Rotary Club of Vancouver Centennial has funded a music scholarship and bursary program for youth to participate in the Richmond Delta Youth Orchestra, where they learn about music, playing in an orchestra and about themselves. https://tinyurl.com/3ddkbbe4
Amidst the poverty in Indonesia many children with cleft lip and palate are deprived of normal lives and struggle with impaired speech. Many are hidden by their families, not allowed to go to school or participate in community activities and often suffer from health issues. Rotary Club of Vancouver has participated in two Global Grants from The Rotary Foundation to provide surgery for the many affected children. azylmans@telus.net Read More
Camp Potlatch is run by the Boys and Girls Club South Coast BC on 133 acres of wilderness along the shores of Howe Sound. Thousands of children have visited Camp Potlatch over the past 70 years. Rotary Club of Lionsgate in North Vancouver sponsors, with support of a Rotary District Grant, under privileged children to attend Camp Potlatch in summer. stanvanwoerkens@gmail.com Read more
Armours Beach in Gibsons is a public recreation area and meeting place for families and friends of all ages, with swimming and picnic area active throughout the spring, summer and fall. Rotary Club of Gibsons led a project to renovate the Armours Beach facility, with the Town of Gibsons, and support from a Rotary District Grant and generosity of local members and construction contractors. davecode517@gmail.com Read more
1 in 10 girls in Sub-Saharan Africa misses 20% of school during their menstrual cycle. Many girls starting to menstruate drop out of school altogether. Lack of affordable menstruation products, facilities and education are among the reasons for this barrier to education. Rotary Club of West Vancouver Sunrise plus clubs of Vancouver, Pender Harbour, Whistler Millennium, Williams Lake Daybreak, Kitimat, and Squamish received a Rotary Global Grant with the Rotary Club of Kampala Nsambya, in Uganda, for "Girls Helping Girls Stay in School" and to form the Rotary Hygiene and Sanitation Social Enterprise Limited (ROHSSEL) Uganda. chris-loat@shaw.ca
1600 lbs of Canada Grade AAA beef slow roasted on a rotisserie, over a bed of alder, garnished with 275 lbs of fried onions, produced over 2600 beef-in-a-bun sandwiches which Squamish Rotary members and friends served on August 5th & 6th 2023 at the Rotary Beef BBQ 2023 as part of the Squamish Days Loggers Sports Festival. blfin@shaw.ca https://tinyurl.com/bdhp9jz6
“If you don’t know how to read, you don’t know how to do anything,” said Naomi White, librarian for her village of Lax Kw’alaams, north of Prince Rupert, on receiving 14 pallets of books and library furniture so that about 150 school-age children in her small village would get the chance to enhance their literacy through the Rotary-initiated Write2Read program throughout BC. Literacy, she said, is the key to more First Nations people advancing into higher education and holding down jobs in the trades, businesses and professions.
“We’re just so remote here. Now we’re better able to foster the love of learning. And to pass on that reading is power. The more you know the better of you are,” said White, describing how many young people in the village are keen to learn about the larger world through the library. bobblacker@gmail.com Read More
“We’re just so remote here. Now we’re better able to foster the love of learning. And to pass on that reading is power. The more you know the better of you are,” said White, describing how many young people in the village are keen to learn about the larger world through the library. bobblacker@gmail.com Read More
The 34 Grade 10 and 11 students from Kitimat and Terrace who participated in Rotary’s Adventures in Health Care in early May 2023 visited health care professionals at Coast Mountain College, University of Northern BC and Northern Health in Terrace. The enthusiastic students took part in hands-on demonstrations of medical procedures, sociology, community health and diagnostics, prompting many questions and discussion. brian_downie@telus.net Read More
Women in Tanzania face a great challenge to get justice when they suffer abuse or when left widowed left to bring up a young family. Violence against women is common in Tanzanian society with 40% being forced to marry before the age of 18 years. Of these women, 44% will experience both sexual and physical abuse in their marriage, enabled when 60% of women, themselves, believe spousal violence is acceptable and even a demonstration of a husband’s love.
