Posted on Jul 10, 2017
PDG Lyn Stroshin presided over the ceremonies tonight as President James Hsieh was heralded for leading the club through this past year and continuing on for a second term for 2017-2018.  Lyn was most grateful in acknowledging the list of club accomplishments. Not only did our membership grow, we also held many events, namely, Goodwill Misson, Moon Festival, Christmas Fund, Chinese New Year and Rotary Rocks Richmond.  
 
Lyn also presided over the presentations of prestigious Rotary awards, Paul Harris Fellows to Maryam Bawa, Daphne Wu and Dean Hsieh.  Maryam was sponsored by Barbara Duggan who extolled the many accomplishments and great talents of our Rotaract President.  Then, James Hsieh spoke very highly of the work of both Daphne and Dean on their respective major fundraising events, the Goodwill Mission for an orphanage in Africa and The Rotary Foundation.  Lyn was kept busy all night, she then presented a Paul Harris Fellow to President James as the club acknowledged and thanked him for his year of service to the club.
 
 
 
President James spoke of the six areas of focus, as he explained about not only his goals, also the goals for out club and the work we have ahead of us to Make A Difference, which is the theme of 2017-2018.  Rotary, he explained, is not 34,000 clubs, it is more than 1.2 million individuals worldwide, each with something they want to contribute.  Individually they cannot do much, but with the backing of their club colleagues and members from other clubs, Rotary has shown to be a strong force for change.  Someone once mentioned the phrase "The Power of One", which captures the very heart of Rotary, that through the drive of an individual member, enormous good materializes.  This is what President James might have meant.
 
 
Many thanks to Barbara, Becky and Henry for pitching in to help with set up and reception desk.  Also to Barbara for arranging the two magicians from UBC who had us wondering "how did you do that"? And to Chris for arranging the jazz combo from McNair, who provided background music during cocktail hour and throughout dinner.  Our emcee Antonio orchestrated us through a complex programme with humour and finesse.  Our heartfelt National Anthem was led by a very sincere Gilles Bouchard and our Invocation was an optimistic Rotarian message by Mahase.  Finally, thanks to members and guests who attended to make this evening even more meaningful for President James and the incoming Board of Directors.