SO SORRY! The Covid-19 situation is changing rapidly in Thailand, so the Board of Chiang Mai International Rotary Club has voted to postpone the Pancake Breakfast Fundraiser scheduled for this Saturday, 9 January at River Market Restaurant. All tickets will be honored at the rescheduled event; future date to be announced. If you'd like a refund, please contact NLLindley@msn.com or 080 494 5573.
December 2020 was quite the busy month for Chiang Mai International Rotary Club (CMIRC) as we completed our School Vision Screen Project (SVSP) for the 2020-21 school year and are nearly complete for the school year with the Children's Water Safety & Drowning Prevention Program (CWS&DPP). We've collected and delivered all the clothing and school supplies from the Winter Clothing and School Supply Appeal; not a moment too early as frost descends on the mountainous areas in the north of Thailand. (The children in Chiang Mai yet to complete the CWS&DPP will appreciate the heated pool).
It's good that most of our 2020-2021 Rotary Year projects are nearly complete, because as I mentioned in last month's bulletin, Thailand's Covid-19 second wave has arrived. Those Thai "hospitality workers" who illegally returned home from Burma weren't the only sources of infection in December. Covid-19 arrived at a large wholesale shrimp market near Bangkok, conveniently blamed on illegal Burmese workers. And then it spread through illegal gambling operations near Bangkok and traveled around many parts of the country from there. Fortunately, Thailand does a good job of contact tracing, although some of the gamblers don't want to share contact details. So far, Chiang Mai has been spared with one or two well-controlled exceptions.
I'm not only the CMIRC bulletin editor, but also the treasurer and I watched developments in horror, realizing the club's 2020-2021 fundraising efforts were represented by a roller coaster car crashing downhill out-of-control. My spreadsheets showed us running out of cash around April, so the officers and project champions huddled and agreed on some cutbacks and personal contributions, if needed.
Lo and behold, Christmas arrived in the form of some generous donors, who somehow sensed our ability to do good was going to be compromised in the near future. And, John Schorr received a call from a delightful Australian telling him that the fates had somehow changed and a grant we thought we weren't going receive was suddenly ours for the the CWS&DPP program.
So, while Thailand is still in that downward-plummeting roller coaster car with Covid-19, CMIRC has reason to celebrate January with fireworks because of the angels who came to our financial rescue. Let's hope we all can stay healthy and welcome the overseas members who are starting to return and that more will be able to join them soon.
The club had quite a busy month in December with the completion of this year’s School Vision Screening Project visits to six tessaban (municipal) schools in Chang Mai. This project was led by IPP John Schorr and his wife Phijtra with the support of a number of club and non-club members performing the screenings. PE Dylan Thomason completed his last clothing pick-up and delivery from collection boxes at all of the local Rimping Supermarkets and Makro stores here in the Chiang Mai area. Dylan logged about 6900 km (4200 miles) picking up and delivering about 10,000 kg (22,000 lbs) of clothing in Northern Thailand. Also, during the month, the Children’s Water Safety and Drowning Prevention Project continued with classes for 4th graders in Chiang Mai and Phrao.
The club participated in the opening ceremony of the Global Grant Peace Project at Ban San Pakwan School in Hang Dong where our District Governor Somchai Kerddecho performed the ceremonial ribbon cutting. And we had the annual District Governor visit on December 15th by District Governor Somchai Kerdedecho where he pinned our newest Rotary club member Debra Furlow (pictured right, with CP Roger and PN Viki). And, the DG presented Paul Harris Fellow recognitions to PE Dylan Thomason and PN Viki Thomason. On December 22 P Roger, Treasurer Nancy, Secretary Nick and PN Viki participated in an online ZOOM meeting with the Rotary Club of Grand Monadnock, New Hampshire, USA sharing what our club does for the community and our financial challenges faced this Rotary Year and our next Rotary Year due to the impact of Covid-19 on our community.
In January, we look forward to the return of Rotarian Raphael to our club meetings after his return from Granada and completion of 14-day quarantine in Bangkok. Hopefully, other club members who have been locked out of country due to Covid-19 will be returning. We have heard that former club member Julia Merkt has decided that she prefers retirement in Chiang Mai versus the USA and has returned to Chiang Mai and hopefully to our club. And hopefully we will have several new members join our club in the second half of this Rotary Year 2020-2021. This president would like to have a club of about 35 members which would permit spreading of the responsibilities of club operations out so more can be involved and some members won't be quite as stretched as they presently are. This will also give us some ability to have back-up leadership persons in case a project champion is not available.
