Newsletter for October 2023 - Rotary Club of D6330 Passport

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Rotary International President, Gordon McInally (Scotland) District 6330 Governor, Sonja Glass (Meaford, Ontario) Club President, Sue Storie (2023-24)

District website: https://rotary6330.org/

The Calendar below shows Rotary’s new 2023-24 monthly themes.

ROTARY CALENDAR and THEMES

Month

Theme

July Maternal and Child Health

August Membership and New Club Development

September Basic Education and Literacy

October Economic and Community Development

November Rotary Foundation

December Disease Prevention and Treatment

January Vocational Service

February Peace and Conflict Prevention/Resolution

March Water and Sanitation

April Environment

May Youth Service

June Rotary Fellowships

Click the flags below to listen to the respective national anthems.

ComingEvents

ECONOMIC & COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

Month of October

REGULAR MONTHLY MEETING ONLINE

Wednesday, October 4 at 7:00 p.m.

World’s Greatest Meal to End Polio celebration!

HAPPY CHATS ONLINE – JOIN US!

Every Wednesday at 6:30 p.m.

WORLD MENTAL HEALTH DAY

Tuesday, October 10, 2023

WORLD POLIO DAY

Tuesday, October 24, 2023

RC OF SARNIA LAMBTON AFTER-HOURS

ANNUAL TRIVIA NIGHT

Saturday, November 4 Rotary Anthem

Right click here to open the link and listen to the Rotary Anthem!

IMPORTANT ROTARY INFORMATION

2023-24 RI PRESIDENTIAL THEME

INTERNATIONAL PRESIDENT, 2023-24

Gordon R. McInally

Scotland

Rotary International President, 2023-24

RI PRESIDENT

Mental Health and your club

The World Health Organization designates 10 October as World Mental Health Day, and with Rotary placing special focus on mental health this year, I would like to help answer the question posed to me most often when I travel to meet members: How can my club get started?

There are some wonderful examples of Rotary members taking action already. Ion the Philippines, the Rotary Club of Tiaong-Hiyas held a 12-week health challenge for mothers in the community to promote some baseline health screenings and coaching on a healthier lifestyle.

By the end of the challenge, the mothers had a special bond and decided to form a Rotary Community Corps called Ilaw ng Tahganan (“one who lights up the home”) with the goal of involving more mothers in health education and wellness support

and later youth services, teen pregnancy prevention, and help with unhealthy substance use. Almost a year later, the RCC is preparing to open its own health center where mothers can come for peer-to-peer support.

Another strong example is in Colorado. Ion the fall of 2021, a small group of stakeholders from the Rotary Club of Highlands Rance formed the Rotary Clubs of Colorado Endowed Fellowship for Pediatric Mental Health, which enhances the ability of Children’s Hospital Colorado to recruit and train pediatric psychiatry providers and allows the hospital network to make additional appointments. This increases access to mental healthcare for children and decreases provider shortages.

Since then, the project has brought on new supporters and is now fully funded with a $500,000 endowment. Investment income from this endowment will support a fellow – a psychologist or psychiatrist – at Children’s Hospital. A new fellow will be named every one to two years, beginning spring of 2024. Over time, this will create a cohort to bolster the mental health workforce, treating kids from all 64 Colorado counties and neighbouring states.

There are many more great mental health projects stories on Rotary Showcase, and I invite you to share your experiences as you begin your own projects. Also, please reach out to mindhealth@rotary.org with any thoughts or ideas you would like to share about mental health in the Rotary world.

On October 10, I will host a Facebook Live event when we will recognize World Mental Health Day and further explore how Rotary members can begin this journey. But I would like to leave you with one way every Rotary member can make a difference.

Right now, there is someone you know in the Rotary world – in your club, from a project you’ve worked on, in a Rotary Fellowship or Rotary Action Group – who could use a little more of your time and attention. Rotary is this great gift of global friendship, and that also means being there for each other.

Discovering the human connections that bind us is what we do through our membership every day. It’s what Rotary has always been about, and we can build on it by helping each other find peace at home.

