Dave Weatherill presents a $500 donation to the Youth Sailing Program at the North Okanagan Sailing Association.

Mike has lived the Rotary motto "Service above Self" for longer than we've know him. He received today a Presidential Citation in recognition of his work.

Stephen Wright enthralled us with his "classification talk" and told us how he got from England to a family practice in Lumby. This pictures shows us part of his journey. Can you see the penguins in the background?

With two saphires. Wow! Some disrespectful members in attendance suggested Dr. John was a member before some audience members were born . . . In any case, he has a long and distinguished history with Rotary.

With a saphire. Way to go Mike!

Rylee Davis gave his classification talk and told about his life and how he got to be operating a website design company in Vernon.

Keith Johnston of Silver Star Rotary thanks Carly Milloy for his talk on the Red Cross.

Clarence Fulton Secondary's Hannah, (with Givonna of Silver Star Rotary) Lisa and Cassie told us about their fundraising and passion for volunteering in Vernon and Nicaraugua with the Global Education Program.

Brian Garvin, on the left, is this year's recipient of Silver Star Rotary's annual scholarship to an Okanagan College student at the Vernon campus.

Bob Crozier of Armstrong, BC is president of CWH Foundation for Haiti, a Canadian charity that is promoting the use of Biosands water filters in Haiti. The filters are built in Haiti and filter out bacteria and parasites from contaminated water sources. The result is safe, clean water and improved health and mortality rates, especially among children. To find out more, check out www.cleanwaterforhaiti.org .

Glen Green and Dave Aujla were honoured today for achieving their next levels as Paul Harris Fellows. President Elect Keith Johnston awarded pins and certificates. This is Dave's first PHF award, always exciting! And Glen's 6th though he has had a few more decades to work on it.

Michael Kinghorn of Kal Tire hosted us for breakfast and a tour of their new head office in Vernon. In a word, "Wow". Kal Tire is a leader in tire distribution and service in Canada and growing globally. Their new building incorporates the best ideas in design, ergonomics and automation.

Kathy told us about the RCMP Youth Academy held every spring in Vernon.

Keith presents Sandra Ross with her Paul Harris Fellow certificate and pin.

The North Okanagan Model Railroad Association is putting the finishing touches on their diorama of Okanagan Landing in the heyday of paddlewheelers and railroads.  Anyone wanting to see more of their work can visit their display at O'Keefe Ranch when it's open for the summer.

Robin Bristow of Meyers Norris Penny LLP talked about business fraud, and how we can protect ourselves from it. Including issues related to non-profit societies like Rotary clubs.

David talked us about his "students without borders" group, who visited Panama to volunteer in projects and learn about the country. Sandra Ross is thanking him for his talk.

Dave Weatherill thanks Margaret Clark and Lyle Duffield for telling us about the Restorative Justice Society - North Okanagan.

Restorative Justice is an option in situations where the criminal code allows and both the person harmed and person who caused the harm agree to participate. At the risk of simplifying, the person who caused harm has to explain how they came to cause the harm. Those harmed explain how they were affected by the crime. The program has a much higher success rate than conventional sentencing and prison programmes.

Presented by club president Monty Hughes.

Martin thanks Doug Edwards for his talk. Doug talked to us about life working on the oil sands, and some of the issues facing Alberta producers, especially pipelines to transport oil to markets.

Sandra is a professor of anthropology at UBC Okanagan. She talked to us today about her visits to the area around Arusha, Tanzania and efforts to improve the school at the Moivaru School. Bob Clark is thanking her for her talk in this photo.

Terry Bigsby showed us around his Aspenware facility in Vernon this morning. This business has grown from an experiement in his kitchen to a (the?) world leader in compostable wooden cutlery over the past 15 years.

Brittney Weatherill and Amanda Dacko visited this morning to talk about "Enactus" - ENTrepreneurship, ACTion and US. Thanked by Barrita Durward from Silverstar Rotary.

Anja Rietdorf is thanked by past president Dominik Dlouhy for her talk.

Anja will be riding across Canada next summer to raise money for the Sunshine Foundation, which sends severely disabled children on "dreamlifts", to destinations like Disneyland. Her goal is $90,000.

Sandra and Wendy gave a spectacular slide show of their cultural and dive tour of Egypt.

On the way to a dive.

Camping in the White Desert.

Bev Rundell told us about herself and her background in education as part of her classification talk.

Debbie Schiller talked about the alphabet soup literacy program that Junction Literacy will be running out of the Science Centre building. 

Jake talked to us about the work the Upper Room Mission is doing in the community.

