Peace Corps volunteer, Sami Oeser, spoke to us about how our club's donation was spent in Botswana at the orphanage in which she worked. We also inducted our newest member, Dr Mark Michaud (pictured with his sponsor, Ray Holmsen)
 

We had several guests today at our meeting:  Past President Don Black, visiting Rotarian Chuck Clark whose daughter is the Race Marshall for the Fur Rondy, Chris Tomsen, Brad Bodecker & Mike Michaud.

Happy Buck Highlight:  There was an overwhelming majority of people who were happy to see some more snow!  Also, Mike Michaud who is our newest member was happy to be graduating from chiropractic college tomorrow.

We sang Happy Birthday to Doug who reported that he turned 38 yesterday!

Annoucements:

Eric Bushnell is going to be hosting our next fireside.  He and his wife, Debbie, have invited everyone out to their home on Lake Lucille in Wasilla for an afternoon of fun on Saturday, March 13, in the afternoon.  Should be lots of fun.

We have a new member in our club!  Mike Michaud who is a Chiropractor with Chugach Chiropractic joined today.  Welcome to the club, Mike!  Ray is Mike's sponsor.

I am going to head up the Project Amigo trip and will be sending out an email soon asking for committments from those members who wish to participate in our March 2011 international project.

Guest Speaker:

Sami Oeser gave a fabulous talk to us today about her time in Botswana working at the Bata Batsatsi Orphanage.  It sounds like an experience of a lifetime and she felt that you certainly don't have to be just out of college to join the Peace Corps.  In fact, her age helped her build credibility, because older women are respected in Botswana.  She had several tragic stories to tell but discovered that it is possible for just one person to truly make a difference in people's lives.  Her story was very inspiring and she is a real hero.  She tried to tell us that we all were the heroes for our donation that we gave to the orphanage last year, but we all knew better. 

Thanks to Doris for staying in contact with Sami and pushing our club to make that our international project for last year. 

Next week:  internal meeting - see you there - Tonya