We need to learn how to ask now just “How are you?” but also “How are you really?” By doing so, Rotary can continue to Create Hope in the World.”

R. Gordon R. McInally President, Rotary International

Plan to donate today to The Rotary Foundation (TRF) – the engine that runs Rotary!

TRF Trustee Chair's Message – October 2023

Our goal is in sight

On 24 October, we renew our commitment to our top humanitarian goal for World Polio Day.

This year, let’s remember a young health worker in Pakistan known as Bibi Marjana (Miss Marjana). She braves the snow and cold in the mountains to vaccinate 84 children in rural areas, visiting each home, often miles apart.

Marjana is one of the thousands of frontline workers in Afghanistan, Pakistan and outbreak areas I consider heroes in the final push to end polio. The work they do, coupled with the vision of our partners and the support you give, is moving mountains.

With Rotary’s partnership, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative is aggressively pursuing two key goals from its 2022-26 strategy. First, we aim to halt wild poliovirus type 1 transmission. This year, only six cases have been documented as of this writing. Could this be the year we see the last of these poliovirus cases? We’re cautiously optimistic that it might.

Second, we aim to report the final case of circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2, or cDPV2, in outbreak countries. About 80 percent of cVDPV2 cases last year occurred in subnational areas of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, and Yemen. We must implement tailored strategies to stop the virus in these areas.

Other challenges persist, including political tensions, security risks and access issues, and the lasting effect of the pandemic in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Despite these challenges, we are making progress. Poliovirus strains are diminishing, as is the number of affected regions where polio once prevailed. A new vaccine we have introduced reduces the incidence of the circulating vaccine-derived virus type 2.

Rotary is the organization that had the audacity to take on a global effort to protect children everywhere from disability or even death due to polio. We must have the tenacity to see it to the finish line.

What can you do to help us get there, you ask? Join or initiate a PolioPlus Society in your club or district and engage all members in this historic moment. And don’t forget that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation continues to amplify Rotary’s donations to polio eradication with a 2-to-1 match for every dollar.

You can also advocate the cause of polio eradication with governments to secure political and financial support and promote Rotary’s leadership role in all media.

Like Marjana marching up the mountain, we have our goal in sight, and we will keep going until we get there.

BARRY RASSIN Foundation Trustee Chair

SERVICE ABOVE SELF – THE OBJECT OF ROTARY

The Object of Rotary is to encourage and foster the ideal of service as a basis of worthy enterprise and, in particular, to encourage and foster:

FIRST – The developmenbt of acquaintance as an opportunity for service.

SECOND – High ethical standards in business and professions, the recognition of the worthiness of all useful occupations, and the dignifying of each Rotarian’s occupation as an opportunity to serve society.

THIRD – The application of the ideal of service in each Rotarian’s personal, business, and community life.

FOURTH – The advancement of international understanding, goodwill, and peace through a world fellowship of business and professional persons united in the ideal of service.

How do you want to get involved in the causes you’re most passionate about?

The Rotary Foundation transforms your gifts into service projects that change lives both close to home and around the world.

24 October is World Polio Day!

As World Polio Day approaches, we need your help to amplify our message about eradicating polio to protect the world’s children from a devastating disease.

We have made tremendous progress since the Global Polio Eradication Initiative was launched:

▪ A 99.9% reduction in cases of illness caused by wild poliovirus

▪ 3 billion children immunized

▪ 125 countries where polio was endemic reduced to two Afghanistan and Pakistan with the virus contained in just a few districts and provinces

But even just one case still represents one child’s life forever changed by polio. That’s why Rotary members must remain tenacious and keep our promise: We won’t stop until we know that no child will ever again experience the paralyzing effects of polio.

Let’s use World Polio Day to advocate for the support we need to make history by eradicating polio. Together, we end polio!

Get involved

Take action this World Polio Day by hosting virtual and community events, creating fundraisers, and talking about the importance of polio eradication on social media.

Plan

If you haven’t started planning your World Polio Day action, now is the time! Visit the World Polio Day Resources page for tips and tools your club can use to help achieve a polio-free world.

