Stories

HAPPY NEW ROTARY YEAR!!

For our Changeover & New Member Induction we thanked 2019-2020 President Jewel Cumberbatch for her leadership and the club's achievements and welcomed in 2020-2021 President PAG David Beck and incoming club board members with a pinning induction. 

Having been forced to separate and remain socially distanced for three months after the unfortunate news of the pandemic, the club members got the opportunity to get together for a small gathering to commemorate its achievements for winning 3 Gold club awards recognized by District 7020 amongst other successful projects and events.  

We were also very excited that we got the opportunity to induct two members into our Rotary Family!
#RotaryOpensOpportunities #ServiceAboveSelf

Rotary Clubs on St.Croix have been very busy distributing and giving away the 20,000+ books we received from Better World Books. Between schools, daycare centers, housing community centers, libraries, individual children and families coming to Sunshine we have provided many many cases and thousands of books to the St.Croix community. This past Friday we again partnered with Clean Sweep Frederiksted and their Movie & Book Fair at Buddhoe Park to but five cases of books into kids hands and hearts.

Rotary District 7020 Conference will be held at Atlantis, Paradise Island Bahamas May 2-7, 2016

Andrew Jackson, NOC Manager and Operations Manager for Innovative Communications was our guest speaker last week. Andrew has been with Innovative for 3 years, in the communications field for 37 years and has worked on almost every continent  around the world. As NOC Manager he is responsible for monitoring the entire Innovative Network, identifying faults and working with Network operation technicians to resolve the problem and restore service to customers and  return system for fully operations status. Andrew is also a founder of SeaStar Foundation a non-profit group that has provided humanitarian aid in South Africa and Haiti among other areas in need.

Books, Books, Books... we have received over 20,000+ books from Better World Books, the donations was made to the Rotary Clubs of the Virgin Islands with 20,000+ going to St.Thomas and St.John and our books. The books will be distributed to school, libraries, community centers, doctors offices, corrections facilities, day cares and individuals, and to anyone that wants or needs books. We are partnering with Sunshine Mall to help distribute the books.

ON Saturday July 25, Rotary St.Croix host the 3rd Peace Round table at Rotary West Community Center, representatives from all clubs attended and youth from Vision Streaming, Interact, Corrections, concerned parents and other community group attended to share their thoughts and perspective on what is Peace, what it means to them and what they are doing to promote peace within our community. Follow meeting is scheduled for September 19.

President Sandra Started the year off with a bang, we have guest speakers, donation presentation and visit by former member and PP Kris Vandenberg from Rotary Harborside to make a donation on behalf of former member.

Above Ernest Morris, Recruiter for JSA Summer Program receiving $500 donation from Dr Moses

Victoria speaking about Book and Movie Fair scheduled for July 31st at Fort Frederik, they will be showing a movie and giving away books at Buddhoe Park.

PP Kris and guest at meeting enjoying lunch

Pastor Carino with Community Group "Helping Hands"  that provides meals to homeless and people less fortunate, provided update on activities for group.

AG Marcel and President Sandra installed the officers and board for Rotary St.Croix for year 2015-16

President Sandra Gerard-Leung

Vice-President Ava Gail Bourdon

Secretary Liz Goggins

Tres David A Beck

Directors: Milagros Romero, Jim Oliver, Reola Oliver

Rotary Clubs of St.Croix Joint Installation held at Hotel on the Cay,

Stanley Farrelly Scholarship 2015 awardees Abigail Edwards, Areannan Agathe, and 2014 Awardee Silka Carmona
 

Dr Talia Moses CMO at Frederiksted Health Center stated she has been impressed with the wonderful projects the club has done and wanted to contribute and help Rotary do more in the community. She joined Rotary St.Croix for lunch last week to hear first had what we were doing and find out how she could help, she gave a very generous donation and asked that it go towards our Jr Statesman Summer Program scholarship. The funds will be forwarded to JSA. Thank you Dr Moses.

On Saturday June 27,2015 the four Rotary Clubs on St.Croix will hold a joint Installation to induct club presidents for Rotary Year 2015-2016 at Hotel on the Cay. Cocktails start at 6:00pm and dinner starts at 7:00pm. Delegate to Congress Stacy Plaskett is the guest speaker.

Presidents 2015-2016

Rotary St.Croix President Sandra Gerard-Leung

Rotary St.Croix West President Jennell Bryan

Rotary St.Croix MidIsle President Kim Kross Deline

Rotary St.Croix Harborside Michelina Henry

Assistant Governor Marcel Gailber

Ernest Morris, Esq Junior Statesman St.Croix recruiter and alumni joined members for lunch to provide update on program and to receive annual donation towards tuition for Summer Program. High achieving Jr and High school students accepted into the program need to raise over $4000 to attend the summer program, only 2 full scholarships are available and the others must raise their own funds. Rotary's donation helps cover the cost for students to attend.

Ernest Morris,Esq JSA Coordinator visited Rotary St.Croix and introduced Rafe Llanos, and Ed Banayat, Territorial Coordinator to update members on the projects that students have been doing during their winter and summer sessions. Rafe Llanos who attended winter the session as a parent has continued to attended the sessions as chaperone because he has seen the impact the sessions have on students, He has seen students grow over the weeks they spent away and wanted to do what he could to make the opportunity available to others.

