CMIRC August 2017 News (Aug 14, 2017)

Social Night Tuesday 29 August 2017

Chiang Mai International Rotary Club will have a social night on Tuesday 29 August, 2017. The location will be “The Dukes” Restaurant at Maya Lifestyle Mall, Chiang Mai. Members are encouraged to bring a guest or two. Visitors are most welcome. It’s an opportunity to get to know some of us in an informal setting. For more information contact events@cmirotary.org or phone 094-856-3011.

President's Message

Posted by Jerry Nelson

Rotary International has announced a ‘PEOPLE OF ACTION’ campaign. In the 18 August 2017 edition of the Rotary Weekly bulletin is written:
‘We’ve created a new global ad campaign called “People of Action.” The campaign is based on research that revealed that while many people have heard of Rotary, few actually understand what Rotary clubs do.’

CMIRC has always been a club of action. We have done an amazing amount of service, especially when you consider that we are still less than 4 years old! Let’s take a moment and review a couple of inspiring accomplishments:

Rotarian Optometrist Peter Bell’s Children’s Sight Project (CSP) has moved beyond being solely a CMIRC project. The CSP has evolved and is now working with as many as 7 Rotary Clubs, with each club taking responsibly for their own CSP clinics. Peter has built a strong collaboration between the clubs he works with. CMIRC is proud to have spawned the CSP and honors Peter as a man of action. Congratulations Peter!

Rotarian John Schorr Ph.D. is the champion of the CMIRC Children’s Water Safety and Drowning Prevention Program. He has taken the fact that drowning is the leading cause of death among children and turned it into a marvelous project which won an award for best service project from District 3360. He has secured a great relationship with Safe Child Thailand which will result in the expansion of the program. He has also been selected to make a presentation at the World Conference on Drowning Prevention to be held in Vancouver, Canada in October. Further, John serves as both the club Treasurer and is our President Elect. John Schorr is a man of action!

Every member of the CMIRC board of directors is currently wearing at least two hats. We are people of action and we are passionate about this club and Rotary as a whole!

American screen star Lily Tomlin is quoted as having said “I always wondered why somebody doesn’t do something about that. Then I realized I was somebody”. I suggest to you that every member of CMIRC is somebody and that as Rotarians we are uniquely positioned to do something. For each of us that something will be different because we are in fact different people. Here is a short list of things that can make a big difference:

Remembering the excellent workshop on membership at our meeting of August 15^th, invite a friend to attend our next regular meeting on 19 September. Maybe that friend will become a Rotarian and maybe he or she will make an incredible difference.

We need people to step up and accept club service commitments. Some opportunities that are on the horizon include:

Greeter / Receptionist – It’s only two times a month. The receptionist is the first person a visitor meets.
Public Information – Subcommittee chair under Membership Committee will involve some work including the coordination or actual composition of articles for news media, club bulletins and social media.
Foundations Chair – This is a board position and will definitely require a person of action, a dedicated Rotarian who can further CMIRC’s Rotary Foundation Actions!
City Life Garden Fair - This fundraiser needs a champion to organize the collection of items to sell and oversee the day.

PEOPLE OF ACTION: We need all hands on deck to make the upcoming Dazzling Disco Saturday Night a huge success!

Meeting Time Changed to 7:00 p.m.

CMIRC meeting time has changed to 7:00 p.m. Everything else will remain the same.

Our regular meetings are on the 1st and 3rd Tuesdays. All Rotarian's are welcome. Non-Rotarian's my receive an invitation by contacting secretary@cmirotary.org

On regular meeting nights we will have our delicious Chinese Family Style Dinner at 6:00 p.m. The cost is only 300 THB per person, plus beverage expense. To reserve your place at dinner please contact tablecaptain@cmirotary.org not later than 12:00 noon on the day of the meeting.

Dazzling Disco Saturday Night at Duangtawan Hotel

Posted by Jerry

Did you make it to the Chiang Mai International Rotary Clubs Dazzling Disco Saturday Night? Well, if you missed it you missed the best CMIRC party to date. The bar has been raised. The food and drink was great, the band was awesome and we raised a lot of money for our children's projects.