Six Rotarians from Vernon Rotary joined us for an early breakfast, and departed with their monkey Andrew Kern. Andrew said he greatly enjoyed his multi week vacation and visit to Silverstar Rotary, especially the great company and comraderie. "It's the best way to get my day off to a great start", he said. Andrew, always a happy camper, is seen swinging for joy in the photo above.

We received an update on current issues in Vernon and the area.  The art in the background is part of an amazing Bulgarian print exhibition. Get over there and check it out before it moves on!

Brent is a practitioner of the Feldenkrais Method, a health care discipline that aims to reduce pain and improve physical function through movement exercises. The members present participated in an exercise to improve our ability to perform shoulder checks while driving.

Pat thanks Brent for his talk and demonstration.

Teacher Susan Egan talked to us about the work of their high school class building schools in developing countries. They are working with Free the Children Charities. Susan's co speakers were students Deirdra, Rachael, Sylvanna and Michaela.

Wendy Zarr and Tanis Farina told us about the services their society offers in the North Okanagan.

Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) from Okanagan College are working on a project to introduce promote micro-finance lending though some elementary schools in Vernon. The idea is for the students to create and sell cards and artwork. The proceeds will be used to make microfinance  loans through kiva.org and monitor the progress of their loans.

Barrita visited the orphanage near Cancun, where she donated new mattresses and covers.  She also had a warm welcome from the Cancun Rotary club.  The next step is a Valentine's fundraiser in February. In this pohoto, she is thanked for her speech by Kirbey.

Joanne talked to us about sustainability in our lives and business.

Sandra Ross thanks Kelsey von Holst for speaking to us about her experience in the BC Ambassador program,as well as her trip to Europe last summer.

Today's speakers were Dave Colombe, chef at Sparkling Hills, and Minda Chittenden, Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar and kinesiologist at Meridian Rehabilitation. They are part of  "Community Kitchens" in Vernon, which provides instruction in how to prepare simple, inexpensive, nutritious and delicious meals to those who can't.

Kirbey, Mike, Dominik and Janet with Sue Beaudry of the VJH Foundation. On location in the North Tower.

The objective of this project is to evaluate and assess the "Vital Signs" of the City of Vernon.

When you are feeling a little under the weather, it is common to visit your doctor and have your Vital Signs checked.  This project will also check for Vital Signs, but this time will be checking our City's "Vital Signs".

We will use a proven methodology, gathering statistical data from SPARC-BC, RCMP, City Planners, School Districts,  Health Regions and gather user information and perceptions through public meetings, focus groups and community groups. 

The benefits of this project are:

• Provide a report on what is working well in our city and identify areas for improvement
• Allow the Community Foundation to better understand where the greatest needs are in our community and to strategically focus their grant making in these areas. 

Sandeep has done research on the subject of teacher burnout and found there are a multitude of reasons for this problem.  Some of the issues identified include:

- Teacher expectations

- First year retention - rewarding?

- Big disconnect between expectations and reality

- Not teaching a class of 30, rather it is 30 individuals

- Technology skills, the kids know it better

- Curriculum - Lesson Planning

- Special needs kids

- Classroom management not a required course - should be!

- Teacher education courses do not relate to classroom reality

Her research findings indicate a need for "Survival Skills" in teacher development training. 

Lord Strathcona

Sir Donald A. Smith, Lord Strathcona, was un-equaled in his efforts and achievements contributing to the development of Canada.  In his 75 year career, he became a successful, wealthy businessman; he established himself as a respected politician and diplomat; he was a philanthropist who widely supported education and medical services; his close associates included business tycoons, national and international elected officials, British royalty, and leading academics.  He was well known and appreciated by the Canadian public of that era.  He was known for his tireless work habits and his ability to cause action and get results.

Lord Strathcona worked his way up from the position of junior fur trade clerk in Labrador to become Chairman of the Board of the Hudson’s Bay Company and its majority shareholder.  During his 75 years with the HBC he visited and served in every corner of what is now Canada.  He founded and was a Director of successful shipping, railway, mining, newspapers, petroleum, and banking businesses. These enterprises made him a multi-millionaire in the late1800’s. 

This world class Nordic Event will be coming to Vernon on March 5, 2011.  There will be 1,134 participants  coming from 20 countries all of whom must be over 30 years of age.  Many will bring their families and spend anywhere from 10 - 15 days in our area taking tours, attending  banquets and enjoying our local hospitality.

