June 11, 2015
The Santa Claus Rotary Club
Tempe Rio Salado Meeting Minutes ~ June 11, 2015 ATTENDENCE Members: Ben Eubank, Larry Horton, Geoff Pashkowski, Corey Bruggeman, Karen Ingersoll 7:00 AM: Meeting called to order by President Larry. Invocation: Ben Eubank Pledge of Allegiance: Geoff Pashkowski Four-way Test: Karen Ingersoll (or was it Diana?) (Recited perfectly, by the way!)
DISCUSSION 1) CXR’s grant for the Mexico orphanage ran into problems. Discussion about possible workarounds in order to accomplish the main objective, which, of course, is to help the children there. 2) PDG Phil Cordery, from our sister club in Western Australia, is coming for a visit! He is set to arrive On October 5th, and will be with us until October 9th. It’s not every day you get a visit from down under… I’m sure we’ll find a fun way to celebrate and show him our beautiful state! 3) Charter Night! The date has changed to July 18th, 2015, 6:00PM and will be taking place at the home of Ben and Dona Eubank. This is going to be a very special night, so please ink it in on your calendars, and spouses, and significant others welcome! 4) Not discussed, but important nonetheless… Military Appreciation Day is scheduled for next Thursday, June 18th at 7:00 AM. Hope to see as many of you there as possible!
ONLY $20 Makes a Great Christmas present
Happy $$
Geoff looking forward to being a staff member at girls camp next week. Also happy about being voted District Director for the National Board for USA Hockey. Congrats Geoff!
Corey happy he got an empty apartment rented, but also has to evict a tenant. New garage at one of the rental properties passed city inspection. Pinnacle Peak Patio is closing so he and Patti are going to try to go before it does.
Karen had a sad dollar for Steve’s stepdad… 95 and barely hanging on. Pulled off a surprise birthday dinner for Steve… and headed to Santa Monica this weekend for a girls weekend with her sister and cousin!
Larry had a great time in Seattle with Jennifer over the weekend. Used Air B&B… great service!
Ben says he’s happy Dona is still gone (like we believe that!). She’s still in Africa, and may be coming home with several children that the family will adopt and raise. Wow. While she’s gone he’s going to head over to Lucille’s Barbeque!
Our thoughts and prayers are with Dona Eubank who presently is representing this club in South Africa, where she is spending two weeks as a volunteer working with children orphaned by AIDS. We are proud of you, Dona! Be safe.
HAVE A TERRIFIC WEEKEND!
CONGRATULATIONS SHREE AND ANGELLA – “June 8, 2015 at 12:10 PM Angella gave birth to an angel, a miracle and a Goddess Laxmi. She is a lucky charm, a new life in our life; Happiness and joy together. She was operated out. Both baby and Mother are healthy.”
Oh No!! Phil’s coming!! I need to get a keg of Tooheys Extra Dry!
Tempe Rio Salado Rotary Meets at Jim's Coney Island Cafe 1750 N Scottsdale Rd. Tempe, AZ 85281 Every Thursday 7:00 – 8:00 AM Join us for Breakfast
When Texans Move to Alaska
ADNAN
This chart came to us through an old friend of ours, Rtn. Adnan S. Sherwani, who is with the Rotary Club Islamabad, our Sister Club in Pakistan. While this is a very useful tool for conducting business meetings, it probably will have to be modified for use in a Rotary setting, especially with a Club like Tempe Rio Salado which is very interactive and encourages fellowship and laughter. The other thing that is different for TRS is the way we have been able to incorporate technology into our meetings, encouraging our members to use their iPhones and iPads to take and share pictures, make presentations, and Skype in speakers from distant places. Regardless, this is a very useful chart for maintaining order.
PAKISTAN
The Rotary-Club Kathmandu West sent us pictures of their service project in collaboration with Mercy Relief, Singapore distributed stationary and food for six days for 700 students at Mary Ward School in Jhamsikhel and Lubhoo on Sunday, the first day of school after the Earthquake. Adnan S. Sherwani, PHF
PHIL DOWN UNDER
Our old buddy from Australia, PDG Phil Cordery, sent us pictures of the Business Excellence Awards night at his Club, the Rotary Club of Southern Districts, in District 9465. Pictured here is Phil with Recipient Andrew Lewis and Natalie from Gorey Electrical...Past District Governor Robyn Coleman and Steve ...Colin and Val Gorey guests of the Club and a group photo of them all.
BREAKING NEWS Phil will be visiting us Oct. 5-9
SHREE IN NEPAL
SHREE REPORT FROM NEPAL CONTINUED:
Temporary emergency housing must be inexpensive, easy to build, quick to assemble, and made from readily available materials.
This is an example of the type of temporary shelters Shree is helping to construct and provide to the earthquake victims who have lost their home. On June 6th, this shelter was ready for occupancy. They still have to install the plastic floor and plaster the walls with clay/cow-dung/straw. In this example, the entire building is wrapped in chicken wire (Rs. 4000/-) to make it strong and rat proof. You could shake the building easily before chicken wire, but after it was installed the building is very stable. They also used woven bamboo mats (bakari) outside that. Plaster should be applied on the inside surface. Total cost about Rs. 21,000/- (US$ 210). Bakari are extra: 12 pc X Rs. 450/- = Rs. 5400/-. Cost does not include carpenter.
