District clubs' achievements and activities in June, July, August

Posted on Sep 10, 2024
Achievements and activities of some of our clubs in Rotary District 5040 in June, July and August 2024. Shown here is the Slow Ride Cycle through the Pemberton area at one's own pace to visit farms and purchase local produce, crafts and more.
 
Some recent achievements and activities in District 5040 clubs as reported by Assistant Governors
for end of August 2024. There is much more planning and other activity in clubs,
but these are current results, projects completed.
Network with other clubs for ideas and stay tuned for future reports.
also visit the expanding list of projects in  District 5040 Showcase
 
Bowen Island
  • Club social meetings held in July and August at members’ homes.
  • The club prepared for the annual, end of summer, community fun event, Bowfest, on August 24 with a Shelterbox display.
 
Burnaby
  • Completed Uganda project with the purchase of 40 sewing machines
 
Burnaby – Deer Lake
  • Club member Vasant is off to Uganda for the medical camps that the club helps sponsor.
 
Dragon
  • At Chinese Cultural Heritage Festival club members collaborated with Burnaby Hospital Foundation Chinese Ambassadors to help the event fundraising $6,666 for the Foundation.
 
Gibsons
  • The annual Golf Tournament brought in $30,000.
 
Kitimat
  • Kitimat club is meeting twice a month, the first and third Mondays, to accommodate their president’s work schedule.  One meeting is a business meeting, the second is a social or family activity.  
  • The club’s fundraising wine festival on September 28 will benefit First Responders and Search & Rescue.  
  • The club is appealing to major corporate sponsors to become corporate members of the club. 
 
Ladner
  • 17 Rotarians provided food and BBQ for 65 seniors at a recreation centre summer dinner & dance
  • The club sponsored its annual summer picnic for 35 special needs adults and family/guardians. 
  • The club is managing three days of onsite parking for a local festival in September + info booth.
  • Presentations in August included: “Adventures in Citizenship” experience; update on Fortis BC's LNG project in Delta; Vancouver Avian Research Centre and address the alarming disappearance of birds; the pros, cons and challenges of Telehealth in family practice.
 
Lions Gate
  • The club hosted Cananda Day events at the Shipyards, Lonsdale Quay.  
  • The club is involved in the Backpack Buddies.
  • Began hosting a monthly Lunch and Learn for Seniors.
 
New Westminster
  • The City of New Westminster held an official opening of Queen’s Park Habitat which includes the wooden mobility access boardwalk built by the club
 
New Westminster – Royal City
  • The club’s Bottle Drive collected 4,399 items to raise funds for Hyack
  • The Pot of Gold Golf Tourney raised funds for Salvation Army.
 
Pemberton
  • Slow Food Cycle was held on August 18th: a 40 kilometer cycle up and down Pemberton Meadows Road at a cyclist’s own pace, to do as much or as little of the route as you like, including visits to Pemberton farms and purchases of local produce, crafts and much more.
 
Pender Harbour
  • The 19th Annual Show and Shine event is coming up
 
Powell River
  • The Blackberry Festival & Great Grocery Raffle is in progress.
 
Prince George/North Area
  • In the Prince George – North area the Rotary community garden is in full production with an abundant amount of veggies being harvested with more to come.  The gardens are a great success and shows what Rotary can achieve by the clubs working together. The Rotaract club has been approved for a district grant to help build a gazebo in the middle of the garden and has been working to get that completed.
  • At Rebound Camp by Gavin Lake the Youth Exchange committee welcomed the District’s returning Youth Exchange students from their relative countries along with their parents, as they shared their adventures and any concerns. At the same camp, the committee will welcome the incoming Youth Exchange students to BC and the District.
  • The Prince George Clubs and the Prince George Rotaract club are hosting a quad club golf tournament with 11 teams playing a “Best Ball” tournament with lots of prizes and fun involved.
 
Prince George Yellowhead
  • The club is changing its format from lunch meetings to two lunch meetings, one pub night (social) and one evening meeting, in the hope of attracting members who cannot always make lunch meetings and new members with the same challenge. 
 
Prince Rupert
  • The club started having a social function the last Friday of every month, where they do a family friendly activity Friday after work, and reserve a space at a local restaurant where they can have dinner together after the activity.
 
Richmond
  • Proceeds from the 2024 Lunar New Year Gala went to a Horse Therapy Program for veterans and first responders suffering from PTSD to promote self-confidence and mental health well with horses.
  • One presentation was on “Granting to Non-Qualified Donees” following recent changes to the Income Tax Act.
  • Rotary International has approved the club's application to incorporate.
  • The club's global grant project, “Medical Device for Thanyaburi Hospital” in Thailand, has now received payment $38,212.97 USD from The Rotary Foundation.
  • Attendance has improved with now two in person meetings a month and others in social and fellowship events, tours, volunteer work, and Zoom meetings. 
 
