On June 1st we participated in the annual Relay for Life at Percy Perry Stadium in Coquitlam. The event, which ran all day from 10am to 10pm, consisted of a full day of walking, running, dancing, and game playing! Our group raised a total of $530, and contributed to the $428,814.39 raised in total by residents of Coquitlam for the Canadian Cancer Society. We look forward to participating again next year!
The iRotary District Conference this year marked the 25th anniversary of Rotary District 5050. A four day event held at the Four Seasons Hotel in the heart of downtown Vancouver, one of the conference’s themes this year was focusing on the “iGeneration” – the younger members of Rotary. To go along with this, a team of past participants and Facilitators from previous RYLAs (Rotary Youth Leadership Awards) and YAILs (Youth Adventures in Leadership – the district’s “junior” version of RYLA for high school students) were invited to co-facilitate the district’s first-ever “RYLA for Rotarians” on Saturday, June 1. The purpose of this was to give Rotarians a better understanding of what RYLA and YAIL entail, and to encourage them to continue sponsoring outstanding young men and women from their local communities to attend these life-changing programs. Among the mini-Facilitators were Jordan and Michelle, members of our club and a Facilitator and participant, respectively, at RYLA 2013.
Following the RYLA for Rotarians session, a flashmob on the stairs of the Vancouver Art Gallery took place to raise awareness about Rotary International’s “End Polio Now” campaign. With only a handful of cases of polio left around the globe thanks in part to the vaccination efforts of Rotarians, we truly are as close to ending polio as the video states! Check out the video below, or click here to watch it directly on YouTube.
On the weekend of May 25-26, members of the Tri-Cities Rotaract volunteered to man the booths at the Coquitlam Safeway in Sunwood Square for SHARE Family & Community Services‘ annual Generous Hearts Food Drive. The event was, as usual, a great success this year with 12,076 pounds of food and $4,528 raised to help families in need! Thank you to SHARE, the Tri-Cities Rotary Clubs, the sponsors of the food drive, as well as the many customers who made generous contributions that weekend.
Our sponsoring club, the Rotary Club of Port Moody, held its annual Search for the Perfect Pint fundraiser at the Port Moody City Hall on the evening of May 9, and graciously invited our club to attend. Guests were able to sample a huge variety of fine brews from Howe Sound Brewing, Central City Brewing Company, Vancouver Island Brewery, Steamworks and many more. There was also plenty of delicious food provided throughout the evening including sliders, beer ice cream, and tempura bacon. We all had a fantastic time supporting Rotary and would like to thank our sponsor club, as well as the other Rotary clubs in the Tri-Cities, for the wonderful partnership that we have been able to establish.
This year, the Rotary Clubs in the Tri-Cities graciously sponsored eight of our members (Eli, Danielle, Eric, Rasmeet, Tirath, Sarah A, Camilla, and Raj) to attend the Rotary Youth Leadership Awards held at a beautiful campsite at the foot of Mt. Baker in Washington. 53 young leaders aged 18-30 from throughout Rotary District 5050 (encompassing most of the Fraser Valley and Washington north of Seattle) participated in four days of activities and presentations revolving around leadership, service, ethics, and personal growth. A team of Facilitators, past participants who were invited back to RYLA to lead activities and group debriefs, included another of our members, Jordan, who was a RYLA participant in 2011.
Without spoiling the surprise for future participants, in the words of our members who attended, RYLA was “absolutely life changing”, “fun and full of great people”, and “not at all what [they] expected”. While the take-home message was different for everyone, the best description we were able to come up with together was that RYLA is “a place to figure out what barriers you have that would prevent you from success and to help you break down those barriers”. Not to mention the food all weekend was absolutely fantastic!
One of our favorite parts of RYLA, however, were all the new friends we made including the five new members of the Tri-Cities Rotaract club whom we brought back with us! Please join us in giving a very warm welcome to Chantal, Lauren, Parm, Chris, and Michelle – we are excited to have you on board and can’t wait to see what you each bring to the table!
Thank you again to the Rotary Clubs of the Tri-Cities for graciously sending so many of us to RYLA this year. Visit our Facebook page for more photos from this year’s RYLA. For more information about RYLA, please visit www.ryla5050.org or get in touch with your local Rotary club – who knows, maybe you could end up participating next year!
We had the pleasure today of once again participating in a container loading project with Rotary Clubs from throughout the area. This time around, the container was bound for South Africa and held various items including beds, printers, photocopiers and even pianos! The full set of photos can be found here.
This Christmas season we were able to help the Port Moody Rotary Club host a Christmas party for Eagle Ridge Manor, a long-term residential care facility in Port Moody. Several weeks prior to the event we visited the manor to decorate trees, hang garland and put up Christmas lights. Then on December 16, we spent the afternoon serving food and drinks, singing Christmas carols, and socializing with the residents. It was a lot of fun and everyone appreciated us being there and helping out!
On December 10, 2012, we joined the Port Moody Rotary Club to help pack, sort and stack Christmas hampers for SHARE, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping vulnerable families in the Tri-Cities area. The hampers contained food items and toys for families in need.
For Halloween this year, we went door to door to collect non-perishable food items for the SHARE Society. It was cold and rainy, but definitely worth it when we found out we had collected 512.5 pounds of food for the food bank! Thank you to everyone who contributed!
On July 7, 2012 we put together a team for the BC Cancer Foundation’s “Underwear Affair” which raises money for cancers “below-the-waist”. We worked at the first water station, which included set-up and take down, and handing out water and Gatorade to the participants as they passed by.
Tri-Cities Rotaract Club 