On Monday between the holidays, CMIRC CWSDPP received some very good news. As I had mentioned in an earlier CMIRC Bulletin, recently we had again applied for an Australian Embassy Direct Aid Program Grant for our CWSDPP, but the initial information we received indicated we would not be funded. Then on Monday, December 28 we received this:
“Dear Dr Schorr:
Thank you for applying the Australian Embassy’s Direct Aid Program (DAP).
We are pleased to inform you that your project proposal Chiang Mai Municipal Schools Children’s Water Safety and Drowning Prevention Program has been approved for funding at THB220,000. ….
Congratulations on a successful proposal and we look forward to working with you.
Best wishes for a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year
More good news this month, we have received a substantial commitment from local philanthropist, Richard Murray, to fund two of our schools in 2021. So, taken together, with the Thai Thaim Foundation’s continued commitment, Safe Child Thailand’s fund balance for program expansion, Rtn Bob Ashley’s commitment to the BanYa Migrant Learning Centre Program, and, hopefully, BCTFN’s continued commitment to the Phrao-Warm Heart program; CMIRC should be able to continue all of its CWSDPPs and perhaps expand in 2021. What a difference a month makes!!
Now back to what we are doing in the water! December saw two classes of 4th-graders from the Wat Tassadoi School start their 10-lesson program at Bronco Kids Sports Club indoor heated pool (pictured, right). One class is on a Tuesday/Thursday schedule and the other is on a Wednesday/Friday schedule. They will finish on January 19 and 22 respectively. CMIRC members will attend the final classes to recognize the childrens' accomplishments. Please let me know if you’d like to join us on one or both of these days.
In Phrao, working with our Warm Heart Foundation partners, we finished our survival swim and water safety instruction for this school year. This year, thanks to the funding from BCTFN, we expanded to seven schools. In addition our lead instructor, Kru Payu was able to provide two days of advanced training for our swim instructor team in Phrao. He was very impressed with their skills and dedication.
In Phuket we continue to be in touch with our partners at the Rotary Club of Patong Beach. We recently learned that they have been able to expand their program to include additional schools as well. This program was founded with assistance of the Safe Child Foundation Grant we received in 2017 and it is an excellent example of the multiplier effect made possible by the Rotary network. We are still seeking other clubs where we can share our survival swim for children experience. Drowning remains the leading cause of death for children aged 1-14 in Thailand.
Finally, a brief description of what our courses entail: we provide 15 hours of instruction (5 hours water safety instruction, poolside, and 10 hours survival swim instruction in the pool), our target group is 4th-graders in municipal schools where most of the children are poor. We provide all equipment, instructional costs, and the pool for over 400 children each year. The average cost per child is approximately 700 Baht (US$23). We welcome donations and new Rotary partners to help us continue into our 6th year and beyond with this life saving program.
If you wish to help, please contact Project Champion John Schorr at johnkschorr@gmail.com for more information.
Chiang Mai International Rotary Club's (CMIRC) fundraiser event “Rotary Pancake Breakfast” was planned to be held on Saturday, 9th of January 2021 at the River Market Restaurant from 8:30 am – 11:00 am. but has been postponed. Here are some fun facts about Rotary pancake breakfasts -- a long tradition in North American Rotary clubs.
In researching the traditional Rotary Pancake Breakfast, some of the interesting items appear in over eighteen pages of results:
Batavia Rotary Club's Annual Fly-in Breakfast: The first Skaneateles (New York) Rotary Club (SRC) pancake breakfast was held in 1968 under the presidency of Jim Messenger, who at that time was the manager of the Skaneateles Airport. The breakfast, held in the hanger, featured a fly-in and in addition to the local crowd some 80 to 100 planes from around the East.
Rotary Club of Murfreesboro (Tennessee) had their 18th Annual Hotcakes and Holly fundraising breakfast virtually on Saturday, December 12th from 9:00 a.m. until 11:00 a.m., with sponsorship levels up to U.S.$3000.
The Massena (NY) Rotary Pancake Day has been scheduled for Nov. 7, but there will be a twist — it will be a drive-thru event from 7 a.m. to noon at First United Methodist Church, 189 Main St.
On December 5th we celebrated the Miamisburg (Ohio) Rotary Club’s Community Support Day. This was the replacement fundraiser for what would have been our 60th Annual Miamisburg Rotary Club’s Pancake Day breakfast.
