Club Bulletin for 28 January 2014 - 10th Anniversary of the Victoria Leadership Awards

Prepared by President-Elect, Jim Force

President Pete MC’d the meeting after being absent last week.

Tom Croft introduced visiting Rotarians and Guests: 

Stewart Adam from the Prince Albert Club. Stewart and his wife are house sitting here in Victoria while looking for a permanent place to live here. With any luck, once settled he just may join our club.

Other guests include Rotarians David Newberry from the Victoria Club;

Christopher Causton from Harbourside; 

Oak Bay Interact students, Camille van Tassel and Anna Young;

Ryan Gisler guest of Janna; 

Guest Speaker, Jack Shore, of Leadership Victoria.

Eugen reported on the health of the club indicating that David Philip is doing much better and expects to be at next week’s meeting.

Announcements

President Pete announced that Mike had been defrocked – i.e. he had gained the signatures of all club members and could now remove the red “new” tag from his name tag. Pete also awarded Joan P., Lori, Dave M., and Tom C. Igniter Pins for having sponsored new club members.

Jim F reminded folks of the upcoming Fireside on Thursday, January 30^th at the Penny Farthing.

Celebration Master, Black Jack Petrie started by showing off the beautiful bowl made by Janna at Fired Up. The bowl was used to collect fines. Next he lead the group in a rousing applause to the Hotel Staff for the fine New Orleans Luncheon they prepared for us. Not only was the food Louisiana-style, it was delicious. 

Jack offered 5 Music CDs to those who generously bought New Orleans Dinner tickets today – the waving of hands with checks in them was more than I could count. The New Orleans spirit is upon us, that’s for sure.

Tons of Happy and Sad Dollars today, unlike sometimes when there are hardly any at all. Mike, Jessica, Heather, Lorna, Batya, Jim F., and Tom C., who informed us that we have several applicants for RYLA and Adventures in Citizenship. He also indicated that Interactors will be involved in Memory Café with Seniors at Oak Bay Lodge again this year and that they plan to assist with serving the meals at the New Orleans Dinner. But best of all was Janna and Ryan’s $24, which equals the number of weeks until their baby is due. Speaking of babies, Joan F. announced that Claire had a baby boy – I think I deserve a fine for not catching the baby’s name.

Jack finished off with testing our New Orleans knowledge with a few quiz questions: Who wrote the song Jambalaya? Hank Williams. What’s a Subway Sandwich in New Orleans called? Po’ Boy. Mardi Gras means? Fat Tuesday. 

The 50/50 draw was won by Lori, after she dug through her purse and realized to her surprise that she had the winning number. Unfortunately, she drew a black marble.

Vicky introduced our Guest Speaker, Jack Shore. Jack is the Executive Director of Leadership Victoria. He has a passion for community leadership and development.

The focus of Jack’s presentation was the 10^th Anniversary of the Victoria Leadership Awards, which is Leadership Victoria’s main fundraising event. This year it will be held at the Crystal Garden on Wednesday February 26^th starting at 4:30 pm. Tickets are $65 each. Jack showed a short video highlighting past Award events and recipients.

Leadership Victoria was jointly founded in 2004 in partnership with Harbourside Rotary Club and the University of Victoria, with the first Awards event in 2005, which had 55 people in attendance. This year they expect to have close to 400 in attendance. Awards are presented in the following 8 categories: 

• Leadership Victoria Lifetime Achievement
• Victoria Foundation Community Leadership
• University of Victoria Community Leadership
• Rotary Community Leadership (presented to two individuals each year)
• United Way of Greater Victoria Award for Collaboration and Partnership
• Vancity Youth
• Royal Roads University Leadership Excellence through Coaching and Mentoring
• Leadership Victoria Alumni Award. 

Last year’s recipients of the Rotary Award were Colin Smith and Gordon Harper. Rotary Clubs donate a total of $5,000 each year for these awards.

To learn more about Leadership Victoria, please visit their website: http://www.leadershipvictoria.ca  You can email layla@leadershipvictoria.ca to purchase seats for the Awards event.

Throughout the presentation Jack thanked Rotarians for their support of Leadership Victoria.

Joan F. thanked Jack.

