Sunrise bulletin for the week of May 2, 2012
Posted by Rob Goodell
on May 2, 2012
This week's Rotary meeting was in the big ballroom of the Coast Hotel, with all its memories of our Mexican Fiesta evenings. Carlos Obregon was among the members looking for the tequila tastings for which this room is well known, but it didn't happen. We were 15 members today, plus visiting Rotarian Tom Smith from the Tsawwassen club. Tom was our speaker today and also is my replacement as Assistant Governor starting July 1. He has some very revealing stories about Julie Mantle and the other presidents-elect, who apparently enjoyed their PETS weekend more than is usual. We're still waiting for more tantalizing news of the goings-on but details are only coming to light slowly.
After President Matthew Lynam opened the meeting, we heard more scandal, something about Sheila Anderson and John Haley going travelling together, but we're not to tell their spouses. I'm sure their secrets are safe with this group. Oh, yeah! We also had a fashion lecture and demonstration with Julie urging everyone to coordinate shoes and handbags of the same colour and design. Preferably wild colours with pink predominating. Go for it, guys.
Rotary moment
John summarized the results of a 2010 survey conducted by RI in six countries. It showed that Rotary has fairly high awareness in many places, but that most people dont have a clear picture of what we do. RI concludes that we need more consistency in our public utterings to make it more clear what we're about.
District and club news
It's not too late to register for the District Conference to be held in Richmond on May 17-20. Register at www.rotary5040.org.
Robert French will be sending by email a suggested format for inviting sponsors to help with the Hoop-a-Thon. Our goal for the 40th anniversary of the Strathcona sports program is $40,000 at our June 16 fundraiser.
Today's program
Our speaker this morning was Tom Smith who, among his other Rotary responsibilities, chairs World Community Service in our district. As such, he is our rep to the Canadian Rotary Collaboration for International Development (CRCID) which was his topic today.
CRCID is described as a legal partnership between the Rotary districts in Canada and the Government of Canada to use funds from CIDA to match Canadian Rotary funds for selected projects and programs overseas. The CIDA funds are part of Canada's foreign aid to developing countries. This partnership was formed in 1986 and has its headquarters and staff in London, Ontario.
For the 100th anniversary of Rotary in Canada,CRICD provided $800,000 (part from Rotary, part from CIDA) for construction of a school for 4,000 children, many of them girls, in Jalalabad, Afghanistan.
CIDA funds are allocated in three-year cycles. Currently CIDA has $3.1 million of funding, of which $1.3 million is overhead and the remaining $1.8 million is available for projects and programs. Rotary funds for the same period total about $4 million. CRCID limits its funding to health concerns, literacy and education in Africa and Central America. Among the projects funded recently is our former member Dean Rohrs' ongoing support of children in South Africa (which started in our club some years ago). Other recent CRCID projects are in Kenya, Uganda, Cameroon, Honduras, Belize, El Salvador and Guatamala.
Tom described how $1 of club funds can become $6.30 after District Grant matches, Global Grant matches and CRCID support. He stressed that Global Grant approval is required before CRCID will support a project. He says the process is long and exacting (roughly three years!), far from easy, but there are CRCID people to help. Tom also emphasized that CRCID wants to fund sustainable programs rather than individual projects, as Rotary clubs have typically done.
More information is available at www.CRCID.org.
And that's it for now. See you next Wednesday.
Rob
After President Matthew Lynam opened the meeting, we heard more scandal, something about Sheila Anderson and John Haley going travelling together, but we're not to tell their spouses. I'm sure their secrets are safe with this group. Oh, yeah! We also had a fashion lecture and demonstration with Julie urging everyone to coordinate shoes and handbags of the same colour and design. Preferably wild colours with pink predominating. Go for it, guys.
Rotary moment
John summarized the results of a 2010 survey conducted by RI in six countries. It showed that Rotary has fairly high awareness in many places, but that most people dont have a clear picture of what we do. RI concludes that we need more consistency in our public utterings to make it more clear what we're about.
District and club news
It's not too late to register for the District Conference to be held in Richmond on May 17-20. Register at www.rotary5040.org.
Robert French will be sending by email a suggested format for inviting sponsors to help with the Hoop-a-Thon. Our goal for the 40th anniversary of the Strathcona sports program is $40,000 at our June 16 fundraiser.
Today's program
Our speaker this morning was Tom Smith who, among his other Rotary responsibilities, chairs World Community Service in our district. As such, he is our rep to the Canadian Rotary Collaboration for International Development (CRCID) which was his topic today.
CRCID is described as a legal partnership between the Rotary districts in Canada and the Government of Canada to use funds from CIDA to match Canadian Rotary funds for selected projects and programs overseas. The CIDA funds are part of Canada's foreign aid to developing countries. This partnership was formed in 1986 and has its headquarters and staff in London, Ontario.
For the 100th anniversary of Rotary in Canada,CRICD provided $800,000 (part from Rotary, part from CIDA) for construction of a school for 4,000 children, many of them girls, in Jalalabad, Afghanistan.
CIDA funds are allocated in three-year cycles. Currently CIDA has $3.1 million of funding, of which $1.3 million is overhead and the remaining $1.8 million is available for projects and programs. Rotary funds for the same period total about $4 million. CRCID limits its funding to health concerns, literacy and education in Africa and Central America. Among the projects funded recently is our former member Dean Rohrs' ongoing support of children in South Africa (which started in our club some years ago). Other recent CRCID projects are in Kenya, Uganda, Cameroon, Honduras, Belize, El Salvador and Guatamala.
Tom described how $1 of club funds can become $6.30 after District Grant matches, Global Grant matches and CRCID support. He stressed that Global Grant approval is required before CRCID will support a project. He says the process is long and exacting (roughly three years!), far from easy, but there are CRCID people to help. Tom also emphasized that CRCID wants to fund sustainable programs rather than individual projects, as Rotary clubs have typically done.
More information is available at www.CRCID.org.
And that's it for now. See you next Wednesday.
Rob