Vera LeFranc was born in Prince Rupert, attended grade 1 in Terrace, grew up on Haida Gwaii and lived in the Okanagan before ultimately moving to the Lower Mainland.  With connections to northern and interior British Columbia, Vera brings a unique combination of skills and experience to her role as COO of Elizabeth Fry Society of the Lower Mainland. 

With a degree in Business and Liberal Studies from Simon Fraser University, Vera brings a solid mix of business sense and a passion for social justice and reconciliation to her work.

Vera is currently a member of the Provincial Child Care Council, with a mandate of providing support and advice to The PCCC provides advice on the policies and programs that affect the affordability, quality and accessibility of child care. Its members are appointed from throughout the province and represent key partners in delivering universal child care: Indigenous communities, the business sector, child care providers, the education system, the non-profit sector and local governments.

For over a decade, Vera worked with Vancity Community Foundation and the Surrey Homelessness & Housing Society to distribute almost over $5 million in funding to organizations working with Surrey’s most vulnerable. As well, Vera led the team that administers over $10 Million in Homelessness Partnership Funding annually to organizations working across the region to reduce homelessness.  This meant closely working with EFry and other organizations delivering programs to our most vulnerable residents.

From 2014 to 2018 Vera was an elected City Councilor with the City of Surrey where she led initiatives such as the Surrey Urban Aboriginal Leadership Committee, laying the foundation to ensure the full economic, social and cultural participation of the Indigenous people who call the City of Surrey home.  In addition, Vera was the Vice Chair of the Finance Committee, Co Chair of the Social Policy Advisory Committee including extensive work on poverty reduction, Co Chair of four very successful Social Innovation summits aimed at creating a culture and eco-system conducive to tackling significant social issues in the City of Surrey, Chair of the Surrey Aboriginal Social Innovation Strategy, grounded in the Truth and Reconciliation calls to action, Vice Chair of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and Co-Chair of the Healthy Communities Partnership.  In addition, Vera was named by the Federation of Municipalities as one of the inaugural 2018 Top Ten Best for Canada Municipal Innovators. 

Vera spent has spent the majority of her career working within women serving organizations to advance women’s equality, provide employability and life skills training, develop programs that meet the needs of the most vulnerable, including crime prevention, housing and homelessness, and community economic development.

Vera has been married to Jen for over 14 years.  They live in Guildford and are deeply involved in the community volunteering to support young people who are exiting the foster care system. 

Spring has Sprung! Please join us April 1st at Noon on Zoom for a special program.

 Eric Young will present The Art and Science of Dahlias 

• Eric has been a volunteer with Rotary International since he joined the Rotaract Club in 2007 while in university.
• He has a BSc in Health Information Science from the University of Victoria and moved to Vancouver in 2014 to work at the BC Patient Safety & Quality Council as a Data Analyst. Eric has a strong interest in healthcare transformation and quality improvement and is passionate about using health information to story-tell and drive improvement work.
• In recent years, Eric picked up gardening, growing dahlias in particular. 
• This is a passion of his mother (Connie) and he took it upon himself to learn from her.
• In his spare time he enjoys spending time outdoors either running
• Contact Louise Perry by email for ZOOM link  lperrynewwestrotary@gmail.com

Since we can’t travel why not learn about each other’s past adventures!

Join us January 28th at 7pm on Zoom for a presentation from Rotarian Mike Crean - come sail away with Mike!

Since he was a youngster Mike was always drawn to the sea. His father was a marine physicist and they spent time on research boats and sailing. Over the years family and life made it difficult to spend much time sailing, but he was always drawn back to it. In recent years Mike was able to sail more and wanted to do a major ocean crossing. When a friend told Mike about the Clipper Race he decided to put himself to the test and do a leg of the Clipper Round the World Race. Novice, intermediate and experts can all participate in the experience of ocean racing through The Clipper Race, either round the world or on a single leg. The Southern Ocean is reputed to be the wildest ocean experience - he chose to do the Southern Ocean.  

For Zoom login contact lperrynewwestrotary@gmail.com    

An award-winning professional photographer, author, gallery owner and filmmaker, Gabor Gasztonyi lives in New Westminster with his wife, artist Judith Copland.

Gabor is a two-time winner of the prestigious Nikon Press Award.  He is a regular lecturer at Emily College University and Bernie Legge Cultural Award winner.

Recent exhibitions include The Sudanese,  at the Surrey Art Gallery, in 2015, as well as two selected and featured exhibits at the Capture Photography Festival in Vancouver. 

His film No Way Out premiered at the Harlem Film Festival in New York, in May 2019.  It won the award for Best Cinematography.

A dedicated member of Rotary, Gabor is currently the Polio Chair for District 5040 and is keenly interested in Rehabilitation for Polio Victims particularly in Ethiopia.  He is also interested in promoting accessibility for Rotary meeting places.

ZOOM in at NOON, October 29 for this presentation, Polio, a personal journey. 

For login information email lperrynewwestrotary@gmail.com 

DR. IRWIN STEWART HEARING HEALTH CENTRE – UGANDA

Special Club meeting October 15 on ZOOM. See details on the Event Tab.

Deaf and hard of hearing children in Uganda face a myriad of challenges, and very limited resources.  To address those challenges, the Rotary clubs of New Westminster in Canada, and Kololo-Kampala in Uganda are sponsoring the establishment of a Hearing Health Centre in memory of Dr. Irwin Stewart.  

The Centre will target children under 6 and their families.  Intervention at this stage has the greatest potential for lifelong impact.  The Centre will address early diagnosis, early intervention services, a pre-primary education program and parental support and outreach.  Additionally, it will provide staff and other ENT professionals with mentoring/training in modern prevention techniques and the treatment of hearing and other ear disorders.  This will help to sustain the initiative. The Centre will be partly based in a clinical setting at Makere University Hospital in Kampala.  University personnel can provide only limited support.   Professionals will be hired locally.  The Centre will be operated by a registered NGO, Hear His Voice.  Dr. Brian Westerberg of Vancouver, a colleague of Dr. Stewart, will coordinate medical and professional support from Canada.

Dr. Irwin Stewart, and his wife Lois, spearheaded many overseas humanitarian health projects and dedicated much of their retirement to improving Hearing Health Care in Africa, particularly in Zimbabwe and Uganda.  Irwin was a hugely committed Rotarian, a member of the Rotary Club of New Westminster who served Rotary in many capacities, including District Governor.  As a physician, Irwin was recognized as a pioneer in the medical profession, he was a full Clinical Professor at UBC, Head of Otolaryngology, Professor Emeritus, a member of the Fellowship of Royal Colleges of Surgeons (FRCS) who received many honours including the Order of Canada.  Both Irwin and Lois exemplified Rotary’s motto “Service Above Self” and they have left a huge legacy of service in hearing treatment, education, and training through their volunteer efforts, at home and abroad, and very significantly in Uganda.  They will forever be remembered as humble and kind humanitarians.

The Hearing Centre builds on and extends the work begun by Dr. Stewart and continued by Dr. Westerberg and others through a number of Rotary projects.  Establishing the Centre, and naming it in honour of Dr. Stewart, are fitting tributes to a remarkable Canadian Rotarian.

Funding for the Centre is coming from a Rotary Global Grant project sponsored by the two Rotary Clubs.  A good deal of the $133,000 (US) project cost is being provided by Global and District Rotary Foundation grants, along with a $40,000 (US) contribution from the Government of Canada.  The Rotary Club of New Westminster is committed to raising $23,000 (US) to complete the project funding.  Some donations have been received, and the Club itself will provide part of the funding.