This month we made two visits to the Burma Children Medical Fund's B.K. Kee Patient House. On December 6th, Rotarians Nick, Sally, Debra and myself went to provide snacks, supplies and assist the patients and caregivers in finishing up some decoration artwork for the Christmas party. We also surprised each resident and caregiver with an early Christmas present, a “teddy trekker” teddy bear.
Our main event on December 20th, the annual Christmas Party was a rousing success. BCMF Director Kanchana Thornton sent six of her staff to assist with the event. When we arrived, the house looked quite festive with patient-made decorations as well as a large holiday banner made by the BCMF staff. Eight current, former and honorary CMIRC members were present, as well.
One of the highlights was a fun game that Rotarian Sally set up, where we arranged the male and female patients into two teams. Each team had a bag of small wrapped candies and a pair of oven mitts. The goal was for each team to unwrap as many candies as possible in one-minute intervals, while wearing the cumbersome oven mitts. It was such a joy to see the patients and caregivers laughing and working together as teams to problem-solve and work cooperatively.
Great food and fellowship were enjoyed by all attendees. Each of the patients and caregivers were given presents, received with appreciation and enthusiasm. I want to thank all the Rotarians who donated gifts as well as a special shout out to generous cash donations from Bob Carroll, John Schorr and Phijitra Chimphat to help offset the costs of the event. Thank you so much. Your generosity greatly contributed to the success of the party.
If any Rotarians are interested in joining us on our every-other Sunday visits, please reach out. We are required to wear face coverings during the entire visit. We leave the Shell station at 11:00 (on Huay Kaew Rd.) and usually complete our visit around 12:30.
The Chiang Mai International Rotary Club concluded its 2020 Children’s Winter Clothing & School Supplies Appeal last month. We recorded almost 7,000 km picking up and distributing the generous donations made by our incredible community. According to estimates, we collected and delivered around 10,000 kg (22,000 pounds) of warm clothing, blankets, shoes, jackets, school supplies, toys, and some canned food to five Thai provinces - Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Mae Hong Son, Nan, and Loei.
CMIRC distributed donations to the hard-to-access Thai village of Ban Na Haeo in Loei, the ethnic Hmong and Akha Ban Lao U in Nan; the Baan Mae U Khonoi School in Khun Yuam, Mae Hong Son; the mostly Shan and Lahu Ban Huai Muang School in Wiang Pa Pao, Chiang Rai; the Ban Pui School in Hot District; the Ban Pha Lai Learning Centre in Chiang Dao where Akha, Lisu, Karen, Lahu, and Palaung hill tribe students study; two Karen hill tribe communities on Doi Inthanon; the ethnic Karen Ban Huai Khao Lip Catholic School in Mae Wang, and the Ban Khun Tae School in Chom Thong, Chiang Mai Province. What’s more, we delivered sixteen cans of high-quality baby formula donations to Nikki’s Place Agape Home, a renowned institution caring for orphans and children living with HIV/AIDS.
We cannot thank enough for the help of our generous community, friends, and Rotarians. We are grateful for your contributions! Kudos to the Rimping Supermarket chain, Makro, The Interact Clubs of Chiang Mai International School (CMIS) and Unity Concord International School (UCIS), Lanna International School Thailand (LIST), Chiangmai University Demonstration School (Satit CMU), and the Chiang Mai Expats Club for making it possible for us to place our donation boxes on their premises.
Special thanks to our supportive friends, families, and fellow Rotarians - in no particular order: John, Nick, Nancy, Roger, and Jerry to participate in this truly community project. A big pat on the back for Dylan for his tireless driving ability.
Our CMIRC School Vision Screening Project (SVSP) begins the new year with a sense of real accomplishment. From the initiation of our team building efforts with the training sessions in September through the beginning of our screenings in October to the distribution of prescription glasses to children at the two final municipal schools (Wat Tassadoi School and Wat Ket Karam School) on December 24, we have provided a very important service for the children of Chiang Mai.
Here are some statistics that demonstrate the impact our program has had:
Number of schools served: 12 (All 11 Chiang Mai Municipal Schools and Wat Suan Dok School)
Total number of children screened: 842
Number of 3rdand 5th grade children screened (our target groups): 724
Number of children identified by teachers from other grades screened: 118
Number of reading glasses distributed: 17
Number of prescription glasses distributed: 132
Percentage of target group receiving glasses: 13% (96 children)
Percentage of special teacher-identified children receiving glasses: 45% (53 children)
So, a total of 149 elementary school children predominantly from very poor families have directly benefited from our CMIRC SVSP this year!!
