The Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival March 29 to April 25, 2024 is an annual event that celebrates the cherry blossom season. Sakura Days Japan Fair on April 13 & 14, which is part of the Festival, showcased Japanese food and cultural activities from Japanese food, sake, performances such as the Japanese tea ceremony, taiko drumming, theatre and games. Representatives of Rotary District 5040 participated in the Sakura Days Japan Fair over the two days.
The new Dave Hamilton Service Above Self Bursary will make it possible for students to reach for the stars and pursue their dreams after high school. This $1,000 bursary will be available to any high school graduate who is part of the Rotary family in one of our communities served by the 48 Rotary clubs of District 5040, from Greater Vancouver up the coast to Prince Rupert. This Bursary was established by Dave Hamilton, who passed away during his term as District 5040 Governor in 2020-21, and made possible by donations from Dave's home club in Tsawwassen and many Rotarians throughout the District and administered by Tanya Hall of the Sunshine Coast - Sechelt club, with District Governor Shirley-Pat Gale. Applications for the first year of this Bursary are due by May 15, 2024.
Happy Spring!!! As the sun begins to shine and the flowers bloom I hope this message finds all you members well throughout our District.
Congratulations to all the 2023-2024 Presidents for your leadership and inspiration you have provided your clubs. The service and fellowship this has fostered has been such a joy to witness. At this point in our Rotary year - 99 percent of club visits are done BUT I would love to come and attend any spring events, service activities, or even membership or fellowship opportunities as my schedule allows. We have less than three months left in our term together - please please reach out if there is anything I or the D5040 Team can do to support and strengthen your club!!
Achievements and activities of some of our clubs in Rotary District 5040 in February and March 2024.
NOTE: Because of ClubRunner limits on size of posted text the following report is a series of images rather than text to reduce size-- photo courtesy of The Northern View newspaper, Prince Rupert
Members of our Canadian Armed Forces, Veterans, Emergency Services Personnel and their families are brave individuals who sacrifice so much on a daily basis to protect our freedom and our everyday way of life. Since 2011 Honour House, in New Westminster, has been a refuge, a “home away from home” for those in service to stay, completely free of charge, when they travel to receive medical care and treatment in the Metro Vancouver area.
Since October 2019 Honour House has been providing service at Honour Ranch 10 kilometres south of Ashcroft, BC. On 120 acres of rolling hills overlooking the South Thompson River, Honour Ranch is a tranquil retreat, a place of education and personal growth. There the participants can discover cutting edge strategies in the treatment of operational stress injuries including anxiety, depression, and PTSD. The goal is to empower these heroes so they are better equipped to navigate the often debilitating emotional and physical stresses of selfless commitment to service. A new Corral & Horse Shelter at the Ranch is made possible through a contribution of $26,268 from the Rotary Club of New Westminster Royal City, including a $6,000 Rotary Foundation District Grant.
The Write to Read Project BC is an equal partnership between participating Indigenous communities, Rotarians, and volunteers with a range of diverse skills represented on the Write to Read Team. W2R-BC is a literacy equity project started by two friends, former BC Lieutenant Governor Hon. Steven Point and Past District 5040 Governor Bob Blacker, It works with rural and remote Frist Nations communities across British Columbia to build library learning centres.
W2R-BC partnerships bring together people who have an interest in participating in increasing literacy through equitable access to literacy materials for rural, isolated or under-served Indigenous communities. The collaboration creates relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities through shared power, and builds on a foundation of honesty, trust, and equitable respect in the larger pursuit of social justice and reconciliation through truth-telling and action.
Each year, Rotary awards up to 130 fully funded fellowships for dedicated leaders from around the world to study at one of Rotary’s peace centers. The Rotary Foundation partners with premier universities to offer master's degrees and professional development certificates in disciplines related to peace and development.
This opportunity is available to people living and working in our communities of BC, through our clubs in Rotary District 5040, from Greater Vancouver up the coast to Prince Rupert, and through other clubs and Districts in the province.
Clubs and districts have the power to shape the next generation of peace leaders both by recruiting and recommending peace fellows, and by keeping them engaged during and after their fellowships.
What drives you? What is your passion? What do you bring to the world? video (2:34) -- courtesy of Rotary Club of Silverdale, WA. Any Rotary club can use this video for its website and any communications using the link of embed code.