President Ben and PP John induct and welcome Joan Claxton as newest member for Rotary Club of St.Croix Harborside

My Brother's Workshop St.Croix Steering Committee members: Chris Finch, Lisa Moorehead and Judi Buckley joined Rotary Harborside and Rotary St.Croix for the meeting on Wednesday April 22nd at Brew Pub to update clubs on plans to start the program on St.Croix. Program has been active and very successful on St.Thomas for many years and there is certainly a need for the program on St.Croix to serve our young men here and provide them with a path and mentor to re-direct their life. The program works by identifying young men wiith limited skills or training (initially those that have been through YRC several time) provides them with a stipend and training in trades. It them partners them with trade professionals to work to gain work experience and additional training.

Rotary St.Croix members were joined by PP Lionel & PP John for lunch, during our club retreat at F'sted Country Club. We discussed plans for next Rotary year and what we need to do to make the club better and help both clubs grow.

Thank you to our sponsors, volunteers and players for coming out on Sunday March 22, 2015 at Carambola Golf Club, we had 8 teams competing for great prizes and awards. The team of Doug, Mae, John and Rick came in first with lowest gross score, Rotary West team of Rupert, Tyrone, Noel and Ray came in with 1st low Net. Congrats !

Hanshi Alda Anduze of Sunsu Dojo, St.Croix  and Prof Chris Bashaw of The Way Tai Chi System, Dover New Hampshire joined Rotary St.Croix for lunch. Hanshi Anduze and Sunsu Dojo is hosting the 10th annual Martial Arts Celebration Week on St.Croix and Prof Bashaw is here as a visiting instructor. While on island for the week Prof Bashaw is teaching classes and giving demonstrations of Tai Chi and Shinobi-do (Ninjitsu). He has taught children's classes and participated in a demonstration at Seventh Day Adventist School. He has also taught and certified Hanshi Anduze and Sensei Beck as instructors for The Way Tai Chi System "Oneness" form, classes will be offered Tuesday morning 8:30am at Cane Bay beach or by appointment with either instructor. Prof Bashaw and Sensei Beck have also started a KuroShinobi study group on island.

PP Gail celebrates her birthday with Rotary St.Croix.

Monday February 23, 2015 is Rotary International's 110th Birthday, please join us and the 1.2 million Rotarians around the world to recognize and celebrate.

This past weekend St.Croix Rotarians hosted 24 Interactor, and Rotaractors from St.Marten, Tortola, Virgin Gorda and St.Croix for three intense days of training, workshops, discussions and fellowships. The participants had presentations on Leadership, communications, Rotary, The Rotary Foundation and Volunteerism, the presentations were given by: AG Debra, PDG Richard, PDG Rupert, PAG John, and PE Kim. PP Dorothy is the District Chair for RYLA this year and was the coordinator and planner for this wonderful activitty. The students also had field trip to the AG Fair on Saturday and and Island tour on Sunday. Each evening had a themed dinner and activities for students to participate in. each dinner was formal and the students did not disappoint, Friday night was Black and white night, Saturday was red & white in celebration of Valentines Day and Sunday night with Cultural Night and the Awards Presentation. PAG Jim  and Interact Advisor Pat accompanied the 11 students from St.Marten.

On Saturday February 7, Rotary St.Croix, Rotary Harborside and St.Croix Rescue hosted our 10th annual Health Fair and Blood drive at Rescue headquarters at Five Corners, we had about 50 people who came through and had basic health screens done to include glucose, blood pressure and HIV/AIDs. St.Croix Rescue performed an extrication demonstration with Rashidi Clenance as the "victim". The Rescue team was about cut open the side of the SUV and remove him within 10 minutes. Dr Alberto Corneir, Chief Genetic Division of San Jorge Hospital gave excellent presentations on austism. Human service, VICare Dept of Health and MadeYa had display tables and share valuable information on their products and services.

Happy birthday wishes for our newest member!

It's that time of year when it gets chilly up North, our snowbirds fly into town. We are again happy to welcome visiting Rotarians Seth and Anne from New York, Gene from Salem Va, and Joe from Michigan. Good to see you guys!!

Rotary St.Croix, Rotary St.Croix Harborside and St.Croix Rescue will hosting our 10th annual Health Fair and Blood Drive on Saturday February 7th from 7:00am to 2:00pm at Rescue Training Academy at Five Corners. Health screenings for Glucose, Cholesterol, HIV/AIDs, Pressure will be conducted, demonstrations by STX Rescue members and presentations and consultations by various health care providers are scheduled.

Demonstrations and exhibits by local framers and producers are also planned.

Come out and get yourself checked !

Rotary Golf Classic 2015 will be held Sunday March 22, 2015 at Carambola Golf Course. Players, teams and sponsorships are available, sign up now, see any member of Rotary Club of St.Croix or Rotary Club of St.Croix MidIsle.

On Saturday January 17th at Tutto Bene Rotary St.Croix held our 2015 edition, the meal was wonderful, the wines were delicious, the auction items were excellent and beautiful and the guest had a wonderful time enjoying the food, drink and fellowship. Thank you to all the guest who attended, Willard John as auctioneer, Collin Hodge as MC, Jazzy Blue for the music, Kelly, Smokey and Tutto Bene staff for fantastic food and service. Special thanks to the sponsors who donated the prizes for the auction and raffle that helped to make our fund raiser a success !!

Rotarians and volunteers served lunch for hungry and homeless for Christmas day at Christian Marketplace. Brown bags lunches of sandwiches

were also provided for meals later.

Rotarians and Family had wonderful dinner at Palms at Pelican Cove

Rotary St.Croix Annual Wine Pairing Dinner is January 17,2015 and tickets are available from any member of Rotary St.Croix. Dinner will be at Tutto Bene this year and starts and 6:30pm. Get your tickets now for this wonderful event.