Thank you to our sponsors for making this possible, especially the Rotary Club of Spokane 21 which funded about 75% of the screening project, the Thai Thaim Foundation, and Eyewear Designs Limited of Bethpage, NY, USA which provided the children’s frames. Thanks, also, to the many individual donors who helped us make ends meet and, of course, to our volunteer screeners from CMIRC, RC of Chiang Mai Wattana, RC of Chiang Mai North, and our many Thai friends and relatives who helped!!
Finally, two very special recognitions! First, to Optician One (far right), for being such a dedicated professional and ensuring these children’s vision needs were met. His work involved eye examinations at the screenings, writing and ensuring prescriptions were properly filled, delivering and fitting the children’s glasses, and instructing the children on the use and care of their glasses. We could not have done this project without Optician One!! Second, my wife, and friend of CMIRC, Phijitra Schorr (left, in the photo). She has worked with me on the planning and organization of this project for almost three years. She is the contact person for every school where we screen, and is there with me for a pre-screening visit, the screenings, and then for the eye-glasses delivery. She is also organizing the follow ups with the school health teachers. The program would have never gotten off the ground with out Phijitra’s dedication and organizational skills!
So, what’s next??? First, we plan to follow up with the school health teachers in about one month to learn how the children who received glasses are doing. Then we start planning for next year; this will include plans for re-examining those who received glasses this year (most will be 4th and 6th-graders, next year) and then plans for screening the new 3rd and 5th-graders at each of the twelve schools.
In the meantime, it will be fundraising to ensure that we can continue this project!!
Dear Readers, in spite of the generosity of our donors this year, we are still going to be far behind on our budget for next year. The program cost per prescription including the optician’s fees, frames, and lenses this past year was about 600 Baht (US$20); the glasses are provided for free to the children. The total program budget for next year is estimated at between $3,000 and $4,000 US dollars.
If you wish to learn how you can help, please contact Project Champion John Schorr at johnkschorr@gmail.com or tel.: 66 (0)8 5030 2143
This program was made possible by a very generous donation from the Rotary Club of Spokane #21, Thai Thaim Foundation and several private donors; their gifts to the children of Chiang Mai covered all costs with the exception of the children’s frames. One thousand, high quality New Balance children’s frames have been donated by Eyewear Designs Limited of Bethpage, NY, USA.
Editor's Note: In the past, members of CMIRC have played an active role in helping BEAM Education Foundation students in preparing to obtain their GED certificates, that permit marginalized migrants and stateless people not otherwise able to obtain a high school diploma to access higher education. This year, CMIRC's role is limited due to Covid-19, but BEAM is operating largely on-line and has a large group of students eager to sit for the GED exam. The CMIRC Project Champion for BEAM, Nick Dale, passes along this appeal from BEAM. All funds are listed in U.S. dollars:
One of the main goals of the BEAM Education Foundation is to implement the GED program that allows our students to access higher education in Thailand. Our Higher Education program offers the opportunity to about 30-35 students each year to participate in this one-year GED program with focus on these four subjects: English, Maths, Science, and Social Studies. Due to the policies in Thailand, our students are able to attend universities here once they successfully complete and pass the GED exams. The GED option is one of limited pathways for our students to access higher education here as their prior learning experiences and certifications from Myanmar are not recognized and accepted in their attempts to attend universities in Thailand.
As of now, we have 33 students who are in our GED program and will hopefully participate in the exams soon. Thankfully, two of our partners are funding 17 out of the 33 students to participate in the exam.
We are therefore, at this point, raising funds for our remaining 16 students for both the GED practice test ($6.00 per subject per student) and the main GED exams ($75.00 per subject per student).
GED practice test - $6.00 per subject per student = $24.00 per student (16 students = $384.00)
GED main exams - $75 per subject per student = $300.00 per student (16 students = $4,800.00)
Total GED Funds To Raise = $5,184.00
We will really be grateful to have your support to help our students continue to pursue their dreams of higher education.
Greetings from CMIRC’s Isaan outpost. I live in a small village, relatively poor as many who live here pack their belongings on trucks, leave their children with their grandparents to watch and spend long hard hours daily cutting sugar in the fields in other parts of Thailand. When they return, they may make small enhancements to their houses and spend time with their children, but most of the time the children are without their parents. There is a small school across the road from the village and it seems to have been built in the 70s. Recently, they have a new principal who is dedicated to the children. While we were feeding the kids their special meal, he showed me plans of he what would do for the kids if he had the funds.
