December 8, 2008
Today, December 8, 2008: Linda Berch from Recycle Livingston will be our speaker today.
Next Week: The Howell High School Choir will be our guests today. For about the 60th consecutive year, the choir will perform for Rotary. It is a treat for us. Remember to arrive early and bring a guest or a spouse.
The Raffle stubs and money can be turned in to Rick Sigler today or next Monday, but December 15th is the last day. The drawing will be soon after. Apparently the less expensive ticket has been a popular feature.
Max Rumbaugh will soon identify our next family for Yuya Yasuda, our Japanese exchange student. We certainly thank Dave Bagwell and his family for hosting our guest this past few months.
We also want to thank all those bell ringers who braved the cold weather to help the Salvation Army raise money to help so many. Those who did the ringing must have been gratified to have so many contribute during these tough times. I heard about the dogs many times and their contributions to the campaign.
Remember that there are NO Rotary meetings on December 22 and 29. We will meet again in 2009!
Congratulations to Peter Bowen for being recognized as Volunteer of the Year at the Howell Area Parks & Recreation Authority's first annual RECreation RECognition RECeption.
Speaking of the
Howell Area Parks & Recreation Authority, have you checked out the
2ND ANNUAL HOLIDAY IN THE PARK? Be sure to do so between now and December 24. Another great community event coordinated by our own Debbie Mikula. Debbie has really elevated the Parks and Rec. Authority during her short tenure.
Fellow Rotarians
1. The November 2008 District Newsletter is available here is also available on the district website www.rotary6380.org
2. Club Officials: Please make the newsletter available to Rotarians in your club who either do not have an email address, or do not have their email address recorded on the district website. All district Rotarians are encouraged to have their email address recorded on the district database.
3. Information about our Group Study Exchange (GSE) team members is now available on the district website.
4. A new section has been added to the district website for local clubs to publicize events that are of interest to other clubs. A news headline article is changed to notify readers when an event is added.
5. Reminder: If you have website articles or questions that are of a timely nature, please follow the advice below.
John
Please send corrections, problems, comments, requests for changes to the District website to all of the email addresses below. When one of us is unavailable, we will arrange that another person will handle the request.
John Joyce
Sterling Heights RC
District 6380 Webmaster
jdjoyce@wowway.com
586-751-2861
Metta Lansdale
Royal Oak RC
Assistant District 6380 Webmaster
lansdale@ropl.org
Jerry Bell
Fowlerville RC
Assistant District 6380 Webmaster
jbell@fowlervilleford.com
866-409-8849
# is toll-free & Jerry will answer "Fowlerville Ford"
Father-daughter team makes peace a family affair
Rotary International News -- 5 December 2008
Before departing for Chulalongkorn University in Thailand, Brian Farr poses with his daughter Jana, a Rotary World Peace Fellow, at a meeting of the Rotary Club of Salt Lake City, Utah, USA. The club nominated both to pursue peace studies. Photo courtesy of Brian Farr
Brian Farr expected to hear inspiring speakers at the Rotary World Peace Symposium last year in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA -- among them, his daughter Jana, a Rotary World Peace Fellow, who was delivering the invocation.
What he didn't expect was to be so motivated by what he heard that he would enroll in a peace studies program himself. In April, Farr, assistant attorney general for the State of Utah, graduated from the three-month peace and conflict studies program at the Rotary Center at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, Thailand.
He credits Past RI President Charles C. Keller's "visionary" speech for providing the key inspiration. Keller talked of the need to seek more peaceful means of conflict resolution and "emphasized that peace-building is not a spectator sport," Farr says.
Neither he nor his daughter could be accused of standing on the sidelines as far as peace is concerned. They helped build international goodwill before the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City and worked on developing the Global Mediation Project, a component of the city's future vision.
"It's been fun to see how our lives continue to cross paths in our work," says Jana, who will graduate from the University of Bradford in December. "Our conversations have become richer during my study in England and his in Thailand. We enjoyed bouncing ideas off each other."
Spending time with Rotarians has been a highlight of Jana's experience, just as it was for her father during the 2007 RI Convention. "It was that international spirit of Rotary that pulled me toward Chulalongkorn nearly as much as Keller's speech," he says.
The father-daughter team is exploring how best to use a combined body of knowledge and passion to meaningfully contribute to building peace. "And we're also looking forward to continued interactions with Rotary," Jana says.
This article appeared in the October issue of Rotary World.