Richmond Sunrise
  • Donated $5,000 to Frontline Baddies in their work for first responders with excessive stress, $2,500 to Victor Ghirra Toy Drive for its pack to school program, $5,000 to the Jasper Community Team Society for fire relief.
  • Dentist and member Danny Salcedo will lead a group to the Philippines to donate annual dental services to approximately 3,000 impoverished people. 
 
Richmond Sunset
  • Charter president of a Vancouver Interact Club, Lokton Au, joined, bringing membership to 19. 
  • The club was in the July 1 Steveston Salmon Festival Parade with a float by Rotary District 5040.
  • Drew Antrobus started his annual DG Visits with this, his home club.
  • On August 7th the hybrid dinner/online video meeting featured Rotary Foundation Trustee Marty Helman, who recognized and thanked the club for establishing a $100,000 Endowment Fund with The Rotary Foundation for Maternal and Child Health.
  • Some club members visited Gibsons on August 28 and met with local Rotarians and their projects including the community’s seawall and outdoor theatre.
  • City of Richmond approved Rotary Peace Park now proceeding to detail design over 6 months.
  • The club helped provide rice packages and $25 grocery cards to 500 seniors
 
Smithers
  • The club’s major fundraiser is through a permanent food booth at the Smithers Fall Fair.  Because the food booth requires many more workers than members in the club, they  hire volunteers from other charities or organizations, at $12.50 an hour, payable to the organizations they represent. Of the total $65,000 raised, about a third goes to those other organizations as a fundraiser for them.
 
Squamish
  • The club had a booth at the Squamish Together event in July. - booth, 
  • Other events including Rotarians were the Scooter share program, Kick it Kids, member Family Picnic and the and the Loggers Sports Beef on a Bun fundraiser which achieved $20,000.
  • Three Youth participated in the STEP program this summer.
 
Steveston
  • The club provided a pancake breakfast for the July 1st Salmon Festival, raising over $3,000.
  • Attendance is up after morning meetings were cancelled and more social evening ones continued. 
  • At the summer Farmer’s Market the club promoted Rotary and fundraised for Ukraine and BC wildfire relief 
  • Disaster Aid Canada donated $350,000+ to build 8 rapid fire response trailers to be built by a local metal work manufacturer and donated to 8 First Nations volunteer fire departments.
  • Write to Read, which has supported building of libraries on First Nations Reserves, has a new website.  
 
Terrace
  • Terrace club has just completed their major fundraiser, a duck race in the Skeena River that ends Terrace Riverboat days.  
  • Last year’s president is continuing this year for six months, then the new president will continue for 18 months in 2024-25 and 2025-26.
 
Tsawwassen
  • StoryWalk trail for Tsawwassen moved to Diefenbaker Park with help of the city workers
  • The club sponsored the annual Sunfest community parade on August 5.
  • Boxes of redundant goods from the Amazon warehouse were delivered to various local charities.
  • The club entered a Rotary lawn bowling team in a fundraiser for the new adult daycare program planned for the Kin Village seniors’ residence.
  • Interact members are painting a donated piano for installation at Diefenbaker Park.
  • Presentations and club activities included: the club’s own charitable society and giving five donations of $40,000+; visit to to Diefenbaker Park, the recipient of many club projects; success of a global money lending group called KIVA, with 99% repayment success over the past 10 years; learning more about ClubRunner.   
 
Vancouver 2 Area
  • Created a Whatsapp group to connect the Presidents
 
Vancouver
  • The club has adopted a new schedule for club meetings: 1st meeting of the month, a high caliber speaker; 2nd Meeting, focus on members - their bio, work, Rotary interests; 3rd Meeting, focus on club philanthropy / projects , committees reports, quarterly updates; 4th Meeting, fun and networking, introducing new members off site in evening 
  • The club is adopting EOS as an operating system  https://www.eosworldwide.com/what-is-eos
 
Vancouver Yaletown 
  • Two new members inducted in August 
  • The club has adopted a new meeting format: Social - discuss club matters; Speakers - Zoom based; Classification - all about members and club projects
 
Whistler Millennium
  • To date the club has raised $6,000 for Engaruka English Medium Primary School in Tanzania, with 50% from a District Grant.
 
West Vancouver
  • The club continued making and delivering sandwiches each month for people in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.
  • The club held a social event in August and invited other North Shore Rotarians to join them for fellowship.
 
West Vancouver Sunrise
  • The annual Ride for Rescue in June, to raise funds for North Shore Rescue, was a success.
  • The club received a District Grant for Bikes for Girls in Africa.
 
Whistler
  • The Grandfondo cycling event, from Vancouver to Whistler, was fully booked out, included 20 volunteers from Rotary and has raised $2,000
  • The Cornucopia Coat Check and Silent Auction raised $30,000.
  • The recruitment of youth to Interact, jointly with Whistler Millenium club), is underway