WOW!

Way to go, SBS Rotarians! Thanks to the efforts of club members, the vision of Fraser Smith, a core Organizing Committee and, of course, the talent and generosity of Sunny Shams (and 'friends'!), the SUNNY AND THE KIDS project contributed $25,002.88 to the SBS Rotary Children's Water Spray Park initiative.

Singing Barista raises more than $25,000 for Kids’ Water Spray Park

Sunny Shams, mild-mannered barista, used his formidable musical talent to raise more than $25,000 for a new Rotary Water Spray Park for kids.

On July 26th and 27th, Sunny and his friends entertained near sold-out audiences at the Charlie White Theatre in Sidney. Sunny—who is both a Lyric Tenor and a jazz pianist with a loyal following in Victoria—invited friends to help him put on one of the concerts of the year. Sunny’s first set of jazz standards, performed with Lukas Peladeau and Don Leppard, set everyone’s toes tapping. More than one attendee said they had “tears in their eyes” at the end of the concert, when they realized the depth and range of this young man’s talent. Also revealed was another up and coming talent, Adam Sakiyama. This recent graduate of Stelly’s Secondary sang, played the piano and left the audience wanting more. The opera duets and trios sung by Sunny and his friends, Sahara Sloan and Javier Gutierrez, soared and flew, thrilling the audience. A teen-aged attendee (who prefers to remain nameless) said she “loved the opera portion of the program!”

Chair of the Organizing Committee, Fraser Smith, expressed his pride in both Sunny and the community that came out to hear him. “Sunny is a consummate performer, who contributed every penny of profit to help build a water spray park for the children of this community. Sidney has produced a fine, talented young man who is selfless about giving back to the town that nurtured him.”

“Our service clubs contribute enormously to life on the Saanich Peninsula and I decided I wanted to help,” says Sunny. “I am so pleased that I was able to help the Sidney by the Sea Rotary club in its efforts to build a children’s water spray park in our town.”

The Water Spray Park will benefit local children and add to the tourism value of the Town of Sidney. The campaign to fund the children’s water spray park is almost complete.The Sidney by the Sea Rotary Club will hold a “reverse draw” in late September, which will conclude the fundraising.

Sunny and Fraser

Sunny and the Kids Coordinating Committee

SHOW ME THE MONEY...

On August 16, we had an interesting presentation from the RCMP regarding Money Laundering. One of the RCMP's roles within its Initiative to Combat Money Laundering is to inform the public. This is the reason that they are making presentations at service clubs like ours. It is important for businesses of every kind to be informed about how they can be used to launder money, and how they can help to make it more difficult for criminals to prosper.

To most businesses, money laundering is something that happens somewhere else, involving only criminals. The truth is, it can happen anywhere, anytime, and you may not even be aware that you have been involved. Money laundering is the process whereby criminals conceal illicit funds by converting them into seemingly legitimate income. While the term refers to the monetary proceeds of all criminal activity, it is most often associated with the financial activities of drug traffickers who seek to launder large amounts of cash generated from the sale of narcotics.

Money laundering can have devastating social consequences. Laundered funds provide financial support for drug traffickers, terrorists, arms dealers, and other criminals to operate and expand their operations. Investigations reveal that criminals manipulate financial systems in Canada and abroad to support a wide range of illicit activities. For example, drug trafficking alone generates billions of dollars in illicit funds for criminal organizations every year. Businesses supported by the proceeds from crime create unfair competition and can bankrupt legitimate competition in the market.

The presentation touched on the different methods used to launder money, and what to be on the lookout for, and how to spot and report suspicous transactions. They also gave us an overview of FINTRAC — a federal government agency created to collect, analyze and, when appropriate, disclose financial intelligence on suspected money laundering and terrorist financing activities.

The presenters left us some good information brochures, but for those of you who weren't there, you can read the same information online at: http://www.rcmp-grc.ca/poc/launder_e.htm#Moneygrc.ca/poc/launder_e.htm#Money and at

http://www.fintrac.gc.ca/intro_e.asp

REACHING OUT TO OTHERS

We all met an amazing young woman on Thursday, August 9th: Nakita Sekhon. At just 17 years of age, Nakita was recognized as one of Canada's "Top Twenty Under Twenty" in 2006. This award celebrates and honours Canadians who have demonstrated a significant level of innovation, leadership and achievement but have not yet reached the age of 20. Top 20 Under 20 is a national youth awards program presented by Youth in Motion and sponsored by ING Canada, ING Foundation, Bell Canada, CHUM Limited and the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario.

And while Nakita is proud of this award, that's not why she came to talk to us. She came to tell us about Jamsher Children's Village, the mission of which is to support orphaned children through partner agencies and volunteers by providing opportunities to contribute towards the children's education, healthy living environment and help enable their future.

Nakita's "passion for action" surfaced early, when she was 11 and on a visit to India with her family. She was deeply affected by the poverty and hardship she saw there, and how much it contrasted with her life back here in Canada. From that sprang the origins of her dream of founding the Jamsher Children's Village Orphanage in Punjab. That dream is on its way to becoming a reality, with 3.5 acres of land already donated by her family—land that had been in the family for generations. She has set a fund-raising goal of half a million dollars, to be achieved over the next couple of years, and plans to have construction start in the fall of 2009.

What makes Nakita's accomplishments even more meaningful is that she has undertaken all this while stuggling with an on-going chronic medical condition, Reflex Neurovascular Dystrophy, that leaves her in almost constant pain. Nakita is the immediate past lieutenant governor for Kiwanis Educating Youth International (KEY Club) in the Pacific Northwest District. She volunteers with B.C. Children’s Hospital, and annually speaks to medical students about the issues surrounding youth in health care. Nakita has accumulated over 5,000 volunteer hours in the last 4 years. She was recently awarded the Kiwanis Educating Youth Opportunities Fund, the first ever Canadian recipient of this award, and an “Amazing Kids” scholarship from her local business community.

An amazing young lady, indeed!