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Monthly NEWSLETTER          November 2020
Inside this Issue: 
 
  • President's Message 
  • Club Breaking News
  • Club Matters
  • Foundation Moments
  • Rotary International
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PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE
President's Message
Susan Xianshu Huang
member photo
 
 
Dear Fellow Rotarians,
 
November was a month for our Club to come up with creative fundraising activities. Due to the pandemic situation, fundraising has become extremely challenging for our club as well as for all the members.
 
However, with the support of our fellow members and the hard work of the Fundraising Committee, we launched the online Skin Care product sales of Past President Amina Gerba with 30% contribution to the Club. We also created our first edition Christmas online Silent Auction launched on December 1st, 2020 to help the Young people having Mental Health problems during the pandemic.
 
All the above activities show that we are a Club of action and our members are Doers. We are proud to be able to help the community and the people in need during this difficult time.
 
Last but not least, I would like to thank you all for your strong supports and participation. I strongly believe that together we will be able to overcome all the challenges and achieve fruitful results in our fundraising activities. 
 
 
Susan Xianshu Huang
President 2020-2021
 
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Club Breaking News
 
  • 
Change of Guard was carried out on Nov.6th,2020 at 
the Weekly Club
Meeting on Zoom.
  • Christmas Silent Auction is created and launched on
Dec.1st,

2020
  • Past President Amina’s Shea Butter product 
fundraising sales  with 30% 
donation to
the Club is on until Dec.31st, 2020.
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Club Matters
 
   November 2020, we had all our Weekly Club meetings on Zoom.
 
   1. November 6th, 2020 Zoom Meeting-Change of Guard
 
 
Board Meeting on Nov.4th, 2020
 
 
On Nov.6th meeting on Zoom, we updated the Club Matters after the Board Meeting on Nov.4th and we carried out the Change of Guard.
 
A. Club Matters Updates
 
-Finance Update
 
All the money from the Golf Tournament has been collected and credited into the Club account.
 
-Fundraising Committee Update
  • PP Amina’s Shea Butter product was decided to put on sales with 30% donation to the Club.
  • The Christmas Silent Auction fundraising activity was to start on Nov.25th-Dec.15th, 2020. President Susan would lead this fundraising activity with the team to be built with PP Mark, Malcolm and James. The Silent Auction website needed to be built with the help of Luke who did the District Silent Auction. The Silent Auction was calling for the donation of the items from the members and friends. The deadline for the donation was  Nov.20th and the Silent Auction would start on Nov.25th, 2020.
 
 - International Committee update
  • Water & Sanitation project in Nigeria upgrade
PP.Amina and Fellow Member Komlan were working on the above project. A lady from Rotary club in Negeria was gathering the needs of the population and we  should have more information next week.
 
- Local Project update
 
There were two non-profit organizations reached us for help. One is Ricochet homeless service in West Island and another one is Light a Dream. Local Service Chair Ilario would contact them and find out their needs for the Board to vote.
 
B. Change of Guard
 
Due to the pandemic period, the Club could not do the Change of Guard in person, instead we did it on Zoom. The Change of Guard was hosted by DGN Michel Wong Kee Song. IPP Linda made a report of what has been done during 2019-2020. Her report is as follows:
 
Dear Fellow Rotarians,
 
Now is the time to say Thank you for your continuous support during of my
2019-2020 Presidency. Thank you and your generosity as we were able to help our local communities: Alzheimers Group, École Secondaire Mgr-A Parent, Innovation Youth, Mission Old Brewery, Welcome Hall Mission, Mtl Chineese Hospital Foundation, Dans la Rue and Seniors Respite Montérégie. We donated 3000 3-ply masks to the CHSLD in Chinatown along with the application of a Distric simplified grant from District 7040.
We helped our international communities: Rotary Nationnal Bush Fire - Australia,
Kashin Beck Disease - China, Sanyue Baby Project- Uganda, Wash Kinseso - Congo, Emcee School - Chicago USA, Incubator project RC Ottawa - Zimbabwe, and finally our new Chartered (March 2020) Interact Club Collège Sainte-Anne with its education project - Benin.
Thank you to those who contributed to our 2 fundraising activities: Golf Tournament and Alouettes Game.
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected us a lot and we have shown our solidarity as Rotarians know how to do. To better protect ourselves from this COVID-19 and to know that we have friends on whom we can count, in recognition, I am offering you a FACE MASK of the Rotary Club of Old Montreal.
It was a pleasure to chair the Rotary Club of Old Montreal and thank you again for this great trust!
 
