Youth from the Interact Clubs at University Hill and King George Secondary Schools gathered donations of new socks to provide to Vancouver park rangers to hand out to homeless individuals during their patrolling and enforcement of city bylaws. 

 

Thank you to our young leaders for their service initiative and to our club members and friends, including Ranger Steve, for helping those in need during our recent February cold snap.

 

We closed out the month of February by welcoming Andrew Robertson to our club. Andrew is a former member of the Rotary Club of West Vancouver who has studied and worked in numerous fields, including mining, oil, energy, real estate and emerging technology industries.

 

Thank you Andrew for choosing to share your skills and passions with our Rotary Club of Vancouver Sunrise! 

 

Our Club's annual Valentine Auction fundraiser took place at our February 14th meeting, which rescued more than one last-minute romancer and raised a record $4370 for our club's service and administration expenses.

 

A big thank you to our guest auctioneer, Aaron Jasper, who did a fabulous job promoting the goods on the auction block which included: restaurant and home-cooked meals, vacation stays at hotels and homes in Vancouver, Invermere, and Whistler, guided shopping trips to Mexican and Japanese speciality food stores, and many tasty wine and chocolate offerings...along with a best-in-class donation of a healthy, organic Microgreens kit and lessons. 

 

The February blues melted away on February 21st when new member Cheryl Thomas took us on a tour of some of the highlights of her career and travels in her Classification Speech.

 

Originally from Saskatchewan, Cheryl started her career as a Speech Language Pathologist in Alberta where she led key innovations to improve the access and delivery of services to clients and families as practice Director at the Red Deer Health Unit. After completing a Master of Science with a specialty in Organizational Behaviour, she moved to Vancouver Island and transitioned into international consulting and teaching. 

 

Cheryl has worked and taught business courses across North and South America, as well as in Iran and Dubai. She has served on provincial and local Economic Development Board and was a member the Rotary Club of Victoria Harbourside the Rotary Club of Dubai. 

 

Cheryl moved to Vancouver last year after joining University Canada West (UCW) in 2020 as Associate Professor and Course Lead Consulting Practices and Capstone Projects. Read here about how Cheryl's UCW MBA students (pictured below) finished first at the 2024 National MBA Games.

 

Not all business, Cheryl is also an avid golfer and choral singer. We are delighted to have Cheryl in our club and look forward to learning from her through community service, fun and fellowship!

 

 

 

We received a newsy update from Armando, one of the students we sponsor through our support for Project Amigo in Suchitla, Colima, Mexico. Here is an excerpt from his letter:

 

 

On February 28th, Catherine Atyeo visited us with the story of how she co-founded Contributing to the Lives of Inner City Kids, (CLICK) in 2004 with Alva Jenson, at the time a teacher at Strathcona Elementary. At that time, Catherine was a single mother who was visiting the school on a Monday morning where she heard a child crying outside a classroom because he hadn't eaten since Friday.   

 

Twenty years later, the CLICK foundation team of volunteers has raised and distributed over $1 million to support local groups serving children and families living in poverty in Vancouver. Recipients include food, clothing, therapy, recreation and after-school programs across the city.  To donate or learn more about their amazing work, just CLICK here. 

  

 

Bridging the gulf between Northshore and Downtown Eastside worlds is a Lunar New Year tradition for our super member Ron who leads an annual Chinatown Tour with North Vancouver's Brooksbank School teachers and students every February. Gong Hei Fat Choy!