Editor's Note: Here is a little more info on Executive Director, Jack Shore, from the Leadership Victoria website:

Jack was born in 1949 in Saskatchewan, and after many years chasing an education, he 

enjoyed a 32 year career in the Senior Management ranks in the Financial Services 

Industry. Having enjoyed living in many parts of Canada with his Wife Gail and 2 

children, Leslie and Paul (now both adults living in Calgary and Vancouver), he and Gail 

settled in Victoria, in 2004.  Having taken early retirement from his first Career, Jack has 

since spent his time working with many charities including: Junior Achievement; 

Canadian Youth Business Foundation, and Habitat for Humanity. He recently stepped 

down as National Director and Treasurer for Habitat for Humanity Canada.  His 

interests lie in seeing our community improve and prosper through healthy Community 

organizations, and strong leadership. To this end he joined Leadership Victoria as the 

Executive Director in November 2009. 

As per usual the meeting ended with God Save The Queen, after a bit of a false start of The Saints Go Marching In.

Meeting of January 21, 2014 - Junior Achievement BC

Reported by Peter Johannknecht.

     Greeters were Lynne Murray and Will Carter, with support from Markus Ludwig.

Prior to the Grace, led by Heather Aked, Brian Lamb represented President Peter Lawrie well during his absence and addressed the club, pointing out that January is Rotary Awareness month. Engage Rotary / Change Lives: this is the time to clarify a unique sense of what it is that makes us proud to be Rotarians, and to share it with others. On March 29/30, here in Victoria, there is a perfect chance for any/all of us to find out more about Rotary, and increase our awareness of Rotary. Victoria is hosting the District Leadership TrainingAssembly (DLTA). This is a great opportunity to very effectively and efficiently find out more about the details, nooks and crannies as well as the big picture of Rotary. Registration is $70. Our club has funds for registrants to  help reduce this cost. You can pick and choose workshops and customize your experience. For Registration, click here.

Everyone sang O Canada, while enjoying beautiful images from all provinces projected on to the screen.

Guests and Visiting Rotarians were introduced by Lynne Murray:

• Rotarians: Rashna Charania, Leanne Stokes & Gordon Quigley, RC of Saanich
• Shannon Longwin, RC Comox
• Dave Murray, RC Victoria Harbourside
• Katie Sharpe, Jasmine Neville & Connor Trelawny, Rotaract Club Victoria
• Guests: Deborah Wakeham (speaker) and Tom Scinocca

Health of the Club: Eugen Bannerman reported that David Philip is feeling better and will most likely rejoin the club meetings in about 2 weeks. He is doing so well, he enjoyed a special single malt with Eugen!

Announcements/Help needed:

Joan Peggs: Please read our updated facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/RotaryClubOfOakBay

[Editor's note: I especially like the FB post from the Sydney woman who always wears her Rotary Hat - literally!]
Tom Croft on Interact: Memory Café is starting again in February.

Katie Sharpe on Rotaract: Between $300-400 were collected through the bottle drive. Brian Lamb commented about remembering to collect all the bottles out of Jack Petrie’s car. Rotaract is meeting with volunteers this Saturday at 10am at the Blenkinsop drop-off to pick invasive weeds at Mt. Doug. Please join them! [For all Oak Bay Rotary events, click here.]

Batja Westler: It is Mardi Gras Madness!  A sign in and to-do-list was circulated to manage the work load ahead. Please participate as much as you can.

Jack Petrie showed an inspirational motivation video to get everyone hyped about Mardi Gras and to get involved. His fancy white blazer, pearl necklace and rhythmic head bobbing to Louis Armstrong tunes mesmerized the crowd. Mardi Gras has a new king. By the way, Brian Lamb has the tickets. They are $45 each. What a steal!

Club Anniversary: Ann Sims and David Maxwell - both 11 years!

The board approved Gordon Quigley for membership subject to having his name printed in the bulletin. If any members have any objections, please contact Secretary Wendy within 7 days. [Editor's note: Sabrina emailed Gordon's resume to all members last week.] 

Fines Master Jack Petrie started by fining Richard Acomba for his gracious gesture last week. He won the jackpot and gave back every penny to the club. [Generosity doesn't pay?]

Marcus Ludwig was fined for forgetting his glasses as a greeter. His eyes had to come very close to some name tags.

Some tables were fines for lacking Mardi Gras knowledge. Jack will continue testing, so be prepared.

It was David Westler's birthday and a joyous happy birthday was sung in his honour. He returned it with a cheque to the foundation. Thank you David! We will sing more often for you.

Happy $: Joan Peggs was happy for not getting a ticket from an OB police officer, who stopped her for using her cellphone. Apparently for ‘only a few seconds". She also thanked all her neighbors for donating bottles to support Rotaract.

Vicky Pitt had the winning ticket but pulled a black marble, which still put some cash in her hands.

