Stories

The Rotary Club of St. John is sad to announce that “Flavors” will be postponed one more year and will not take place on November 23, 2019, as scheduled due to continuing refurbishment at The Westin St. John Resort Villas during the lead up to the busy Thanksgiving holiday. 

Rotary Club of St. John was pleased to have RAMON CORREA. a martial arts, health and physical, and self-defense expert at our meeting at the Westin St. John.  Ramon told us about the NOW moment; our presence; paying attention to ourselves and our alignment; standing straight, bringing our toes into alignment with our bodies; how to activate our energy to facilitate our energy flow.  The demonstrations of the sword, fan and sticks buttressed the presentation. We were given tips on breathing, counting our steps even while walking our dog.  We may also eat the guinea grass that we see our dogs eating. Your choice.

 We should drink  water first thing in the morning.  We should also drink water 1/2 to  1 hour before taking a shower and a 1/2 hour before going to sleep.

Ramon began to study martial arts on St. John, and then relocated to New York City and was trained by Sensi Tommy Ajero, now deceased.  Sensi Ajero impressed upon Ramon that "a student always stays learning," and Ramon has lived with that motto.  He practices and teaches weapon defense fighting arts.  The crux  of being excellent is self control and to "be ready for the moment".

Ramon has been invited to return next week for follow up.  Rotarians Margaret, Joan, Stephanie, Pat, Bruce and I thoroughly enjoyed the  time.  I even did a few demonstration

To contact Ramon, you may call 340-690-0290 for  questions or to join a class.

On Friday, July 25th, five Rotarians lunched at Chateau Bordeaux for fellowship and to welcome our new Rotary President, Alecia Wells, to the "east side" meeting.   Bill Willigerod brought his wife, Sara Sawyer, as his guest. We all enjoyed seeing her again and hearing her ideas for the club this year.   She also said that a voting machine will be available for demo at the Rotary meeting in town on Wednesday at 12:30 at Mongoose Junction - and encouraged us all to come to that meeting.   Sharon Coldren briefly reported on progress on the Coral Bay Basketball Court Project.  There was a discussion about the CZM application for a 145 slip marina in Coral Bay (on the western shore by Island Blues) -- including docks for 49 megayachts.  The CZM application files are available via the Coral Bay Community Council cloud site: go to www.coralbaycommunitycouncil.org for the link to the files - and see other Coral Bay relevant information. Doug White will be running the Chateau Bordeaux Friday Meeting on August 1st. Hope to see you there to enjoy the view!

History:  The Rotary Club of St. John was formed in May, 1999.   Ronald  (Ronnie) Lockhart was the founding member and served  from 1999-2000, 2000-2001; Doug White served from 2001-2002; David Dostall served from 2002-2003; Christopher Angel served from 2003-2004;  David Carlson served from 2004-2005; Gerianne Kotas served from 2005-2006; John Fuller served from 2006-2007; Joan Bermingham served from 2007-2008; BJ Harris served from 2008-2009; Catherine Fahy served from 2009-2010; Bruce Monroe served from 2010-1011, 2011-1012; Robert Schesinger served from 2012-8/2012; Joan Bermingham served from 9/2012-2013, 2013-2014; Alecia M. Wells served from 2014-2016, B. J. Harris serves from 2016-2017.

Forty-seven new Interact members!

On a lovely Sunday, club members and guests gathered at Oppenheimer's Hawksnest  to celebrate 15 years of Service Above Self on St John.

Sisterhood Agenda is the recipient of the 2013 St. John Community Partnerships Award by Partnerships in Hope. Rotarian Angela Coleman is the founder of Sisterhood Agenda.

Local philanthropists created the St. John Community Partnerships Award to honor non-profit organizations that partner to serve the residents of St. John, this year focusing on organizations helping children.

We're proud of you Angela!

The Rotary Club of St John and the Coral Bay Satellite Club of St John met at Chateau Bordeaux for a joint meeting to welcome DG Jeremy Hurst and First Lady Michelle. Luncheon followed a board meeting with an inspirational address by DG Jeremy. He asked us to continue to engage Rotarians, and the good works we do.

DG Jeremy makes notes for his address to the club.

This year’s applicants for the St John Rotary Scholarship, were all outstanding.  It was a challenge for the scholarship committee to select a winner from this talented group of St John graduating seniors. But choose we must.