Register

Register your club’s participation in World Polio Day to show how you’re taking action to eradicate polio. The districts that have the highest percentage of registered clubs by 24 October will receive a special video message from RI President R. Gordon R. McInally.

Fundraise

Use Raise for Rotary to start a World Polio Day online fundraiser. All contributions will go to the PolioPlus Fund. The top Raise for Rotary World Polio Day 2023 fundraisers will be featured on My Rotary.

(Click the graphic below for resources.)

ECONOMIC AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT MONTH OF OCTOBER

In addition to World Polio Day on October 24, Rotary’s October focus on Economic and Community Development is a great opportunity for Rotarians to become aware of, and consider, United Nations' Sustainable Development Goal 8

SDG 8 aims to promote sustained, inclusive, and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment, and decent work for all. This goal emphasizes the need to create opportunities for quality employment, enhance labor rights, improve the overall work environment, and foster entrepreneurship and innovation. It also seeks to address issues such as child labor, forced labor, and human trafficking.

Under Goal 8, the UN seeks to achieve the following targets by 2030:

1. Sustain per capita economic growth in accordance with national circumstances and, in particular, at least 7 percent gross domestic product growth per annum in the least developed countries.

2. Achieve higher levels of productivity of economies through diversification, technological upgrading, and innovation, including through a focus on high-value added and labor-intensive sectors.

3. Promote development-oriented policies that support productive activities, decent job creation, entrepreneurship, creativity, and innovation, and encourage the formalization and growth of micro-, small-, and medium-sized enterprises.

4. Improve progressively, through 2030, global resource efficiency in consumption and production and endeavor to decouple economic growth from environmental degradation, in accordance with the 10-year framework of programs on sustainable consumption and production, with developed countries taking the lead.

5. By 2030, achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all women and men, including for young people and persons with disabilities, and equal pay for work of equal value.

6. By 2020, substantially reduce the proportion of youth not in employment, education, or training.

7. Take immediate and effective measures to eradicate forced labor, end modern slavery and human trafficking, and secure the prohibition and elimination of the worst forms of child labor, including recruitment and use of child soldiers, and by 2025 end child labor in all its forms.

8. Protect labor rights and promote safe and secure working environments for all workers, including migrant workers, in particular women migrants, and those in precarious employment.

9. By 2030, devise and implement policies to promote sustainable tourism that creates jobs and promotes local culture and products.

Overall, SDG 8 underscores the importance of sustainable economic growth that benefits all members of society while ensuring decent work and fair labor practices

FOCUS ON ECONOMIC AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT MONTH OF OCTOBER

How can you help communities to prosper? Focusing on the Mental Health of the community can help communities to prosper. Our RI President McInally has hoped to focus on Mental Health during his year at the head of our organization.

On that note, below is an article on Mental Health from https://www.rotary.org/en/rotarians-address-mental-health-issues-head-on

Rotarians Address Mental Health Issues Head On

by Anne Stein

Rotary has a remarkable record when it comes to health initiatives. We’ve helped bring polio to the brink of eradication, and clubs have carried out myriad projects focused on preventing disease and supporting maternal and child health. Now the global pandemic has brought attention to another aspect of health that is often overlooked: mental health. In many places, depression, anxiety, and suicide are seen as things to be ashamed of and kept quiet. But Rotary members are recognizing the gaps in understanding and resources and are stepping up to help.

“A year ago, we had 50 members of the Rotary Action Group on Mental Health Initiatives,” says Bonnie Black, a member of the Rotary Club of Plattsburgh, New York, and the chair of the action group. “We’ve tripled our membership during the pandemic, and I believe it’s due to the heightened awareness of mental health and wellness.”

More than 264 million people worldwide are affected by depression, according to the World Health Organization, and although many mental health conditions can be effectively treated at relatively low cost, many people who need treatment do not receive it.

Felix-Kingsley Obialo, a member of the Rotary Club of Ibadan Idi-Ishin, Nigeria, manages the local arm of a project called Wellness in a Box, which his club has worked on in partnership with the Rotary Club of Wellesley, Massachusetts. “Mental health is an area that has been neglected by many people for too long because of the stigma associated with it,” says Obialo. “The involvement of Rotary clubs will gradually reduce the stigma, and more and more people will begin to be comfortable around the issue.”