     Will Carter introduced our Guest Speaker Deborah Wakeham and Tom Scinocca, a guest from Junior Achievement BC. Deborah was actually the first woman accepted as a member in the Skeena Valley Rotary Club in Terrace, 17 years ago! She has been with JA of BC since June, 2007.

    She spoke passionately about Junior Achievement BC, the world’s largest not-for-profit organization for educating young people about business. With over 120 charters worldwide, JA brings a diverse global view of business to local communities, reaching 10 million students annually. Since 1955, Junior Achievement of BC has partnered with educators, donors and volunteers to bring a real world experience into the  classroom. JA programs give students in grades 5-12 the confidence and skills to become the next generation of business and community leaders. The head office of JA BC is located in Vancouver and there are regional operations on Vancouver Island, in Prince George, Kamloops, Kelowna, and in the Fraser Valley.

Last school year, 1,114 classrooms participated, reaching over 29,000 students. 800 business and community leaders around the province volunteer annually. There are partners with teachers in all 12 Island School Districts – in more than 85 schools. They provide programming in 300 classrooms, reaching an estimated 8,000 students, with the support of more than 150 volunteers.

JA develops programs in Work Readiness, Entrepreneurship and Financial Literacy. Any interested teachers register to host a JA program in their classroom and JA recruits and trains business and community leaders as volunteers to facilitate programs in the schools.

Programs are provided free of charge, with coordination, curriculum and materials provided through JA. The programs provided in Elementary School are:

Our Business World - Grades 5 & 6

A Business of Our Own - Grades 6 & 7

Business Basics introduces kids to the fundamentals of business, such as Business Management, Organization, Production and Marketing, including retail Business Planning and Operation.

The programs provided in Middle & High School are:

Dollars with Sense - Grades 7 & 8 - students develop financial literacy skills, such as Methods of Payment, Smart Consumer Steps, Basic Investments, Interest, Budgets.

Economics for Success - Grades 9 & 10 - encourages students to reflect on the advantages of an education to develop skills, values and interests to understand the available career options. Independent living and on-line budget exercises complement the program.

Investment Strategies Program – Grades 10-12 - introduces students to investing and helps them experience the markets, including an on-line stock market challenge.

Company Program - A Student Venture – Grades 10–12 - fosters the entrepreneurial spirit of students as they create and run a business. What an opportunity this is!

JA Titan - Grades 11 & 12. This is an interactive web-based business simulation where students compete as companies in a fictitious market. They learn about product pricing, production, research and development, capital investment, marketing and charitable giving.

     With all of these programs available and having introduced the idea and concepts of what business means, Deborah introduced Tom Scinocca, a Grade 12 student at Mount Douglas Secondary. He is a JA program participant, a JA award recipient, and a JA Innovation Jamb Participant. Tom is an excellent Ambassador to showcase the value and quality of the programs offered through JA. He just finished the 2014 Innovation Jamb inVancouver, and has done a lot of JA programs over the last few years. He loves the idea of business, and was taught: ‘Everything you ever wanted is on the other side of fear.’

     Deborah finished her presentation pointing out the positive impact of JA on the Canadian economy: Helps youth stay in school, encourages entrepreneurship, teaches financial literacy.

The Boston Consulting Group calculates that for every $1 spent by Junior Achievement, $45 is returned to Canada’s economy. For some, Junior Achievement is a life-changing event. 65% of participating students indicate Junior Achievement helped them stay in school and pursue a post-secondary education. 70% of participants in Junior Achievement stated that they had an increased desire to become an entrepreneur.

Participating Schools in Greater Victoria School District 61:

Arbutus Middle School                                Braefoot Elementary

Campus View Elementary                            Central Middle School

Discovery School                                        Esquimalt High School

Gordon Head Middle School                        Lambrick Park Secondary

Maria Montessori Academy                         Margaret Jenkins Elementary   

Mount Douglas Secondary                           Oak Bay High School

Pacific Christian School                               Pembroke Street School

Rockheights Middle School                          Rogers Elementary

St. Andrew’s Regional High School              St. Margaret’s School    

St. Michael’s University School                    Selkirk Montessori

Shoreline Community School                        Spectrum Community School

Strawberry Vale Elementary                         Victoria High School

Willows Elementary

     For more information you can also visit the Junior Achievement BC website: www.jabc.org

Brian Lamb thanked Deborah for her presentation. Tom Scinocca’s speech was the ‘icing on the cake’. He emphasized how important it is to ‘Do something you are going to love’. Well done!