While Tanzanian Law does recognise the rights of women to inherit or receive financial or property provision when abused or widowed, most women tend to be unaware of their rights and how to access their entitlement. The not-for-profit, “Inherit Your Rights” (IYR) has formed to help women with access to what they are entitled. The Rotary Club of Richmond Sunrise is helping sponsor part of that program. dalglishg@gmail.com Read More
While Tanzanian Law does recognise the rights of women to inherit or receive financial or property provision when abused or widowed, most women tend to be unaware of their rights and how to access their entitlement. The not-for-profit, “Inherit Your Rights” (IYR) has formed to help women with access to what they are entitled. The Rotary Club of Richmond Sunrise is helping sponsor part of that program. dalglishg@gmail.com Read More
For the estimated 63,000 residents who use Burnaby's Fraser River Foreshore Park at least once a month, an outdoor fitness circuit was a great boost to health and fitness when it opened in 2017. The three Rotary Clubs of Burnaby, Burnaby Metrotown and Burnaby Deer Lake, had collaborated in completing an extensive feasibility assessment and negotiations with the City of Burnaby to commit to this outdoor fitness facility for the health and fitness of local residents. The aim of the three clubs was to honour Canada’s 150th Anniversary by raising over two years $150,000 as Rotary’s share of the project funding. Funding also came from a $7,600 Rotary District 5040 grant, from The Rotary Foundation, a provincial government grant, sponsorships from local companies and donations from Rotary friends and families. Read More
Pacific herring are a main food source for salmon. There is a threat to herring, and in turn, salmon, due to the loss of much of their natural habitat of eelgrass and kelp beds in recent years and the continued heavy roe fishery in the Salish Sea. To help the herring population grow, the Rotary Club of Pender Harbour started a project to drop fabric curtains off docks each spring as artificial spawning grounds for herring. A curtain can accommodate as many as 3 million eggs. With ongoing monitoring, volunteers carefully remove predators during the spawning season, such as crabs and starfish, allowing the roe to reach maturity within two to three weeks. -- photo by Jacob Bøtter megawaterchief@gmail.com Read More
One in two children of a single parent in British Columbia live in poverty and one in five children live in poverty. There is a growing need among children up to age 18 for warm coats to get them through the winter.
For the past 20 years the Rotary Club of Burnaby Metrotown has been facilitating the “Rotary Coats for Kids” program which has delivered up to 1,900 coats a year. In true community partnership, Rotary works with the local School District and community organizations ensuring that every child in need in Burnaby gets a new winter coat. Schools and service organizations provide a list of children requiring coats with gender and size. -- photo credit Peakp Darlene Broadhead Read More
To support a water infrastructure project for students in Uganda who do not have easy access to clean drinking water over 300 students at Holly Elementary School in the Delta community of Ladner participated in a Walk for Water on February 10, 2023. The children carried yellow jerry cans of water almost one kilometer to simulate a daily task for their peers in the East African nation. The schools "Green Team" also raised $900 which, matched by a member of the Rotary Club of Tsawwassen, for a total of $1,800 towards the Club's "Walk for Water" project that will deliver clean drinking water and sanitation and hygiene training to over 1000 people in Uganda. yvonne@santevia.com Read More
Not being able to hear a favourite song or the sound of a loved one’s voice is a reality for over 400,000 BC residents who suffer from severe hearing loss. For over 40 years, the Rotary Club of Vancouver’s Hearing Foundation has provided life-changing care for children and adults who are deaf or hard of hearing. From funding Canada’s first-ever Cochlear Implant surgery in 1982, to completing over 770 surgeries, raising $3.6 million and committing $6 million for the creation of a new Hearing and Balance Centre at St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver for research, restorative care, and recovery of patients with hearing loss, Rotary Vancouver's Hearing Foundation has pursued its mission to bring back the sounds of life for so many in need. jack.zaleski@gmail.com Read More
Rotary Club of Richmond Sunset member Magdalen R Leung, as a member of the Health Major Gifts Initiative Advisers committee, says, "Through my participation in global grants from The Rotary Foundation, I have seen how the lives of 600 children in China have been changed for the better in the past ten years. I have been involved in four global grants to support Gift of Life in Shanghai, China. These grants, ranging from $150,000 to $200,000, have provided life-changing heart surgery to children as young as three months old, with most of the children ages five or six." magrleung@gmail.com Read More
For her hard work and success in making a contribution to Wheelchairs for Fiji, Kitimat resident, 11-year-old Avaya Borgens, is among the youngest people to ever receive a prestigious Paul Harris Fellow Award from a Rotary club.