My wife Nid and her friends decided to give the kids a special meal and I gave her my moral and financial support to make this happen. The kids loved it, especially the French fries and ice cream. By the time lunch was over with their little tummies full, their faces lit up with smiles. There was even some creativity where I saw French fries decorating the cup cakes. A few were children living close to us, so we supply milk and treats and give them blankets, mattresses and other things that they need. It was a very happy day here in the middle of nowhere.
Editor's Note: Joe Evans (far right, above) is a Passport Member and Past President of CMIRC. Joe now lives in Isaan, in the rural northeast of Thailand. We look forward to him visiting the club in Chiang Mai when it's safe to travel in Thailand. We welcome reports of community service activities from other Passport and Overseas Members.
Vocational Service is one of Rotary’s Avenues of Service. Through Vocational Service we: Serve others by using our unique skills to address community needs; empower others through training and skill development; and, inspire others to act with integrity by following Rotary’s guiding principles.
Vocational Service includes: Connecting our professions and professional networks with our Rotary club activities; using our expertise to address community problems; help others discover new vocational opportunities and interests; and, promoting Rotary’s commitment to integrity in our professional as well as personal lives.
Professionals join a Rotary club as representatives of their particular business or profession. Rotarians have a dual responsibility: represent their vocation within their club and to exemplify the ideals of Rotary in their place of business.
Vocational service can be incorporated in club activities by:
Hosting a club meeting at your work place and sharing about your profession; taking time to learn about fellow members’ occupations.
Using your skills and expertise to serve a community.
Practicing your profession with integrity, and inspiring others to behave ethically through your words and actions.
Working with local businesses to create mentorship, internship, or practicum opportunities to help young people achieve their career goals.
Guiding and encouraging others in their professional development.
The Paul Harris Fellowship Award is one of the highest honors Rotary can bestow upon a person. Recipients are Rotarians and community professionals, recognized for their outstanding contributions, exemplifying the highest ideal in Rotary in placing “SERVICE ABOVE SELF.” This honor accompanies a donation of $1,000 or more, in the recipient’s name, to Rotary International’s “Annual Program Fund,” which supports Rotary’s world-wide programs.
First, who is Paul Harris? Paul Percy Harris (pictured right) was a Chicago attorney best known for founding Rotary International in 1905, a service organization that currently has well over 1.1 million members worldwide. In 1957 the Paul Harris Fellows program was established to show appreciation for, and encourage substantial contributions to what was then the Rotary Foundation, in support of Ambassadorial Scholarships. In 1979 at the Rotary International Assembly the RI President James Bomar challenged each Rotary club to make one non-Rotarian a Paul Harris Fellow. When $US 1000 is contributed to The Rotary Foundation, a request can be made for an individual to be recognized as a Paul Harris Fellow; that person can be a Rotarian or a member of the community who is not a Rotarian.
Recently, Dr. Anthony Fauci and Dr. Deborah Birx were nominated as Paul Harris Fellows by the Rotary e-Club of Florida for their civil service to the United States and the World.
What a great way to welcome 2021! Thanks to detective work from CP Roger, we welcome the return of Spam as one of the meeting raffle prizes courtesy of Thailand's creaky answer to Amazon.com, Lazada. And this isn't ordinary Spam, no it's special Spam made in the good, ole USA for the South Korean market. While not mentioned in the Time magazine story below, South Korea is the biggest market for Spam outside the U.S. Roger found multiple sources for Spam on Lazada -- all originating from Korean food stores in Thailand.
We found the version offered in Korea to somehow taste fresher and be more appealing that what we remembered of the U.S. Spam. Maybe because the recipe changed in 2009 with the addition of a small amount of potato starch to mop up the gelatin layer that used to form on the top of the meat and greeted customers when they opened the can. Gee, has it been that long since Roger and I opened a can of Spam or have we been opening cans that were produced before 2009? While Spam hasn't been available in general grocery stores in Thailand for a couple years, maybe it hasn't been imported into those stores since before 2009.
In any event, the can of "Korean Spam" that was part of our holiday meals was indeed a treat. No worries. We have three more cans to donate to the CMIRC raffle. This quarter, raffle proceeds are supporting the meal program at Thomas House, a school in Thaton for children with special education needs. Rosie Massingham, project co-ordinator will present the program about Thomas House at the CMIRC meeting on January 5.
From TIME Magazine, July 5, 2017 by Oliva B Waxman:
BEFORE “spam” was a word that represented unwanted emails, it was a word that represented the successful repackaging of unwanted meats.
