I am so proud of our Rotarians because we really were #PeopleofAction this week. Were you at the amazing World Peace and Understanding luncheon last week? How powerful was our speaker, Dr. Mary Gullatte? And wasn’t it wonderful to have so many community guests with us, learning about Rotary and its peace work? Did you sit next to someone new? If you did, I hope you invited them to join you at Rotary. If not, is it possible that you still have their business card floating around somewhere in your purse or coat pocket or wallet? Maybe you should fish it out and make a call or send an email.
But that was just the beginning. On Friday afternoon and Saturday, our Rotarians helped judge three rounds of the rescheduled high school mock trial tournament. As always, the high schoolers was really impressive and entertaining. For the first year I can recall, our "case" was a probate dispute between two siblings over who Mother loved more. The answer: She loved her Corgi, Pepper Marie Clementine. If you have a chance next time, judging mock trial is one service opportunity that really provides front row seats to great entertainment.
At the SAME time the mock trial tournament was taking place at the courthouse, the Queen Palmer Pancake Breakfast was feeding the families of its students and creating a sense of community. And who was serving that breakfast in their bright blue aprons? That’s right: our Rotarians. Why have only one service opportunity on a beautiful Saturday when you can have two?
And finally, at the SAME TIME as ALL OF THAT, our PE Rodney Gullatte was representing the club in Denver at High Country PETS and dreaming big about where he’s going to lead the club in the next year. I’m really excited about his vision, and I’m proud to be part of his team… but we still have a lot of work to do before I give up this post on June 30.
It’s March! Another month, another theme in Rotary, and March is all about clear water and sanitation. When people have clean water and basic hygiene education, they live healthier, longer lives. Come to Rotary this week to learn a little bit about WASH (Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene). If you’re thinking about attending the RI Convention in Hawaii in June, then you’ll get to hear a lot more from IRC about WASH around the world. (IRC is the renamed International Reference Centre for Community Water Supply, founded in 1968 by the WHO). If you’re not aware of how important sanitation is to the health of a community, you clearly haven’t turned on a television set or a radio or picked up a newspaper in the last couple of weeks.
Our Service Opportunity for the month of March will be a donation drive for the orphanage in Nuevo Casas Grandes, led by International Service Directors Jordan Davis and Judy Casey and coordinated at the Mayor’s Office by none other than our own Donna Nelson! Read below for more information about this opportunity to help the orphans in our sister city in Mexico. I am so glad that we are keeping the relationship between Rotary of Colorado Springs and Nuevo Casas Grandes alive.
Our own Andy Vick invites you to vote for the $1,000 People's Choice Award for the Peak Arts Prize at www.peakartsprize.org/vote/
As always, thank you for everything you do and especially for carrying the spirit of Rotary into the community. You truly are People of Action.
Our March service opportunity for all our members is a donation drive for our sister city, Nuevo Casas Grandes. We will be collecting children's clothes and shoes, school supplies, personal hygiene products, and gifts for the children of the Brazos Abiertos (Open Arms) orphanage in Nuevo Casas Grandes.
Immediately on the heels of that project, we'll be participating in creating "Jared Boxes" for children at Penrose Hospital. "Jared Boxes" are plastic shoe-sized storage box filled with small gifts, toys, games, crayons, coloring books, and fun activities to be given to children in the Penrose-St. Francis Hospital to provide a special, fun diversion. If you would like to know more about Jared Boxes, please click the link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSkzQBcK0lc
Nuevo Cases Grandes Brazos Abiertos Orphanage
The Fire Department in Nuevo Casas Grandes will organize a special celebration on April 30th, for Children's Day or "El Dia del Nino" in the Orphanage called "Brazos Abiertos" (Open Arms). Brazos Abiertos is home to about 200 kids.
El Dia del Nino is an important celebration in Mexico. Kids attend school as usual but instead of classes they enjoy a party all day; there are games, special guests like magicians, face painting, or balloon art, a special lunch with cake and ice-cream and plenty of time to play. However, the celebration depends on each school’s budget, so this year the Fire Department will bring a special celebration to the orphanage. Since these kids may have not received gifts in Christmas, we would like to include gifts to make this Dia del Nino a very special one for them.
Our Rotarians will be joining with other groups in Colorado Springs to provide:
Personal hygiene products such as shampoo, soap, body lotion, etc.
