This summer seems to be going fast! I hope you are enjoying the simple joy of sitting outside in the sun to get your Vitamin D and just breathe and listen. We've been getting so much rain that the landscape seems greener than usual. (Though I guess in Colorado, there's really no 'usual'.)
Last night some of our club members enjoyed Rotary Rally at Ivywild! Martin Cook, Holly Flores, John Yates, Katie Lenger, and I had the privilege of talking to this week's program speaker, Dr. Heather Beem! She talked about life before she went to Ghana and explained more about how her Zoom classes have still allowed for hands-on learning. And because of Heather's presentation, we will have at least one Rotary President from Ghana zooming in to the program this week!
I have been impressed to write this week about being impeccable with your word, from The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz. It's the one agreement that is most commonly misunderstood. Impeccable means ": free from fault or blame: flawless". So "Be impeccable with your word" means speaking with integrity. It means not using your words to speak negatively about yourself or others. It also means understanding the weight of your words and the serious effect that those words could have on others. I am working on a presentation titled "The EQ of Empathy", demonstrating the lessons on empathy that I learned after my accident in 2017. Before that, I made many of those mistakes, I'm sure, but once you know better, you do better, right?
I knew a teenage girl once who was always quite thin. Some of her classmates and MANY adults gave no thought to teasing her incessantly. "You're a toothpick!" "You need to eat more!" "Beanpole girl" That girl resented the "teasing" so much that she decided she would stop eating completely. She thought "I'll show them. They don't even know what skinny looks like!" A month later, her parents were trying to get help for their gaunt, bony, and weak daughter who refused to eat and had become quite obviously and seriously anorexic. The girl had never heard of anorexia and really thought she had invented a way to become so thin that she could practically disappear and make everyone leave her and her body alone. Most people know that it's rude to make disparaging remarks about someone being OVERweight but why did everyone think it was ok to pick on someone who was UNDERweight? I'm sure not one of those offenders realized the weight of their words even though their words were killing her.
Imagine the sister of a brother who identifies with LGBTQ. Imagine her sitting and listening to a room full of people who have no idea about her family and ignorantly start a judgmental conversation about "sinful and mentally ill people like that". And stating it "in the name of God." The Trevor Project is an organization that provides crisis intervention and suicide prevention to people in the LGBTQ community. Their website states that currently at least one person in the LGBTQ community, between the ages of 13-24, attempts suicide every 45 seconds in the US.
These are two extreme but very real cases. They both demonstrate the damage from people who were not impeccable with their words. Life is hard enough, don't you think? I think it's something that almost everybody can work on. So for this week's Random Awesome Deed, I'm challenging each of us to kindly redirect conversations. When you hear someone talking negatively about someone else, you can shift the dynamic of the conversation by saying something like "Well, did you know that he sketches? You should see some of his work!" Or you can walk away. It's hard to be insulting without an audience!
I had fun this past week with last week's challenge, letting people into the one lane of traffic in construction zones. I hope you did as well!
Now let's go forth, be impeccable with our words, great stewards of Rotary and Catalysts of Caring in our Community!
Please be well, be safe, and be kind. There are a lot of people out there needing just that.
The Quad is a joint initiative of Colorado College, Pikes Peak Community College, University of Colorado - Colorado Springs and the US Air Force Academy. Their mission is to close gaps between student preparedness and professional success. They do that by putting the best college and university assets in the region to work building valuable deliverables for area companies and organizations.
Jessica has a PhD in Classical Philology from the University of North Carolina. She has spent the last several years of her professional life as a full-time professor teaching Classics and Women’s and Gender Studies at several different institutions including Colorado College, CU Boulder, and most recently, Wellesley College. Jessica has now decided to step out of the classroom and into the broader education field. She is eager to bring her skills and knowledge to the Quad to develop projects supporting K-12 education in the Colorado Springs community.
Megan was born and raised in Colorado Springs. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in international studies from the University of Denver, followed by a Masters of Science in Global Health from the University of California at San Francisco. Internationally, she has worked for over 10 years with rural communities in South Africa, Rwanda, and Malawi in health care and development. She has lived in New York, San Francisco, Boston and Denver in various positions in global health, international development, health systems strengthening, adventure travel, event planning and program management. She is excited to be back in her hometown as the Associate Director and Project Development Manager at the Quad Innovation Partnership.
