Eye Opener April 17, 2013
13/04/11
- President Ardath welcome one and all to breakfast.
- Rotary Moment: Ken W. told us about Rotary involvement with CIDA through the Canadian Rotary Collaboration for International Development. The program had a mandate to reduce poverty through programs dealing with health concerns and literacy and education. Since the Govt. of Canada merged CIDA with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs the CRCID will no longer receive government funding.
- Rotary's 100th anniversary in British Columbia takes place Apr. 19th and 20th with events centered in Vancouver including: celebrations at Jack Poole Plaza (Vancouver Convention Centre), Rotary Showcase events, a 'Party on the Plaza' and presentations and an address by Stephen Lewis.
- The Annual Rotary Duck Splash is April 21st, Ambleside Park from 11:00h to 13:00h.
- Rotary Dist. 5040 Conference May 17th to 20th in Quesnel, details and forms available at www.rotary5040.org
- The Club thanks Vicki H. and her tireless crew for a great "Rotary Fashion Show" at the West Van Yacht Club on April 4th. A great success with fashions supplied by Marily Diligenti and others and runway models supplied by Rotary and friends.
- Club Pres. Elect 2013-2014 Marni Fraser has had to withdraw from the position for vocational reasons. The Club is looking for a member to fill the vacancy, any member interested should contact Pres. Ardath or Pres. Elect Robert C.
- Club Members Karen H. and Robert C. attended the recent North Shore Search and Rescue open house at their new facility in North Vancouver to promote this years' Ride for Rotary.
- Karen H. introduced todays' guest speaker Carolyn McGillvray from the Beauty Night organization. Beauty Night is a volunteer organization that provides make-overs and referral services to women from Vancouver's Downtown East Side. Carolyn began her volunteer work while working on media productions in the downtown east side with the Gastown Actors Studio. Along with a friend she volunteered to help out at a womens shelter in the area and began working with sex trade workers. While helping to serve meals at the shelter Carolyn discovered that having their hair styled and getting a make-over meant a great deal to the women at the shelter; they recovered their self esteem and dignity through the simple act of having someone help them with their physical appearance. Carolyn began to recruit volunteers from her colleagues, make-up artists, hair stylists and the like were asked to help out at a 'Beauty Night' held at the shelter. The first event had 14 volunteers and 73 women attended, immediate success! The event led to other 'Beauty Nights' and expanded to pedicures, diabetes screening, health care workers soon became involved. Since the early successes the program has expanded greatly to include referral services to health care providers, housing and education programs and other outreach initiatives including various workshops. The program now operates four nights each week, all volunteers are trained and the list of services has greatly expanded. Beauty Night will soon be celebrating its' 12th anniversary with a gala Fashion Show. The goal for 2013 is to serve more than 12000 women and the volunteer base has increased to more than 500 persons! The organizations annual budget is approximately $300,000.00 and fundraising is an important part of the work. For more information on how to help please go to www.beautynight.org. Chris Loat thanked Carolyn for speaking to us this morning.
- 50/50/happy/sad: no winners, no losers.
Meeting adjourned.
Speaker, April 19. Tiana Wong!!! This week, we look forward to hearing from our own Tiana Wong as she tells us about her exprience attending the International Round Square Confernce.