in continuing to, deliver support to orphans and people with HIV/AIDS in South Africa, educate people in Laos of efficient farming and improve Indigenous health and wellbeing in regional Australia, plus many more worthwhile projects across the globe.
I will be going the distance and I hope that you are either able to support me individually or as a club in this massive challenge. Please look at the map below for reference as to how far 100km actually is in reference to you current Club location. This is the same distance is running to Whistler (as the crow flies).
This is not going to be an easy challenge and I really hope that you are able to consider getting behind me and supporting this crazy decision I have decided to make. This is the Crazy Aussie coming out again! I urge you to either support as a club or individually as this is a very valuable cause which supports many communities globally. Furthermore, if friends or family would be interested in supporting please refer my team to others. If you would like to sponsor myself and my team please follow the link or google ‘Oxfam Dino Waddler’s’; https://trailwalker.oxfam.org.au/team/home/20581.
I ask that you consider how your donations can assist those around the globe and please give generously to this cause.
Thank you.
Please fill me in on your lives and how you families are going.
There is a lot of exciting things going on. To find out more about the Grouse Grind Outing,Bursaries,Rotaract Burger Fundraiser,and more, click Read More:
President's Acknowledgments
Andrew President Andrew expressed his appreciation to his board for the great work done this year. Alana’s dedication to keeping our club finances in order helps us do the projects we do and keeps our club going.
Year End
Year End July 1st is year end for Rotary. At this time the club pays the dues for the upcoming year for each member to Rotary International. It’s a time that the club looks at the roster and asks it’s members to confirm their membership. We have until the 29th before we have to submit.
Bursaries
Palmer and Gillian attended the bursary presentations at New Westminster Senior Secondary School on June 4th. The Carol Hoem, Russell McLean and Richard Pearce bursaries were awarded.
Rotaract
The Rotaractors will be having a Burger and Beverage fundraiser on Thursday June 18th at the Heritage Grill. Proceeds will go to Nepal.
Student From Kenya
Kelly reminds the club that we sponsor a student in Kenya. She is doing well in school and has a B average. She has written the club to tell us how she is. If there are any club members that can find away to write her back she would love to hear from her friends in Canada. Andrew's daughters are corresponding with her.
Pot of Gold Jar Prize
Kathy Is looking for donations to purchase 12 bottles of wine for a Pot Of Gold Jar Prize.
Grouse Grind Outing
Bob is putting together a Grouse Grind group for this Wednesday. If you are interested in joining your Rotarian friends for a hike, meet at the De Dutch at 7:30 am. Bring $10 for the Skyride down.
Every Rotarian Every Year
Every Rotarian Every Year (EREY) is a goal of the club to have each member make a contribution to the foundation. The contribution can be as little as $5. By having each member make a contribution our club can maintain it’s 100% status for EREY. June 24th is the last day for contributions to count for this year.
Greeters are the first point of contact for guests, potential new members, and our members. Making all who attend our meeting feel welcome is the responsibility of all of us as we all take turns being greeters.
1. All greeters should arrive no later than 6:40 am and be prepared to assist in setting up and preparing for the meeting. If a greeter cannot be present for their day of duties, please contact another member to fill in for you.
2. Greeter # 1 will ensure that the sandwich board at the entrance
3. Greeter # 2 will ensure that flags and banners are in place.
4. Greeters should welcome all members and guests and make them comfortable with the proceedings and surroundings, i.e., seating, coffee, schedule of meeting etc.
5. Greeter # 1 greets and sits with the speaker to gather information useful in providing a respectful and meaningful introduction of the speaker and the program.
6. Greeter # 2 thanks the speaker and presents the certificate of appreciation for their presentation. NOTE: The certificate is NOT a contribution of $20.00 in the speakers’ name. We donate $20.00 to the Rotary Foundation in recognition of their presentation at the meeting.
7. Greeter # 3 assists in taking down the flags, banners and places the sandwich board back in the cupboard.
· Greeters may change duties amongst themselves if desired.
The Good Host program is how YOU can get involved - you are invited to help out by meeting, greeting and sharing cultural experiences with our Youth Exchange student. Clémence Samani and Kana Iida are here and deserves to see and experience Canada to the fullest.
Good Hosts are designated each week - but also can be anyone who would like to share some time with Clémence and Kana - a phone call, lunch, dinner with family, sporting event, cultural outing. However - all who host our youth exchange student unsupervised - even for a day event - must have submitted the YE police check paperwork to Cheryl Dean Thompson prior to hosting.
To get a hold of Clémence, simply call her at Cel: 778-829-2532 or email her at treetickler@yahoo.ca Clémence is currently staying with Paige Freeman Ph: 604-375-1582.
Special Note: Clémence has a severe allergy to fish, shell fish (anything that comes out of the water) and kiwi's. She carries an epi-pen just in case. (she's also allergic to cats)
To get a hold of Kana, simply call her at 604-783-2532 or email her at kumamonsansimai@outlook.jp Kana is currently staying with Pastor Sharon Tidd Ph: 604-864-1694.
Good Hosts for:
Jun 11 - Jun 17 Angiola De Stefanis, Paige Freeman, Gordon Hobbis
Jun 18 - June 24 Palmer Hoem, Nicholas Jordan, Sandy Jurick