Rotary St.Croix and Rotary Harborside hosted pre-Christmas Dinner and gifts for residents at Bethlehem Shelter. We provided and served Christmas dinner and distributed gifts to each of the residents.

The four Rotary Clubs and Presidents Hosted DG Paul Brown and Kay for the Annual District Governor's Joint Address & Dinner at Gertrudes to wrap up his visit to St.Croix. Members from all four clubs, along with family and guest attended the event, DG Paul updated the attendees on his view of Rotary on St.Croix, District 7020 and Rotary International, he spoke on the upcoming NID in February and where Rotary is with our Polio Plus Program. Along with Rotary Harborside President Ben they installed a new member into the club. AG Debra on behalf of the four Clubs presented DG Paul and Kay with a momento of their visit to St.Croix.

DG Paul, Kay and other local Rotary leadership attended fellowship at PDG Rupert's home. Good food, good music and great company were had by all.

Rotary St.Croix board members met with DG Dr Paul Brown, his wife Kay and AG Debra. Dg Paul reviewed the club's projects and activities, discussed upcoming project and made suggestions to improve the club. He spoke about activities going on in our District and Rotary international, also encouraged and promoted District Conference 2015 in May in Montego Bay.

District 7020 Governor Paul Brown and his lovely wife Kay are scheduled to meet with St.Croix Rotary Clubs December 6th to 12th. During the week he will: attend a reception with club Presidents and District leaders on Monday evening, tour the island, meet with local Government official and meet with each club board of directors to review their progress and challenges. He will provide guidance, motivation inspiration and updates on District 7020 events and projects. DG Paul will provide updates on Rotary worldwide projects and happenings. After meeting with each club's boards and review projects he will be hosted by the the four club President at a Joint Dinner and Address on Thursday evening at Gertrude's.

On November 6 during Annual meeting and club elections the following officers were nominated and elected to officer for 2015-16:

President Sandra Leung

Vice President Gail Bourdon

Secretary Liz Goggins

Treasurer David A Beck

Directors: Reola Oliver, Jim Oliver, Milagros Romero

During October as Vocational Service Month Rotary St.Croix awarded four Vocational Service Awards to recognize members of our community for outstanding Vocational Service, Ethic, Integrity in their profession. The recipients were: Wellington Pelle of Pelle's Towing, Jennifer Matarangas-King of Innovative, Thomas Williams Jr. of VICARE and Richard Wright of Innovative. Shown here are  Williams, Matarangas-King and Wright.

Rotary St.Croix provided goodies for the small but dedicated crowd at the Vintage Fair held Saturday in Limpritch park, there were all sorts of items on display and for sale. Rotary had the best stuff: horseshoe cookie, pound cake, spice cake, chocolate cakes, cookie monster cupcake, locally made lemonade and mango twist.

Rotarians sponsored and served lunch to the hungry and homeless for World Food Day at Catholic Charities on Thursday Oct 16.

During annual event Rotarians helped out in kitchen with staff from Catholic Charities and then served the meals to the groups that the soup kitchen provides meals for on regular basis. The customers look forward to the special meal that they know is coming when the Rotarians are coming.

Thursday October 16 is World Food Day, Rotary Club of St.Croix will be serving meals to homeless at Catholic Charities and will NOT have lunch meeting at Gertrude's.

Please join us to help serve lunch at Catholic Charities !

Saturday Oct 18, Rotary St.Croix will be having Cake/Bake sale at Mini Fair in Limpritch Park in Christiansted 10am to 3pm.

World Food Day will be on Thursday Oct 16 and Rotary St.Croix will provide meals and feed the homeless at Catholic Charities in place of our regular lunch at Gertrude's.

Bake Sale @ Mini-Fair at Limpritch Park Oct 18 10am to 3pm, this is a club fund raiser, come out and purchase delicious locally made cakes and deserts.

Vocational Service Awards Oct 23, Rotrary St.Croix will present Vocation Service Awards to local businesses or business people for outstanding work or representation in the workplace.

Rotary Club of St.Croix Anniversary Oct 25, Charter Day fellowship at Ridge to Reef slow down dinner.

Club Annual meeting and club elections are scheduled for November 1st. Nominations for President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer President-Elect and 2 directors will be accepted and voted on for Rotary year 2015-16 which starts on July 1 2015. Also at Annual meeting amendment and updates to club by-laws will discussed and voted on. Any suggested changes should be sent to club Secretary Sandra.

Shawn O'Donnell Innovative CEO speaks to Rotarians and guest about changes happening in the company and industry. Innovative has been rolling out new technology and services over the last 4 years while investing about $100 million in replacing network, internal systems and training for employees. The company has promoted EVO providing high speed internet service, improved voice features and HD video CATV over its HFC (hybrid- fiber-coax) system, they are also rolling out higher speed dedicated Ethernet and internet services for businesses over fiber network.  There has also been improvements and upgrades to training, customer service and websites for customer information and interaction. Several Innovative employees joined us for lunch to include, Jennifer Matarangas-King, Vuriley Harris, Lawrence Peterson, Abigail Atwell, and Nauzer Mistry. Innovative has been a long time supporter of Rotary including major sponsors at 2009 District Conference on St.Croix, 2011 District Conference in St.Thomas, 2013 District Conference on Tortola and primary sponsor of Coole School project for last 4 years.