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Founding President Santoso commented on IPP Linda’s great achievement in her year and congratulated her for her effort and contribution to the Club during her Presidency.
 
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President Susan had a Speech as an incoming President. Here is her speech:
 
Good Afternoon Dear Fellow Members:
 
Thank you very much for your trust in me to be the President of 2020-2021.
This year is a special year for our Club and for all the fellow members.
In this pandemic situation, leading our Club to another successful year is a great challenge to me.
How to embrace the Changes?
How to face the Challenge?
How to be creative in fundraising?
How to keep our members with the Rotary Family?
How can the Club do more for the members?
How can we help more people in need in home and abroad?
How to improve the visibilities and impact of Rotary?
How to attract new members?
How to help our Rotaract and Interact Clubs to grow?
All these questions have been in my mind ever since I became the President of the Club. For the past four months, I tried my best to lead the Club through the pandemic situation. I am happy to see that everything went very well with the strong support of the Board and all the fellow members. Taking this opportunity, I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to you all! The Mission is impossible without your great support and trust. Thank you!
This year, I will focus on the following aspects:
Fundraising
Due to the pandemic situation, we have to be very creative in fundraising. The traditional fundraising Gala will be replaced by various small to medium fundraising activities. Hopefully through all the fundraising activities planning we can raise enough funds to help people in need.
 
 
Membership retention
At this pandemic situation, I think the retention of membership is more important than recruiting the new members. I would like all the members stary within our Rotary family to go through the difficult time together for a better tomorrow.
International project
Will focus on a good International project for Global Grants to lead the project ourselves.
Monthly Newsletter
This monthly Newsletter will record all the activities our Club does in every month. Members or people interested in Rotary can learn all the information of the Club, District and Rotary International through the Newsletter. At the end of my year, 12 issues of Newsletter will be the historic materials of our Club for 2020-2021.
Improve the visibility and impact of Rotary
As our Club close to the Chinese Community, we would like to promote our Club and Rotary in the Chinese Community through medias both Newspaper and New Media. The Chinese New Year Concert will be a good activity to promote Rotary and our Club. If we can strengthen our presence in more local communities, we can get more support from them an in the same time, we can be of more help to the committees.
Promote Rotary Means Business
As Rotary opens opportunities, RMB will be a good platform to connect Rotarians for Business. More business opportunities between the Rotarians, more contribution will be from the Rotarians.
 
This is my Goal for 2020-2021. Of course, besides all the above focus, we are going to enjoy our Fellowship and have fun together by serving the people in need.
I hope to have the full support from all the Fellow members.
With your great support, I have confident that we can go through this difficult time together;
We can embrace the Changes!
We can take the Challenge!
We can open the Opportunities together!
We can achieve our Goal for 2020-2021 and create another successful and memorable year together!
 
Thank you!
 
 
 
 
   2. November 13th, 2020 Club Meeting on Zoom
 
 
 
At this Weekly Club meeting, we had the Speaker Mr. Gullaume Banga-DG ENA from HOPE thanks to Fellow Member Larbi.
 
HOPE International is a non-governmental organization that helps street children in the DRC, particularly in Kinshasa. Special attention is given to little girls and girls with child.
The first concern is to feed them, protect them and teach them a profession for social integration. As far as possible, they try to reintegrate them into their families.
 
     PP Amina asked him to send us a request to see how we can help them.
 
  • Club Matters
 
  1. President Susan requested President Elect Ilario to find a local Mental Health care organization for youth to receive our donation from the Christmas Silent Auction.
  2. Fundraising Committee Chair Mark H Chau updated the preparation of the Christmas Silent Auction. Fellow Member Malcolm would be the Operator for the Silent Auction along with Fellow Member James. All the members in the Fundraising Committee would be the team members of the Silent Auction.
  3. President Susan encouraged every fellow member to donate at least one item to the Silent Auction or to find a sponsor to donate.
  4. The goal of collecting the items would be 30-50, the fund to be raised was aimed at $3000 to $5000.
  5. As November was the Foundation Month, DG Hadi encouraged the Fellow rotarians to donate $25 to the Rotary Foundation as we were meeting on Zoom saving the cost for lunch. We have 1635 members in the District 7040, if every member donates $25, it comes to $40,000.
 