For the 250 students at Pemberton Secondary School, who participate in outdoor learning, sails to provide shade for those learning spaces have come as welcome relief in hot weather common in spring and early summer.
The school’s Parent Advisory Committee led the $12,694 project. It had the shade sails – to withstand wind and weather year-round – installed in 2021 over the outdoor classroom/gathering space which the School District had constructed in 2020. In the midst of COVID this project to support outdoor learning became a priority.
Rotary supported 30% of the project, including $2,500 from the Rotary Club of Pemberton and $1,250 from a Rotary District Grant. A gaming grant and community sponsorship provided another 30%.
Sea to Sky Community Services Society (SSCS) helps thousands of children, youth and adults through more than 40 community services and programs in BC’s Sea to Sky corridor, from Squamish up to Pemberton.
In 2019, the Society consulted with community members, including youth, to consider a new centre for youth, as an integrated, inclusive, non-judgmental space for young people, providing them access to a variety of supports.
In 2020, the Society received partial funding to replace a dilapidated (condemned) Youth Resource Centre with a new youth centre – the $2.2 million, 5,000 sq ft Foundry Sea to Sky -- where young people aged 12-24 can access mental health, primary care, substance use intervention, peer support, and social services, all under one roof.
Jackson Wenesayo, of Yambio, South Sudan and now a Rotary Peace Fellow, in Peacebuilding & Conflict Transformation studies at Makerere University, in Kampala, Uganda, has expressed his gratitude to District 5040 for reviewing and endorsing his 2024 Rotary Peace Fellowship application. His appreciation was sent to the Rotary committee representing the three Prince George Rotary Clubs, Prince George Rotaract Club and Quesnel Rotary Club for their recommendation and then to the required District review panel who endorsed his application to compete at the final world level review where he was approved as a successful recipient. -- photo: Jackson Wenesayo, with Makerere University Vice Chancellor Professor Barnabas Nawangwe
What drives you? What is your passion? What do you bring to the world? video (2:34) -- courtesy of Rotary Club of Silverdale, WA
On International Women's Day, March 8th, Rotary International celebrates all our dynamic, people of action who are women leading us in service above self here at home and around the world.
Canada’s ambassador to Japan, who started life in Kamloops and Penticton, began his career journey as a Rotary exchange student. Ian McKay’s career path has run like a superhighway through some of the world’s most important cities: New York, London, Tokyo. It has led him to the highest reaches of finance, politics, and global diplomacy, culminating in his current role as Canada’s ambassador to Japan.
When asked the secret of his success, McKay credits his foresight in learning Japanese, his keen interest in finance, and his understanding that high-level negotiations often work best away from boardrooms and summits. But the underlying answer is simpler. “It all started with Rotary,” he says — and later adds: “I can’t overstate that the critical part of that whole journey was Rotary." -- photo: Ambassador McKay with Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in September 2023 at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Indonesia.
Under valued and under utilized Boitanio Park in Williams Lake is now home to the rock climbing Boulder Park. This boulder park allows people of all ages and backgrounds to experience a new type of activity which had not been available in the region. This climbing structure is the first of many intended projects to help promote outdoor healthy living in the community free of charge.
Rotary Club of Williams Lake Daybreak, and its President Andrew Sandberg, led the process to fund and develop the $120,000 rock climbing park for the 12,000 local residents and those who may be visiting from nearby, smaller communities such as Horsefly, Likely, 150 Mile House and Wildwood.
Many people in Prince George depend on food banks. The ever increasing cost of fresh fruits and vegetables adds to this already serious need in the community. Local Rotarians and Rotaractors aim to achieve more self sufficiency in growing fruit and vegetables and provide healthy food to those in need.
Prince George residents who do not have their own garden space can now grow their own fruit and vegetables if they rent a plot at the new Rotary Community Garden completed in the Fall. The Garden may contribute in part to the supply of fruit and vegetables at local food banks.
The Rotary Clubs of Prince George Yellowhead, which led the project, Prince George Nechako and Prince George Downtown plus Prince George Rotaract contributed the majority of funds, with support of a $10,000 District Grant, to the $76,450 project, along with other sponsors.
Nearly one billion people in rural regions of the world live in communities far from the nearest paved road, walking for miles each day just to survive. On foot, individuals race against the sun to complete everyday tasks. Distance is a barrier to attending school, receiving healthcare, delivering goods to market and other critical services needed to thrive.
