Bulletin Editor

Suzanne Benoit (If you have any comments or questions, please contact the editor)

Club Information

Join us for dinner!

Service Above Self

We meet Tuesdays at 6:10 PM

Frith-Radcliffe Auditorium, Kiwanis Village

1233 Kiwanis Crescent (off Nelson Street)
Nanaimo, BC V9S5Y1
Canada

District Site

Venue Map

Speakers

Jul 29, 2014
off site at "Lucky's"
Mama Mia -- that's Italian!!

Aug 05, 2014
Andra Thakur
authentic East Indian meal hosted at Andra's house

Aug 12, 2014
Erin Burden
Lunacup initiative in Zimbabwe

Aug 19, 2014
Andre Sullivan
Bulding the E&N trail...off site at New York Pizza North (Dover Rd)

View entire list

Upcoming Events

Symphony by the sea

Maffeo Sutton Park

Aug 09, 2014 6:00 PM

Community Breakfast

Community Services Building

Aug 16, 2014
7:00 AM – 12:30 PM

Sponsors

July 22, 2014 Meeting

It seems that new president Greg was not in Newfoundland and Labrador; he was in Dawson’s Creek! This is not a picture of Dawson's Creek, it is a picture of boats in Bora Bora. Don, thank you, this picture looks like a watercolour.

We had one visitor this week, all the way from Australia. Many of you know Angie and Bruce from the Painted Turtle; our visitor was Bruce’s dad. He is from Canberra.

Announcements:

Audrey and Barb need RSVPs for an evening at Lucky’s On July 29^th. Bring your spouse.

Here are the details of the evening:

While they will not technically be serving "dinner" we have been assured there will be plenty of food. This is what is on the menu:

· Wild Mushroom Risotto

· Classic Margarita Pizza

· Antipasti Insalata

· Italian Salumi (selection of cured meats)

· Butternut squash ravioli with browed butter rosemary sauce

....and apparently "Mich" will be pairing some fantastic Italian wines for us

We thought this would be a nice change for the summer, when attendance is traditionally lower. Please let me know if you plan to attend.

Symphony by the Sea has been an almost annual event in support of the Symphony and this year, the Symphony by the Sea will take place on Saturday August 9 at Maffeo Sutton Park at the Band shell. The "free" concert starts at 6PM and features members of the Vancouver Island Symphony, soloist Ken Levigne and several other musicians (see calendar for details).

Volunteers are needed for the following tasks:

1] 10AM to noon to set up banners, flags, signs and to help direct people.

2] 5PM to 8:30PM collect donations prior to the concert, during the intermission and when the concert is finished.

3] 8:30PM to 10:00PM help clean up.

If you can help with either or all of the above requests please contact me at jim@turleysflorist.com or 250-754-6344.

HUGE IMPORTANT MESSAGE – We have not host families for Bas Bakker who is our inbound Exchange Student. It is of great importance that we identify his first host family and pass along this information to him and his family ASAP. Even though Bas will be attending Dover Bay, the host family does not need to live in the Dover Bay catchment area. In Holland, Bas travels 1 ½ hours by bus to get to his school. Also, host families can be and often are non-Rotarians.

Our speaker Perry provided us with a wonderful travel log of the South Pacific. Here are a couple of pictures of Bora Bora, an island which Perry highly recommends visiting. As you can tell, he was appropriately attired for the presentation.

Next week we are at Lucky’s as noted above and, on August 5^th Andra and Lyn would love to have us over to their home. They need to know if anyone has any food issues/allergies and they would like an RSVP. Andra will be sending a separate email on this event.

Our guest won the bottle of wine and Pauline won the Vegas.

Happy week everyone and see you at Lucky’s next week.

Stories

Youth exchange year opened her eyes

Posted on Jul 22, 2014

My Rotary Youth Exchange — this year has opened my eyes

Posted on July 21, 2014 by Rotary International

Victoria Alvarez and other youth exchange students during their trip to the West Coast of the United States.

By Victoria Alvarez, a Rotary Youth Exchange student from Argentina to the United States

Most of you have probably heard of Rotary Youth Exchange, and maybe some of you have even been involved with the program. I recently completed my exchange year in the United States, and wanted to share the perspective of someone who has just taken part in one.

I come from Argentina, a little country on the edge of South America that you may have heard of recently because of the World Cup. It is in many ways very different from the United States. In signing up for an exchange to America, I stepped out alone into a culture unlike any I had experienced, in an unfamiliar environment, in a house I did not know, to live with people I did not know. Leaving behind family, friends, and most of what was familiar.

And despite all that, or maybe because of it, this year has opened my eyes and helped me grow as a person far more than any previous year in my life. How many teenagers can say they helped other Rotary members with a Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) event, taking part in planning and learning leadership skills alongside other young adults? Or how many teenagers can say they are not from one country but two? That they have learned to appreciate the beauty in simple things? That money can never compare with love? And that hard work can make all the difference and give you more than you could ever ask through the joy that comes from helping others and doing good in the world?

These are some of the valuable things I learned during my exchange. I have learned there’s more than one way to do things, that things are not always black and white. Humans are the same everywhere, we just do thing differently and speak different languages. On the inside, at the heart level, we are all the same.

I can honestly say my exchange assisted me in differentiating right from wrong. But more than that, I can see that different is not always wrong, it is just different.

I built friends over a period of a year, and sometimes even in the course of a single week — friendships that I hope will last a lifetime.

So, I say to you, if you have the opportunity of hosting an exchange student, please do so. You will learn as much as the student you host. And if, through Rotary, you have the opportunity to go on Youth Exchange, go for it. You will never regret it.

During my stay in the U.S., I took part in a trip to the West Coast with other exchange student from all over the world. I am hoping to be able to reunite with some of them during Rotary’s International Convention in São Paulo in 2015.

Finally, I say thank you Rotary, and all who support the Youth Exchange program, for this awesome experience, one that you give to more than 3,000 youth a year.