Miscellaneous

Repeat from last week or until no longer relevant or until I delete it:

Marg passed around signup sheets for Gilmore breakfasts, Rotary breakfasts and Youth committee.

Pat A. would like Board Reports as soon as possible, so they can be included in the agenda.

A name badge for new member Moe (not Mo) will be ordered, and if anyone else wants to order them, let Pat know.

Sam is planning an end-of-summer, beginning-of-fall social on Sept 4 at 5:30 p.m. at Country Vines, $12/person for food and purchase your own wine. An email will be forthcoming.

Micheal says no speaker for next week, but the following 5 weeks are booked. Aug. 29 DG Drew Atrobus from Richmond Sunset is coming to visit. We could do a group photo so everyone is encouraged to attend. We can also do an installation for the new members when the DG is here. Peter will let him know.

Bobby has sent us our invoices, and preferred method of payment is etransfer. (Collection agency already on retainer for you know who!).

OUR THURSDAY BREAKFAST MEETING CA ACCESSED THROUGH THE LINK BELOW.

Rotary Club of Richmond Sunrise is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89414124941?pwd=OsFTza1R0fSV7JaS7P7jzjeg4yZoQb.1

Zoom Meeting Rules

1) Mute your microphone if you aren't already muted. Background noise is distracting.
2) If you are not engaged in the presentation, turn off your camera.
3) Chat function should only be used to address the speaker, not for Club member remarks during the presentation

4) Unmute when harassing the Sergeant at Arms or taking your turn during Sergeant at Arms.

5)It's laundry day!😘

Please direct any questions to the President or a board member of your choosing and we will discuss any and all questions or concerns during our board meeting. Also please refer anyone who may be interested in attending a meeting or joining the club.

INSPIRATIONAL QUOTE

From Hazrat Inayat Kahn via Marg “Some people look for a beautiful place, others make a place beautiful.”

VISITORS

Dave MacDonald and CJ Ellison from Pathways Clubhouse

ANNOUNCEMENTS AND

CLUB BUSINESS

Our DG Drew Antrobus will be our guest next week. Breakfast will be served.

Congratulations to Garth as Blair presented him with a two rubies Paul Harris award, Garth’s 8^th!

Debbie S. reminds us to sign up for the end of summer social on Wednesday Sept. 4^th at 5:30 p.m. Country Vines.

SERGEANT At Arms Tidbits

Dalbir is back from England and Portugal. Walking into a church near Windsor Castle, he saw a Rotary bench, placed in nice setting where people need to sit. Dalbir was on zoom today, looking after his mother-in-law, but glad to be ‘here’ for Pathways, and has fond memories of Bruce who was our greeter in the past and came to us through Pathways.

Chris M. is channeling her inner Mary Lou, hosting the cousins from England. Yesterday they went to Victoria, a 16-hour adventure with 7 in the car, including 6-month-old Eleanor who needed feeding, 12-year-old Rufaro who also needed feeding (and sitting and bathroom breaks), sisters who kind of get along. Olivia Chris’ daughter was a star, keeping everyone together and they had a wonderful day. They went to the Canadians game on Tuesday night.

Mary Lou took relatives to the airport last night, so is going back to work for a rest as they have been living in her office. The Capilano Suspension Bridge is great for out of towners, including the raptor presentation. You get a year pass if you go. Tonight, she is going to Twelfth Night at the Bard and is leaving this morning at 8 for Oscar. It was wonderful to see Dave.

John had a great time in the Okanagan, saw Kate in Kelowna, and the 5-year-old grandson called bundle of chaos visited last night. John has beads collected from galas (he does?!?!), and chaos destroyed 4 of the 8. This morning, he is playing golf at North View, has to be there at 9 a.m. and as he is doing S at A, we only get one story (good luck with that) so he can get there on time. (which he did – had to pay Garth a tooney.)

Blair was hoping for a half hour story. He went golfing on Tuesday, walked the 18 holes, which he hadn’t done for a long time, then went back to the parking lot for a nap. He was with the young guys. The last hole was a par 3 in the dark, which they could only see with their phones – did it really happen? He used “glow balls!”

Chris B. was at the Canadians game last night, a life celebration at the game for Hans Havas. Everyone did the chicken dance and Malcolm had to speak. She doesn’t know who won as they had to leave early. Her 13-year-old 6ft 1in grandson is coming. They went to Deadpool and only 100 of the words were not swear words. It cost her $170 for the movie for 4 people, - $85 for popcorn! But they had vibrating seats.