Girls with bikes get to school faster and have more energy for their schoolwork. “Girls with bikes are more than twice as likely to complete elementary school”. As a result, they are more likely to go on and graduate from high school. This means a better life for them and their family.
Only $205 can provide a “Buffalo Bike” to a schoolgirl in rural Africa through World Bicycle Relief. Rotary Club of West Vancouver Sunrise, in conjunction with Norwest Cycling Club, has contributed $10,250 to this organization, with the support of a District Grant of over $3,400, for the purchase of 50 Buffalo Bikes.
Achievements and activities of some of our clubs in Rotary District 5040 in January 2024
A Squiggles Stander gives children from the age of 2 to 5, who cannot stand on their own, the support and independence they need to be able to join in and have fun with activities with others such as creating arts and crafts, playing catch or singing in a choir. It is a wheeled frame that holds the user in upright or other positions, providing weight-bearing support to enable patient-mobility in an upright or other position.
Because the Squiggles Stander was not available to a family through any service provider in Quesnel, the Rotary Club of Quesnel, with support from a District Grant, purchased one for Quesnel & District Child Development Centre.
Hundreds of dog owners in Terrace finally have a safe site for exercising and socialising their dogs in a dedicated park. Not only had the City of Terrace received multiple requests for an off leash dog park, RC Terrace had also heard from the community about this need. Dog owners who do not have a fenced yard now have a place where they can let their dogs exercise and interact with other dogs. Dogs benefit from socialising with other dogs and the owners also benefit from interacting with other owners. This first dog park in Terrace opened in 2022, thanks to $31,000 in funding from the Rotary Club of Terrace, and a $10,000.00 Rotary District Grant, plus services provided by the City of Terrace.
Happy New Year! 2024 has started with a bang - winter has now arrived! Winter is the time to recharge, to share stories and plan for the next seasonal rounds! It is also a time to not only dive into preparing to complete steps towards club goals for 2023-2024, but to help the team which will transition and keep the action going.
Achievements and activities of some of our clubs in Rotary District 5040 in December 2023
Another 40 foot shipping container loaded with educational books , computers and hospital equipment is now on its way to Ukraine thanks to the team at Rotary World Help which gathered all the contents from various sources and the Rotarians who showed up on January 6, 2024 at the RWH warehouse in Coquitlam to do the loading.
On November 25th Rotarians packed a similar container for Laoang Northern Samar in the Philippines, thanks to the receiving Rotary Club of Catarman Northern Samar. The Consul General for the Philippines, Arlene Magno, officiated at the sealing of that container once loaded. The Rotary Club of Richmond Sunrise, along with clubs of Langley and Langley Central sponsored the shipment. -- photos by Elena Egala
The Vancouver Young Professionals Rotaract Club has captured its achievements and activities over the past six months with a three-page newsletter. The newsletter features the club's various causes in an appealing, visual way, with future events also displayed boldly. It's a good role model for all of us to learn from our younger members.
Happy Holidays to you ALL - the season of snow, roaring fires, and festive fun is upon us!
In the past month of whirlwind club visits I witnessed first hand even more amazing work of our Rotary District 5040 family as we make our communities and world a more joyous place for all. It was so lovely to have District Executive Administrator Nancy Eidsvik with me for many of these adventures.
On Bowen Island we saw the most beautiful outdoor learning space and gardens the club has helped the community build. Dragon Club produced a brilliant video as an inspirational way to remind our communities and potential members of "why Rotary!" You can view the video on the District's home page.
After the wildfire which destroyed the Town of Lytton in July 2021, including its commercial district and 70 homes, Rotary Club of Steveston organized a relief fund for that community through its foundation. Donations came from that club, a number of other clubs and individuals in this Rotary District and across Canada. Three members of the Siska Indian Band, in the Lytton area, visited the Steveston club on November 14th to thank the club and all those who contributed to the relief fund.
Donations can still be made to the Ukraine and Pakistan Disaster Response Funds until December 31st. These funds must be spent by June 30th, 2024. As District Foundation Chair PDG Lorne Calder says, "Warm clothing, medical equipment coming through a Rotary World Help container from our District and area soon, school supplies and basic needs are needed more than ever."