I hope everyone is having a wonderful summer, as we recharge our batteries and get started on another great year in Rotary! Pat and I have really been enjoying the start to the year, meeting more of you at a variety of events, and of course looking forward to our District Governor visits to each Rotary and Rotaract club in the fall.
Having already broken our own record in District 5040 for Foundation giving in the past Rotary year for reaching US$1 million, as I reported last month, late endowments not included in that total has now taken us well over US$1.5 million US. Among the 500 Districts throughout the world, our District is one of the smaller ones, yet we ranked 30th in Foundation giving. That's a major achievement to celebrate. It indicates that many people in our District have regarded The Rotary Foundation as their charity of choice. Thank you so many of you for your generosity, donations big or small, in this year with its own special needs in our communities and our world.
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.
Even when the blood inventory is good in the healthcare system some hospitals are forced to cancel elective procedures, such as heart and cancer surgeries, for lack of some components in the blood, such as platelets, which have a very short shelf life, and of rare blood types. Of course, there is a constant demand for blood in treating trauma patients in accidents and providing regular transfusions for cancer patients.
The Rotary Club of West Vancouver Sunrise joined Canadian Blood Services in the "Partners for Life Program." Soon afterwards the COVID pandemic hit. This meant that donations could only be made at the two CBS locations on Oak Street and Dunsmuir Street in Vancouver.
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.
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
Before Russia invaded Ukraine earlier this year there were 2,789 buildings in the village of Moshchun. After Russian artillery shelling there were 789 still standing. Left behind were 1,597 craters from shells. With the participation of Rotary clubs of the world, in partnership with Ukrainian state, the rebuilding of Moshchun has the aim of developing a symbol of happy, independent, modern Ukraine.
District Grants allow Rotary and Rotaract clubs to identify, plan, and fund worthy projects in their own communities or internationally. Grants can fund improvements such as kitchen equipment for a food pantry, assistance for after-school programs, a defibrillator for a community centre, or renovations to an accessible playground.
Prince Rupert Rotary exchange student in 2016-17, from Denmark, Oliver Bjorling, and his family made Prince Rupert the first stop on their North American vacation.
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.
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