October 29, 2015
Volunteering, socials, conferences, website launch, and local projects. It has been a busy four months since the new year started! It is hard to believe that we are almost halfway through the year already.
Since the installation of our new board, our club has been out and about in our district and abroad. Our Board currently consists of Phoenix (President), Matt (Vice President, President Elect), Alex (Secretary), Troy (Treasurer), and Heather (Director of Community Services).
We were at the Rotary Club of Port Coquitlam’s Canada Day booth helping kids out with Canadian crafts to start off our year. Later in July, we helped out the Tri-Cities Rotaract Club’s Corn booth at the Port Moody Rib Fest, as well as helping out the Maple Ridge clubs with their Annual Duck Race. We were even spotted at the Maple Ridge BIA Movie Night.
President Phoenix had the wonderful opportunity of attending RYLA North America, held in Washington D.C. in July. There, she was able to meet over 250 Rotaractors from 49 countries and territories. It is with many thanks to our sponsoring Rotary clubs that helped Phoenix attend. She will be back next year, this time as a board member! Phoenix is the Assistant Director of Promotions (Canada).
In August, many of our members attended our inaugural RotarACTION Summit for the district. Held at Baker Lake Lodge in Washington State, Rotaractors from our district and District 5060 were able to connect and collaborate. Our first social of the year was also in August, where we joined up with the Tri-Cities Rotaract Club for a pool party.
In September, we had a couple of members volunteer at the Terry Fox run held in Mission. Later in the month, we held a park clean up and topped it off with a visit to an Escape room for a social. We also had Heather help out the Meadow Ridge Rotary Club with handing out flyers for their food drive.
October has certainly been one of our busiest months. We started off by supporting the Tri-Cities Rotaract with their pub night. Later that same week, we had a couple of our members attend the Surrey Central Rotary’s “Hunt for the Perfect Pint” event. For our second meeting in October, we took a visit to the Abbotsford Food Bank and helped sort out donations for a couple of hours! The Rotary clubs of Mission held a Gala that supported their local and international projects. We had the opportunity to be part of their event by running the coat check, selling lottery board tickets, being auctioned off during the live auction, and helping with the clean up the next day. It was a great night and our club was able to raise over $850.00 for our upcoming Christmas projects! The Rotary Club of Haney held a Halloween Bingo Party to raise funds for the Ridge Meadows Youth Impact Summit. We were there running Minute to Win It games, 50/50 and the toonie toss. Some of our members (Troy, Caroline, and Ashley) were even on the planning committee for this event! Lastly, we held a joint Halloween Social with the Tri-Cities Rotaract. The evening consisted of costumes, pumpkin carving, and more!
During October we also launched our new website! Be sure to check out www.rotaractfv.org and let us know your thoughts!
Our project that we have teamed up with the other Rotaract Clubs in the district, Rotaract 5050 Calendar Fundraiser, is nearing completion! Calendars will be available for purchase in the beginning of November. Be sure to contact a Rotaractor to get your copy! The calendar images were drawings from children 13 or younger on what they think it means to be a gift to the world. Proceeds from the calendars will go to the End Polio Now Campaign, as well as supporting Rotaract in District 5050. Look for the Facebook (Rotaract 5050 Calendar Fundraiser) page to keep up to date!
Did you know that Phoenix, along with President Chantal, attended the Big West Rotaract Conference in October? The conference consisted of workshops, sightseeing, and informative plenary sessions. Phoenix and Chantal were among 280 Rotaractors from clubs along the Western Coast of the US and Canada, New York, Australia, Pakistan, and Italy!
In the next couple of months, our club is planning a blood drive, inducting a couple of new members (Welcome Brenna and Coral!), holding a park clean up, adopting a family for Christmas, and handing out homemade cards with winter gear (toques, mitts, socks, etc.) to shelters in Abbotsford, Mission, and Maple Ridge.
As always, guests are always welcome to attend our meetings! We meet at the University of the Fraser Valley in Abbotsford (Building A, Room A360) on the first and third Thursdays of the month at 6:45pm. You can connect with us through Facebook (Rotaract Club of the Fraser Valley), Instagram (@rotaractfv), Twitter (@rotaractfv), or email ([email protected])!