All four Rotary Clubs, Innovative and VI National Guard came together at Charles H Emmanuel Elementary School to support this year's Coole School presentation. Over 100 students in the 5th & 6th grades received planners along with 1300 students across St.Croix this year. Teachers and administrator along with friends and family of Rotary came out in support of the event, local media from TV2 News, St.Croix  Avis, VI Source, and Government access channel covered the presentation as platform guest gave brief remarks and encouraged the students to study hard and reach for achievement. 

VI Guardsmens TSgt Walker and Air1C Nichols who assisted with handing out Planners at Evelyn Williams school, were our guest at meeting and shared their stories with members. TSgt Walker been in Guard and has lived on St.Croix for about 15 years and is surveryor  with Guard. Airman 1C Nichols, is from St.Croix and just completed basic and advanced training at Lackland Air Force Base a week ago and she is in operationa management.

Rotarian PP Jim and PAG David along with MSgt Charles, TSgt Walker and Airman 1st Class Nichols handed out 100 planners at Evelyn  Williams School to 5th and 6th graders. Rotarians have been working over the last week to hand out planners at schools island wide.

The concept of vocational service
The Object of Rotary is a philosophical statement of Rotary’s purpose and the responsibilities of Rotarians. The concept of vocational service is rooted in the Second Object, which calls on Rotarians to “encourage and foster”:
• High ethical standards in business and professions
• The recognition of the worthiness of all useful occupations
• The dignifying of each Rotarian’s occupation as an opportunity to serve society

As a Rotarian, how can you put these ideals into action? Consider these suggestions:
• Talk about your vocation in your club, and take time to learn about fellow members’vocations.
• Use your professional skills to serve a community.
• Practice your profession with integrity, and inspire others to behave ethically through your own words and actions.
• Help a young person achieve his or her career aspirations.
• Guide and encourage others in their professional development.
 

Rotary Club of St.Croix welcomed Milagros Romero as our newest member and into the Rotary Family! Milagros is originally from St.Croix,but has lived the last several years stateside. She moved home a short time ago and has rediscovered the beauty and value of home. Her brother Police Officer Concepcion was there to witness this special event. They both shared heart warming stories of her getting to where she was that day and her journey to being accepted into Rotary. AG Debra Howell conducted the ceremony with PP Sandra as Milagros' sponsor.

On Monday September 8th for World Literacy Day, PP Sandra, Jim and David visited Montessori School and Head Start to distribute Rotary phones and books to the students and share a bit of Rotary "Light".  The students where very excited to receive their books and try out the phones, and the teachers were happy to receive the Rotary phones to help the students with their reading and diction. Thank you to the Governor's Office for providing the books for this project.

Three students that participated in this years JSA summer program visited the club and shared their experiences with members and guest. Two of the students attended  the Stanford campus and the third attended Princeton for 5-6 weeks of intensive college level classes and discussions. Ericcson , Aneejah and Ethan all said the experience greatly expanded their view and perspective on school and world events. They attended classes, wrote position papers, participated in group discussions and debates. They also had field trips into either New York to visit Wall Street or into San Francisco. Atty Ernest Morris, the St.Croix Coordinator and JSA alumni, introduced the students and gave an overview or the program. Rotary St.Croix has been a sponsor of JSA program for at least the last 10 years.

Rashidi Clenance, local radio host, VP of CEI, President of Sun Stroke promotions,event host and local personality visited the club last week. he shared some of his experiences as a radio DJ and host. He is starting an online radio station called VIVID streaming, he has hosted basket ball tournaments to expose local athletes to college recruiters and has spoken to many students, and groups on using sports as avenue to college education. He earned basketball scholarship to secure college education. he has been a positive role model, is a successful businessman, newspaper reporter, TV sports announcer, Public Relations officer and promoter. CEI is a non-profit organization founded by Tim Duncan to support and contribute to St.Croix and the Virgin Island.

Melba Mathurin co-founder of Liberty Place briefed members and guest at meeting on Liberty Place as safe haven and resource for LGBT community. She also spoke on the recently introduced Marriage Equality Act to provide equal rights protection from Hate Crime  for people of all persuasions.

Nate and Shelli Bren Olive owners at Ridge to Reef Farms on St.Croix have been growing and producing various crops on the island, but have also introduced innovative business practices to sustain the revenue at their farm. They have a CSA -Community Supported Activity program where customers act like shareholders in a harvest and pre-purchase the basket before it is planted or harvested. They are also a certified organic farm, conduct a six week summer camp and host the Slow Down Dinner.

Their goal is to provide 5% of the local produce, currently 99% of produce is imported.

VI Board of Elections members Mary Moorhead, Roland Moolenar and Adelbert Byran along with admin assistance Terrell Alexander explained how the new ballots on tabulation machines work and demonstrated the process for your votes to be recorded. Rotary members and guest were then able to try out the new systems and process for voting. Participants were able to gain a better understanding of the new voting process.

District Governor Paul Brown with PDG Jeremy, DGE Felix and DGN Harash at recent DG Installation ceremony in Jamaica.

Rotary Theme 2014-2015 Light Up Rotary !

 Upcoming Conventions:
29 May—1 June - RI Convention  2016
Seoul, Republic of Korea (tentative)

10-14 June - RI Convention 2017
Atlanta, Georgia, USA (tentative

AG Debra Howell installs President Chris Langella and new directors for 2014-15 Rotary year.

AG Debra swearing in President Chris Rotary St.Croix and President Ben Rotary St.Croix Harborside

It was good to welcome back Secretary Teresa, she had been away from several weeks and had just return. Great to see you and have you back home. PP John Lewis also stopped in to visit and join us for lunch,always great to see you John.

