The first days of spring brought to our club some “out of the box” thinking with our guest speaker Craig Simpson, MD of iVise, challenging us with his topic “Are too many kids going to university.” Craig opened his story by sharing his experience in a commercial acumen training course conducted by Boston Consulting Group where his lack of formal business degree, provided him with an edge over the others who were constrained by “group think.” Craig provided some arguments about how institutionalized learning has impaired creativity and as a consequence, it does not always make financial or practical sense to send kids to university as a pathway for gaining skills or to have a fulfilling life. Rather life experiences, exploring creativity, and possibly revisiting trades may be a better path for some kids who may not want to go to university.

 

Speaking of pathways, our Foundation Director and Past President Wayne Dyer was our 5-minute speaker today and he shared with our members more information about the Rotary Foundation and how it can be a pathway for us to gain funds for local or global projects. A successful example of how these funds can be leveraged for good is the District Project initiated by John Boscawen that supports micro-financing of women-owned small businesses in Fiji. For more information on how to apply for District or Global Grants, please contact Wayne or click here for the presentation.  

 

Finally, during our August Board meeting, Kat Trevor shared a fantastic way for us to support the families at Ronald McDonald House by donating a veggie box that the families can use during their stay. Each box costs $41. In addition to exploring whether we can leverage KiwiHarvest as a future source for fresh veggies, we will pilot the use of funds from one sargents’ session each month to go towards supporting a veggie box for the families. We will use fines collected from next week’s sargents’ session to buy our first veggie box. If you’d like more information please contact Kat.