 
   3. November 20th, 2020 Club Meeting on Zoom
 
 
 
At this Weekly Club Meeting, we had the Speaker Ms. Lori Goselin
for Community Building.
 
Lori is the Community Facilitator. Her mission is to spread Community consciousness around the globe. Her vision is a company of Community builders working together to spread Community consciousness through education, training, programs and collaborations.
 
People are happier and healthier when they have Community in their lives. We are all in this together and everyone should feel the reality of this truth. Life is short, too short to go it alone. “Alone” is bad when it’s not a choice. Authentic connection not only adds to the richness of life, it’s imperative for emotional health. She wrote the Book The Happy Place telling the human tavellers on this magical and often difficult life journey how to care about the happiness. Community is the Universal Happy Place. She believes that if enough of us build Communities, together we can eradicate depression, anxiety, loneliness, and despair. 
 
Founding President Santoso extended our deep thanks to the Speaker for her wonderful speech about the Community Building especially at this pandemic period.
 
Club Matters
 
  • President Susan updated the Christmas Silent Auction preparation. She said that so far we had collected 19 items from the members and friend. She encouraged more donation from the members to reach our goal of 50. In the same time, President Susan proposed that we should promote our Christmas Silent Auction on facebook, District website and all the Rotary clubs in our District. She also mentioned that she would promote the Silent Auction in the Chinese Community through Wechat, Newspapers, new medias etc to let the Chinese Community know who we are and what we are doing and how we can help the Community.
 
  • Fellow Member Malcolm updated the Silent Auction website designing. The site was ready and we could start the Silent Auction on time.
 
  • A letter should be sent to all the donors who used to support our club in the past. Fellow Member Mark Balcar already prepared the letter and it would be sent out soon.
 
 
 4. November 27th, 2020 Weekly Club Meeting on Zoom
 
 
AT this Weekly Club Meeting, we had the Speaker Ms. Jenna Smith
from Innovation Jeunes.
 
Jenna has been the Director of the Innovation Jeunes for 15 years.  At the meeting, she shared her vision for Connections, a high school and personal development program, geared towards marginalized youth. Students join the Connections program for a variety of reasons: many live with learning difficulties or mental health issues, making it nearly impossible for them to complete their high school degrees in regular educational settings.
 
She mentioned that 2020 had been a very different year for them. As with so many organizations  across Canada, the COVID-19 crisis sent them into a whirlwind, and they had to shut down overnight. So many kids and families they worked  with already live in the margins of society; they were all the more affected by the instability this pandemic created. As they faced temporary layoffs, health concerns, and personal distress of those they worked with, she admitted there were times when she truly wondered what their future would hold. Innovation Jeunes is a non-profit organizations that the Club has been supporting in the past 6 years. Founding President Santoso thanked her for her speaking and reaching out help from us. He encouraged her to write a formal letter to President Susan for the Board to decide how we could help her organizations during this pandemic period.
 
Club Matters
 
  1.  Christmas Silent Auction
  • Fellow Member Malcolm updated the website to show the members of the items listed on the site.
  • The Christmas Silent Auction starting time has been changed to Dec.1st to Dec.15th as we need to give more time to the members for the item donation.
  • There were 26 items received from our fellow members. They were:
 
Founding President Santoso, IPP Linda, PP Mark, PP Amina, President Susan, fellow member Larbi, Andre, James. PP Felix committed to donate $200 to the Silent Auction and fellow member Rachel committed to donate $150 to the Silent Auction. President Susan stated that there were more items to come from DGN Michel,  Secretary Suzie, fellow member Paulo and Bob soon.
 
  • President Susan updated the Chinese Community promotion. She said that a full page story covering Rotary International, Rotary Foundation and Rotary Club of Old Montreal has been published on the Chinese Newspapers as well as the Chinese Wechat groups. All the Chinese new medias published our article promoting Rotary and the Christmas Silent Auction.  She also mentioned that a letter had been sent to Chinese Consulate in Montreal and we would be able to get some donation from them. Overall, a great impact has been created in the Chinese Community. They now know who we are and what we are doing to help the Community in need.
  • President Susan also updated that she has reached out to some banks such as National Bank of Canada and HSBC. She also reached out to Mrs. Daniele Henkel, the famous writer, business woman and entrepreneur. National Bank may donate some money and Mrs. Henkel promised to help personally. YUL has been reached out and we were waiting for their answer.
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Foundation Moments
Rotary Foundation Moments from DG Hadi Mortada
 
What does The Rotary Foundation do with its Money?
The Rotary Foundation spends charitable contributions on multiple programs - from the eradication of polio to scholarships, vocational training teams, Rotary Peace Centers, and humanitarian projects. The funds are used for programs and projects Rotarians feel passionate about. With a four-star rating by Charity Navigator for twelve years in a row and 1.2 million Rotarians overseeing the funds at a grassroots level, our funds through Rotary are in amazing hands doing amazing work here and abroad.
You can read stories and see the details of our Foundation’s financials in our most recent Annual Report on rotary.org.
 