Stanley Farrelly 2014 Scholarship for graduating seniors attending college to study in the field of Criminal Justice were awarded to Silkia Carmona and Cody Cook. Ms Carmona graduated from St.Croix Educational Complex and Mr Cook graduated from AZ Academy, both will be studying at University of the Virgin Islands. The scholarship award is for $1200.00 each. Congratulations to both recipients and their families.

Cody Cook and Silkia Carmona with President Sandra.

President Sandra  with families of recipients.

Installation Ceremony Announcement

Fellow Rotarians, Friends and guests

You are all cordially invited to attend and support the following event:-

Event-District Governor 2014-15, Installation Ceremony

Date-Saturday, July 12, 2014

Venue-Jamaica Pegasus Hotel, Kingston, Jamaica

Time—6.30pm-Cocktails ; 7.00pm-Dinner.

Format-Black Tie attire

Cost- JAD-7,000.00 or USD-70.00 per ticket

You Are Cordially Invited To Join Us For A Joint Installation Dinner & Fellowship

Rotary Club Of St.Croix

and

Rotary St.Croix Harborside 

Friday June 27 Beginning At 6:00PM At Villa Morales.

Full Three-Course Buffet Dinner, Cash Bar.

Tickets: $30/pp.

All Rotarians, Friends And Media Are Welcomed To Join And Support This Annual Event.

Our Sincerest Thanks In Advance.

Visiting Rotarian Drew from St.Cloud Minnesota exchanging club banner with President Sandra and PE Chris.

PP Jim celebrates his birthday on flag day!

Rotary Club of St.Croix President Sandra Leung presents 2014 Scholarship donation to Ernest Morris, Esq St.Croix Coordinator for Jr Statesman Foundation.

There are about 20 high achieving high school students from the Virgin Islands who qualified for Jr  Statesman, the students will attend intensive 4-6 week sessions at Ivy League Universities to study leadership.

The mission of the Junior State of America and the Junior Statesmen Foundation is to strengthen American democracy by educating and preparing high school students for life-long involvement and responsible leadership in a democratic society.

President Sandra receiving award from DG Jeremy and Michelle at District Conference in Grand Cayman
 

President Sandra with Rotary Theme banner for 2014-15

RI President's rep PRID Jose Alfredo Pretoni with PDG Bobby and guest

The 6th Annual Model United Nations Competition was held on Wednesday April 16 at UVI St.Croix campus between the St.Croix and St.Thomas students in Dr Kula Francis Political Science class. The four students from St.Thomas representing Jamaica were Christel Brandy, Michael Charles, Desiree Lettsome and Verlyndah Roger, the St.Croix students representing Belize were Akeem McIntosh, Samantha Roberts,Sheniqua Slader and Berle Wallace.

The student delegates were judged on their written presentation, verbal presentation, poise, speech, eye contact, response to question and logical arguments. The judges were PDG Rupert Ross Jr, AG Debra Howell, PAG David A Beck, PP Jacqui Heyliger, Ms Judy Molloy, Mr Arol Abel, and MS Charlene Springer. UVI President Dr David Hall, VI Delegate Donna Christensen, Senate President Shawn Maloneand AG Debra Howell made opening remarks.

Both teams had outstanding presentations and discussions and the St.Croix team won the competition and get to keep the trophy on St.Croix for the next year. UVI Dean Dr Simon Jones-Hendrikson presented the delegates with their awards and the winning team with the trophy.

St.Thomas and St.Croix teams

 St.Croix Teams with Dean Dr Simon Jones-Hendrickson

The 2014 edition of our annual Rotary Golf Classic was held this past Sunday at Carambola Golf Club, we had nine teams signed up and the dedicated group of volunteer Rotarians took good care of them. Chef George prepared a delicious meal with a whole roasted pig and BBQ chicken to satisfy the hunger golfers. Special thanks to our sponsors: Marshall & Sterling  Insurance, NAPA Auto & Truck Parts, Cruzan Rum, VI Cargo, James Memorial, Knight Kitchens, Palms @ Pelican Cove, and Gallow's Bay Hardware, along with contributors who donated prizes or gift for the event.

2014 Stanley Farrelly Scholarship Applications are available for download on website, Scholarship are open to graduating High School students who have been accepted to under-grad program for study in the field of Criminal Justice. Application deadline was May 10,2014 and awardees will  be presented June 26th.

Hanshi Anduze and Sunsu Dojo are hosting the 14th Annual Martial Art Celebration Week during which various visiting Martial Artist conduct seminars and participate in social events and dinners. This year Professor Chris Bashaw and Kyoshi Rick Wilmott traveled from New Hampshire and Rhode Island to visit, train, and conduct seminars. The week was capped off with a Beach BBQ at F'sted and all schools on the island were invited to attend join festivities and sharing.

February 23 Rotary International Celebrates our 108th Anniversary as we recognize World Understanding and Peace Day.

We are 1.2 million neighbors, friends, and community leaders who come together to create positive, lasting change in our communities and around the world.

Rotary Golf Classic 2014 will be held on Sunday March 30,2014 at Carambola Golf Club. Sponsor, players volunteers will have a great time when they come out to play, watch, eat or just support this wonderful event. There will be a putting contest and Long Drive contest before the tournament kicks off at 12Noon. $10,000 hole in one prize on #17 and other hole in one prizes available on other par 3s. All this followed by delicious Awards Dinner.

Sign up today to sponsor or play.

