Peter Bradley shares his impressions from the District 5020 Conference recently held in Tacoma:
The district conference of Rotary District 5020 was held at the Sheraton in Tacoma, Washington. The function of District conferences is to bring clubs within the district up to speed on what is happening at the district level as well as to inform Rotary International of our District activities as well as apprising our District of the latest developments at Rotary international.
One of the problems of belonging to a large international organization such as Rotary is that a lot of communication becomes essential. At an individual level, this translates into the dreaded word meetings! It is impossible to attend everything at a district conference. Therefore, I made my focus international service.
I attended three presentations, one on drilling wells in Uganda, another on education for women and children in rural Mexico, and a third on feeding malnourished children in Bolivia. Part and parcel of some of these projects is the ongoing microcredit projects for which our own Project Unity is doing such an admirable job. There were presentations on Polio Plus, a project of which as Rotarians we can all be justly proud.
I spent an interesting couple hours at a presentation by Jerry Hall of Vice President of RI discussing how our organization at an international level interacts with clubs at the club and district level. In my opinion, attendance at a district conference is a valuable and informative experience for anyone involved in the Rotary movement.
Monday, July 2, 2007
Sunday, July 1, 2007
PARADE PLAUDITS
A note from Noel, our fearless Chief Parade Marshall:
To All
James says that this parade went off just sweet!!
I say, 'Thanks to the Rotarians who did the marshalling'! (Twice! Both as an answer to James, and as my personal thanks to all of you for the excellent job you did.)
While clearing up at the end, going around picking up the stakes, etc., I was told by two (different) entrants that were themselves 'still packing up' that this was the best parade in years with respect to help and directions for finding their spots and getting smoothly through the lineup!
Once again, SBTS-Rotary rises to the occaision!
Noel
To All
James says that this parade went off just sweet!!
I say, 'Thanks to the Rotarians who did the marshalling'! (Twice! Both as an answer to James, and as my personal thanks to all of you for the excellent job you did.)
While clearing up at the end, going around picking up the stakes, etc., I was told by two (different) entrants that were themselves 'still packing up' that this was the best parade in years with respect to help and directions for finding their spots and getting smoothly through the lineup!
Once again, SBTS-Rotary rises to the occaision!
Noel
Saturday, June 30, 2007
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Kitchen Elves hard at work.
Kitchen Elves running in all directions. Maria (in background) wonders what the next surprise will be!
Hein, Karen and Lloyd study the meat slicerwith some bewilderment.
Teamwork gets the job done!
Lining up for some great grub.
The Politicos dish it out.
A full house enjoys a wonderful community meal on the eve of Canada's 140th birthday.
Many thanks to Maria Kirley for coordinating the event, and to the Youth Employment kids and the many Rotarians who lent a hand to make this community event such a success. Thanks as well to the many local businesses who contributed food and other supplies.
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
SUNNY GETS LAUNCHED!
Mark your calendar now for the evenings of July 26 and 27 at the Charlie White Theatre where you will be enjoying for the first time in Sidney’s history, a dual-genre musical evening of classical opera and contemporary jazz. The program is unique because the operatic tenor who will sing for you and titillate your soul, is also the leader of the jazz trio that will charm your sensibilities.
It is unique yet again because the musician is staging the event as a fund raiser for the Sidney by the Sea Rotary Club’s new community project, a water park for the kids on the Peninsula. Perhaps most unique of all, the tenor and jazz pianist doing the fund raiser for the kids was, until this month, a Sidney teenager. He turned 20 on the 4th of June. You know him as Sunny, one of the baristas at Alexander’s Coffee in Sidney.
Sunny is a very quiet fellow with presence beyond his years. He is soft spoken, somewhat shy, very polite and just a real nice guy. The talent is deep. His jazz training has come at the hands of Victoria’s Gord Clements and Joey Smith at the Victoria Conservatory of Music. That Sunny has been their very good student is reflected in the fact that he is taking part in the Victoria Jazz Festival this month for the second year in a row. That he is a good student in Voice is evident from the fact that Sunny just received a mark of 94% for his public graduation concert at Camosun College where he earned his Diploma in Music. The concert program was in Italian, German and French. To top it off, he earned a 90% average this past year across all courses.
Just days later, Sunny auditioned for and was accepted into the UBC music program in Opera.
Sunny is a graduate of Parkland Secondary School where he was under the guidance of music director Hilary Coupland. Ms. Coupland was instrumental in pushing Sunny towards the entertainment spotlight. Parkland Secondary has also produced another musical sensation, also participating this year in the Victoria Jazz Festival, jazz piano prodigy Michael Kaeshammer.