Refugees and migrants receive free access to mental health services in Germany

When Pia Skarabis-Querfeld saw refugees pouring into Germany to escape war and other atrocities in 2014, the Berlin-based doctor felt compelled to help. Skarabis-Querfeld, a member of the Rotary Club of Kleinmachnow, eventually launched a nonprofit called Medizin Hilft (Medicine Helps). With support from a Rotary Foundation global grant and clubs around the globe, the nearly all-volunteer organization donates thousands of hours of medical care to refugees and migrants each year.

But doctors in the group quickly noticed that in addition to needing care for physical ailments, about half of their patients had symptoms of psychological problems or psychiatric disorders, including depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and addiction. In 2020, the Rotary Club of Morehead City-Lookout, North Carolina, worked with Medizin Hilft to secure another global grant that allows the organization to offer free mental health services.

Under the guidance of Ulla Michels-Vermeulen, a psychologist who is also a member of the Kleinmachnow club, psychologists, psychiatrists, translators, and social workers help people like Fatma, a Syrian nurse who once treated bomb attack victims. When the situation became too dangerous in Syria, she left home. But fleeing was traumatic, explains Michels-Vermeulen.

While crossing the Mediterranean, Fatma watched several passengers drown before another vessel came to the rescue of their drifting boat. She spent time in a refugee camp, where people slept in tents, there were no doctors, and there was not enough to eat. She was sexually assaulted several times on the journey.

“Fatma has been accepted to stay [in Germany] and is going to school to learn German, but she is still getting counseling. She is suffering from nightmares, sleeplessness, concentration problems, and flashbacks,” MichelsVermeulen says. “It costs society a lot if we ignore these mental health problems. And it’s a human right to get support if you are ill.”

Social media campaign strives to break the stigma of mental health

After Darren Hands invited speakers to talk about mental health at a District 1175 (England) conference a few years ago, he and other local Rotarians were inspired to do more. “It was very powerful, and afterwards we thought, ‘What can we as Rotarians do when it comes to mental health? We’re people of action but not mental health professionals. But surely there’s some-thing we can do to help,’” says Hands, president of the Rotary Club of Plympton.

They came up with a social media campaign called “Don’t Bottle It Up,” which encourages people affected by depression, anxiety, or other issues to reach out for help.

“The majority of people with mental health issues wait over a year to talk to someone,” explains Hands. “Hopefully we can help break down some of the stigma through this campaign.”

Click here to read the rest of the article.

OCTOBER FOCUS ECONOMIC & COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

HOW ROTARY MAKES HELP HAPPEN Creating a culture of care

This year, RI President R. Gordon R. McInally is encouraging Rotary members to create a culture of care, both within Rotary and around the world, by making mental health a priority. In a caring culture, leaders and members focus on helping each other thrive.

That makes any month the perfect time to evaluate your club’s culture and adjust it if needed. Members are more likely to stay if their club experience is fulfilling. Use these ideas to help members feel involved, valued, and cared for:

Communicate with people at every stage of their membership. If members think their experience in the club can be improved, take action to make changes. You can also use these two surveys to learn more about what members are thinking:

The member interest survey will help you understand what new and prospective members care about and how they want to contribute.

The member satisfaction survey (or an online version) can be distributed each year to all members.

By asking for feedback regularly and responding to it, you show that you’re open to change, and you empower members to be involved in creating their ideal club experience.

Use the Club Health Check to identify areas where your club could improve and determine how to keep your club relevant for members and the community.

Take the Creating an Inclusive Club Culture course to discover ways for your club to become more inclusive, diverse, and equitable. Remember that for any Learning Center course, you’ll nee a My Rotary account.

You can also find more membership resources on My Rotary.