Every day three people in Fiji on average lose a limb, many of those their legs. After those suffering from such a life-changing loss, a wheelchair means freedom from immobilization and burden on family and friends and access to productive, fulfilling lives. Rotary clubs in northern BC [names of clubs] have been raising funds in recent years for Wheelchairs for Fiji to supply wheelchairs to the South Pacific nation of almost 900,000 population. jborgens@wescodist.com Read more
CDN$1,710 is going to The Rotary Foundation for the End Polio Now campaign thanks to 12 members of the Interact Club at Rockridge Secondary School in West Vancouver who ran the annual “Pumpkins for Polio” fundraiser on October 22, 2022. Typically on a weekend close to Hallowe'en the event run by the high school Interact club, which Rotary Club of West Vancouver Sunrise sponsors, sold the pumpkins for $5 per pumpkin or donations greater than that. The Rotary Club matched the sales to reach the campaign total. Each pumpkin had an “End Polio Now” sticker and was complete with a flyer about the campaign. rolhal@shaw.ca Read More
Many of the 116 seniors who participated at no cost on September 7, 2022 in Quesnel Rotary's annual Expedition to Barkerville, the gold mining heritage town dating back to 1862 -- the largest living-history museum in western North America -- have been long-time supporters of local Rotary fundraisers. This expedition has become an annual tradition since 1962. In fact, other than the past two years of interruption because of the pandemic, it is the longest continuous service project in Rotary District 5040. rotaryclubofquesnel@gmail.com Read More
When the pandemic came to Squamish in March 2020, the local food bank could no longer have residents visit the facility in person due to COVID protocols, and had to transition to home delivery of food hampers. Rotary Club of Squamish contacted the food bank and volunteered to help. In April 2020, Rotarians began delivering hampers in the community every Tuesday and Friday. They continue long after the pandemic food bank "emergency". CONTACT: blfin@shaw.ca Read More
To liberate women still carrying buckets of water on their heads to their villages in South Africa the hippo water roller is a re-invented wheelbarrow designed to transport 90-liters of water by placing the water inside its “wheel.” One woman, even a child, can transport the equivalent amount of water required by five women with buckets. This simple design allows an arduous chore to be done easier, faster, and more efficiently. Luke Vorstermans, of the Rotary Club of Gibsons, helped his club launch the “Help Us Roll 1000 Hippos” campaign that quickly rolled out across Canada and the USA. CONTACT lvorstermans@gmail.com Read More
Mackenzie Outdoor Route & Trail Association (MORATA), a group that develops and maintains local recreational trails for bikers, hikers and casual walkers, benefitted from partnership with Rotary Club of Mackenzie to hold the annual Rotary Duck Drop. -- photos by Silver Dove Imagery CONTACT: Stephanie Killam Read More
One-third of all food produced in the world is lost or wasted every year. Food is a significant portion of the organic waste which amounts to 40% of material sent to our landfills. As this material decomposes it generates a significant level of greenhouse gasses which contributes to climate change. When food is lost or wasted so are the resources that are required to grow, manufacture and distribute it. Some of that food is now being rescued and given to families and individuals in need. Tsawwassen Rotarians, as people of action, have established with partners, Delta Food Runners, which is helping to provide fresh produce to Delta organizations who are able to get it into the hands of those in need in the community. CONTACT: Blake Cowan Read More
Sudden cardiac arrest can strike anybody at any time. The heart suddenly and unexpectedly stops beating. Moments count. To help save lives on Bowen Island the people of action in the Rotary club there have worked with authorities and neighbourhoods to install 25 automated external defibrillators or AEDs so far at key locations around the island. An AED is a portable device that checks the heart rhythm and can send an electric shock to the heart to try to restore a normal rhythm.
