Club Business
President Jeff called the meeting to order at 12:00 noon. The pledge was led by Mike Casey and Hoppy Hopkins led us in a chorus of “When You’re Smiling”. Eric Walden gave us a brief history of the Rotary Wheel, first established as a symbol of Rotary in 1905. See below for a graphical illustration of the wheel’s history.
President Jeff circulated a sign-up sheet for our upcoming CLUB SOCIAL. The social is a post Valentines Day dinner at the Horseman, to be held on Friday, February 15 at 5:30 PM. PLEASE CONTACT STEVE PERU speru@nazunitedway.org to sign up and for further details.
Vaughan Winborne, Esq., invited us all to join him at the Coconino County Spelling Bee to be held at Coconino High School Mini Auditorium, Saturday, February 9, 2019 at 10am. Coconino High School is located at 2801 N Izabel (near the Safeway on Cedar).
Michael Casey provided us an update on the Rotaract Club at NAU which now includes 19 members. The club is involved in many activities and we will be joining them in March to pack hygiene kits for the homeless. The Rotaract Club has asked for our donation of crutches, canes, wheelchairs and other mobility related medical devices in support of their Crutches for Africa Program.
Program
Tom Destephano, a member of the Board of Directors of the Flagstaff Chapter of the American Red Cross and a Red Cross volunteer was our speaker today. Tom spoke to us about his experiences providing Disaster Mental Health Services to victims of mass disasters, a program he helped develop. He recounted his experiences on the ground in the aftermath of the shooting in Las Vegas, the floods in Houston and the Camp Fire in Paradise, California. The Red Cross have learned that people involved in major disasters are often suffering from severe stress as their lives have been inalterably changed and they are often separated from their loved ones and their homes. THE DMHS program helps Red Cross volunteers understand the trauma being experienced by the victims and allows them to offer some comfort and reassurance which can help them to begin to recover.
Tom reminded us that the American Red Cross was founded during the Civil War by Clara Barton, a nurse, who set up various clinics and aid stations to treat both Union and Confederate wounded and injured. The tradition of supporting the armed services continues to this day with the American Red Cross providing a variety of services to services members and their families both here and abroad.
The Rotary Four-Way-Test of the things we think say and do was led by Eric Walden and the meeting adjourned at 1:00 pm.
