Sunrise bulletin for the week of June 20, 2012
Posted by Rob Goodell
on Jun 20, 2012
Ahhh! The longest day of the year, the first day of summer AND a warm, bright, sunny Wednesday. Now I remember why we choose to live in Vancouver. Except for last Saturday, which was dreadful weather. Oh, well....
Knowing what a draw our fabulous speaker would be, the hotel put this morning's Rotary meeting in the largest ballroom possible, with seating potential for 50 or more attendees. As it turned out, we were 16 members but no visiting Rotarians or other guests in the big room, as the meeting was brought to some semblance of order by soon-to-be-replaced President Matthew Lynam.
Rotary moment
John Haley regaled us with the artistic history of the Rotary wheel, the symbol of RI everywhere. Turns out it wasn't a one-step design process, since the debates and proposed changes went on for years and years before the final design was adopted in 1924.
Club news
IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT: Our changeover event has been postponed to Sunday, July 22, so don't show up at Diana's condo this Sunday. And, next Wednesday there will be a breakfast meeting with another outstanding speaker and program. Reprogram your daytimers now, or you're sure to show up in the wrong place on the wrong date. Please RSVP to Julie Mantle for the changeover and pay her the $25 per person for lunch.
The board has approved a club contribution of $500 toward the upcoming conference for women police officers, as requested by our recent speakers from the Vancouver Police Department.
The board is also working on a plan to provide a bursary for a deserving student as part of future Hoop-a-Thons. Great idea!
Bill Sheddy is working on scheduling our club's day at Hastings Park racetrack, hopefully a day when the PNE is not in full swing. It looks like August 11 might be a good date. Standby for more news on this.
Today's program
Our member Ann-Shirley Goodell was our speaker today, with a presentation that sounded vaguely familiar to me. I wonder why?
Ann-Shirley was born in Trail, BC, where her parents had immigrated from Scotland as young adults. She told us of visiting Scotland at the outbreak of World War II, which complicatd her family's return to Canada by ship. After graduating from UBC in nursing, she went to Cincinnati, Ohio, where the children's hospital was researching new ways to help children recover in hospital from serious illnesses like cancer. In the early 1960s, hospitals were discouraging parents from visiting their sick children to avoid upsetting them. Ann-Shirley was part of the research team that introduced play therapy and parental involvement for very sick children. Also in Cincinnati she came to know Albert Sabin, the doctor who developed the first immunizations against polio.
After working in nursing and hospital administration in hospitals in several US cities, Ann-Shirley was invited to come to Vancouver in 1983 as the first Vice President of Nursing for the (then) brand-new BC Children's Hospital. Later, she did doctoral studies at UBC in ethics, particularly women's issues and gender equality in business. After a few years of consulting and counselling work in Whistler, including management of several not-for-profit organizations, she retired when we moved back to Vancouver in 1999.
Never one to sit around doing nothing, Ann-Shirley's "retirement" has included extensive volunteer consulting work with CESO, the Canadian Executive Services Organization, which sends volunteers to consult with struggling organizations in developing countries. This has taken her to Poland, then Russia, then seven assignments in various parts of Ukraine, and most recently to Colombia. She often helps non-profits and some private-sector organiations with fundraising, governance, and corporate social responsibility issues. Typical clients have been an orphanage, a hospice, a centre for parents of disabled children, and groups working to achieve gender equality in the workplace. Some members will recall that some of her clients from Zaporizhia, Ukraine, visited Vancouver a few years ago and that our club helped them start a new Rotary club in their city. That club is still thriving, from all reports.
When the Government of Canada decided to curtail foreign aid to countries in Eastern Europe three years ago, the CESO focus shifted to Africa and South America, so Ann-Shirley went to Colombia in October 2011 and will be returning there this September. She reports that the new government there has made a major effort to clean up the country's drug-related problems, with significant success in reducing the crime rate. Apparently the drug cartels have found more welcoming surroundings in Venezuala and Mexico, leaving Colombia as a better place to be.
As always, it's interesting to learn more about what our members are doing with their time.