Learn more about the Quad Partnership at their website: www.QuadCOS.org
Flight Artist Drop-off: 1 volunteer is needed to help on July 30th from 9-1 at Status Symbol. You will either be lifting the butterflies/dragonflies or assisting with photography and directing traffic.
Flight Install (Sept. 1st, 9 am-12 pm): Volunteers are needed to transport the butterflies/dragonflies from Status Symbol Auto Body (322 E. Cucharras St. 80903) to the Pioneer’s Museum at 9 am and to assist in the install of the butterflies/dragonflies at the Pioneer’s Museum lawn. For transport, we are needing Rotarians with large trucks or trailers to assist in moving the large items and for the install, those who can manage heavy lifting are greatly appreciated!
Flight Reveal (Sept. 3rd, 4-8 pm): Volunteers are needed on Friday, Sept. 3rd from 4-8 pm.
Volunteers will initially meet at Status Symbol (322 E. Cucharras St. 80903) to transport the petite butterflies to the Pioneers Museum and set them up inside. Three volunteers will monitor the butterflies inside (1 at each butterfly table) and three volunteers will be stationed outside to assist with other needs of the event.
At the end of the event (7:30pm), volunteers will assist with transporting the butterflies from the Pioneers Museum to the Dryhurst Gallery.
Silent Auction information:
Do you have items you would like to donate to this year's FLIGHT? We would love to feature your item in the silent auction. The auction will take place virtually, Saturday, September 25. Please download this form, https://bit.ly/2TnrpBr Complete the form and send it to Amanda Salmons at amanda@greenivybookkeeping.com. The deadline for donations is Saturday, August 28.
Currently searching for the following items for Silent Auction baskets: beer garden basket items
2021 Backpack Bash: with Pikes Peak United Way and COSILoveYou! Multiple dates/times are available to participate and a great opportunity to get much-needed school supplies into the hands of children in our greater Colorado Springs area.
Learn more at https://backpackbash.com Sign up to volunteer or provide donated items. Let Samantha Chapman know if you volunteer or donate items.
Care & Share with the Broadmoor Rotary Club on the 2nd Monday each month from 1-3:30pm.
You will be joined by two members from the Broadmoor club, 2 interact members, and 2 of our members are welcome to sign-up.
Flight Artist Drop-off: 1 volunteer is needed to help on July 30th from 9-1 at Status Symbol. You will either be lifting the butterflies/dragonflies or assisting with photography and directing traffic.
Flight Install (Sept. 1st 9am-12pm): Volunteers are needed to transport the butterflies/dragonflies from Status Symbol Auto Body (322 E. Cucharras St. 80903) to the Pioneer’s Museum at 9am and to assist in the install of the butterflies/dragonflies at the Pioneer’s Museum lawn. For transport we are needing Rotarians with large trucks or trailers to assist in moving the large items and for the install those who can manage heavy lifting is greatly appreciated!
Flight Reveal (Sept. 3rd 4-8pm): Volunteers are needed on Friday, Sept. 3rd from 4-8pm.
Volunteers will initially meet at Status Symbol (322 E. Cucharras St. 80903) to transport the petite butterflies to the Pioneers Museum and set them up inside. Three volunteers will monitor the butterflies inside (1 at each butterfly table) and three volunteers will be stationed outside to assist with other needs of the event.
At the end of the event (7:30pm) volunteers will assist with transporting the butterflies from the Pioneers Museum to the Dryhurst Gallery.
Finally, on August 4th our Gutter Bin donated to Frog Creek Partners to collect debris from entering into Fountain Creek will be installed on the corner of Bijou and Nevada. If you would like to come down on the 4th and see how the gutter bin is installed please reach out to Samantha Chapman to receive updates on the time which is TBD. The specific time of our install will depend on how the ones before it go. Frog Creek Partners will be installing 13 Gutter Bins in the city on the 4th!
If you are interested in being a part of planning these volunteer opportunities join our next Community Service Meeting on Thursday, Aug. 19th via Zoom:
The next International Committee meeting is August 13 at 1:35 pm, directly after the weekly meeting.
If you are interested in participating in our International Committee, please email Jordan Davis at Jordan@sociallyexceptional.biz to be added to the notification list!
Our in-person meetings will be starting again - the 2nd Friday of every month, (August 13) directly after the weekly meeting at Sportivos and we guarantee it will be less than an hour! Many exciting things happening all around the world! Don't miss an opportunity to be part of this!