What the Architect of The Rotary Foundation Had to Say
“The Rotary Foundation is not to build monuments of brick and stone.  If we work upon marble, it will perish; if we work on brass, time will efface it; if we rear temples they will crumble into dust; but if we work upon immortal minds if we imbue them with the full meaning of the spirit of Rotary . . . we are engraving on those tablets something that will brighten all eternity.” Arch C. Klumph, President of Rotary International, 1916-1917.
 
           Here is my personal challenge to all of our members. 
When we get our flu shots this year, let's donate to Polio. Imagine if we make a donation of $20.20 or let's say we round it up to $25. When it is matched by the Gates foundation it becomes $75.00."
 
Memorial and Tribute Gifts
If you wish to honor or memorialize someone with a contribution to The Rotary Foundation, the best way is to use rotary.org/donate and choose “I would like to make this donation in honor or in memory of someone.”  The donor making the contribution will receive gift credit and a tax receipt (where applicable). The person they wish to honor, or the person’s family in the case of a memorial, will be notified of the gift.
Note: For tax and legal reasons, be sure to list your own name as the donor when sending funds to the Foundation, and not the name of the person you wish to honor.  Consider giving Foundation Recognition Points to someone as an alternative if you wish to honor them with recognition.  The process is simple, and honorees and family members can be notified by email or by a print-at-home notification.
Interested in making a gift to The Rotary Foundation as a memorial or tribute to honor a loved one? Give today at rotary.org/donate.
                                               
Rotary’s Areas of Focus (Part 1 of 2)
Rotary is dedicated to seven areas of focus to build international relationships, improve lives, and create a better world to support our peace efforts and end polio forever.
  • Promoting peace: Rotary encourages conversations to foster understanding within and across cultures. We train adults and young leaders to prevent and mediate conflict and help refugees who have fled dangerous areas.
  • Fighting disease: We educate and equip communities to stop the spread of life-threatening diseases like polio, HIV/AIDS, and malaria. We improve and expand access to low-cost and free health care in developing areas.
  • Providing clean water, sanitation, and hygiene: We support local solutions to bring clean water, sanitation, and hygiene to more people every day. We don’t just build wells and walk away. We share our expertise with community leaders and educators to make sure our projects succeed long-term.
 
Call for  Christmas Silent Auction Donation of Items
 
Dear Fellow Members:
 
Rotary Club of Old Montréal will be hosting an online Christmas Silent Auction from Dec. 1st - Dec.15th, 2020.
 
All the funds raised will be helping people having Mental Health issues especially young generation.  During this pandemic period, more and more people are encountering Mental Health problems due to the stress of pandemic, lost of jobs and isolation from friends and society.
 
Please kindly support this event by donating items for Silent Auction on line. Please send the pictures of your donated items to Rotaryvieuxmontreal@gmail.com along with the description and the value of the item.
 
Thank you very much for your participation for this good cause!
 
 
 
 
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Rotary International
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Board Members Introduction
 
President – Susan Xianshu Huang
Immediate Past President – Linda Beloin
President Elect/ Local Committee Chair /Legal Advisor – Ilario Maiolo
 
Vice President/Senior Advisor – PP Santoso Hanitijo
Membership/Club Admin/E-Sec – DGN, PP Michel Wong Kee Song 
Treasurer/PR – IPP Linda Beloin
Fundraising Committee Chair/Rotaract – PP Mark-H Chau
Foundation Committee Chair – PP Peter Wong
International Committee Chair– PP Amina Gerba
Secretary – Suzie Lim Quan Choy
 
Other Responsibilities
 
Interact Liaison:                      Rachel Tonye
Speakers:                               Malcolm Olafson
Internet/Web Service:                  Liliane Rushemeza
Bulletin Editor
Lil Rushemeza
(If you have any comments or questions, please contact the editor)