Last Meeting March 5th, 2014

Meeting: March 6th, 2014:  We had big crowd for our meeting. Our meeting room was almost bursting at the seams. Guests from the White Rock RCMP, including Constable Derek Roberts, Volunteer Coordinator Julie Everett, members of the Royal Canadian Marine Search and Rescue, Jim O'Dowd a former club member, and Devon Penner a new young Chiropractor starting his practise in White Rock with Pierre Deslauriers. 

Cambodian Orphanage Project: Stuart Wilson and Brian O'Ruairc have their Visas in place to allow them to travel to Bangkok and from there to the Battembag Orphanage that we are supporting in Cambodia. They are getting very excited about the trip. Our District Grant is helping to fund this orphanage.

Club Banners: our banners have arrived and look great. 

WITS Program: Dierdre and Rick met with the Surrey school rep who came out to South Surrey to meet with them. She is very excited about introducing WITS into South Surrey schools. 

Ruth Derkens-Siemens: Our own Dr. Ruth, fresh from her CBC interview, gave us a short summary of her new book about Mennonite maids who worked in Canada from 1921 to the 1960s. Ruth noted that 11 of her aunts were among these Mennonite maids. Ruth noted that there were 350 maids matched with 750 employers. These young women were escaping the Stalinist regime.

Fools Night Out: Get your tickets sold everyone. Also, our meeting on March 12th will be at Renee's community room at her complex at 16275 - 15th Ave., Surrey.  Spouses are welcome.  Bring your bottle of wine for the April Fool's raffle. Also, bring any auction item you may have at this time. 

Major Sponsors for Fools Night Out: Joanne Taylor of Sutton Realty and Ruth's husband's company Fernwood Developments are sponsors so far.

GUEST PRESENTATION:  ROYAL CANADIAN MARINE SEARCH & RESCUE

Guest Speakers: Rob Donaldson and Dan Savage of the Royal Canadian Marine Search and Rescue gave an enlightening talk. RCMSR is a volunteer water rescue society. They have two Zodiac type search and rescue vessels that serve the southern Georgia Strait between the southern tip of Saturna Island to the mouth of the Fraser to Point Roberts. They serve parts of the Fraser River as well. They will assist the Americans in rescues in US waters as in those situations "the border disappears".  They represent 1 of 42 stations in BC that are comprised of 68 rescue vessels and 971 volunteers. They serve the BC coast and BC inland waters. There were 822 calls for search and rescue missions. 552 people were assisted and they can say with confidence that 112 lives were saved. As for the local unit here, Rob and Dan reported that they have had 37 missions and can confirm that 4 lives were saved. They have $500,000 in equipment and have had about 236 rescue missions since about 2000. They also calculate that they have also preserved about $2,000,000 in property.

Rob and Dan said that their first vessel was purchased with the assistance of a $50,000 contribution from the White Rock Rotary Club. Way to go WRRC !!  The second Zodiac type vessel purchased by RCMSR in Sept. 2013 cost $320,000. It is capable of 50 knots although they limit their speed to 40 knots. They showed a video of their old and their new vessel. The new vessel has an amazing cockpit were two operators can sit in seats on a platform that "articulates"---it always stays level no matter which way the boat is rolling. This prevents the operators from getting motion sickness. In the older vessel the operators must stand up on the deck. Their video also showed a rescue of a kite-boarder, filmed by a TV news screw that happened to be flying in the area at the time. It was very dramatic footage. It also showed the quick response time of the RCMSR who were able to arrive at the scene before the Canadian Coast Guard hovercraft arrived. RCMSR was able to hold the kite boarder and his equipment until the hovercraft arrived. The boarder was in a very precarious situation prior to the rescue. The new vessel is capable of getting to the Southern tip of Saturna Island in 30 minutes. This is very fast for a boat.

RCMSR survives on their volunteers and donations through various events and a fun dance each fall. As noted, White Rock Rotary provided them with $50,000 in 2000. 

YouTube Video:  Royal Canadian Marine Search and Rescue - Saving Lives on the Water. 

 COPY THIS LINK INTO A BROWSER WINDOW:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0r-gWWd180