"I have admired the community work being performed by the service clubs in our communities, and it will be a pleasure to be able to provide some support to the efforts of the Sidney by the Sea Rotary Club as it works to bring a children’s water park into being for the benefit of all Peninsula families," said Sunny. "I am hoping that I can count on Peninsula residents and businesses to get behind the work of Rotary in aid of the children in the community. At the same time I hope all of you will come out and enjoy the music."
To volunteer, to donate or to get more information, contact info@sunnyshams.com.
A blog has also been started for Sunny: www.sunnyandthekids.blogspot.com
It is unique yet again because the musician is staging the event as a fund raiser for the Sidney by the Sea Rotary Club’s new community project, a water park for the kids on the Peninsula. Perhaps most unique of all, the tenor and jazz pianist doing the fund raiser for the kids was, until this month, a Sidney teenager. He turned 20 on the 4th of June. You know him as Sunny, one of the baristas at Alexander’s Coffee in Sidney.
Sunny is a very quiet fellow with presence beyond his years. He is soft spoken, somewhat shy, very polite and just a real nice guy. The talent is deep. His jazz training has come at the hands of Victoria’s Gord Clements and Joey Smith at the Victoria Conservatory of Music. That Sunny has been their very good student is reflected in the fact that he is taking part in the Victoria Jazz Festival this month for the second year in a row. That he is a good student in Voice is evident from the fact that Sunny just received a mark of 94% for his public graduation concert at Camosun College where he earned his Diploma in Music. The concert program was in Italian, German and French. To top it off, he earned a 90% average this past year across all courses.
Just days later, Sunny auditioned for and was accepted into the UBC music program in Opera.
Sunny is a graduate of Parkland Secondary School where he was under the guidance of music director Hilary Coupland. Ms. Coupland was instrumental in pushing Sunny towards the entertainment spotlight. Parkland Secondary has also produced another musical sensation, also participating this year in the Victoria Jazz Festival, jazz piano prodigy Michael Kaeshammer.
"I have admired the community work being performed by the service clubs in our communities, and it will be a pleasure to be able to provide some support to the efforts of the Sidney by the Sea Rotary Club as it works to bring a children’s water park into being for the benefit of all Peninsula families," said Sunny. "I am hoping that I can count on Peninsula residents and businesses to get behind the work of Rotary in aid of the children in the community. At the same time I hope all of you will come out and enjoy the music."
To volunteer, to donate or to get more information, contact info@sunnyshams.com.
A blog has also been started for Sunny: www.sunnyandthekids.blogspot.com
Friday, June 8, 2007
SUNNY SHINES!
At our June 7th meeting, our newest fund-raising project was launched: SUNNY AND THE KIDS. This musical evening will feature talented young Sidney musician Sunny Shams, a delightful combination of operatic tenor and jazz singer. Sunny is a graduate of Parkland Secondary School, and has gone on to complete a music program at Camosun College. Just a few weeks ago, Sunny auditioned for and was accepted into UBC's opera program.To get SBS Rotarians 'in tune' with the fund raiser (set for July 26 and 27), Fraser Smith (organizer extraordinaire), brought Sunny in to sing for us -- a short operatic piece and a soft jazz tune. Sunny easily demonstrated his facility in both styles of music. At just 20 years of age, Sunny has a bright future ahead of him.
SUNNY AND THE KIDS is a unique way for Sunny to share his love of music with his community, while also putting his support behind SBS Rotary's community project, a water park for the kids of the Peninsula, to be located atTulista Park. The fund-raising objective for the event is $30,000. In the process, 300 local students will be sponsored to attend the dress rehearsal of Sunny's concert on July 26, which will also include performances by other young musicians. Two of that evening's performers will be selected to join Sunny the next evening, to be showcased as part of the musical program.
Stay tuned for more developments as this project moves into high gear!
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
MEMBERSHIP MATTERS!
Sidney by the Sea Rotary Club and the Sidney Rotary Club held a Membership event on Tuesday, May 15th, at Dunsmuir Lodge (many thanks to David Knapp-Fisher for being our host for this event, and to Fraser Smith for sponsoring the evening's bar). Members from both clubs were able to socialize and to welcome a number of prospective members, in a casual atmosphere. It was a great way to introduce potential new members to what Rotary is all about, on both the local and global scenes. There were Powerpoint presentations playing on several different machines, there was information about our Kids Kits program, the Shelter Box program and many other initiatives. We were pleased that our Interact kids were there from Parkland, along with their teacher/advisor, Ann. Ing, our exchange student staffed the welcome desk along with club members. Many thanks to everyone for all their hard work in making this event a reality. There was definitely some interest in joining Rotary among some of the guests.Past District Governor Joan Firkins was on hand to introduce our guests to the values and objectives of Rotary, and to emphasize how special it is to be asked to join Rotary.
Judy did her bit to recruit the guests for our morning club....
And President Judy and President-Elect Peter discovered that "It's fun to be Prez"!
Sunday, May 13, 2007
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