Miscellaneous

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

Debby M.: Reminder that we will soon be setting up for the auction, so hopefully you have begun sourcing your auction items. We will have tax receipts available for sponsorship.

Amanda: You can bring items for the auction baskets to the morning meetings. She is ready to pick them up and begin organizing.

Sam: Two events:

Building Pathways for Hope, Pathways Clubhouse Gala Dinner May 2 at 5:30 p.m. at the River Rock Theatre
Yvonne and the Tsawwassen club are having a Ukrainian Dinner Sunday, February 25^th, from 5:30 to 9:00 pm at the KinVillage Community Centre, 5410 10th Ave. Tsawwassen

Zoom Meeting Rules

THE LINK TO OUR THURSDAY MEETINGS WILL NO LONGER BE EMAILED BUT ACCESSED THROUGH THE LINK BELOW.

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

Topic: Rotary Club of Richmond Sunrise's Zoom Meeting
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/7359371916

Meeting ID: 735 937 1916

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) Support NATO

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 Andrew Carnegie via Debbie M. "Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision. The ability to direct individual accomplishments toward organizational objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results."

VISITORS

Mariel Anderson from SHINE Foundation for Artistic Expression.

We presented a cheque for $9000. Mariel shared how our donation has started a positive domino effect: by this fall, they should have their charity number. their board has grown, they have a committee figuring out the treatment centre, the show in Nanaimo is raising money for youth there.

ANNOUNCEMENTS AND

CLUB BUSINESS

Chris M.: There is a luncheon fundraiser and silent auction for Richmond Women’s Resource Centre at Ember Restaurant on Saturday March 2. An email will be coming to potentially interested members. Let Chris M. know if you’d like to join a table.

Debbie M. Auction Update: Emails have been sent, please read them. Our website is being set up for entering items, so in the meantime, you can gather your items and take the photos so you’ll be ready to enter them online. Chris M. will send out the updated instructions for doing so and will share the template for labelling your items.

Marg: Wine is being collected at the morning meetings. You should bring two bottles which will be distributed to the wine wall, wine fridge, and auction baskets. Please put your name somewhere so Marg knows they are from you.

Sandra: Ticket sales are being monitored. We can pay by cheque, cash, e-transfer or Shopify (the latter should be available next week).

Kal: We are sending two students to RYLA.

Bob: There is a Board meeting next week after the regular meeting. He also suggests that we spread ourselves out among the tables at the morning meeting so that guests do not have to sit alone.

Peter: There is a Projects meeting today after this meeting.

Bobby: A reminder to pay our dues as soon as possible. He is sending an email sent today for people who are sponsoring the gala, with information regarding tax receipts.

SERGEANT At Arms Tidbits

Chris P. had a wonderful weekend with her dad at the Westin Bayshore, went for walks and listened as he reminisced about his days as a firefighter in Vancouver. It is Maddy’s birthday. Mitch is in Cornwall Ontario, where he’s learning to fly multi-engine airplanes – a 2-week course. Chris’ marathon shirt is looking looser this year than last, although it might be just less gas.

Pat fell playing tennis and hurt her elbow, but she isn’t quitting. She is having a new hot water tank this morning, sticking with the old style, although it costs $1000 more than the last time.

Amanda says the 7 a.m. starts for Graham, are hard and the morning traffic is crazy. Last night for Valentine’s Day they had a rack of lamb from Seafair Meats - delicious. On Wednesday Amanda is going to the Madonna show with her sister (her 40^th birthday present).

Sam had a relaxing week and is going to Maui this Monday. His mom will even go on the helicopter tour, as long as they don’t see Lahaina.

Bill did a submarine tour last time, but without Shelley. It will be a tough day today at the synagogue as he attends the funeral for a friend who was the best man at his wedding. It will be horrible. But then he is going to Hawaii.

Kal had great Super Bowl Sunday, and sends a sad dollar for Kansas City - thank goodness only one dead, but 20 in the hospital. He is getting in shape, walked from the house to the farm, 1200 steps, although a neighbour saw him and offered a ride. Shortly after his recovery last year, he remembers being called a lazy ass by ‘friends’ only to be discovered in the back seat of their car.