SHREE REPORT FROM NEPAL CONTINUED:
We received two reports from Shree this week about babies being born. The first was a celebration when Angella delivered Shree’s first child; Happiness, love and hope. The second report was just the opposite. Here are the words Shree wrote: “On our travels to Barabishe we visited the temporary hospital!!. This lady had just had a baby 1 hour before we arrived. For most of us this is a joyous event, but for a rape victim of a lower caste - this probably was the lowest period of her life. Depression with the desire to let the baby die, was apparent. With Kalpana Rayamajhi - we purchased essential baby gear & provided food for the next week. By the time we left, the woman had started to breastfeed her baby & had something to eat. A couple of days later we hear that things are better for her, she is eating & baby is breastfeeding. Whilst this is short term - I can't help wonder what will happen next, where will she get the strength to continue with life, with no home, no family & now an extra mouth to feed. I am praying for her every day, may she get just a little stronger and may her baby girl bring much needed joy in her life...” …and we are praying, too, Shree.
Finally, this interesting story came to us from our friends at the Rotary Club of Atlantic City:
Sunday, May 31, 2015, Atlantic City, NJ – By Martin DeAngelis (PressofAtlanticCity.com) The Rotary Club of Atlantic City plans to celebrate its 100th anniversary June 13 with a party at Dante Hall. A generation or two ago, that would have been an important social occasion in the city. But now, it’s surprising news. The Rotary is believed to be the last service organization left in a city that once had at least four, all with memberships in the hundreds. Atlantic City’s Kiwanis Club, which for decades had 200-plus members and a waiting list several years long, formally went out of business last November. Leaders said they had to fold because of a lack of members, particularly young ones — a problem faced in recent decades by nearly all service clubs around the country, and beyond. “They’re all gone. The Lions are gone, Kiwanis is gone,” Joe Dolan, an Atlantic City resident and director of the local Rotary, said at a club meeting this week that drew about 20 people to the Chart House, at the Golden Nugget Atlantic City. His fellow members added that a former Exchange Club in the city is also local history now. The Rotary’s own numbers have definitely suffered, too. Charles Coyle, 81, of Absecon, remembers more than 130 people in the club when he joined 46 years ago. But by his memory, about the same number were active in the clubs that are gone now. Leaders say the Rotary is down to about 35 members now, not all of them active. Coyle couldn’t say why the Rotary has survived while the others didn’t. But he thinks many younger people are passing up something valuable in the Rotary, which calls itself a “world fellowship of business and professional persons.” While the members devote a lot of their energy in the club to doing good — in service projects that range from right down the block to halfway around the world — these social clubs can also help members do well. “I ran Deull Fuel company most of those years, and I got a lot of business through Rotary,” Coyle said. Marty Wood, the Atlantic City Rotary’s secretary, says there’s no doubt that one of these civic clubs can also lead to important commercial connections. “I wish I had found out about Rotary earlier,” says Wood, who lives in Linwood, works for Cooper Electric Supply in Egg Harbor Township and joined the Atlantic City club in 2001. “It’s a great way to give back to the community — and to meet other business people from all over.” Wood says Rotary, which was founded in Chicago in 1905, may have been the first networking organization, although “networking is not as big as it was originally,” says Wood, who would much rather talk about all the club’s service projects. But Jacquie Siracusa, 49, of Somers Point, the incoming president of the Atlantic City club, isn’t shy about selling the business benefits to potential members of a club that’s always happy to draw new people. “I very much focus on the charitable aspects,” she said. But “you’re not just going to be giving back. ... That’s the best part, but you’re also going to be meeting some very good people” in business. Members do their best to give their business to each other when possible, and “we try to network with other clubs” in the area, Siracusa added. Rotary lists branches in Ocean City, Upper Township, Cape May, Upper Township, Wildwood, Hammonton, Mays Landing, Somers Point, Absecon, Galloway Township, Vineland, Bridgeton, and more. South Jersey also has active branches of other service clubs, including an Ocean City Exchange Club that has grown in recent years, bucking that wider trend of membership struggles. In its service projects, the Rotary Club of Atlantic City has helped locals recover from Hurricane Sandy damage — in part with money and appliances donated by Rotary branches as far away as California. The club also annually donates dictionaries to students around Absecon Island and Brigantine; gives out $20,000 in college scholarships each year; donates hundreds of food baskets to the Salvation Army; volunteers at the Atlantic City Rescue Mission; hosts exchange students from around the world; and in 2001, rebuilt a Boardwalk pavilion now called Rotary Plaza. Atlantic City Rotarians have also gone to Africa on at least two public-health projects in recent years, among other international efforts. Club members are proud to say that their featured speaker at the June 13 birthday program is a veteran member named Don Guardian, who, before he became mayor of Atlantic City, was a president of the Rotary Club of Atlantic City.