InC The Echo - December 2013

International Club of Rio de Janeiro

December 2013

RENEW YOUR MEMBERSHIP BEFORE THE END OF THE YEAR AND PAY

R$120 MEMBERSHIP PRICE IN 2014 IS R$ 160

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First Word

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Abrigo Evangelico de Guaratiba

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Thank You To our cafezinho hosts

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Inc Christmas party

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Lights over lagoa

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Thank You To our Gourmet dinner hosts

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Thank You To our fundraising event hosts

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What 2014 will bring

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Those who make it happen

First word Hello everyone!

Rio's holiday season officially started last Saturday with the lighting of the Lagoa Christmas tree and what a magnificent evening it was! The fireworks and the many colors of the tree made it a night to remember. Forty five lucky InC members enjoyed watching the majestic tree as it's theme unfolded to the clinking sound of the Champagne filled glasses, bringing in the holiday season.

What a wonderful year 2013 has shown itself to be! In this issue of The Echo, we would like to thank each and every one of you for making this year a truly special one. Without you and your collaboration, Rio would not have been as exciting or as active as it was.

I hope you will enjoy seeing some of the wonderful photos in a retrospect of some of this years super fun events and fundraisers. A huge thanks to the lovely couples who opened their homes and welcomed us in so graciously. These personal touches are what make the InC such a special group. If you would like to see more photos of these and all the other special moments we have shared, just go to the InC Face Book page.

A big thanks also to the ladies who opened their homes for our signature Cafezinhos. Many friendships were forged over the cups of coffee, and the many delicious home made specialties from all over the world.

Our General Meetings continued to bring the community together, providing great opportunities to socialize while gathering valuable information from some of the best professionals in the city.

Our Happy Hours allowed us to meet the handsome spouses and get them involved as well! We had some great outings to Angra with our very own French chef David Mansaud, who cooked up a storm while we cruised the beaches and enjoyed traipsing through the rain forest on Ilha Grande. It was such a popular event that we will continue to feature these outings and add many more in the coming year.

What also sticks very much in my mind, was how generous all of you were when contributing to the many Charities the InC supports. Not only with your contributions but also with your time. Approximately a third of our members contributed significant time and energy each week teaching, nurturing and bringing smiles to those who need a loving touch and a helping hand.

Our sponsors gladly contributed fabulous raffle prizes which made our events and fundraisers even more fun. Thanks to you all for your generosity.

Now as the international community starts heading out of town for the year end festivities, the InC will be closing our social calendar for 2013 with this special edition of The Echo.

I hope to see all of you in January as our activities start up again. In the name of the Executive Board and our many helpers, we hope you enjoy your holidays, and I wish you all a very safe, and happy holiday season.

My best to you all.

Bonnie December 2013 The ECHO

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Abrigo Evangelico de Guaratiba

The children’s shelter in Guaratiba is one of the organizations which we support both by donations from the International Club of Rio and from individual members.

along with a number of kitchen items including blender / mixer etc.

At the same time Tina Wagner informed us that there were a number of wall fans, one of which was The shelter receives no funding from governmental donated personally by Tina and her husband, waitor public bodies and relies heavily on donations and ing to be fitted in the rooms. The shelter had the fans but could not afford the installation. My huscontributions. band approached his boss, MaryAnn’s husband In the last few months the resources at the shelter were severely stretched. One of the babies had de- Steve and asked if their company, Archer Drilling would support the installation of the fans. Steve imveloped meningitis and had to spend a number of weeks in hospital. Another child had to undergo ma- mediately agreed that Archer would meet the cost of the electrical installation. The fans are now installed jor surgery, these two cases together with the norand working…..thankfully just before the hot summal demand for medicines from all the other chilmer weather kicks in! dren placed an enormous burden on the shelter’s In the last year I have been attending the orphanage medicine account at the local pharmacy.