Spam — the square can of pork, salt, water, sugar, potato starch and sodium nitrite that first rolled off the assembly lines 80 years ago during the Great Depression — was invented “as a way to peddle the then-unprofitable pork shoulder,” according to The Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America. It was the invention of Jay Hormel, son of George Hormel who founded the Hormel company, which pioneered canned pork products in Austin, Minn., in the late 1920s.
According to the company’s Spam Museum, Ken Digneau, the brother of a Hormel executive, came up with the name — a portmanteau word for “spiced ham” — in a naming contest and got $100 as a reward. The new product was introduced on July 5, 1937. Despite the plethora of early Spam ads aimed at housewives who wanted cheap, quick meals requiring almost no prep, some of the members of that target demographic were hesitant to eat meat that didn’t need to be refrigerated. But it didn’t take long for the U.S. military to find a use for the food innovation. Spam went global during World War II, when America shipped out over 100 million cans to the Pacific, where it made an inexpensive yet filling meal for U.S. troops. As TIME later noted, “Among fed-up fighting men from Attu to Anzio, Spam became one of the most celebrated four-letter words in World War II, gave birth to a flavorsome literature of tales, odes, jokes, limericks.” It remains popular in areas where soldiers were stationed, especially in Hawaii, Guam and the Philippines. Spam also became part of aid packages to devastated Europe and Russia. As the former Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev wrote in his memoir Khrushchev Remembers: “There were many jokes going around in the army, some of them off-color, about American Spam; it tasted good, nonetheless. Without Spam, we wouldn’t have been able to feed our army. We had lost our most fertile lands.”
To keep up Spam sales postwar, the company hired singers to tout the product, and even had a radio show Music With the Hormel Girls. Whatever the reason, it worked: Hormel produced its billionth can in 1959, amid rising sales. And yet the Spam-eating Vikings in the 1970s Monty Python’s Flying Circus skit is the pop culture Spam reference most people will remember.
The regular every other Sunday morning visits by club members to the patients and their families at Burma Children Medical Fund's B.K. Kee Patient House here in Chiang Mai where members socialize, play games, bring food and engage in craft projects with the patients and their families.
The regular pick-up of clothes and other items deposited in our Winter Clothing appeal boxes at the local Rimping and Makro stores and the delivery of these donations to the villages in the high-altitude villages in northern Thailand during the first week or two in December. (At right, Dylan and family members did a trip that took two days, delivering after dark to a remote village perched on a steep mountain a stone's throw from Laos.)
On the first and third Fridays of the month, club members attended theChiang Mai Expats Club breakfasts to promote CMIRC and swap "Change for Children" owl banks.
Tuesday, December 1, CMIRC's Annual Meeting at the Royal Peninsula Hotel with voting for the officer slate for RY 2021-2022.
Wednesday, December 2, School Vision Screening Project at Wat Sri Ping Muang School.
Thursday, December 3, School Vision Screening Project at Wat Dok Ngern School.
Friday, December 4, School Vision Screening Project at Wat Sri Donchai School.
Monday, December 7, School Vision Screening Project at Wat Sri Ku Kam School.
Tuesday, December 8, opening ceremony of the Cultivating Sustainable Peace Culture Project at Ban San Pakwan School, with District Governor Somchai Kerddecho and representatives from the Rotary Clubs of Bangkok and Donburi and the Japanese Consulate General, Chiang Mai.
Wednesday, December 9, School Vision Screening Project at Wat Tha Satoi School
Wednesday, December 9, our 9@9 ZOOM meeting with members who are outside of Chiang Mai.
Monday, December 14, School Vision Screening Project at Wat Ket Karam School. Final screening of the 2020-2021 school year. Yeah!
Tuesday, December 15, annual club visit at Royal Peninsula Hotel by our District Governor. And induction of our newest member Debra Furlow.
The needed protection measures in response to the COVID-19 pandemic have caused the cancellation of many events. Others are being conducted online and others have been postponed. Below is a list of events and their status, as we currently understand them. Please remember the situation is extremely fluid and things change daily. Some of our scheduled speakers may be willing to participate in online meetings. The latest news for CMIRC events is at: https://cmirotary.org/events/calendar
Here are just a few of the important dates for members of Chiang Mai International Rotary Club (CMIRC). These are opportunities to meet some of us and to meet other Rotarians from around the world!