CONTACT: Bawn Campbell Read More
Search and rescue operations are on the rise. As more and more people take to the trails and ski runs of Vancouver's North Shore mountains, the demand on North Shore Rescue, most recently at 130 calls a year, has steadily increased since its founding in 1965. North Shore Rescue is a community-based search and rescue team of 40 volunteers with skills in search and rescue operations in mountain, canyon and urban settings to provide a life-saving service to the public, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. In support of North Shore Rescue, the Rotary Club of West Vancouver Sunrise held its 11th Annual Rotary Ride for Rescue on June 11th, 2022. The event is a fundraising road and mountain bike ride up West Vancouver’s Cypress Mountain which involved 90, Rotarians and other volunteers as bike riders or organizers. It included a pancake breakfast and prizes after the ride at the British Pacific Properties Cypress village on Cypress mountain. -- photos by Tania Ryan CONTACT: Karen Harrison kha@telus.net Rotary Club of West Vancouver Sunrise Read More
Based on a donor screening process, one in every two people is able to give blood, but only 1 in 81 people actually give blood. This lack of blood donors regularly leads to a significant shortage of blood when compared with the demand for blood from hospitals in their ongoing treatment of patients. The Rotary Club of West Vancouver Sunrise has started organizing blood donor clinics in the community. CONTACT: Christopher Loat, Rotary Club of West Vancouver Sunrise, Read More
Eight leaders in Richmond received Rotary International’s prestigious Paul Harris Fellow Award at a special awards evening on June 15th, hosted jointly by four Rotary clubs in the community. Contact: Christine Marin, Rotary Club of Richmond Sunrise. Read More
Over 500 students from Strathcona Elementary School marched through their Vancouver community on June 15, 2022 as the school's first annual Pride Parade led by members of the EarlyAct program, sponsored by the Rotary Club of Vancouver Sunrise. CONTACT: Ed Kwan, Rotary Club of Vancouver Sunrise, ed.kwan21@gmail.com
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Hundreds of inner-city kids at risk in East Vancouver will once again benefit from the estimated $50,000 raised for Grade 12 post-secondary scholarships and youth leadership development programs thanks to the 2022 Rotary Hoop-A-Thon on April 23rd. Youth leadership development programs such as Boys Who RISE, Girls WHO LEAP and the Strathcona Basketball program provide youth the opportunity to learn about teamwork, leadership, community involvement and respect for others. The Strathcona Rotary Youth Leadership Hoop-A-Thon is an annual basketball event that raises funds by donations and pledges based on the number of successful free throws a player can sink in one minute. CONTACT: Ed Kwan, Rotary Club of Vancouver Sunrise, ed.kwan21@gmail.com
The Garibaldi Volunteer Fire Department, in the Squamish area, can buy a reconnaissance drone with a thermal imaging camera, to search less accessible places for wildfire assessment, hotspots, and to locate warm bodies, thanks to a $6,000 grant from the Rotary Club of Squamish presented on April 25, 2022 at Black Tusk Village. CONTACT: Brian Finley, Rotary Club of Squamish, blfin@shaw.ca
At home, people in our community less able to afford the rapidly rising cost of food for themselves and their families. In Ukraine and nearby countries, millions of desperate residents and refugees are struggling to survive, Rotary Club of Ladner's Spring Shred-A-Thon on Saturday, April 2, 2022 is benefitting these communities where there is a need. CONTACT: Richard Shantz, Rotary Club of Ladner, rshantz1038@gmail.com
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