REMEMBER, the changeover is rescheduled to July 22 and there WILL be a breakfast meeting next Wednesday. See you there.
Rob
Knowing what a draw our fabulous speaker would be, the hotel put this morning's Rotary meeting in the largest ballroom possible, with seating potential for 50 or more attendees. As it turned out, we were 16 members but no visiting Rotarians or other guests in the big room, as the meeting was brought to some semblance of order by soon-to-be-replaced President Matthew Lynam.
Rotary moment
John Haley regaled us with the artistic history of the Rotary wheel, the symbol of RI everywhere. Turns out it wasn't a one-step design process, since the debates and proposed changes went on for years and years before the final design was adopted in 1924.
Club news
IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT: Our changeover event has been postponed to Sunday, July 22, so don't show up at Diana's condo this Sunday. And, next Wednesday there will be a breakfast meeting with another outstanding speaker and program. Reprogram your daytimers now, or you're sure to show up in the wrong place on the wrong date. Please RSVP to Julie Mantle for the changeover and pay her the $25 per person for lunch.
The board has approved a club contribution of $500 toward the upcoming conference for women police officers, as requested by our recent speakers from the Vancouver Police Department.
The board is also working on a plan to provide a bursary for a deserving student as part of future Hoop-a-Thons. Great idea!
Bill Sheddy is working on scheduling our club's day at Hastings Park racetrack, hopefully a day when the PNE is not in full swing. It looks like August 11 might be a good date. Standby for more news on this.
Today's program
Our member Ann-Shirley Goodell was our speaker today, with a presentation that sounded vaguely familiar to me. I wonder why?
Ann-Shirley was born in Trail, BC, where her parents had immigrated from Scotland as young adults. She told us of visiting Scotland at the outbreak of World War II, which complicatd her family's return to Canada by ship. After graduating from UBC in nursing, she went to Cincinnati, Ohio, where the children's hospital was researching new ways to help children recover in hospital from serious illnesses like cancer. In the early 1960s, hospitals were discouraging parents from visiting their sick children to avoid upsetting them. Ann-Shirley was part of the research team that introduced play therapy and parental involvement for very sick children. Also in Cincinnati she came to know Albert Sabin, the doctor who developed the first immunizations against polio.
After working in nursing and hospital administration in hospitals in several US cities, Ann-Shirley was invited to come to Vancouver in 1983 as the first Vice President of Nursing for the (then) brand-new BC Children's Hospital. Later, she did doctoral studies at UBC in ethics, particularly women's issues and gender equality in business. After a few years of consulting and counselling work in Whistler, including management of several not-for-profit organizations, she retired when we moved back to Vancouver in 1999.
Never one to sit around doing nothing, Ann-Shirley's "retirement" has included extensive volunteer consulting work with CESO, the Canadian Executive Services Organization, which sends volunteers to consult with struggling organizations in developing countries. This has taken her to Poland, then Russia, then seven assignments in various parts of Ukraine, and most recently to Colombia. She often helps non-profits and some private-sector organiations with fundraising, governance, and corporate social responsibility issues. Typical clients have been an orphanage, a hospice, a centre for parents of disabled children, and groups working to achieve gender equality in the workplace. Some members will recall that some of her clients from Zaporizhia, Ukraine, visited Vancouver a few years ago and that our club helped them start a new Rotary club in their city. That club is still thriving, from all reports.
When the Government of Canada decided to curtail foreign aid to countries in Eastern Europe three years ago, the CESO focus shifted to Africa and South America, so Ann-Shirley went to Colombia in October 2011 and will be returning there this September. She reports that the new government there has made a major effort to clean up the country's drug-related problems, with significant success in reducing the crime rate. Apparently the drug cartels have found more welcoming surroundings in Venezuala and Mexico, leaving Colombia as a better place to be.
As always, it's interesting to learn more about what our members are doing with their time.
REMEMBER, the changeover is rescheduled to July 22 and there WILL be a breakfast meeting next Wednesday. See you there.
Rob