Marg was at a celebration of life on Saturday, and because Don did the flowers, he took the ferry, and Marg flew over with Ben the next day. It was at the Esquimalt Military Base, a beautiful facility. It was a great service for their friend who was only 42, and who raised $500 000 for cancer research, having been diagnosed just after her 7-year-old daughter was born. They had special t-shirts made that said, “Move because you can”. At the football game they had a great time, and the owner is doing amazing things for entertainment, but despite the good quarterback they didn’t win. She’s been having lots of dinners and doing lots of canning, so life is good.

Kal was at the Monday evening Kidsplay event, and the BC Lions were there. (Kal said ‘no’ to being the left tackle but recruited a speaker for the club).

Bill says Sam is not here as he is at a course video, getting up at 5 a.m. He shared the sad news that Chris P.’s dad passed away on Monday.

Jeannette thanks Garth for accommodating her request to sign her document in exchange for coffee and pancakes. She is planning to go to Newfoundland in October, and got a good deal, only $347 for the flight.

Elena received good news from her son in Redmond Wash., who works for Microsoft, and is becoming a manager of software, has a newborn daughter and bought a second house in Seattle – so lots of good news.

Garth says he realizes why law is so expensive. (that is what billiable hours smell like!) Although he finished his factums, he was not allowed to file them as the appeal was on the inactive list, having passed the 180 days last Friday, and became automatically inactive. So, although it was not Garth’s fault, the appellant has to apply to get back on list and then Garth has to apply to be able to file his factum.

Gordon says it was nice to see Dave and to learn how the funds are used. Pathways has touched almost everyone in this club over the years. We say all people are created equal but unfortunately not all are treated equally.

Moe missed last week, as he had an infection, but has recovered. He spent time with family this week, as there was a wedding in Surrey, and with the weeklong functions for the wedding, he is looking forward to the weekend.

Amanda is so busy at work that she is booking 6 weeks in advance and needs to stop offering those 6 a.m. appointments. Yesterday she dressed up the cat in his Hallowe’en costume, and we can look at her story online. He is hysterically funny and happy with the costume. Cat Halloween Emoji - Free image on Pixabay

Cat Halloween Emoji - Free image on Pixabay

(Happy looking Cat! No?)

Pam is happy to become a member when she can in December. Tuesday, they went to the PNE, and she missed last week, as she had a movie marathon with the kids.

Debbie T. says it was good to hear from Dave about Ron, who wanted to do the Tour de Cure, and had signed up, but Debbie wasn’t sure what happened. She saw the School of Rock last Friday at Stanley Park, and although she didn’t have high expectations, it was very good and funny. She thought she had seen Malcom at the Canadians game last night! Thanks to those who have donated to the ride. She did her last training ride on the weekend, but thinks she’ll be fine. Fingers crossed. If you want any ribbons on her jersey, let her know. The Brainiacs goal was $250 000 this year, and they did it! Everyone is hoping it won’t rain this weekend, as it is not pleasant riding in the rain.

Melinda went to Washington for the celebration of her uncle’s life, and she got together with Roxanne and Nora, whom she had known from second grade and age fourteen. It was a time both happy and sad and the weather was 100º. Tom, who they went to see on life support, has an extremely rare auto immune disease, one in 300 million get it. His doctor was emotional and in shock to see that he’s ok, and, while he is hitting him hard with steroids, the outcome is unknown. John also has an auto immune disease with his eye. There are lots of prayers going around!

Sandra’s sister arrived with her daughter-in-law and grandkids, and it was supposed to be family pool day. The house is organized chaos – with the 4 and 2 ½ year olds. They were up until 10 p.m. and more cousins came yesterday. She is amazed at the number of cars her driveway holds.

Debbie S. was at the back-to-school event and the kids had fun with the games, and they had a nice dinner. It was fun that we contributed to that. Amanda shared a story on Instagram about how women who use their hair straighteners to sing, should make sure that husbands understand the straighteners are hot. The day before, Debbie’s hair straightener was sitting on the edge of the tub, John picked it up and immediately chucked it across the room.

Pat agrees that everything is so expensive. She took her grandchildren to Tsawwassen Mills for back-to-school shopping, and they certainly knew which shops they wanted to hit – Lululemon, Nike, Sport Check and then lunch.

