Chu's Rotary Journal - Dec 03 2007

For your information, here are your current list of Board Executives and Directors:

Executives:

President                          Chu Wu

President Elect                  Peter Podovinikoff

Club Trainer                     Leo Nimsick   (instead of Past President)

Secretary                         Mike Storey

Treasurer                         Lynn Cameron

Directors:

Club Administration           Melissa Granum

Membership                      Peter Podovinikoff

Club Projects                    Marjorie Higginson

Rotary Foundation             Michael Cruise

Public Relations                 Kelly Guichon

Tonight, we approved the application for two new members:  Garry MacDonald and Jeff Norris.  Leo Nimsick and Peter Podovinikoff have sponsored these two new members, respectively.  We are excited to be able to have the opportunity to meet their spouses and induct them as members at our Christmas Dinner Party on Tuesday, December 11.  On membership, we are net plus 2 at our half way point, which is double our net plus 1 goal!  We are expecting to add a few more members by the March 31, 2008, target date.  We will need to attain at least net plus 1 at March 31, 2008, in order to be eligible to receive Rotary International President Wilf Wilkinson's Presidential Citation.

Speaking of Christmas Party, you can still sign up for it, if you haven't yet done so.  You can follow the link here: -- http://www.clubrunner.ca/CPrg/Home/eventitem.asp?cid=603&iid=34964&rtp=/CPrg/Home/homeD.asp

 -- Register Online or simply call Rotarian Melissa at Delta Town and Country Inn at 604-946-4404.

Our most exciting project at Delta Secondary School (DSS) is rapidly taking shape.  Rotarian and Past President Marjorie Higginson, who was a former Principal at DSS and retired as Assistant School Superintendent in Delta School District, has made tremendous progress since September.  She has met with Principal Ray Holmes for lunch, invited Ray to one of our meetings, had Ray come to our club as a guest speaker and attended with Melissa Granum the IFA (International Family Association) club meeting at DSS with the possibility of adopting this group as a Rotary Interact Club.  Keep up the good work Marjorie and Melissa!

Our October 9 guest speaker, Tom Williams of http://www.givemeaning.com/, the Wiz Kid who went to work at Apple Computer at age 14 was flown to Toronto and interviewed the following week on CBC's The Hour with George Stroumboulopoulos - "people you should meet."  He left behind cash, models and success to look for fulfillment at age 24! He is now only 28.   Here is the link to CBC's interview with Tom Williams:  http://www.cbc.ca/thehour/video.php?id=1764.     

November was The Rotary Foundation (TRF) Month.  Seven of our members and family attended the District Foundation Dinner on November 23.  At the Foundation Dinner John Thomas, Peter Podovinikoff, Mike Storey and I contributed enough to the Rotary Foundation to name 6 more Paul Harris Fellows.  In addition, Past President John and Lindae Thomas have agreed to join my wife Ruby and me to be Major Donors ($10,000 US or more) to the Rotary Foundation within the next couple of months.  This means the number of Major Donors in our Club will at least double in this Rotary Year.  Currently, PDG Michael and Beryl Cruise and PDG Leo Nimsick are our Club's Major Donors to the Rotary Foundation.  If any of you are interested to give to the Rotary Foundation at any level, please contact Michael Cruise, Leo Nimsick or me for more information.  It is our contributions to TRF that allow Rotary to extend its reach around the world.  Our recent guest speaker PDG Del Paterson announced at our meeting that Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has just committed a $100million matching challenge to TRF to raise $200million more to eradicate Polio. For more detail on this, please click the following link:  http://www.clubrunner.ca/dprg/dxhome/dxstoriestab/_storyitem.aspx?did=5040&index=3518&linkcat=4&tail=1&dir=f.  Together, we can indeed be the change that we want to see in the world.

This coming Sunday, December 9, will be the 4^th year where about a dozen members will be cooking and serving the Family and Peer Support Group's Christmas Dinner.  Past President Mike Storey is the coordinator of this project, where our members cook and serve an incredible feast for almost 100 physical and mentally challenged people in the Delta community.  Thanks to Mike, our Club has applied and received a District Simplified Grant of $1000 to match our Club's contribution of $1000 to buy some presents for this group, as well as renting some utensils so that our Club members won't have to wash dishes for 100 people this year!  Rotarian Brad Cooper will again lead the cooking of the turkey dinner starting early on Sunday morning and finishing late until all the meals have been served.  Brad has been negotiating with the Board for an equivalent of 3 Make-Ups for this long shift.

This year Christmas Day and New Year Day fall on Tuesdays.  We will take a two-week break from our Tuesday luncheons ...so December 18 will be our last Tuesday meeting in 2007.  For that meeting, DGND (District Governor Nominee Designate) Penny Offer will be our guest speaker.  This will be her first speech following her official appointment as our District Governor for the Rotary Year 2010-2011.  Penny will have an exciting program about future Rotary Leadership training opportunities.  Please show up for this last meeting of 2007 ...and bring a friend!

In this year of "Rotary Shares", I invite you again to think about being INCLUDED, INFORMED and INVOLVED - share your talents and success with other Rotarians and share Rotary with your family and friends.