The shelter has an account with the pharmacy and it on a weekly basis and MaryAnn and Micelle joined is usually in deficit. With the recent events the defi- me about 5 months ago. During this time we have cit rose to $R5000. As a result the pharmacy would been helping out in the baby room. Unsurprisingly, not allow any further transactions. Therefore, staff you get very attached to the babies as we watch were unable to access basic medicines for the babies them grow. In the last few weeks four of our babies graduated to the toddler room upstairs. It quickly and children. became clear that the mixing of the older children with these younger children was not an ideal situation. The staff are now in the process of trying to fit Three of our members, myself MaryAnn Rae and out an additional room which can become a transiMichelle Donnelly travel weekly to the shelter to support the staff, particularly in the baby room. On tional area for some of the younger children coming hearing of the situation with the pharmacy, Michelle up from the baby room. In order to do this the floor recounted the story to her husband Chris. Chris ap- needs to be covered in rubber protective matting along with other things that need to be done. My proached his employers Ocean Rig and asked for them to make a donation towards paying the bill at husband has agreed to fund the expense of providthe pharmacy. Ocean Rig agreed and made a fantas- ing the matting and after the holidays, MaryAnn, Michelle and myself will get involved in developing tic donation of $R5000 to pay off the debt at the pharmacy. At the same time the wife of Chris’ boss this room with the staff of the shelter. undertook a visit to the shelter with us and donated Altogether a more positive picture for the Abrigo de a huge amount of clothing and toys for the children. Guaratiba through the support of our members.

These were not the only donations we have managed to put in place in the last few weeks. MaryAnn and her husband donated a new stove for the kitchen Marian DiNardo December 2013 The ECHO

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Cafezinho hosts in 2013

Cristine Elaine

Aline

Liliana

Jolanda

Jane

Ellen

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Marsia

Jill Robyn Maggie

Cafezinho hosts in 2013 Vanete

Helen

Valeria

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The InC Christmas Party

The View

Our hosts of the evening: The Guests

Valeria and Fabio

The DJ

The Dancers

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The Chef

The Bartender

The Food

The End

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Lights over Lagoa

Our hosts of the evening: Jane and Les

Our Sponsors

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Robyn and Ewen Petra and Rainer

The Gourmet Dinner Hosts

Susan and Michael December 2013 The ECHO

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Jackie and Bruno

Marinda and Anton

Ana and Thomas

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Gourmet weekends in Angra Easter Gourmet Dinner

Happy Hours at Hollandaise and Tom Leblon Excursion to Jardim Botanico Wine & Cheese, Jam session evening

Those who make it happen E x e c u ti v e B o a r d 2 0 1 3 President Bonnie Kobert Harrison president@incrio.org.br Vice President

Mike Royster

mr.royster@uol.com.br

Treasurer

Tina Wagner

treasurer@incrio.org.br

Secretary

Susan Loveland

Membership Director Charity Director Fundraising Director Communications Director

Communication Team

Events Director

Liliana Perilla Rojas Robyn Thompson Anna Whyte Jolanda Maltha Valeria Lobo

susanloveland54@msn.com dentijet@gmail.com cc@incrio.org.br whyteanna@gmail.com webmaster@incrio.org.br falobo@speedy.com.pe

Coordinators Webmaster The Echo

Jolanda Maltha Brenda Ledesma

InConnection

Denise Luna

Photografer:

Victor Harrison

Facebook Group Hospitality

Welcome Coordinator Cafezinho’s

communication@incrio.org.br

Naomi Cohen VACANT Tanya Matheus Jane Wood (Zona Sul) Carolyn Stacey (Barra)

tanya_matheus@yahoo.co.uk cafezinho@incrio.org.br

Ac t i v i t y C o o r d i n a t o r s Book Club Bridge Concert Information Fun Cooking Club

Robyn Thompson Coca Caputo

retho55@hotmail.com coca.caputo@globo.com

Margarita Mari Lucia Helena Assad

lhassad@uol.com.br

November 2013 The ECHO

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