This week’s in-person along with zoom meeting at the Great Wolf Lodge was definitely a celebration of community connectedness! President Mark opened the bell rung meeting with reminiscences of the “I Have a Dream” speech by Martin Luther King 58 years ago this week, including the fact that the speech was an off the script impromptu one, with the leader casting aside his prepared words (similar to what President Mark often seems to do). After our pledge of allegiance, Herb Lemcool then started the room (and screen participants) off on God Bless America.
Sid Lammers took the off-script aspect to heart with a personal message to “get vaccinated”. Four members of Sid’s family, all of whom were vaccinated, were diagnosed with COVID recently. All had varying degrees of symptoms, with Maria and Sid completely asymptomatic, so as Sid explained with the help of the vaccine he reflected on the joy of just being present. And in yet a different off-the-script manifestation of community connectedness, Randy Kamp shouted a classic Rotarian style friendly dig at Sid that “we are all especially glad Maria survived”.
An equally off-script Max Anderson created a new category of connectedness asking if there were “any Visiting Rotarians with guests”, then adding back in the usual “Rotarian with guests” producing Randy Kamp announcing Jordan “Van”(but there’s really no middle part there he later explained, just jesting on Dutch heritage) Starkenburg, a Presbyterian Pastor later investigation revealed. Also introduced was John Cox as head of Munson Surgical Administration.
Lynn Moon introduced new Rotarian John Van Wagoner, the new TCAPS Superintendent, with a resume full of experience he brings to the community. A traditional rousing celebratory standing ovation welcomed John, his wife Sarah, and 4 children to our community.
For announcements: Mark proclaimed that the date of September 13 will be the Rotary Golf Outing at TC Country Club with a 12:30p shotgun start. Please reach out to Mike Meindertsma or Kathy to sign up as a group of four or by yourself to be put in a group of four.
Carla Weaver let us know that applications for 2022 outbound Exchange students are due this week with interviews set for Sept 26.
Carla and Alexis Juett introduced all new members who joined during COVID zoom time from 2020 - 2021 and in addition to a welcome package the entire room exploded with a cascade of confetti streamers in celebration.
Miriam Owlsley said we need to sign up to be a grant reviewer by tomorrow (so too late by the time this epistle is read) with interviews of grantees to start August 30. And in the continuing spirit of celebration.
Trevor Tkach won the $60 fifty fifty mimicking the confetti explosion with his own version by tossing his tickets into the air.
Club Program
Then it was on to one of the most heart-rendering stories of community connection and a celebration of the impact on so many lives that individual efforts can have that has been presented to our club. This time it was not only of our own medical community member's connections, but also that connection with and within another community in Guatemala. Wendy Irvin introduced John Cox from Munson, who after mentioning some basics about Team Medicos, began the essence of his presentation with how he personally was affected by the fragile condition of a young girl in the Guatemala town in which their efforts began. His tales of the impact their efforts have had on the quality of life of residents, by providing basic hygiene, clean water, medical treatment and training climaxed with the showing of a short video of their team(s) that so powerfully expressed this impact, his own honest reaction of emotional connection (especially as he was reunited years later with that little girl, now revealed as “Bianca”) truly moved the audience.
Along the path of this celebration of community connection, we learned that since beginning in 2015 with the first medical teams sent to Guatemala in 2017, the group has sent 10 teams helping 5,000 villagers with the support of sponsoring pharmacies and other entities in our own community while supporting and engaging local leaders in remote villages to assess their specific needs. Through partnering with Mission Impact they work to make sure each project is important to the local Guatemalans (sounds like they’ve taken a few pages of Marilyn Fitzgerald’s book If I had a Water Buffalo to heart). Their efforts have provided 1000 pairs of glasses, 15 prosthetic limbs, and $21,000 in medications.
How it all started was with the building of concrete stoves, which used less wood and yielded less smoke, thus increasing environmental air quality and resource management, hence improved health. So much so that as time went on the villagers were simply and accurately stating “our children live more” (not in a subjective quality way, but by sheer numbers), sometimes by simply deworming children and providing vitamins that produced results in just a week. Then water filtration units were provided to a number of villages, and dry compost units (because if you just bury waste in a tropical rain forest, it goes instantly into the water supply).
These shorter-term projects led to even more long-term goals to improved access to Health and Education, along with critical infrastructure. So a clinic was built in Coyolate, primarily with the Guatemalans directing the project and the Medicos team providing support; which now has a local nurse practitioner, who then also teaches volunteers in other communities, thus expanding the reach of even further. In the plans is a Proximos Pasos - New Hope Nursing School, similar to high school vocational schools, again expanding that community connectedness even more.
Through all of these efforts focus remains on creating relationships, and adapting to local cultural traditions (so for example even using witch doctors to exorcise demons so that the medications will be able to work) by being flexible and sensitive (for example that our speaker’s blue eyes were perceived as potential soul-stealing) to others interpretations. The focus is on taking care of one’s community, immediate and extended. This leads us right back to Sid’s reflection, and as President Mark summarized the presentation as “touching, enlightening, amazing work”.
As a final celebration of connection expression, President Mark announced that the Rotary Club Board had heard and listened to its member's comments about finding the new lunch billing system confusing so we will be reverting to the old system of billing for lunches actually eaten at the end of each cycle rather than in advance then receiving credit for uneaten ones.
Meeting adjourned with … members in physical attendance, and … by zoom.