Every other Sunday visits by club members to Burma Children Medical Fund's (BCMF) B. K. Kee Patient House to socialize, play games, do crafts with the patients and their families. Interested? Contact Rotarian Bill Pierce.
5 January 2021 CMIRC Club Meeting Meeting, 7 pm. at Royal Peninsula Hotel. The program will be presented by Rosie Massingham on the topic "Thomas House in Thaton". The House educates special needs children. Gather at 5:45 pm for an optional dinner; order off the menu of the hotel's restaurant.
9 January 2021 Charity Pancake Breakfast Location: River Market Restaurant, 8:30 am - 11 am Menu Pancakes, Toppings, Sausages, Orange Juice, Coffee, Tea, Water. Tickets: 300 Baht in advance 350 Baht at the door Contact events@cmirotary.org Call 080 494 5573 Proceeds to Benefit the Children’s Charity Project of Chiang Mai Rotary Club
9 January 2021 CMIRC "9 at 9" 9 pm Thai time. A ZOOM social meeting for members in and out of Thailand. Contact IPP John.
10 January 2021 Kim White's Birthday.
19 January 2021 CMIRC Club Meeting, 7 pm. at Royal Peninsula Hotel. Guest Speaker: Kevin Miller "Guarding Against Pedophilia" Gather at 5:45 pm for an optional dinner.; order off the menu of the hotel's restaurant.
20 January 2021 Nancy Lindley's Birthday.
26 January 2021 CMIRC Board Meeting at Royal Peninsula Hotel, 1:00 - 3:00 pm Contact CP. Roger
Rotary is not free; we give our hearts, we give our time and to some extent we give our money. Most of our heart, most of our time and most of our money goes to support our children’s projects. Yet we have operational expenses, for example, our website with its powerful tools such as this bulletin. We ask that you consider our sponsors for your needs.
The Lila Thai Massage Ex-Inmate Employment and Skill Development Center was established in 2014 by "Naowarat Thanasrisutharat" to help and support women being released from prison. The ladies receive a massage training course from certified massage instructors (ex-inmates who work for Lila Thai Massage); these programs are endorsed by and meet the requirements of the Chiang Mai Public Health Department. This project reduces the women conviction rates in Chiang Mai and helps to solve the societal problems that perpetuate the situation, bringing about our long-cherished dream for a better community. The quality of massage at Lila Thai Massage is consistently superb.
Royal Peninsula Hotel is an excellent international standard hotel located in the heart of Chiang Mai. They have 150 guest rooms with all amenities including free wi-fi. There is ample onsite, covered parking. The outdoor swimming pool and Jacuzzi are available to guests. There is both an indoor restaurant, featuring Thai cuisine and outdoor beer garden next to the swimming pool. The Royal Peninsula Hotel has two conference and banquet rooms, well decorated, with good acoustics. The staff at Royal Peninsula are very accommodating. The Chiang Mai International Rotary Club meets at the Royal Peninsula at 7:00 PM on the 1st and 3rd Tuesday of each month, with many members and guests gathering about an hour before the meeting in the hotel's restaurant for fellowship and an optional meal, ordering from the restaurant's menu of reasonably-priced Thai food.
Our sponsors donate money that supports our operational expenses, freeing funds for the projects we love. Please give them your support.
And we had the annual District Governor visit on December 15th by District Governor Somchai Kerdedecho where he pinned our newest Rotary club member Debra Furlow (pictured right, with CP Roger and PN Viki). And, the DG presented Paul Harris Fellow recognitions to PE Dylan Thomason and PN Viki Thomason. On December 22 P Roger, Treasurer Nancy, Secretary Nick and PN Viki participated in an online ZOOM meeting with the Rotary Club of Grand Monadnock, New Hampshire, USA sharing what our club does for the community and our financial challenges faced this Rotary Year and our next Rotary Year due to the impact of Covid-19 on our community.
Now back to what we are doing in the water! December saw two classes of 4th-graders from the Wat Tassadoi School start their 10-lesson program at 
This month we made two visits to the 
One of the highlights was a fun game that Rotarian Sally set up, where we arranged the male and female patients into two teams. Each team had a bag of small wrapped candies and a pair of oven mitts. The goal was for each team to unwrap as many candies as possible in one-minute intervals, while wearing the cumbersome oven mitts. It was such a joy to see the patients and caregivers laughing and working together as teams to problem-solve and work cooperatively. 