Rotary St.Croix and Harborside co-hosted our annual Health fair and Blood drive on Saturday Feb 1 at St.Croix Rescue Academy training center at Five Corners. During the day approx 65 guest were seen and tested for glucose, cholesterol, blood pressure, and HIV by UVI Nursing students and Barry University PA students. The exit interviews were conducted by students from Barry University PA program on St.Croix.

The St.Croix Bloodmobile was on site to collect blood donations, it is much less expensive for local donations than for the hospital to purchase from Puerto Rico. 

Rotary St.Croix and Harborside will host our Annual Health Fair on Saturday February 1 at St.Croix Rescue Academy at Five Corners from 7am to 1:30pm. Will be conducting testing for glucose, cholesterol, HIV, and other health stats. Various local health care providers will be on hand to share information with guest.

Rotary International Theme for 2014-2015

Rotary St.Croix Wine Pairing Dinner 2014 a wonderful dining experience with fabulous wines and delicious foods, will be held on Saturday January 18,2014 at Tuttu Bene Restaurant starting at 6:30pm. This dinner is one of our major fund raisers that enable Rotary St.Croix conduct our community service projects annually. Tickets are available from club members for $99.00

 Menu

Main Course

Dessert

Visiting Rotarian Mike Beaudoin with President Sandra

On Saturday November 9,2013, Rotary St.Croix members, along with Rotarians from all four St.Croix clubs, family friends and supporters  celebrated the 55th Anniversary of Rotary on St.Croix. We also inducted and recognized five new Paul Harris Fellows, two Multiple Paul Harris Fellow and a new Major Donor couple. We also recognized two outstanding members of our community for contributions to society: Unise Tranberg and Jennifer Matarangas-King. The celebration was held at The Courtyard Restaurant in Christiansted and there were sixty guest in attendance.
AG Debra delivered a welcome and greetings from District Governor Jeremy Hurst; and President Sandra reviewed the list of charter members, gave a brief summary of the founding and history of Rotary St.Croix, she then acknowledge the families of the charter member in attendance: Frandelle Gerard,herself and Alda and Reiki Anduze-Bell.
PDG Rupert Ross conducted the induction ceremonies for the Paul Harris Fellows and did a wonderful introduction for honoree Unise Tranberg.
Birthday cake was served and the evening was closed with a champagne toast to Rotary Club of St.Croix !

 New Paul Harris Fellows

Rotary Foundation Major Donors Gary and Gail

President Sandra with community awardees and New Paul Harris Fellows

Guest at Celebration Dinner

Rotary District 7020 PETS, Assembly and Conference 2014 Grand Cayman

April 29-May 4th 2014.

Club elections were held on October 24,2013 for officers and directors for Rotary St.Croix for Rotary year 2014-15. Congrats to incoming Board of directors:

President:Christopher Langella

President-Elect: Teresa Woods

Vice-President: Paul Flemming

Secretary: Sandra Gerald-Leung

Treasurer: David A Beck

Directors: Jim Oliver; Reola Garcia-Oliver; Elizabeth Goggins

DG Jeremy address all four clubs at Joint dinner and assembly at Rotary West clubhouse.

DG Jeremy and 1st Lady Michelle arrived on St.Croix for their official visits with the four Rotary Clubs, Interact Clubs and other official duties. They were greeted by the welcoming party headed by AG Debra at Seaborne terminal in C'sted. They will be meeting with club boards and members during the week and the Joint Address & Dinner will be Thursday  Oct 17 at 6:00pm at Rotary West Clubhouse.

DG Jeremy will meet with Rotary St.Croix board on Thursday at 9:30am at Paradise Cafe, then assist with feeding the homeless at Catholic Charities Soup Kitchen at 11:30am.

Point Udall Rotary St.Croix's adopted spot on the eastern most end the of the island and the USA, got its new signed and a touch up this past weekend. Chris has been spearheading the effort and got the sign placed.

Clema LewisExecutive Director of the Women's Coalition spoke at Rotary last week. The Women's Coalition’s doors are open, its hotline is ready for calls 24 hours a day, and it’s holding marches, rallies and fundraisers in October for Domestic Violence Awareness Month, The Women's Coalition also continues to run afterschool and summer school programs.

"We provide services to between 6,000 and 10,000 people every year," Lewis said. "Most people believe we are just about domestic violence but we provide assistance for all crime victims." The Women's Coalition has helped with funerals of homicide victims, counseling for survivors of homicide, and teaching victims how to look for a job and become independent, among its activities, and whatever other needs they are able to fulfill.

"As long as they are a victim, we provide services as well," The Women's Coalition provides counseling, clothing, food, rides to doctors, help making appointments with Human Services and other help. "We are the only agency that has transitional housing in the territory," Lewis said.

Dr Sarah Mahurt and the Dept of Education created the Literacy Council to address challenge of our students having difficulty with learning to read and low test score on standardized reading test. Their first area of focus is student attendance, looking at various issues with attendance and how it affects student performance. She discussed Five Myths of School Attendance:

1. Students don't start missing alot of school until middle school

2.Absences in the early grades don't really affect academics

3. Most schools already know how many students are chronically absent

4. There is not much that schools can do to improve attendance; it is up to the parents

5.The federal government has no role in reducing chronic absence

VIPD Asst Comm. Thomas Hannah speaking about spousal, elder  and domestic abuse.