I would like to thank all who attended and supported: Our honorary member Colin Jarvis gave his time, talent and fuel to provide the sound system and more! Without Colin the night would have been far less a success both in the quality of sound and the net to charity. THANK YOU COLIN!

Also, I would like to thank our neighboring Rotary Clubs for their support, The Rotary Club of Thinthaingam, The Rotary Club of Chiang Mai and the Rotary Club of Chiang Mai North. Did you know that Chiang Mai North is our sponsoring club?

Without our generous sponsors, we could have no lucky draw.

The management and staff at the Duangtawan Hotel are fabulous! I will certainly campaign to have future events at their property.

Winter Clothing Appeal

Posted by Shana Kongmun

The Children's Winter Clothing Appeal by the Chiang Mai International Rotary Club is getting ready for the upcoming cold season. With all the rain we've had, it looks like it may be a cold one and the people in the mountains will be suffering. We need help collecting and sorting donations. The boxes will be out from mid October to the 3rd week in November. Please ask your friends to donate clothing at any of the following locations: Perns, UN Irish Pub, Bangkok Hospital, Chiang Mai International School, Dukes at Promenada, Dukes at Maya, River Market, Rimping Promenada, Rimping Hang Dong, Prem International school, Tessabahn, Chiang Mai Expats Club meetings on 28 October and Lanna Intl School open to October 30

If you are returning back to Chiang Mai from overseas please consider bringing along some children's winter clothes. Pop into your nearest thrift store and buy fuzzy warm onesies, puffy jackets, sweaters, socks, and other warm clothing for small children. A special THANK YOU to Marty Knight who just brought our first donation from the United States and to Gary and Linda Soles who just arrived with our first donation from Canada!

This year we are helping poor refugees at a Shan refugee camp in Wiang Haeng District. With the onset of a more peaceful Myanmar, many of these people have been forgotten. Contact shana@cmirotary.org for more information.

CMIRC & Mae Tao Clinic Child Development Center GED Project

Posted by Jerry Nelson

Despair is disallowed! Recently was stricken by a bout of deep sadness because our attempt to raise enough money to fund a global grant for the Burmese Migrant students fell short. Almost immediately I was encouraged by fellow Rotarians and by the wonderful people at Mae Tao Clinic. These people have lived for many years in a situation of political uncertainty. They have seen funding taken away because the “important people” think it’s better to put the money in Myanmar. At the same time, they have seen their patient and student population remain stable. These people are here to cheer me up!! Wow! They have terminated my pity party and now it’s time to get back to work! Despair is disallowed, and that’s for sure!

There is a severe shortage of funding at Mae Tao Clinic due to the loss of major donors who have chosen to give their funds to organizations based inside Myanmar. Mae Tao Clinic is being forced to make drastic cuts in services and programs. They need all the help they can get. Chiang Mai International Rotary Club will raise funds to support the GED. efforts being undertaken by Mae Tao Clinic Child Development Center.

Migrant and Refugee children attend Migrant Learning Centers. This is a very generous arrangement by the Royal Thai government. However, these students do not receive Thai high school diplomas; therefore, they are no eligible to apply for admission to Thai universities. In the past some have successfully taken the American based General Education Development (GED.) test which did qualify them for admission to several universities, including some in Thailand. These students had to temporarily re-locate to Chiang Mai or Bangkok to avail themselves to curriculum which would prepare them to take the GED.

We came up with the idea of doing a Rotary Global grant that would fund 28 students per year for 3 years to study for and take the G.E.D. test. Sadly, we were not able to raise enough money to fund the project. We now have a smaller project and we solicit your help!