The Chiang Mai International Rotary Club concluded its 2020 Children’s Winter Clothing & School Supplies Appeal last month. We recorded almost 7,000 km picking up and distributing the generous donations made by our incredible community. According to estimates, we collected and delivered around 10,000 kg (22,000 pounds) of warm clothing, blankets, shoes, jackets, school supplies, toys, and some canned food to five Thai provinces - Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Mae Hong Son, Nan, and Loei.
Finally, two very special recognitions! First, to Optician One (far right), for being such a dedicated professional and ensuring these children’s vision needs were met. His work involved eye examinations at the screenings, writing and ensuring prescriptions were properly filled, delivering and fitting the children’s glasses, and instructing the children on the use and care of their glasses. We could not have done this project without Optician One!! Second, my wife, and friend of CMIRC, Phijitra Schorr (left, in the photo). She has worked with me on the planning and organization of this project for almost three years. She is the contact person for every school where we screen, and is there with me for a pre-screening visit, the screenings, and then for the eye-glasses delivery. She is also organizing the follow ups with the school health teachers. The program would have never gotten off the ground with out Phijitra’s dedication and organizational skills! 
So, what’s next??? First, we plan to follow up with the school health teachers in about one month to learn how the children who received glasses are doing. Then we start planning for next year; this will include plans for re-examining those who received glasses this year (most will be 4th and 6th-graders, next year) and then plans for screening the new 3rd and 5th-graders at each of the twelve schools.
My wife Nid and her friends decided to give the kids a special meal and I gave her my moral and financial support to make this happen. The kids loved it, especially the French fries and ice cream. By the time lunch was over with their little tummies full, their faces lit up with smiles. There was even some creativity where I saw French fries decorating the cup cakes. A few were children living close to us, so we supply milk and treats and give them blankets, mattresses and other things that they need. It was a very happy day here in the middle of nowhere.
First, who is Paul Harris? Paul Percy Harris (pictured right) was a Chicago attorney best known for founding Rotary International in 1905, a service organization that currently has well over 1.1 million members worldwide. In 1957 the Paul Harris Fellows program was established to show appreciation for, and encourage substantial contributions to what was then the Rotary Foundation, in support of Ambassadorial Scholarships. In 1979 at the Rotary International Assembly the RI President James Bomar challenged each Rotary club to make one non-Rotarian a Paul Harris Fellow. When $US 1000 is contributed to The Rotary Foundation, a request can be made for an individual to be recognized as a Paul Harris Fellow; that person can be a Rotarian or a member of the community who is not a Rotarian.
What a great way to welcome 2021! Thanks to detective work from CP Roger, we welcome the return of Spam as one of the meeting raffle prizes courtesy of Thailand's creaky answer to Amazon.com, Lazada. And this isn't ordinary Spam, no it's special Spam made in the good, ole USA for the South Korean market. While not mentioned in the Time magazine story below, South Korea is the biggest market for Spam outside the U.S. Roger found multiple sources for Spam on Lazada -- all originating from Korean food stores in Thailand. 
According to the company’s Spam Museum, Ken Digneau, the brother of a Hormel executive, came up with the name — a portmanteau word for “spiced ham” — in a naming contest and got $100 as a reward. The new product was introduced on July 5, 1937. Despite the plethora of early Spam ads aimed at housewives who wanted cheap, quick meals requiring almost no prep, some of the members of that target demographic were hesitant to eat meat that didn’t need to be refrigerated. But it didn’t take long for the U.S. military to find a use for the food innovation. Spam went global during World War II, when America shipped out over 100 million cans to the Pacific, where it made an inexpensive yet filling meal for U.S. troops. As TIME later noted, “Among fed-up fighting men from Attu to Anzio, Spam became one of the most celebrated four-letter words in World War II, gave birth to a flavorsome literature of tales, odes, jokes, limericks.” It remains popular in areas where soldiers were stationed, especially in Hawaii, Guam and the Philippines. Spam also became part of aid packages to devastated Europe and Russia. As the former Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev wrote in his memoir Khrushchev Remembers: “There were many jokes going around in the army, some of them off-color, about American Spam; it tasted good, nonetheless. Without Spam, we wouldn’t have been able to feed our army. We had lost our most fertile lands.”
The regular pick-up of clothes and other items deposited in our Winter Clothing appeal boxes at the local Rimping and Makro stores and the delivery of these donations to the villages in the high-altitude villages in northern Thailand during the first week or two in December. (At right, Dylan and family members did a trip that took two days, delivering after dark to a remote village perched on a steep mountain a stone's throw from Laos.)
Wednesday, December 2, School Vision Screening Project at Wat Sri Ping Muang School.
