In February we celebrated both the birthday of Rotary International (116th) and of our club (7th). Our club continues doing good things for people in Northern Thailand. Having an engaged membership makes possible the projects and fundraisers that our club sponsors. (right, Charlotte demonstrates the Covid-correct way to extinguish a birthday candle -- off the cake)
Related to projects, a big thank you to our new members Rotarians Bill T. and Nicha for becoming involved in both the Children’s Water Safety and Drowning Prevention Project and in the Interact programs.
Rotarians Nick and Bill P. have been actively engaged at the Burma Children Medical Fund's B.K. Kee Patient House in providing fabric and art materials for developing the skills of the patients and family members who are presently in a long stay situation due to Covid-19 lockdown in Mae Sot. Recently, Interactors from Chiang Mai International School became actively involved in activities at the House.
Our club provided 196,000 baht to the BEAM Education Foundation as part of the Bob Carrol Memorial BEAM Scholarship Fund. Rotarians John, Nick and I participated in the symbolic check presentation to BEAM. This will fund approximately eighteen BEAM students' GED exams later this year.
Club members participated in the Career Inspiration Day sponsored by the English Department at Wattanothaipayap School. Rotarians John, Sally, Nick, Colin and Roger, along with former member Clarence, shared their career experiences with approximately 480 students. This was an opportunity for students to hear English spoken with different accents and to understand the variety of careers they can experience in their future. Thank you to Rotarian Colin for organizing this event.
Our newest member, Jim Kittel, joined our club from the U.S. at the February 9@9 Zoom meeting. Welcome to our newest member and congratulations to our Membership Chair Viki for bringing our active membership count to twenty-seven (27). Secretary Nick added Jim to our club roster using Clubrunner but found he was not a part of Rotary International's MyRotary member listing. Nick worked diligently at resolving the “joining problem” with MyRotary and successfully had Jim officially joined to our club in RI records. Nick's head is only slightly bruised from bashing it against the wall until he discovered the solution.
A reminder to all, please help out our Secretary Nick by reviewing your membership information (primarily address, telephone number, email address and existence of Final Will/next of kin) that can be found in the member section of Clubrunner. If any members find it difficult to do their update, please let Nick know what needs to be updated and he will make the changes for you.
Rotarians John, Roger and Nancy continue in the effort to create a foundation for the club that will help with the long-term financial support of club service projects here in Northern Thailand and provide a mechanism for members to remember the club.
In March, we will again have a fifth Tuesday in the month and will do a trial restart on our informal social get togethers. This will be at The Duke’s at Maya Mall on Tuesday, March 30, 7 pm with the club providing pizza and those attending purchasing their own beverages. Rotarian Nancy is coordinating this Fifth Tuesday event. Please invite friends who could be persuaded to join CMIRC and/or support our projects.
We need to do a trial restart of our last Friday of the month “Let’s Talk Rotary” informal lunch get together. We need a member to nominate a location for Friday, April 30th and to coordinate with the venue on headcount. If this is successful, we will need a member to volunteer on a rotating monthly basis to nominate a location and coordinate the reservations and attendance.
We are fortunate that it appears Covid-19 has been brought back to zero levels here in Chiang Mai. Unfortunately, our burning season air quality is deteriorating and appears that air purifiers and N95 masks will be required for the next several months to maintain our health, as is the norm this time of year.
We indeed do live in interesting times.