Debbie M. always celebrates Valentine’s Day on the 13^th, because for their first Valentine’s, Miles was too late to reserve on the 14^th, so now they celebrate every year a day before. Yesterday they went to Between Two Buns for burgers.

Judy spent Valentine’s with the grandkids, and they made heart-shaped pizzas for dinner. She was wearing a locket that Ralph had given her as a first gift, with photos of the two of them. She notes that putting hockey equipment on two seven-year-olds is hard work, especially the laces. She was fastening a helmet, but the snap was broken, so they had to go the pro shop for repairs. After that comedy of errors, she was exhausted by the time the boys were on the ice.

Peter is supposed to go to Seattle for PETS after this meeting. There will be 1200 Rotarians going to a hotel near the airport this weekend and Peter is going, with trepidation, especially after hearing it’s supposed to be snowing – will delay his departure.

Marg was sick last week but has recovered now. She had a fabulous dinner at Coast. During the Super Bowl party at her house, she convinced most of the 13 guests to commit to coming to the auction. Last night at bridge, the girls won.

Mary Lou says Oscar’s party was fun as they went tubing last weekend, then had cake and pinata smashing. She went to the opera, Don Pasquale. Yesterday along with other CFUW members, she went to the MMIW walk in downtown east side. Women were talking about losing their daughters, including one that was killed by Robert Pickton. Stories came from Manitoba, Seattle, and Saskatchewan. But it was a beautiful day to walk, and she recommends it, and didn’t feel fearful at all. Because it is Oscar’s birthday today, his parents are taking him, and Mary Lou gets to stay for the Project meeting this morning.

Dalbir says he used to drive through Hastings and Main, but now when you drive through there it is disheartening, but it is his route from his office to Burnaby. We can feel safe here, especially compared to Kansas City this week. People in the Downtown East Side are not there by choice and are just regular people. He remembers we had the Loving Spoonful here one year, and the number one thing to do is to ask people their name.

Blair thanks Kal for hosting the Super Bowl party and for breaking the speed record, paying up in just 4 minutes after the game.

Gordon says that Peter will enjoy PETS, and with over 1000 people it doesn’t feel overwhelming, because of the great organization. He will be in South Surrey this week, attending a Sweet 16 birthday party for his granddaughter.

Chris M. says “Wow” again for the Dean Crain Award. Valentine’s Day was crêpes with her daughter and son-in-law, as they couldn’t have them on Mardi Gras (Tuesday) as Rod is taking French lessons. She was with Mary Lou in the Downtown East Side yesterday and agrees that the event was incredibly moving.

John as a young hockey player didn’t wear protection, not even a mask. He has had a tough week, starting with letting the dog off leash as he came home, when she ran across the road after another dog and was hit by a car – a radius fraction, now recovering, but jumping, and they have to keep her calm. His new car’s level two charger is not working, as the load monitor isn’t working, and now the oven isn’t working as it’s on same circuit. He was visiting a friend last week who had heart surgery and was reminded of when he had surgery a few years ago.

Susan is going to the opera with Ryan, and she hopes he’ll like it as it is his first time, and he loves singing. Her brother, Andrew, is coming to visit for a week. There are Star gala tickets available for March 16 (Anita’s hip hop group). She is on the committee for the 2025 District Conference, so you can let Susan know if you want to help out.

Carolyn was feeling good this morning, so got dressed and ready to go, then couldn’t find her car keys as her house has multiple users of her car. She’s up $62 from the Super Bowl but is so sad to hear what happened in Kansas City. This month is birthday party extravaganza, and it seems that every 4-year-old kid is born in February.

Bobby was in Whistler, where there wasn’t much snow. Last week he treated himself to a new Audi Q8, which is a super nice car, with so many options, including driver assistance, and a steering wheel that gets warm. For family dinners, they are going to fancier restaurants and went to Nightingale (not Knight and Day). He had a Super Bowl party at the house, and is afraid he might develop a gambling addiction, as he won over $400. He asked us all to witness that he handed over two sets of keys (for the Grand Ballroom, and for the Palace (to Kal and Bill), just in case ‘something happens’. We all witnessed it.