PP Ralph Collins shares the planning process he undertook to create a club disaster plan for Rotary MidIsle, he used Google earth to find each members home and get directions to reach each one, then organized areas and contact/ visit group for the member based on the area they lived and had redundant contact list so each person visited or check  on someone and had some else checking on them. All club member got a package that had their contact group along with maps.

PDG Rupert Ross Jr presented TRF Banner for 100% Sustaining Member Club for 2011-2012 on behalf of PDG Guy Theodore to PE Chris.

The Bookmobile, Rotarians, books, magazines and more on display Saturday in Frederiksted for Literacy day, even though it was delayed for a week due to bad weather last week. Books of all kinds were available from kids books to thrillers and mystery novels were there. This was a joint project of the St.Croix Rotary Clubs.

Over 100 5th & 6th graders at Alfredo Andrews participated in the Coole School presentation on Thursday September 12th. Rotarian, VI National Guardsmen and volunteers assisted with distribution of planners to the students and teachers to cap off the week of distributing 1300 Coole School planners to students island wide. This project was sponsored by Innovative again this year and we are thankful for their continued support.

The 2013 Coole School Planners are here !! With the new school year starting this week Rotary and our volunteers are gearing up to distribute 1300 planners to students in nineteen school island-wide. ON Thursday September 12 we are planning a kick off presentation at Alfredo Andrews at 9:00am.

Quinn Galbreath and Kemisha Grouby are the Stanley Farrelly Scholarship 2013 recipients, there were over 30 applicants and the committee had a rough time narrowing down the selection, but finally came down to these two. Quinn and Kemisha are both planning to studying forensic science at schools in Texas and Florida. Since both have already started school stateside, their parent are shown here with President Sandra to receive their award checks.

Congrats and best wishes to both!

Mona Barnes and Vera Falu shared information on the newly opened New Life Senior Resort, 14 unit independent living facility located in Est Barron Spot. According to reports the territory needs about 700 beds for senior housing but currently only has about 200, this number includes independent living, assisted living and full care. There is only 1 facility on St.Croix providing full care. New Life is an independent living facility meaning that residents  need to be able to care for themselves. The facility is subsidized and overseen by HUD.

Coole School Planners are on island and we are ramping up to distribute planners on Sept 10-11 and doing a big presentation at Alfredo Andrews on Sept 12. Will need volunteers to help with delivery on 9/10 or 9/11 and 9/12.

Two deserving students will be awarded Stanley Farrelly Scholarships for study in the field of Criminal Justice on Thursday August 29,2013.

This last Saturday a small group of dedicated sleepy Rotarians gathered at Point Udall to do a little clean up. The grass need trimming and trash need picking, put we got it done and escaped before the rains came falling down !

Textile Artist Yemaya Jones displayed a few items from her collection and talked about her invitation to display her art at The Smithsonian Museum as one of 50 artist from around the US to exhibit their art in the Capital. She was also invited and participate in exhibition at the Rosa Park's Museum in Alabama. Yemaya has lived on St.Croix for the last 20+ years and teaches art at the high school level.

Elizabeth Popo, 11th grade English teacher at Central High School is inviting local Business professional and owners to visit her classes and share their stories and background with her students. She wants to expose the students with positive examples of career options available here in the territory. You can contact President Sandra to arrange schedule with Ms Popo.

NPS Teacher Ranger Teacher program comes to St.Croix, Tim a Jr High School teacher from North Caroline has spent the last month working with three local teacher to introduce them to the NPS Teacher-Ranger-Teacher program and how to use the resources and access to Park Service to expand their lesson plans and expose students to the National Parks System. T-R-T takes teachers and trains them in NPS Ranger programs and techniques then when they go back to classroom and share those lessons with their students and expand student expose and use of parks.

He would like to set up exchange program between St.Croix and NPS system in North Carolina, shown here are President Sandra with Tim and his wife Sharon. 

Teresa Woods, current club secretary and long time salesperson on St.Croix was one of our speakers last week. She provided valuable information on differences between sales on island and stateside in particular the cost, challenges and benefits of purchasing locally. When you buy locally you support local businesses and thus create local consumers and have local customer support for returns or repair,  your cost may appear to be higher than buying online and having it shipped in, but there is no local support system in place and your money leaves the island and economy. Teresa provided some great examples of local support, service and advantages, she also provided adventures she has had in the experiences.

Certified Personal Trainer Roberta Etienne shared useful tips with members and guest on loosing weight, building muscle and maintaining good overall health. 'If you don't have your health, not much else matters". Few tips: don't eat carbs for 4 hours before going to sleep, drink half your body weight in ounces of water daily, exercise daily, resistance training is important for everyone and will not make you big and bulky, eat a balanced diet & your don't want to starve yourself to loose weight- you will actually gain weight. Everyone enjoyed her presentation and she answered many questions. Mary is one of her clients and success stories.

PP Gail shown here receiving her PHF+7 pin from PAG David, she is a member of the Paul Harris Society and annually contributes to The Rotary Foundation. Her generous and continues support enables the Foundation to finance Rotary projects around the world and on St.Croix and "to do good in the world". Thank you Gail for your support !

Chris Langella moved to St.Croix several years ago from New Jersey, he is now Property Manager at Club St.Croix after working at another complex. He is also on the board of the Yacht Club and at The Reef Condos. Chris talked about his experiences during his career in New Jersey and how he has adapted and made friends here on St.Croix.

He shared the adventures that he has experienced since being on island and what it takes to run a well managed property, he has a very active,involved  and knowledgeable board at Club St.Croix and has a good working relationship with them.