Seven Rotarians, spouses and friends gathered at Jumbie Beach again this April as our part of Earth Day Week beach cleanups sponsored by Friends of VI National Park. Outfitted with gloves, bags, and in several cases long-handled graspers they walked the road, the path and the beach picking up litter.

Marcus Stevens is the recipient of Rotary Club of St John's 2011 Javon Jade Alfred Memorial Scholarship.  Marcus is the son of Deverell Alfred, and also the brother of our 2009 Scholar, Malik Stevens, a testimony to the family's emphasis on education.

Over 80 people turned out for the dinner and festivities at the Ocean Grille in Mongoose Junction for this annual event where St John Rotary recognizes individuals who exemplify Rotary's motto: Service Above Self.

Our May 30th Guest Speaker, Honorary Rotarian Steve Simon, was surprised with the award of a Paul Harris Fellow, along with Rotarian Miles Stair who was not available at the earlier awards ceremony.

Dear Joan,

Dear Joan,

Karen Brady, Friends of VI National Park Development Director writes: 

Dear Rotarians:

I want to thank the Rotary Club of St John for your continued support of Friends' Eco-Camps for Virgin Islands youth. Your support is sincerely appreciated; we feel very lucky to have the Rotary as a community partner.

The environmental camps were a success again this year. With your help. we are pleased to report that we exceeded our fund raising goal and were able to send 142 young Virgin lslanders to camp this year.

Eudora Kean High School senior Claudia Verdant will get help with her tuition at Virginia State University thanks to the $12,500 Javon Jade Alfred scholarship from the Rotary Club of St. John. The scholarship is paid out over four years. 
   "This is part of what Rotary does. We have a focus on clean water, hunger and education," said President-elect Joan Bermingham. 
           

For the second year in a row, a St John Rotarian has won an ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY AWARD, for EPA Region 2. This year's winner is the Coral Bay Community Council and Sharon Coldren.

Following up on Meredith Small's presentation at the meeting here's the clean water project her "other" club is working on.

Portland Rotary Santa Barbara Honduras *Clean Water Campaign

Portland Rotary, in partnership with Freeport Rotary, Cape Elizabeth/South Portland Rotary and 18 other clubs have developed a project to provide clean drinking water to families in Honduras by providing a BioSand filter, one per household to remove virtually all waterborne diseases.

NO RURAL DRINKING WATER IS SAFE IN HONDURAS

In many of the homes of rural Honduras, there are no pipes, no valves, and no taps. The children who drink this water get very sick. They suffer diarrhea and dysentery, and some die...

• 50,000 children die from water borne diseases every year.
• 80% of illnesses detected in Honduras originate in contaminated water supplies.
• 78% of the rural population in Honduras depend on contaminated surface water.

Water treatment filters for these families can help this critical need for clean water, and we at Portland Rotary are working hard to bring clean and safe drinking water to needy families in Santa Barbara, Honduras.

In an idyllic setting beside the beach at the Westin under a canopy, District Governor Alastair Paterson met with the St John Boards of Directors and Trustees following the club meeting Friday, November 10.

Good day Mr. Willigerod,

How are you?  It has been a while since I've last emailed you.  Please do
forgive me for the lack of communication on my part.

At any rate, this semester has been the most hectic semester since I began
this quest.  I must admit though that the time is going by pretty quickly.
We are more than half way through the semester.  In fact, I recently
registered for classes for the Spring 2009 semester.

I am currently registered for the following classes, which will being in the
Spring 09 semester:  MGT 414- Creativity & Innovation,  FIN 300- Corporation
Finance, MGT 301W- Entreprenuership/SM Bus Dev (An intensive writing
course), MGT 305- Organizational Behavior, and MIS 361- Production and Operations Management.

Besides my busy schedule, everything is going smoothly including my classes.
Winter is just around the corner and the temperature is getting colder and
colder day by day.

I will be sure to forward you my grades for the Fall 2008 semester as soon
as I get them.  Final exams are scheduled for the 3rd week in December and
I'll be sure to do my best.  Please do greet the Rotary Club on my behalf.
Thank you (as well as the entire Rotary Club) for the opportunity as well as
the blessing you (the Rotary Club) have bestowed upon me. Have a wonderful
day and God bless.

Respectfully submitted,

Kershen