Bobby thanks Dave and CJ for their presentation. At the back-to-school event on Monday, each child received a Henry Schein box with their name, age and shoe size on it, filled with goodies including a new pair of Nikes. Save on Foods sponsored a bag of groceries, for each child and the Islamic Relief Organization gave soccer balls. The Toy Drive gave UNO cards and Tim Hortons cards. Next year they will connect with Richmond schools. Bobby did 10.17 km this week, thanks to Debbie S. guidance.

Peter has played golf at Beach Grove with Phil Cote, over the last 20 and Phil, who had health issues, took MAID on Monday. The memorial is this Saturday at Beach Grove. Peter spoke to him shortly before his passing, saying how much he was going to miss him and Phil said, “If you come to the memorial, I’ll be there, but I won’t enjoy it”. Peter has trouble dealing with this and accepts this as ‘a step through life and then you’re gone’, but not this way when you know when you’re going. He got ferry saver rates for going to Victoria to see his daughter on Tuesday. Seniors travel for free. They had a great visit and saw that she’s happy, living in Metchosin, a woodsy, earthy place where people are selling eggs, eggplants and zucchini, and the roads are spectacular with smooth sailing (unlike Richmond).

Meanderings

Thought these would be of interest this week, from Wikipedia.

The modern Democratic Party emerged in the late 1820s from former factions of the Democratic-Republican Party, which had largely collapsed by 1824.^[12] It was built by Martin Van Buren, who assembled a cadre of politicians in every state behind war hero Andrew Jackson of Tennessee.^[13]^[14] The pattern and speed of formation differed from state to state.^[15] By the mid-1830s almost all the state Democratic parties were uniform.^[16]

If you want to read more follow this link. History of the Democratic Party (United States) - Wikipedia

And to be fair to all.

The Republican Party, also known as the GOP (Grand Old Party), is one of the two major political parties in the United States. It is the second-oldest extant political party in the United States after its main political rival, the Democratic Party.

In 1854, the Republican Party emerged to combat the expansion of slavery into western territories after the passing of the Kansas–Nebraska Act. The early Republican Party consisted of northern Protestants, factory workers, professionals, businessmen, prosperous farmers, and, after the Civil War, former black slaves. The party had very little support from white Southerners at the time, who predominantly backed the Democratic Party in the Solid South, and from Irish and German Catholics, who made up a major Democratic voting bloc.

History of the Republican Party (United States) - Wikipedia

SPEAKER

Mr. Dave MacDonald, the executive director of Pathways Clubhouse (Richmond, BC).

Pathways Clubhouse is a non-profit organization creating an inclusive community through meaningful work and relationships, education, quality housing, and a sense of belonging. Pathways collaborate with people and organizations in the broader community to educate and eliminate the stigma around mental illness while championing mental wellness.

Pathways recently passed accreditation. In two years, our Clubhouse will be hosting an international conference. The Membership and Business Unit welcomes new members, introducing them to special projects and celebrations, including public education, Outreach at the libraries and The News and Views newsletter is worth reading. Housing and employment programs are also available. There are 120 housing units, with another building being soon completed.

The Food and Fun sector addresses the rising cost of food with a meal program focusing on price affordability with nutritional meals at $2, (with support from Richmond Sunrise). The Clubhouse is open every day of the year, including public holidays, as mental health issues don’t take a break.

The Young Adult program supports members 18-35 years old, has its own social calendar, and caters towards youth, with lots of outreach, encouraging the program. This sector is relatively new, for people needing support, not old enough to become members, but aging out of other services. All issues are addressed including bullying and depression.

To become a member, only a primary diagnosis of mental illness is needed. New members are given a tour and application form. Many referrals come from medical teams.

Our gala two years ago raised $26,000 and the funds were directed to the Food Program to maintain the affordability of meals.

Dave shared a short video explaining the need for, and successes of, Pathways Clubhouse.

Mary Lou suggests we take a tour of the Pathways building. Here is their website if you want to read more. Mental Health Community Services - Pathways Clubhouse

upcoming events

August 28th DG Drew Antrobus visit.

Sept 4 at 5:30 p.m. at Country Vines, $12/person for food and purchase your own wine

Friday May 2, 2025 Sunrise Rotary Gala Auction

TODAY'S CHUCKLEs

They all laughed when he gave up a promising career as an accountant to do stand up. Well no one is laughing now!

99% of lawyers give the rest a bad name.