Rotary Club of Oak Bay Meeting 14 February 2017 - Social Enterprise Co-op, Jakelina Listes

Reporter: Dr. Eugen Bannerman

President Lori  welcomed everyone to the Valentine’s Day meeting.

“O Canada” was sung with the newly approved gender neutral words, “in all of us command.”

Will Carter’s invocation included thanks for food, fellowship, and “having been in love.”

(He told us later, his mother’s name is Elizabeth Valentine O’Sullivan.”

Call to Lunch

Mary Canty introduced Visiting Rotarian, John Picken, St. Catherine’s Club.

Guests: Jean Lawrie (wife of Peter Lawrie), Sarah Lawrie and Logan (daughter and granddaughter of Peter Lawrie); Trond Holtby, (hosted by Club).

Health of the Club: Tom L will be having surgery this week; Mary Canty’s daughter will also be having surgery this week.

Wendy Townsend (President-Elect) presented a personal Rotary Moment.

Announcements:

Brian Lamb’s Celebration of Life will be held Saturday February 25 at 2 p.m. at the Victoria Conference Centre. A card for his wife, Carol, was sent around to be signed.

A Valentine-themed concert by the Die Mahler String Quartet and directed by our own Pablo Diemecke, will be presented this Saturday February 18 at St. Mary’s Church on Elgin Street.

Celebration’s Master Wynn Taylor:

This is the day of Love and Marriage. The questions had a theme of  love and St. Valentine's Day. Who was Valentine? One story says he was a Roman priest and martyr persecuted by Emperor Claudius. His death on February 14, 269 AD, is widely celebrated.

Happy $s:

• Tom C told the story of how he and his wife Jillian met, 45 years ago.
• Lorna C has just returned from 6 weeks in Australia and KL. Whilst in Tasmania, she met up with Janette who was there for 6 weeks. “It was a surreal experience to meet someone on the street you know from back home”, said Lorna.
• Perry  told us stories of why we need to take lots and lots of money with us when we go to a hospital in India. Everybody needs to be paid in cash. 
• Joan P thanked all those who helped move our Rotary goods to the new storage place last week.

Guest Speaker:

Sandy Currie introduced our speaker, Jakelina Listes, of Social Enterprise Co-op.

Jakelina Listes moved to Canada from Croatia 15 years ago, and has organized a MEETUP for local people, especially new immigrants. She herself is a social worker, military spouse, and artist. Since coming to Canada she is the initiator/co-founder of an immigrant’s women co-operative initiative, and leader of Sewlution, a sewing and textile recovery program for immigrant women.

The organization is about social networking, women’s empowerment, community outreach, social entrepreneurship, international friends, culture exchange, and immigrant support.

The organization has a Board of 7 members, and was founded May 15, 2016. The main goal is to offer alternative solutions to help those coming to Victoria and to do something a little different from traditional approaches. For example, to help immigrants with “soft skills” until they are able to get better jobs. They run a Culture Kitchen, a cafe and catering service as a social enterprise. Their logo is “around the world in a plate.” They also offer cleaning services. They are a new organization, looking for support from the community.

Jenny Hildebrand thanked the speaker and gave her a cherished Rotary Mug.

Closing Video: “Love the One You’re With”. Some members sang and danced to the beat of the music.