On Friday April 3rd, our Rotary Club held a Single Malt Scotch Tasting to raise money for Faya Orphanage. It was blast – and we raised $1062.50 over $1300 for the kids!

I worked with my buddy from Scotland to put this event together, and it went so well.  I sold 55 tickets without much effort and planned the logistics.  My friend organized the single-malt end of things. He runs a company with offices in Scotland and brought the scotch, bottle by bottle, home with him on flights over the last few months. The “whiskey” as he calls it, was all donated from Rotary members in Scotland.

We had a lot of fun! The evening included several premium single-malt scotches, some great appetizers, tasting help and heckling from my friend, wonderful company, a slideshow about Faya Orphanage (presented by me) and a fabulous atmosphere!

We are so happy to report that the event tickets and some donations raised net proceeds of $1062.50 over $1300 – every penny of which will go to deserving children in Ethiopia.

The recipient of the proceeds is Faya Orphanage, a Canadian Ethiopian partnership. Children who are orphaned and often HIV+ find a warm and caring home at Faya in Nazaret, Ethiopia. The facility can house up to 30 children; currently 11 children and 5 caregivers live in the home. The children are provided with food, schooling, medicine and loving care.

Learn more about or donate to this inspirational charity.

My poor husband – I drag him all over the place volunteering…

This past weekend we planted trees (oh yes, one of the hardest jobs out there!) on a rocky rocky hill.  In the middle of Kelowna is a hill called Knox Mountain, and the city just bought some semi-bulldozed land with a ecologically special akaline lake… from the developer that managed to plow down a bunch of the trees before selling it back to the city. 

Our Rotary club members and their families planted a good 1500+ trees in a couple of hours.

The work was hard but the view was spectacular! Enjoy the short video pan of the city on a lovely autumn day.

As you’ve probably figured out by now, volunteering is one of my major hobbies.  Last year I volunteered with Kelowna Community Resources to be a “buddy” with new immigrants who have just arrived in Kelowna.  The point of the program is to match newcomers with locals so that the new immigrant families have a social contact – someone to speak English with and learn the Canadian way of life. 

My first partner was a German lady – we went for coffee and couple of times and walked the dogs… and then she got her feet under her and we didn’t meet anymore.  That’s the way it goes – either a short term acquaintance or a long-term friendship – either way, they have met a friendly face.

Today I went to visit my new newcomers!  They are a fun couple about our age from Taiwan.  He is a Phd candidate (and speaks pretty good English) and she is taking English classes all day so she wil eventually be able to find a job and settle in.  They have a 6 year old daughter, and it was really funny to hear them describe Canadian school through their Taiwanese eyes – “all she does is play all day!” they exclaimed with concern.  Apparently Taiwanese 1st graders study all evening with homework… not so much here!  But apparently their daughter just loves it here and is happy as a clam.

Anyway, they are pretty cool and I think we’ll enjoy hanging out with them.  This is definitely  one of the more rewarding volunteering experiences out there – you get new friends and learn about a new culture.  Good deal!

Our Rotary Club’s exchange student  from Argentina came over last week… we went out to the farm, picked out pumpkins, and then carved them on the dining-room table.  Pretty good for an Argentinian’s first jack’o'lantern, I think!

Today I joined my new Rotary Club in Kelowna.  I’m very excited to meet more people because there are several Rotarians in our club (and throughout the region) who are involved in water, cleft palate repair and education projects in Ethiopia. Here are the videos from their work last year… I can’t wait to meet some more of these people! 

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So Jrock and I talked and we decided we’re being a little paranoid about not showing our faces on our blog… so here goes:

We were at a Rotary district conference this weekend, and in addition to listening to serious speakers on hunger, water, and health projects, we also had a little fun!  Here we are dressed up for the dance Saturday night in true Klondike fashion:

Fort Edmonton is a really special place for us, because it’s where we got married 2 years ago.  Our wedding was a 1920s themed wedding – with amazing costumes designed by my sister, an authentic 1920s hotel to host the festivities, and even an 18 piece big band.  (there were only 60 guests – it was a high band member to guest ratio!) Anyways, it was a little bit of an anniversary celebration too. 

One of the major reasons I joined Rotary was because 1.2 million people can accomplish so much more together than any one person can.  Rotary is a non-religious, non-political group of professionals doing good work in their communities and internationally.  Learn more, or find a club in your community.

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