Current Projects

The Rotary Club of West Vancouver Sunrise has been serving the North Shore and International communities through active “hands-on” involvement and fundraising since 1989.

Here are some of our recent projects and activities:

Spring Fling Fund Raiser. The Rotary Club of West Vancouver Sunrise held a dinner and auction fundraiser on April 25 to raise funds for the Lions Gate Hospital North Shore Hospice fund in memory of Val Stephenson, a member who passed away in April, 2008. See Press Releases. As well, some of the funds raised supported a volunteer group providing free cleft palate surgery in the Philippines with Rotaplast International. See www.rotaplast.org.

Re-opening the North Shore Youth Safe House. We participated as part of the North Shore Service Club Committee that worked with the community to get the North Shore Youth Safe House re-opened. It was re-opened in December 2007 thanks to some great consolidated community effort. Funding has now been committed both from the Federal and Provincial Governments. For more information, see NS Youth Safe House Update and Press Releases.

Ethics and Values Program. Rotarians from many Clubs have facilitated this program with Grade 8 and !0 students at Rockridge, Sentinel, and West Vancouver Secondary Schools to consider ethics when dealing with difficult or complex life situations. For more information, see Press Release.

Shelterbox. In November 2008 our Club had a ShelterBox on display at Park Royal Shopping Centre to raise funds for the ShelterBox Project. The ShelterBox Project is about helping people in their worst times to provide them comfort and a place to call home for the period of time that it takes them to rebuild their lives after a natural disaster. Since its inception ShelterBoxes have been distributed to every continent except Antarctica and Australia. For more information, see the Press Release and link to www.shelterbox.ca.

Polio Eradication. Our Club is participating in Rotary’s US$200 Million Challenge to eradicate polio. After 20 years of hard work, Rotary and its partners are on the brink of eradicating this tenacious disease, but a strong push is needed now to root it out once and for all. Rotary’s goal is to raise $200 million to match the $355 million in challenge grants received from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The resulting $555 million will directly support immunization campaigns in developing countries, where polio continues to infect and paralyze children, robbing them of their futures and compounding the hardships faced by their families. For more information on this program, link to www.rotary.org.

Operation Red Nose. In conjunction with the provincial sponsors -- BC Crime Prevention Association, ICBC, and CTV - the four North Shore Clubs and many community sponsors and volunteers having been providing safe rides home on the weekends during the Christmas season. The service is free but donations are welcome. All proceeds are used to support youth programs on the North Shore. For more detailed information, click on the “Operation Red Nose” side tab and press releases.

Seniors’ Christmas Lunch. For 18 years we have hosted Seniors’ Christmas Lunch in conjunction with the West Vancouver Seniors’ Centre for 85 house-bound seniors. For the past two years students from the Ambleside Youth Centre and the Rockridge Interact Club have assisted as servers, and entertainment has been provided by students from Collingwood School. And thanks to the many community leaders who participated as table hosts and to the Park Royal Shopping Centre for their sponsorship. See Press Release.

Supporting Youth on the North Shore. In addition to supporting the West Vancouver Youth Week and the Summer Work Experience project, for the past few years our Club provided four $500 scholarships to students at Rockridge School and an award for an art student. Our youth Director is also very involved in working with students who are part of the very active Interact Club at Rockridge. Interact is affiliated with Rotary as an organization for high school students who provide community service and/or raise funds for international projects.

Youth Leadership Programs. In the spring each year the BC Rotary Clubs sponsor students for a weekend leadership program for students 15 – 18 years of age . For more information see:
http://www.rotary5040.org and select Youth Programs.

Klahanie Housing Project. Our Club participates on the Board of the Klahanie Housing project, a project that Rotary provided the initial seed money to establish this project. Over the years, we have assisted the residents by helping to cleanup the grounds, clean behind fridges and stoves, or host movie nights for the young children.

Traffic Circle at the foot of the Lions Gate Bridge. As part of the “Adopt a Highway” program, members from the four North Shore Clubs maintain the grounds in the traffic circle on a monthly basis.

Rotary World Help Network Program. Over 30 Rotary Clubs in BC support this non-profit, registered charitable organization that co-ordinates the shipment of used and donated educational, humanitarian, and medical supplies to countries in need throughout the world. The shipments are always co-ordinated with Rotary Clubs in the receiving counties. Clubs members frequently volunteer to help pack the containers. In 2004 our Club arranged for a container of clothing and supplies for an Orphanage and Technical School in Honduras. For more information see: http://www.rwhn.org.

Group Study Exchange Program. As part of Rotary’s mandate to promote world peace and international awareness, our District participates in this program annually. The participants are non-Rotarian business and professional men and women aged 25 – 40 who spend four to six weeks here visiting various cities and spending time with people in similar professions. In 2007 our Club sponsored Rosanne Ng of SFU for the Exchange with Rotary Clubs in Thailand. The 2008 exchange was with Tanzania. For more information see:
http://www.gse5040.org or Press Release.

North Shore Gogo SCRABBLE® FOR AFRICA. The Rotary Club of West Vancouver Sunrise is a primary sponsor of this event being held to raise funds to support the Stephen Lewis Foundation’s Grandmothers to Grandmothers Campaign. See Press Releases and www.stephenlewisfoundation.org.