Garth was in Palm Springs and was in a dark restaurant where the menu was backlit – very cool! He told Peter than even he enjoyed PETS. Apparently, we know of only one president-elect who almost got into a fist fight at PETS (S.J.). He notes that the Downtown East Side is a matter of perspective because he recently walked with a client from Halifax, from Science World to Chinatown and the client thought it looked quite normal. He went to the Continental Restaurant for a New Year’s celebration.

Bob went to El Jardino for dinner last week, where it’s so hard to get a reservation. They ordered a second bottle of wine, but the same wine wasn’t in stock, so they chose another that wasn’t in stock either and finally had the one they recommended next. He left without looking at the bill and later he saw he’d been charged for four bottles of wine. He phoned and they are going to fix that up and have told him he can come back in next week with no reservation problem.

Meanderings

So everyone has heard of the Dugesia japonica. But not everyone knows that if you cut this flatworm in half, the head will grow another tail and the tail will grow another head. Scientists are working with this flat worm to show that regular cells not just brain cells have the ability to store information and to act on it. So a tail that grows a new head will remember where to find yummy treats that had been learned by the Dugesia japonica before decapitation. Scientific American in its February 2024 edition also reports that if you cut the tail off the Dugesia japonica and reverse the voltage travelling through the flatworm another head will grow and end up with a two headed Dugesia japonica. Nothing was reported about what happened to a severed tail if you reversed the voltage. One perhaps can assume that you would end up with a two tailed flatworm. Multiple that by four and you have our naughty table!

SPEAKER

Almost 25 years ago, Bill met Dean Crain, when both were young with lots in common including new jobs, kids, joking, running. A bromance began. Over the years, they shared guidance and thoughts, shared stories and supported each other. Dean was a past Rotarian, president of his club.

Bill learned that Dean had a deadly disease – Huntington’s - a horrible genetic disease passed down from parent to child. Three of Dean’s 6 siblings also suffered from it. Dean came to our club multiple times, would talk about his running and raising money for a cure to help. Chris P. and Bill ran a half-marathon with him and wore their jerseys today. They raised $100, 000 for research and now there is a method to determine if you are a carrier for the disease.

After Dean’s death, our rotary club created the Dean Crain award to honour his spirit. During the entire time that his body, and eventually his mind, starting to work against him, Dean did not change. He continued to be funny, smart, loving, thoughtful, determined, and caring, even as he faced death.

Every year for 15 years, we have honoured a Rotarian who exemplifies Dean’s qualities. His body may be gone, but his spirit exists in all of us.

Bill thanked Chris P. not only for the half-marathon so many years ago, but also for amalgamating Bill’s previous speeches and creating this new one, with support from her friend Chat GPT.

John introduced the winner this year, a person who not only had a positive impact in her chosen profession, the Canadian Federation of University Women, but also an immediate impact on our club. She has for years taken the minutes for our auction meetings and was instrumental in introducing Givergy and it's continuing operation. She is now also our co bulletin editor and signs her emails " I celebrate those who do not celebrate themselves. I raise a glass to those who don't have one." : Christine Marin. Chris didn’t say much as she was dumbfounded, and just kept saying “Wow. Thank you.”

upcoming events

Building Pathways for Hope, Pathways Clubhouse Gala Dinner May 2 at 5:30 p.m. at the River Rock Theatre

Yvonne and the Tsawwassen club are having a Ukrainian Dinner Sunday, February 25^th, from 5:30 to 9:00 pm at the KinVillage Community Centre, 5410 10th Ave. Tsawwassen

Next years Gala is Friday May 3rd, 2024.

TODAY'S CHUCKLEs

Coach Reid is a great! | Kansas city chiefs football, Kansas city chiefs funny, Kansas city ...

53 millionaires walk into a bar to watch the Super Bowl.
The Bartender says, “Woah! It’s the Dallas Cowboys! What can I get you guys?”

Did you hear about the man from the future who can predict the score of the Super Bowl LVIII before it starts?
“0-0,” he said.

Unless you are Kal who bet on the 49ers! WTF!