Meeting Highlights: April 26, 2018
Let’s Begin with Welcomes, Kudos, and Congratulations
Welcome home John Alliston. We know you didn’t come home to Florida-like weather … but there’s so much to be grateful for here in the beautiful Comox Valley.
Welcome to Canada Boom, Kevin Wilson’s spouse, who recently arrived from Thailand. Boom, it was lovely to meet you and we look forward to seeing you again … many times we hope 
☺. Please know that you are always welcome.
Kudos to Russell Ball
Many thanks for picking up the shovel and seeing the club through a very successful tree planting experience in the NorthEast Woods on Earth Day. Our new members are truly demonstrating a wonderful willingness to provide leadership and support. Thank you so much Russell.
Kudos to the Soup-Making Team
Another successful soup-making session took place under the direction of Super Souper, Charlene Davis. President Jo expressed appreciation not only for the very well organized event on the day of but also all the work that Charlene invests in making this happen with such apparent ease.
Congratulations James Flawith
… for being a recipient of an award at the recent Top 20 Under 40 Business & Community Achievement Awards 2018. James’ words of appreciation upon receiving this honour appear below.
“I am extremely honoured and humbled to have been selected as a recipient of the 2018 Top 20 Under 40 Business & Community Achievement Awards. Thank you to Flawith Family President Shannon Flawith and our 3 awesome Lil Workers for your wicked help and support.
Huge thank yous to City of Courtenay Mayoral Candidate and Awesome Human Being (MCAHB) Bob Wells who nominated me and current Comox Mayor Paul Rodney Ives who put Top 20 Under 40 Chairman Roger McKinnon in a headlock and noogied him until he broke down and picked me as a winner.
Shout outs to both the Precision Tree Services Ltd and Lil Worker Safety Gear crews for all your hard, dedicated work. You guys are really the ones doing it. I’m just riding your coat tails.
I blacked out during my speech and only remember one sentence – and I *think* it’s worth repeating:
Do good things.”
James … Spoken like a true Rotarian. ☺
Rotary Moment: Tom Grant
During his Rotary Moment, Tom spoke of Mike Holland, who recently passed away. He mentioned that Mike had a great deal to do with saving Glacier View Lodge … and never charged anyone anything for all that he did. When Tom asked Mike why he had taken this on without reimbursement, Mike’s reply was: “Everyone once in their life should go on a crusade.”
Tom said he reflected on those words and in 2006, when he, Tom, was President of our Club, committed himself to establishing Dawn to Dawn: Action on Homelessness.
More recently, just this year in fact, Tom spearheaded a project that resulted in Dawn to Dawn purchasing not one but two condos that now house individuals who were previously homeless.
In closing Tom said: “That was my crusade and you guys were all part of it.” Thanks Tom for an inspiring presentation.
The Role of the Assistant Governor (AG)
Before asking us to provide a warm welcome to Stu Tunheim, our AG, President Jo spoke of the many important duties that fall to those who hold this position.
The AG is the leader of the Area 2 clubs – five in the Comox Valley and two in Campbell River. In taking on the role of AG, Stu assumed responsibility for:
• meeting with Club Presidents and Presidents Elects (PEs) several times throughout the Rotary year to offer support and to facilitate collaboration amongst those who hold these important leadership positions within their respective clubs.
• sharing information about District issues and events.
• hosting the Presidents Elect training session in February. This is the event at which the PEs are prepped for that big day, July 1st, when they assume the role of President.
We’re fortunate that Stu finds time to visit us as a Comox Rotarian. But on this particular evening he was there in an official capacity to present a certificate to the Club for its Polio Plus donations, including those brought in at the Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner event for World Polio Day. Hannah Rail, Rod McKenzie, and Joanne were acknowledged for the role they played in these very successful events.
Ducky Dollars At Work
Representatives of the Courtenay Elementary Parent Advisory Council were our guests on April 26th. They came to receive a cheque from the club that will be used to support their summer reading program.
And Speaking of The Ducky 500 …
Have you signed up for Ducky Duty yet? If not, bring your daybooks (electronic or otherwise) with you this Thursday and pop yourself into one of the remaining ducky day selling opportunities.
Are You Looking for a Hands-On Opportunity?
If so, DrSidhu Sukhman passed on the following from Jarrett Krentzel, Program Director of Hand-in-Hand Early Years Nature Education Program. If you are interested in helping, please contact Jarrett at 250-650-0438 (jarrett@hand-in-handeducation.com). Information about this program can be found at http://hand-in-handeducation.com/contact/
Jarrett’s letter follows.
“My name is Jarrett Krentzel, Program Director of Hand-In-Hand Early Years Nature Education Program, an outdoor educational program located at the Filberg Heritage Lodge & Park Association and Mack Laing Nature Park that is designed to offer a unique early childhood learning experience for children aged 3-5 years. Our classroom is the natural environment. Our chairs are the logs, our pencils are the sticks and our possibilities are endless! The program is offered Monday to Friday from 9am to 12pm, outside, as this is an environmental educational program. Our program is facilitated by 2 educators (ECE, ECEA and/or B.Ed) that teach a maximum of 16 children. Expanding on the BC Ministry of Education’s Early Learning Framework, the emphasis of our program is on a child-led, nature- and play-based curriculum, which encourages preschoolers to engage with their environment through art, music, games, physical activities, and group learning. One of our little forest friends is expressing behaviour where extra support is needed. We are inquiring to see if anyone is interested and available to join our program on Mondays, Wednesdays and/or Fridays from 9am to 12pm to provide an extra set of eyes and hands to the other children while this particular child receives the one-on-one support that is required.”
Guest Speaker: Eduardo Uranga
Eduardo spoke about the “Community Created Agricultural Co-op”, the mission of which is to establish an agricultural co-operative that will create the necessary infrastructure to facilitate production, processing, preservation, storage, and delivery of food in the Comox Valley.
The goal of the Co-op is to provide a supportive environment in which individuals can learn and practice farming skills at their own pace with their friends and family.
For more information about this interesting undertaking, Eduardo can be reached at 250-898-4874 (uranga@shaw.ca).
In Closing …Although President Joanne opened last week’s meeting with the following words, they convey a meaningful message that seems equally appropriate to place at the end of our Meeting Highlights. It’s a message that each of us can take with us into the new week, the month, and well beyond.
Once again, a tough week for Canadians, this time in Toronto. To me, it points to the importance of looking after each other, not marginalizing, discounting, but keeping all our fellow humans visible. We think of Toronto as a big anonymous city. But I think we saw this week that that big city is made up of neighbourhoods and communities just like ours. There are so many kind citizens in this room. Truly, we can never tell when ordinary acts of kindness and courtesy out in the community to strangers and acquaintances alike can be a message that someone matters. I’m proud of our club members for being such people and for all our efforts to provide caring service beyond ourselves. Again, as Rotary International VP Dean Rohrs said to us, let’s go forward with courage.
In keeping with the above, James Flawith’s words merit repeating here … let us
“Do Good Things”.
Until Next Time