This will provide a welcome boost to the local economy.  In preparation for this event the Sovereign Lakes Nordic Club have made significant improvements including a new bridge, better stadium flow and completed the Carl Wylie Trail, making it a closed loop.  As with any major event there is a need for many volunteers  and 300 of them stepped forward to ensure a successful event.

Once again our club in partnership with local fire fighters and many other CPR Trainers spent a long but rewarding day at Fulton School, training 245 local citizens on the latest CPR techniques and the Heimlich Manoeuvre.  This course starts out with the theory of CPR and then moves to applying the techniques on "Annies",  a device which simulates a human torso.

Those who got to the school early were treated to a free pancake breakfast prior to their training.  Rumour is that it was very popular and will be included in our future CPR Courses.

NOYFS (North Okanagan Youth & Family Services) provides assistance to children and families. The organization works with 750 - 800 clients per year supported by a staff of 44 professionals. Their primary objective is Early Intervention - preventing children from ever going into Care.

The cost of supporting a Foster Child is $24,000 per year

- Community based services are in place to help

            Dysfunctional Families

            Dangers due to abuse or neglect

- Child & Family counseling

            Young Parents 14 – 16 years

- Many issues contribute to the problems

            Often on welfare

            Isolated

            Lose their children to Care

                        Finances

                        Drugs / Alcohol

            Fetal Alcohol

            Mental Illness

- Programs are provided

            Adoption Support

            Youth Justice

            Councilors in schools

            Mara House

                        Safety & Protection

                        Foster Parent Support

A Heart Attack is a very serious event, but today more and more people are surviving because of the programs offered through our hospitals:

1.   Cardiac Rehab

a.   Self management

i. Life style changes

ii. Exercise

iii. Diet

b.   Empower patients to take control of their disease

c.   Cardiac survival courses

d.   Physiotherapy

i. Treadmill

ii. Eliptical

iii. Therabands

e.   Understanding your medications

f.    Dietary lectures

g.   Understanding a Heart Attack

h.   Walking (Wesbild)

i.    Congestive Heart Failure

i. Damaged Heart

ii. Fluid build up

iii. Swelling

j.    New Automated Equipment Available

i. Scale

ii. Blood pressure cuff

iii. Oxygen level monitor

iv. Patient info transmitted to IHA

v.  Supports the self help programs

2.   Lipid Clinic

a.   Measure Cholesterol Levels

i. Usually means dietary change

3.   Rates Clinic

a.   Stress Testing

i. Monitored by Cardiologists

Since our first meeting of 2011, we have enjoyed presentations as follows:

Judy Goplen, gave a great presentation on Hepatitis C

Bob Clarke received his Paul Harris Award

Joshua, our outgoing Exchange student  was introduced to the club

Brian Smyth, Principal at Harwood School and Colleen Harvey, Vice Principal at Mission Hill thanked the club for the BBQ program.  They indicated that these are very well received by the students, parents and teachers at both schools

At our AGM Dominik Dlouhy was confirmed as our Club President for the 2011/2012 year.  For the past 7 years he has served as Treasurer.

Congratulations Dominik!

Our first speaker was District Governor Nominee, Doug Everett who presented a citation to Janet Green.  Our club was being recognized for our contributions to the Foundation and Polio Plus. 

Our next speaker was Lane Kenyon.  Lane first joined our club about 2 years ago, but had to leave the club due to a family move to Calgary.  Lucky for us she and her family have returned to Vernon and Lane is back in the Club.  She told us about growing up in Quesnel and her ultimate move to Vernon.   She is employed by the Royal Bank as a mortgage specialist.

Our next guest is no stranger to the club.  Brenda Erickson dropped in to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and of course brought a cake with her. 

Then Came Bob Clark.  Bob, all decked out his finest duds led us in the 12 Days of Christmas.  Not many of us knew all the words, but Bob kept us in order and we completed the entire song, though it was a little ragged at times.

Jane Lister visited the club to update us on the upcoming Nordic Event which will take place at Sovereign Lake Nordic Centre March 3 - 11, 2011.  The event is open to participants 30 years or older.  The event is expected to attract 1200 participants over the 8 days.  Races will be anywhere from 5 to 50 KM's over the proven Sovereign Lakes course.  Jane advised that they still need volunteers and sponsors for this event.

Jane was thanked by Dominik Dlouhy. 