U.N. INTERNATIONAL DATES TO NOTE (plus links)

October 10

World Mental Health Day

October 11

International Day of the Girl Child

October 13

International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction

October 14

World Migratory Bird Day (UNEP)

October 16

World Food Day

October 17

International Day for the Eradication of Poverty

October 24 to 31

Global Media and Information Literacy Week

Disarmament Week

October 24

World Polio Day

United Nations Day

World Development Information Day

October 29

International Day of Care and Support

Summary of new polioviruses this week:

• DR Congo: six cVDPV1 cases, three cVDPV2 cases and four positive environmental samples

• Guinea: four cVDPV2 cases

• Kenya: one cVDPV2 positive environmental sample

• Nigeria: five cVDPV2 cases and six cVDPV2 positive environmental samples

• Somalia: one cVDPV2 case

For more information, click here - http://polioeradication.org/polio-today/polio-now/this-week/

Click here to learn the difference between Wild Polio Virus (WPV) and Vaccine-derived Polio Virus. (VDPV)

What is the purpose of World Polio Day?

Every year on 24 October, we observe World Polio Day to

• Raise awareness of the importance of polio vaccination to protect every child from this devastating disease

• Celebrate the many parents, professionals. and volunteers whose contributions make polio eradication achievable.

Rotary has been a pioneer in the fight against polio and started efforts in 1978 with a very ambitious goal to reach a polio-free world.

Rotary International and UNICEF work together as leading partners of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative to protect every child against polio.

Polio

In 1985, Rotary launched its PolioPlus programme, the first initiative to tackle global polio eradication through the mass vaccination of children. Rotary has contributed more than $2 billion and countless volunteer hours to immunize more than 3 billion children in 122 countries. In addition, Rotary’s advocacy efforts have played a role in donor governments’ decisions to contribute more than $10 billion to the effort. Within the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI), Rotary’s focus is on advocacy, fundraising, volunteer recruitment, and awareness building.

Polio today

Today, only two countries have not stopped the transmission of the wild poliovirus: Afghanistan and Pakistan. Six wild polio cases were confirmed worldwide in 2021, which is a reduction of more than 99 percent since the 1980s, when the world saw approximately 1,000 children paralysed by polio every day. The world has never been so close to eradication, which is why Rotary’s continued commitment and focus on polio eradication remains critical.

Challenges

Stopping the wild poliovirus from spreading and paralysing children in the last remaining pockets of Afghanistan and Pakistan is proving to be the most difficult yet, due to factors including discrepancies in the quality of vaccination campaigns, massive mobile populations, conflict, insecurity and, in some instances, parental refusals due to vaccine misinformation. Until polio is eradicated, all countries remain at risk of outbreaks.

Ensuring success

Rotary raises over $50 million per year, with every dollar matched with two dollars from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. These funds help to provide much-needed operational support, medical personnel and laboratory equipment, and support the crucial work of engaging community leaders and parents to build trust in vaccines. Governments, corporations, and private individuals all play a crucial role in funding.

“In the days before Jonas Salk’s revolutionary polio vaccine, there was a real fear for families that their children would contract the disease. Realizing the great potential of this vaccine, Rotary helped rally the world around total eradication in 1988, with the creation of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative.”

– Henrietta Fore, Former Executive Director of UNICEF

Rotary in Action

More than 1 million Rotary members have donated their time and personal resources to end polio. Every year, hundreds of Rotary members work side by side with health workers to vaccinate children in polio-affected countries.

Rotary members work with UNICEF and other partners to prepare and distribute mass communication tools to reach people in areas isolated by conflict, geography, or poverty. Rotary members also recruit fellow volunteers, assist with transporting the vaccine, and provide other logistical support.

Click here to view a short video – Thank you, Rotary!

Click here to read more

A 2022 report from the World Health Organization and UNICEF stated that:

• 850 million people use health care facilities with no water.

• 780 million people use hospitals and clinics with no toilets or latrines.

• A quarter of all health care facilities have no basic water service.

• 1 in 3 health care facilities lack hand-washing facilities at critical points of care such as the delivery room or surgery – depriving as many as 3.85 billion people of basic hygiene service.

The consequences are staggering:

• One in ten patients develop infections in hospital, leading to severe illness or death.