CMIRC is very happy to announce our fundraising project to support the GED projects at Mae Tao Clinics’ Child Development Center. Monies Raised will go to Mae Tao Clinic and will be designated for GED related expenses, specifically:

Salary of their GED Coordinator / Teacher for this year
Food and Lodging for 5 students preparing to take the GED at Beam in Chiang Mai
GED test for 5 students in Chiang Mai
GED test for 19 students at CDC in Mae Sot

To successfully fund these efforts we need to raise some 334,000 THB ( $10,450 USD). We really need your help! For only $250.00 USD you can fund the GED test for a bright young person who, with the opportunity, might just make a significant contribution to his or her world. Of course, contributions of any amount are welcome. Ways to contribute include:

Make a direct deposit to our MTC Fundraising Bank Account:

BANK: BANK OF BANGKOK, Kad Suan Kaew branch

SWIFT CODE: BKKBTHBK

ROUTING NO: 026-008-691 (For USA)

ACCOUNT HOLDERS: MS MALIWAN-KAEWAMPHAI AND MR GERALD EDWARD NELSON

ACCOUNT NUMBER: 424-407348-4

Make a deposit in our PayPal account: mtc_funding@cmirotary.org

If you are in Chiang Mai, just hand me cash and I will deposit it in the account making sure you get the credit you deserve for your generosity.

Jerry Nelson

CMIRC Mae Tao Clinic Project Champion

CMIRC - Kru Payu Swim Children’s Water Safety and Drowning Prevention Program

Posted by John Schorr

Safe Child Thailand Grant Helps to Expand our Program:

The U.K. based Safe Child Thailand foundation grant of 500,000 Baht has allowed us to plan for the expansion of our program. We are currently teaching survival swimming and water safety to all fourth graders in the eleven Chiang Mai Municipal Schools, and thanks to Safe Child Thailand, we are exploring working with the Lampang Rotary Club to expand our program to serve all municipal schools in Lampang and working with the Warm Heart Foundation to serve municipal schools in Phrao. Once these new programs are established, we will reach out to Bangkok as well.

World Conference on Drowning Prevention, Vancouver, Canada, October 17-19:

John K. Schorr, Ph.D. Children’s Water Safety and Drowning Prevention Program Chair, coauthored a presentation with Asst. Prof. Wanida Lertvorapreecha-Chong of Mae Jo University, and Kru (Teacher) Natthasak Thawudom of Kru Payu Swim. The presentation is entitled: “Using an International Service Organization to Develop a City-Wide Children’s Water Safety and Drowning Prevention Program in Chiang Mai, Thailand.” John will travel to Canada to make the presentation and to meet with Thai Ministry of Public Health, World Health Organization officials. He will also, explore corporate sponsorships for the CMIRC program, since all major sports equipment companies will be represented.

Our Chiang Mai Program:

With the generous support of the CMIRC and other donors, we have already completed 15 hours of swim and water safety instruction for all fourth graders in five municipal schools. We are planning a certificate ceremony for those who have successfully completed the program and we are scheduling dates to teach the remaining six municipal schools before the end of June, 2018.

Would you like to help? We have refined and revised our program, so that we can now provide 15 hours of swim and water safety instruction for about 500 Baht (US$15) per 4^th grade child. One entire 4^th grade at a school can be taught for about 17,000 Baht (US$510). Feel free to contact me at john@cmirotary.org , if you have questions or wish to provide assistance for our project.

Rotary Reward Program

Rotary International has contacted me, and all of the Rotary Club Presidents and Rotary District Governor's asking our help in promoting the Rotary Global Rewards Program. I'm happy to pass the information along and was happy to add a link on CMIRC.

Rotary Global Rewards, our member benefits program, offers discounts on products and services from local and global merchants, along with opportunities to give back to Rotary.

Over 33,000 members have signed in to use Rotary Global Rewards. To raise awareness of this program, you can:

Recommend Rotary Global Rewards to all club members. They can visit www.rotary.org/globalrewards from a computer or download the Rotary Club Locator App to use the program on mobile devices.
Post a "Rewards" link to www.rotary.org/globalrewards on your club and district websites. This gives members easier access to Rotary Global Rewards.
Encourage club members to post offers on Rotary Global Rewards.
Suggest that club members help the program grow in their communities by asking local merchants to post offers.

You can find instructional videos, how-to-guides, and promotional materials on the Rotary Global Rewards page of My Rotary. If you have any questions about the program, write to rotaryglobalrewards@rotary.org.

Thank you for your help, and congratulations again on your new role.

Sincerely,

The Rotary Global Rewards staff