PDG Richard shares his adventures and experience of participating in Polio Plus NID in India recently. He, Rita and PP Claudia traveled to India along with hundreds of Rotarians from around the world worked with local Rotarians and volunteers to dispense thousand of Polio vaccine drops to children to immunize them again the spread of Polio and to ensure the virus is permanently  eradicated from India and three remaining trouble spots.

Junior Statesman Foundation Summer Program exposes outstanding high school students to intense 3-4 week programs at Ivy League Universities with curriculum focused on Government, Law, Speech, and communication. It provides students with the opportunity to learn from well known professors and high ranking government and industry officials. Ernest Morris Esq has been the Virgin Islands coordinator for at least the last 10 years. He is also an alumni of the program before he attended Yale University. Rotary Club of St.Croix has supported the program with contributions to scholarship fund to assist St.Croix students to cover tuition and expenses to participate annually.

GSE Team from District 5910 does presentation to club members and visitors, the GSE team consist of: Jennifer Bergman, team leader; Lameka Trahan, Attorney; Kris Benson,marine resource specialist; Brandy Norris, Assist Police chief; Nicole Yeats, school nurse. The team has visited the BVI, St.Thomas, and a week on St.Croix, then traveling to St.Marten for a week visiting Anguilla, and St. Barts before leaving our District and returning home. During their visits they will participate in vocational days, cultural exchanges and fellowships sharing their personal and professional knowledge.

DGE Jeremy shared RI President Ron Burton's theme for 2013-2014 "Engage Rotary- Change Lives" and his District plans for the coming year.

Over 515 Rotarians from throughout our District converged on Tortola BVI for the 39th Annual District 7020 PETS, Assembly and Conference during the second week of May. DG Vance, Monica, Conference Chair David Archer and the BVI Rotarian's did a great job of hosting the first District Conference in the BVI.

Our ride to Tortola

DG Vance presenting President Sandra with COM

BVI Conference cake

Conference tent for lunches at HL Stoutt College

DG Vance with COM awardees

  Justin deLeon, Rotary Peace Scholar & Documentary Filmmaker

Small sample of DG Vance's gifts from the District

The St.Croix team representing Saudi Arabia won the Fifth Annual Model United Nations Competition held on Thursday, April 4, 2013, at the UVI St.Thomas campus. Richard Dorsey won for Best Presentation, JoAnn Thomas-Lewis for Best Paper and Michael Charles from St.Thomas who represented Syria winning for Best Responses.

The countries chosen this year are Syria and Saudi Arabia. Students:

STX:  Saudi Arabia - Ivory Carter, Richard Dorsey, Gabriel Ible, Chevon Merchant and JoAnn Thomas-Lewis

STT: Syria - Jacqueline Adonis, Michael Charles, Kevin Miller, Shania Shervington and Deanna Smith  

Advisor: Dr. Kula Francis

Model United Nations (also Model UN or MUN) is an academic simulation of the United Nations that aims to educate participants about current events, topics in international relations, diplomacy and the United Nations agenda.

The participants role-play as diplomats representing a country or NGO in a simulated session of an (committee) of the United Nations, such as the Security Council or the General Assembly. Participants research a country, take on roles as diplomats, investigate international issues, debate, deliberate, consult, and then develop solutions to world problems. More recently, simulation of other deliberative bodies, such as the United Nations Security Council, has been included in Model United Nations, even if they are completely unrelated to the UN or international affairs as a whole. In general, the participants that the executive panel considers to be most contributing are given awards, such as 'Best Delegate award'.

Sensei Paul Rimmer from New York and ShiSho Dee Hassen from New Hampshire both on island for Sunsu Dojo martial Art Celebration week provided members with great information on their background and professions, principles of their styles and science behind karate. The significance of the Celebration Week to bring the various schools and instructors together to share ideas, stories and friendship. The week wraps up with Beach BBQ on Saturday. Shown here with Hanshi Alda Anduze, head instructor of Sansei Isshinryu and host of the Celebration Week.

This past weekend St.Croix hosted our first RLI sessions, we conducted RLI Part 1 & 2 at St.Croix Career & Technical Educational Center, we had a full house both days, DG Vance, PDG Diana, PDG Rupert, PAG David, PP Delma and PP Monica served as Discussion Leaders to facilitate the sessions and Angie was registrar ! Show below is DG Vance leading his Session.

Leadership from all four Rotary Clubs participated in the recent Grant Management Seminar to qualify to use Rotary Foundation Grants under Future Vision Plan which goes into effect on July 1, 2013.

It has been the way of Rotary to focus thought upon matters in which members are in agreement, rather than upon matters in which they are in disagreement.
Paul Harris

Model United Nations (also Model UN or MUN) is an academic simulation of the United Nations that aims to educate participants about current events, topics in international relations, diplomacy and the United Nations agenda.

The participants role-play as diplomats representing a nation or NGO in a simulated session of an organ (committee) of the United Nations, such as the Security Council or the General Assembly. Participants research a country, take on roles as diplomats, investigate international issues, debate, deliberate, consult, and then develop solutions to world problems. More recently, simulation of other deliberative bodies, such as the United States National Security Council, has been included in Model United Nations, even if they are completely unrelated to the UN or international affairs as a whole. In general, the participants that the executive panel considers to be most contributing are given awards, such as 'Best Delegate award'.

Rotarians share a responsibility to make Rotary clubs stronger by attracting quality members and ensuring that every club meeting is productive and meaningful. He also called upon clubs to make an action plan to bring in younger members.

"We need to stop talking about this. Instead, why don't we just do it!"