• 300,000+ maternal deaths a year result from infections acquired in a healthcare facility

• As many as 600,000 infants die each year from infections that could be prevented by the simple use of soap and water.

The World Health Assembly has called for action: Every health care facility (HCF) to have WASH services by 2030.

1.1 million women from 114 countries were surveyed on healthcare -

• Water and Sanitation rated second only to respectful care. They want clean toilets. They want soap and water to wash themselves and their babies after birth.

• As People of Action, Rotary members are the heart of our communities. We can lead the way to sustainable safe water, sanitation and hygiene in healthcare facilities.

Please contact info@washrag.org for information and details.

In addition to ESRAG – a Rotary Action Group – you might find the site below very interesting.

Waterbear.com

Many, many videos are available – and here’s just a sampling – so have a look!

Click here to view Trees are the Key. (40 minutes – but so well worth your time)

ROTARY’S CORE VALUES

WHAT IS ROTARY?

Do you need a make-up? missed meetings? To learn about other Rotary clubs?

The Passport Club members are encouraged to join local (and other) clubs to learn more about Rotary, get to know other Rotarians, gain a new perspective and appreciation for Rotary and Rotarians. Here is a list of online clubs where you can earn a make-up along with learning a whole lot more about Rotary! Why not visit them all?

• Rotary E-Club of Canada One – Rotary On Demand, Where you want, When you want!

• Rotary Club of One World

• Rotary E-Club of World Peace

Click here to attend this week’s posted meeting of E-Club of Canada One. These meetings are posted online and available 24/7!

Club President for 2023-24 – Sue Storie

Continue to stay tuned, engaged, and plan to participate!

SENDING THE BEST WISHES TO TWO OF OUR PASSPORT CLUB MEMBERS WHO HAVE RECENTLY BEEN MARRIED Jessica in July and Brittany in September

Best wishes!

We're so happy for you both!

Wishing you lots of love and happiness.

Wishing you both a long and happy marriage.

Wishing you the best always.

Best wishes for a fun-filled future together.

Wishing you fulfillment of every dream!

NEWEST PROJECTS FOR OUR CLUB

HELPING MIGRANT WORKERS

The Passport Club of District 6330 is happy to announce their newest service project, Backpacks for Migrant Workers.

North Lambton Community Health Care created the Migrant Worker Project to support the 700 migrant workers working in Sarnia and Lambton County. Our club is working with the Project Coordinator, Andrea Jones-Peper, by providing backpacks for newly arriving workers.

We will fill the backpacks with items requested by workers, such as toiletries. Our club will request a district grant to increase our impact.

Stay tuned for more information in the next weeks.

OUR ANNIVERSARY – NO. 5

FOOD INSECURITY – CUP OF KINDNESS

The Rotary Club of D6330 Passport will celebrate its 5th anniversary on December 4, 2023.

The club would like to make a substantial impact on reducing food insecurity with a project aimed at raising funds for Food Banks in our individual communities.

Each member will fill a "Cup of Kindness" by filling a cup or two cups (or more) with coins, hopefully loonies and toonies, then donating the funds to their local food bank. Donations should be rewarded with a tax receipt. And we are planning a “Receipt Party” later in the year.

Rotarians, friends, and relatives are encouraged to help members fill the cups in support of this excellent project!

For more information about Food Bank needs, please see the article on the next page.

AN INTERESTING ARTICLE ABOUT FOOD BANKS AND THEIR NEEDS

By Simon Little at Global News

Have you ever spotted one of those pre-packed donation bags for the food bank at a grocery store and thought it would be an easy way to do something good?

The Greater Vancouver Food Bank is asking you not to. Instead, it wants you to donate directly, after recently receiving a number of sub-par food hampers purchased locally.

“In a typical $20 bag, we have two Kraft Dinners, a chai tea, linguini, and a small bag of cauliflower crisps,” food bank CEO David Long said Wednesday, showing off the contents of a donation package sold through a local supermarket.

“This is not $20, in my opinion, of healthy, nutritious food.”