The singing of God Save the Queen brought the meeting to a close.

Meeting of January 14, 2014 - Alzheimer’s

Reported by Ron Cooley

President Peter opened the meeting with a request for us to provide him with our reasons for attending Oak Bay Rotary.

Cory Burger introduced our guests:

                                                    Guest of ...   

Julia Phillips                                 Rotaract Club of Victoria

Katie Ashwell                                Rotaract Club of Victoria

Philip Zeman                               Club Speaker

Tanya Ponich                               Barry Mutter

Regalino Moxychur                      Barry Mutter

Paul Macara                               Ron Beyer

Perry Bamji spoke to us about our upcoming Paul Harris night which will give us the opportunity to showcase Rotary. There are 8 nominations for 3 Paul Harris presentations. The focus will be on Community service. Jack Petrie will provide a screen show focusing on Oak Bay Rotary with music included. The event will be Black Tie with Bow Ties compulsory. Tickets are on sale now at $60 per person.

Mary Canty is heading off to Guatemala. She will have little room for clothes as she is filling her suitcase with dental items. There was a mention of Red underwear for John Snively to round out his wardrobe. No doubt if it was anyone other that Mary doing that, there would be a number of  colourful comments.

Heather Aked reminded us to use the Thrifty Smile cards. See her if you do not have one. The proceeds will go to purchase an overhead projector for a school.

President Peter brought up that we need to vote on a bylaw amendment to make us consistent with Rotary International.

Joan Pegs moved we change the Bylaws to match Rotary International, Heather Aked seconded, passed.

Wynn Taylor announced a service club meeting after the regular meeting.

Jim Force announced that on Thursday Jan 30th there would be  a Fireside and Club in a Pub at the Penny Farthing from 5 to 7. Please confirm your attendance with Jim.

Our own Pirate Jean (Jack) Lafitte kept up his New Orleans theme to remove as much booty from the members as possible.

Mardi Gras will be on May 10 th, 2014 at 6pm; please help us make this a huge success.

Lorna and Michelle were both fined for their fine foot wear.

Happy & Sad:

Joan Firkins was happy to be back.

Next year’s theme is “Light up Rotary”.

Joan Peggs asked why ties and socks were not targeted by Jack for fines.

Richard Acomba won the draw and the treasure which he donated to the Foundation.

John Jordan introduced our speaker, Philip Zeman, who has 4 connections to Rotary

1.   In high school, Phillip went on an “Adventures in Technology” field trip that toured companies across western Canada.

2.   He worked on a Rotary sponsored Eye Care effort in Belize with Optometrists doing testing.

3.   His father is in charge of recruiting new members to the Victoria Rotary Club.

4.   Last year he gave at talk to the Victoria Rotary Club about his work on an Alzheimer’s project.

Philip holds an interdisciplinary Ph.D. encompassing Engineering, Neurobiology and Neuropsychology from the University of Victoria. He spent 2 years in San Francisco designing consumer products and devices to assist people with disabilities. More recently, he has consulted for a number of companies developing medical and biometric data related products.

Philip currently holds a position at Seeker Solutions here in Victoria, coordinating business, customer and software developers in an effort to build tools that help medical professionals make better decisions related to Alzheimer’s patients.

Philip said he spent a lot of his life in school when academia focused on social problems and he wanted to make a difference with people's life problems.

Dementia risk begins after age 60 and increases from there. From age 74, the risk doubles. Most people over the age of 85 have some form of dementia.

Dementia is the symptom but disease is the cellular basis of the problem. The problems stem from not measuring the brain malfunction but looking at the effect.

GP’s refer to specialists (5 on Vancouver Island) which has a population of about 750,000 of which 127,000 are over 65 years old.  There are 750 new cases of dementia each year here.

 Usually it is only diagnosed when there is over 80% damage and no opportunity for treatment.

Doctors' observations and tests only show symptoms and behavior but not the disease. The key to early detection is when subtle changes in behavior occur.  If we can detect it earlier, we can slow progress and it will lead to identifying cures.

Traditional  research is expensive and uses a very small sample set. We need a grass roots' study with big data and Google-like technology. A system which can measure brain activity to determine brain impulse, something like an EG headset, would be great. The subject would wear the headset for 30 minutes, which would then be downloaded to a computer for analysis.

You can learn more about Philip here and here or contact him at pzeman@abvsciences.com

Ted Chambers thanked Philip and noted how he was impressed by the importance of interdisciplinary research.

President Peter closed with “God save the Queen.”