Bev is the manager of the staff at Upper Room Mission and has been instrumental in its operations for 30 years.  This year is the 30^th anniversary of the opening of Upper Room Mission, and is now under the direction of Jake Spoor.  The Upper Room Mission is a food kitchen and social assistance program, and takes its name from its original location, being the room above the old Simpson Sears.  It is now located at People Place.  Most of the income for the Room comes from the second hand store operated through donations from the area.  The store sells all sorts of items and is run, like most of the Room, by volunteers.  Some of the clients of the Room are also involved in its operation, and assist in the store, kitchen, and other programs.  The meal kitchen serves over 6000 meals per month and is currently looking for donations for a renovation and increase in size.  The Room also has literacy, computer skills, counselling, and employment assistance programs.  The Room is operated by over 100 volunteers.

Bev and Jake were thanked by Mike Poznanski.

Margaret Johnstone spoke to us about her business Fieldstone Organics, which is located in Armstrong.  Fieldstone has been operating since 2008 as a certified organic granary and whole grain retail outlet.  The granary is unique in that it focuses specifically on farmers in the Okanagan Valley first, buying their stock preferentially over those from outside the area.  The granary only handles whole grains, and will accept small lots from local farms.  The granary also sells flakers and mills which can be used by customers to grind and flake the whole grains at home for their own products.  Fieldstone offers a wide variety of organic whole grains including spelt, buckwheat, oats, hard red spring wheat, golden flax, rye, triticale, barley, and Kamut.  One product recently released to the market has been a delicious breakfast grain mix of 6 whole grains.

Margaret was thanked by Sandra Ross.

Marty and Judy recently took a 13 day cruise from Los Angeles to Miami via the Panama Canal.  Marty did a power point presentation showing the process of lifting these huge cruise ships up the 81 ft from the Pacific Ocean to the river/lake system in central Panama and then lowering them back down to the Atlantic Ocean.  It takes about 9 hours to complete the trip and costs the cruise line $320,000 each time.

The history of the building of the canal is available in many books and video's and is worth your time.  This was a massive undertaking and cost many workers their lives.  

PDG Roger is District Chair of the Foundation Committee and is visiting clubs in the District to increase our awareness of the many Foundation programs available.

He stressed that the Foundation not only supports International projects but local as well.  Grant applications are available to clubs to support their good work.  Our club is active in applying for District Grants to help fund our projects. 

1. Move the homeless inside
2. Understand the challenges faced by individuals
3. Cross Agency collaboration

Eric has over 25 years in the healthcare informatics industry working for software and technology organizations serving the needs of physicians, hospitals, and laboratories.  The majority of Mr. Gombrich’s success has been focused on business development, sales and marketing of electronic medical record and clinical software solutions, where he has been responsible for generating over $75 million in revenues for both start-up ventures, and well-established enterprises alike.  He has managed activities in both publicly-traded and private ventures.  His career has allowed him to work not only in North America, but throughout the world, including stints managing business units in France, and strategic partnerships in Germany, Japan, and Canada, as well as the United States.  Currently Mr. Gombrich serves as the Chief Executive Officer of EMIS Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of EMIS Group the UK’s preeminent supplier of physician office based EMR solutions.

Jim presented the Rotary Club with a history of the Coldstream and Vernon water systems, from approximately 1980 onwards to present day, and the respective decisions and challenges that have shaped the way our water is delivered. 

In the 1990s, our water supply was split into three systems: Vernon, which was served by Kal Lake, Coldstream, which was served a small portion by Kal Lake but also by Coldstream Creek and Antwerp Springs, and finally the Vernon Irrigation District (VID).  These changed in the late 1990s to present, as more and more people are being switched onto the Kal Lake water system.  The challenge therein lies with the government not allowing any more water license to the city.  This created increased demand on the Duteau Creek and Coldstream Creek water systems.  As well, since 1990, water quality in Canada has been upgraded, meaning that the standard of clean water has been raised and now results in more water advisories.  Difficulties and setbacks also occurred since the dissolution of the commission which oversaw the water systems, sometime in the late 1990s. 

At present the cities only have committees which must report to the municipal governments before action is taken.  Jim is hoping that the Duteau Creek Water Treatment Plant will be online by approximately September 15, 2010, which should increase the quality of the water to Coldstream.

Taylor Wacey, Duncan Grant, Spencer Freeman-Marsh, Darin Pereversaff, and Glen Dick (all of the 1^st Coldstream Venturers)

This group of young Venturers successfully challenged the West Coast Trail in Summer 2010, and presented to us the story of their planning, experience, and outcome.  The West Coast Trail is a 75km section of trail along the south-western edge of Vancouver Island.  Their preparation took them several months, during which they hiked over 80km on local trails to plan, practice, and work in their gear.