In another brown paper bag of donations sold for $10, Long found a packet of pasta, a bowl of kimchiflavoured instant noodles, a tin of corn and a tin of sardine paste.

Another bag he opened in front of Global News was filled with discounted Halloween candy. “This is not the quality of food we are actually distributing,” Long said.

“If I was to give this to you and say, ‘Here’s dinner. Some pasta, corn and sardine paste,’ yeah, I’m not sure that would go over too well.”

Long wouldn’t speculate on what happened to the difference between the price of the bags and the value of their contents.

The donations came from an IGA in West Vancouver, where the owner told Global News some of the items had been mixed up and should have gone to a food reclaim organization.

On Thursday, IGA president Gary Sorensen said the supermarket location’s donation program had been put on hold while the company investigates.

“The independently-owned West Vancouver IGA store owner takes full responsibility for the insufficient items donated and is putting in imperative corrective measures to ensure moving forward, all food donations to the food bank are the essentials they desperately depend on,” he said in a statement.

Long, however, wants to focus on getting the word out to charitable British Columbians that the best way to donate is with cash, directly to the Greater Vancouver Food Bank‘s website.

Every dollar donated can be stretched further, because of the organization’s large purchasing power, he said. The food bank can also be more selective about what it procures, including fresh and nutritious items, he added. In the meantime, Long said the organization will no longer be accepting sealed bags it can’t see inside.

“It’s unfortunate,” he said. “The food bank is not interested in taking something off somebody’s shelves that they can’t sell to the public.”

To see the full story, please visit: https://globalnews.ca/news/7540490/food-bank-pre-packed-hampers/

Of course, the GVFB is a very large enterprise. To be successful, and to achieve their goals, they have chosen the following guidelines:

“After much consideration, we have decided to move away from food drives for three reasons:

“Unhealthy food donations – The food we distribute is packed with nutrition and the menus are dietitiandesigned, most of the food we receive from food drives is neither.

“Labour intensive – The support required for food drives is labour-intensive and an inefficient use of volunteer hours

“Better buying power – We can buy more food and better food with our buying power (averages 2:1) , because of the industry partnerships we have and the volume of food we purchase.

“Donations – We accept quality food from all types of businesses, including:

• Farms with excess/overage of crops

• Large retail distribution facilities

• Direct donations from retailers with food that is close to best-before date

• Direct donations from warehouses that has not hit the retail shelves

• Food that has been frozen on or before the best-before date”

Click here to read their Food Donation Acceptance Policy.

The total financial value of this potentially rescuable lost and wasted food is a staggering $49.46 billion!

Food rescue helps us provide food to those in need in addition to removing usable food from the waste stream contributing to creating a sustainable food system.

A few highlights from the source article – the Avoidable Crisis of Food Waste.

• Nearly 60% of food produced in Canada – or 35.5 million tonnes – is lost and wasted annually.

• 32% or 11.2 million tonnes of that food is edible and could be redirected to support people in our communities.

• The total financial value of this potentially rescuable lost and wasted food is a staggering $49.46 billion.

By Smera Chandan

My name is Smera Chandan and I am 16 years old. I am sitting in English class. I am in a class to learn English, yet I am fluent in English. So why would I be in an English class?

I am a Rotary Youth Exchange student from the United States and I am living in Catalonia, Spain. I began this journey in September 2022, and I have been living among the people, culture, and customs of this beautiful place for five months. What an incredible time it has been.

I started my exchange on 14 September from Charlotte, North Carolina. I remember it like it was yesterday: standing at the airport gate, my face tearstained from saying goodbye to my loved ones, wearing my Rotary Youth Exchange student blazer. The excitement was indescribable.

Yes, I was leaving everything I knew behind, but I was leaving with the same body, heart, and mind to guide me.

Being an exchange student was always a faraway idea for me. But one day, I found myself filling out an application at the age of 15. My family and I had hosted four exchange students at our home previously. It makes me so happy to say that they will all – truly – always be family to me. I had seen what it was like to be a host sister. But what would it be like to be the “American sister” to two little Catalan boys? That, I couldn’t imagine. I’ve never had a brother before!