We are on the map now! Martin Cook wrote an outstanding article that was published in the district's international newsletter! Please check it out!
Training science, math & engineering teachers across Ghana
Martin Cook - Colorado Springs Rotary Club
The Downtown Colorado Springs Club has taken a strong interest in an educational NGO in Ghana and is looking for other clubs to join us in sponsoring it and perhaps even seeking a Global Grant. What follows is a description of the NGO and its work. The Founder and director of the NGO will be visiting Colorado Springs during the period of July 20-23, and she will be speaking at our club on Friday the 23rd during our meeting from 12:15-1:30 pm. She would be available to discuss her work with interested individuals and Clubs during that time.
Dr. Heather Beem is the Founder, President, and CEO of The Practical Education Network (PEN)
(www.practicaleducationnetwork.com). Dr. Beem has a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from MIT. She moved to Ghana and has devoted her work to find ways to train science, math, and engineering teachers across Ghana in innovative, hands-on ways to teach science using only inexpensive and readily available materials. In Ghana, most schools can’t afford even a single piece of science equipment. Our International Committee is interested in applying for grants to support PEN’s work and we may even shoot for a Global Grant.
As a result of COVID, PEN has had to modify its teaching methods from in-person teacher training to various virtual methods. As you might imagine, this is challenging in the extreme in a country like Ghana where the internet structure is unreliable and often not available. But this turns out to have an advantage: PEN is able to reach far more teachers with their training and to think about expanding their work beyond Ghana to other sub-Saharan African countries. It is estimated that, by 2100, one-third of all human beings alive will be in Africa, and the work PEN is doing developing talent in STEM areas will be key to Africa’s flourishing with that many people.
While we hope that we can secure Rotary grants eventually to support PEN’s work, Dr. Beem has recently indicated an urgent need for additional funds to support this expanded work. For the past year, she has been running everything from her living room! She needs funding for some of these
needs much sooner than our grant processes can possibly provide. So Kathleen encouraged me to write up her request in case individual Rotarians might wish to contribute directly.
Judith Casey and my wife and I are already “PEN Pals” (monthly contributors to her efforts), and we plan to contribute additional funds for Dr. Beem’s specific requests: “We have been working from my living room for the last 9 months or so. Although it has been a blessing to avoid paying rent during the period of uncertainty that COVID presented, we have reached the limit of what we can effectively use the space for. Given that we are translating our content online, we are frequently recording audio and video. This requires the persons speaking to be in one corner of the room and everyone else to remain still and silent for stretches of time. A larger space will enable us to record content at a higher frequency and see greater productivity across the entire team. We are looking to rent a 3-room space for 2 years. After that time, we will start looking into options for buying our own space. The rent and furnishing of this office space will cost $35K. We are also going to set up a small showcase room within the office, as part of our new advocacy efforts, which will cost $5K. And finally, we are looking to purchase a newer vehicle ($10K) to effectively move around town to run our errands. All of these core elements of our operation will enable us to work more efficiently. We are rounding off a series of online training in Accra in June. We'll use the summer period to get these key operational elements in place, then plan toward our online training pilot beyond Ghana in the latter half of the year.”
If you have bulletin announcements, please email the EXACT WORDING of your announcement to KSaltmarshVoss@yahoo.com by Wednesday at 5 pm. I don't write your announcements but I do make them nice 'n' fancy!
As you're doing your shopping online, did you know that you can support our Rotary Club with every Amazon purchase? Here’s how:
Go to smile.amazon.com (not amazon.com). Amazon Smile is the same company, same account, same password, but the Amazon Smile program gives one half of one percent of every purchase to charity. No, it’s not a lot, but it’s also not nuthin’ (to be exact: about $150 for the Club so far). So again, go to smile.amazon.com
Sign into your Amazon account as you normally would
On the very top left of the page, next to the AmazonSmile logo, are three horizontal bars. Click there for the drop-down menu.
Scroll ALL the way down to “Your AmazonSmile”; it should be the last option right before “Sign Out”; Click on “Your AmazonSmile”
On the right side of the page, click on the “change charity” box under Your current charity (Note: If you are currently supporting another charity, that’s awesome! These instructions are for those who are not doing so. Also, if you have not previously selected a charity, your default option will be St. Judge Children’s Research Hospital.)
Type in Community Service Fund of the Rotary Club of Colorado Springs; click Select
That’s it. You’re all set. Just remember to go to Smile.Amazon.com when you shop from now on.