For the actual event, their north to south hike, from Bamfield to Port Renfrew, took them a week, and through varied terrain such as beach, dense forest, rainforest, old boardwalks, near waterfalls, small paths across fallen logs, ladders, a trolley across a gorge, and 108 bridges.  One section (Logan Creek) contained 5 large ladders and a very narrow 2x4 suspension bridge.  On average they covered between 12-20km per day, and arrived in Port Renfrew after nearly a week.

Their efforts have banded them together as friends and as a team, and they intend to write over 90 hours of logbooks, reports, and presentations with a goal to apply for awards and scholarships.

Burt Cohen, potter a the O’Keefe Ranch introduced us to the ‘Potters Without Borders’ project to produce ceramic filters to provide clean drinking water to Third World populations.  As part of his presentation, Burt cast a filter to demonstrate the work he is carrying out at the Ranch.   

The majority of the people in Third World countries do not have access to uncontaminated drinking water.  Ceramic filters provide an economic, effective solution to this concern and construction of the filters provides employment opportunities for local workers.  A clay/sawdust mixture is placed in a mould to form filters holding about 8 liters of water which fit in 20 liter poly containers.  During low temperature firing the sawdust in the mixture is incinerated out of the clay leaving fine pores in the clay allowing water passage. The fired filter is treated with liquid colloidal silver which becomes imbedded in the clay and assists in the destruction of many bacteria.  A finished filter will pass approximately 2 liters of clean water per hour.  The cost of each filter is less than $20.00 US in most countries.

Burt has worked with teams developing facilities and skills for producing the filters in volume in places such as Yemen, South America and recently, Rwanda.

Current research at O’Keefe Ranch includes i) improvements to their model of the 20 tonne manual/hydraulic press which forms the damp clay mixture around the moulds ii) development of smaller, thinner walled clay filters and iii) testing the water purification effectiveness of groups of smaller filters mounted within 20 L poly containers.

President Elect Dominik filled in for President Mike who ishiking in the Kooteneys

Ken Wiebe’s Classification Talk revealed that he came ‘outWest’ from his hometown of Steinbach, Manitoba many years ago and eventually settled in Vernon.  He has a large family of seven children, allof whom have now left the nest, even though Ken claims to be a surprisinglyyoung age.  He says their family fell inlove with Vernonat first sight and they continue to believe they made the right choice of ahome community.

He has actively operated his own businesses for many yearsand currently operates a Payroll Plus franchise providing payroll functions formore than 40 clients.  This past springhe issued more than 4,500 T4 slips. Computerized tables and records enable himto carry out his duties in a timely and efficient manner, allowing more timeand flexibility for personal activities than his previous enterprises.  He is pleased to have time to be a member ofthe Silver Star Rotary Club, and notes he had been a member of another localRotary Club several years ago until work obligations at that time interfered. 

Other topics discussed at this meeting:

• Staffing for the BBQ @ Coldstream Park on August 11
• Don Miller gave an extended birthday presentation - ‘Decades on a Boat’
• Happy Birthday to Dr. John as well
• Looking for GSE nominees for exchange to Bangladesh
• Directors meeting @ Vernon Lodge -7:00 AM August 6

Sergeant at Arms Patty tested our precision puttingskills.  Guest Peter Lockhart wasdeclared the winner because he had the most accurate putt.   It was observed that the floor was not aslevel as expected, and in future, members can perhaps be excused for unsteadymovements.

Sandra states that the most important events in her live have revolved around those moments in time where it was necessary to push her own comfort zone and explore what else lies beyond the regular experience.  She was born in Oakville Ontario and gained a diploma in Business Administration and Electronic Data Processing from Sault Ste. Marie college.  She initially worked for the forerunner to Royal Lepage as a computer analyst, but after they merged to form Royal Lepage and the merger already used IBM as an analyst, she got a job with the Red Cross and thought about leaving the Toronto area.  Before leaving however, her comfort zone was challenged by a friend who recommended that she try skiing, and so she did and there met her husband, Steve, who was a ski instructor at the time.  As a result, Sandra decided to stay in Toronto.  Thereafter, she and Steve pushed the envelope even more, by travelling to several locations, including Switzerland, Australia, Tanzania, Kenya, Ireland, England, Holland, Luxembourg, France, Germany, and Mexico.  She and Steve learned to scuba dive, and took a bike trip across Europe.

In 1993 they broke ties with the east and decided to move west.  They moved to Vernon and Sandra became a manager at Bigfoot Industries.  After Bigfoot folded, she became a realtor (with Royal Lepage as a full circle) and pursues a hobby in pottery in her spare time.