Click here to read and learn more about Rotary Youth Exchange.

CLUB OFFICERS

President

Sue Storie

Secretary Mariann Timmers

Treasurer

Membership Chair

Project Chair

Lynn Coates

Deb Beaupré

Bev Andersen Directors

Rick Storie

Kitty Bucsko

MEMBERSHIP LIST BELOW –CLUB MEMBERS LIST WITH EMAIL ADDRESSES

A.C. Alrey acalrey@gmail.com

Bev Andersen bandersen181@gmail.com

Deb Beaupré Debmarjean@gmail.com

Terry Bennett terbenn@gmail.com

Rich Bouchard rbouchard@racetoerase.com

Kitty Bucsko ladykitt@gmail.com

Marilyn Buttery marilyn@buttery.com

Lynn Coates lynn.coates.1@outlook.com

Brittany Elliott Brittany.Lyn.Elliott@Hotmail.com

Sue Elliott Susan@sutherlandelliott.ca

Wendy Jennings wendy.jennings@bell.net

Heather Macdonald heathermac@BMTS.com

Jessica Morrow jessicamorrow@gmail.com

George Ottewell george.ottewell@gmail.com

Nancy Ottewell nottewell@gmail.com

Rick Storie rick.storie@sympatico.ca

Sue Storie sue.storie@sympatico.ca

Lynne Ternosky lynneternosky@gmail.com

Mariann Timmers GTimmers@aol.com

John Wade john@askthedogguy.com

AN INVITATION FROM ROTARY E-CLUB OF INNOVATION

THE SPEAKER - THE CHAIR OF THE ROTARY INTERNATIONAL POLIOPLUS COMMITTEE

Right click the 4-way test above to open and listen to the Four-Way Test by RC of Saskatoon Nutana.

2023-24 Rotary Theme

A VISUAL OF ROTARY D6330 – Areas and AGs

A Summary of D6330 Areas and AGs

Area Description Area Governor

1

North Bruce Peninsula, including Wiarton, Paisley, Southampton, Port Elgin, Saugeen Shores

Colin Macdonald

2

Western northern Bruce Peninsula, including Clifford, Kincardine, Walkerton, Hanover, Goderich, Mildmay, Goderich Rotaract

Dawn Kennedy

3

Mid-southwestern Ontario, including Drayton, St. Marys, Stratford, Stratford Festival City, Stratford Rotaract, Mitchell,

4 London area including London, London East, London Hyde Park, London North, London South, London Lambeth, UWO Rotaract

5 West to St. Clair River including Sarnia, Sarnia Bluewaterland, Sarnia-Lambton After Hours, Petrolia, Watford

6

In the U.S., west of the St. Clair River, including Fort Gratiot, St. Clair, Port Huron, Marine City, Marysville, Algonac

Paul Roulston

Howard Shears

Mike Hurry

Diane Ives

7

In the U.S., further west from St. Clair River – including Genesee Valley, Flint, Fenton, Flushing, Grand Blanc, and Great Flint Sunrise

Allen Tucker

8

Eastern Northern Bruce Peninsula, including Meaford, Owen Sound, Markdale, Tara, Thornbury-Clarksburg

Andy Conroy

PLEASE CONSIDER BECOMING ONE OF OUR SPONSORS!

REFERENCES

Adams, Randal Speaking of Rotary. USA: E J Press

Dochterman, Cliff. The ABCs of Rotary Evanston, Illinois: Rotary International. (363-EN)

Forward, David C. A Century of Service. The Story of Rotary International. (912-EN)

Rotary Club of Hobart. The Rotary Book of Readings. Inspiration to Change the World.

Rotary International. Honoring Our Past: The Words and Wisdom of Paul Harris. Evanston, Illinois: 1996. (925-EN)

Rotary International. Rotary Basics Evanston, Illinois. (595-EN)

Rotary International News. Online.

Rotary Global History Fellowship <https://www.facebook.com/RotaryGlobalHistoryFellowship/ >

Submissions from Club members and social media

Please send Club News and photos (with appropriate IDs) to Editor Kitty at ladykitt@gmail.com