Clothes and shoes for boys and girls from 5 to 15 years old
School Supplies (backpacks, notebooks, pencils, etc)
Gifts for boys and girls from 5 to 15
We will collect the donations at each Friday meeting in March.
"Jared Boxes" for Children in Penrose-St. Francis
The Jared Box project was started in 2001 by the children at Our Lady of Victory School in State College, Pennsylvania to honor their classmate and friend, Jared, a brave little boy who battled cancer with courage and faith. Jared maintained his sense of humor and the joys of childhood through play. He carried a backpack full of toys and games to all appointments, and questioned why the other children didn't bring toys to their exam rooms. Jared shared his toys and invited the other children to join him in a game of UNO. Jared's battle ended on November 12, 2000.
The goal of the Jared Box Project is to lift the spirits of children in the hospital. Boxes filled with the "gift of play" are given to young patients in emergency rooms, hospital rooms, surgical centers, and clinics. The boxes symbolize the importance of play and are filled with well wishes, hope, and love. Over 750,000 Jared Boxes have been delivered across the United States.
Our Club will be collecting small gifts, toys, games, crayons, coloring books, and fun activities to create as many of these boxes as we can. You can bring your "Jared Box" contents to meetings in March or (preferably) to our Social on April 7 at the Gold Room.
Rotary clubs partnered with local organizations to install a rainwater harvesting and distribution center for 4,000 people in Madan, India. They also delivered training programs for women in the community and students in 35 schools.
Rotary clubs in Guatemala improved conditions for as many as 1,793 children in 10 schools in the town of Escuintla by providing toilets, washing stations, water tanks, and training
A dozen Rotary clubs collaborated with local partners to establish a water supply and delivery system for 1,500 people in the village of Kigogo, Tanzania. They also taught the community how to maintain the systems and provided hygiene education.
Rotary clubs and partners built 222 toilets, six rainwater collectors, seven communal handwashing stations, and 20 biosand filters. The project provided more than 1,000 people with access to proper toilet facilities and almost 600 people with a regular supply of clean water.
Remarkable Women: This diamond can’t be broken, meet Luisa Graff
FOX21 is celebrating remarkable women in southern Colorado by spending the next few weeks sharing the stories of four women who were nominated by their friends or loved ones.
You’ve most likely seen her around the Pikes Peak Region, but what you may not know is how she got here.
“It truly is a Cinderella story and I think that’s the funniest part,” said Luisa Graff. “I was born into a family of wealth and I had a lot of opportunities.”
Graff was born in Peru, which was war-torn at the time. She said Peru’s dictator at the time did not want her father in his country and one day her life changed forever.
“My father was American, my mother was a Peruana and so was I,” said Graff. “Peru’s dictator didn’t like Americans. I could say he hated Americans. The soldiers came to our house and took my dad away.”
Graff and the rest of her family had no idea where her father had been taken. Three years later, just before her 12th birthday, Graff escaped by herself.
“Dad was able to get out and go to Costa Rica. My sister was able to get out with my Auntie and come to America. But my mom and I were trapped because Peruvian’s were not allowed to leave the country,” said Graff. “When I did escape, the only thing that my mother was able to save from the dictator was the family jewelry.”
Loaded down with the family jewels under her clothes, she went to Panama, changed her name and found her dad in Costa Rica.
“My dad brought me to America,” said Graff.
Her whole family reunited and eventually moved to Colorado Springs. When asked how she got into the jewelry business Graff’s response was, “I don’t know, God had a plan.”
But something about saving her family’s jewelry stayed with her far beyond Peru, proving this diamond can’t be broken. One day she walked into a jewelry store with her mother, and then she never left.
“At 14 I started working and look what God has done,” said Graff. “I came in every Saturday and asked them if they had a position open.”
When she turned 15, she got the job.
“So I started cleaning the counters, cleaning the showcase, cleaning the jewelry,” said Graff.
A few years later, she became the first female gemologist and youngest gemologist in the western United States, and Luisa Graff Jewelers has now been in business for over 20 successful years.
“To me, providing jobs was the biggest gift,” said Graff. “By giving people the benefit of the doubt, you will find that people are a whole lot more beautiful than you ever thought.”
She’s a child of war, an immigrant, and one remarkable woman.
“All I ever want is to make a difference in someone’s life. A positive difference let’s put it that way,” said Graff.
Rotary and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced on 22 January that their long-term fundraising partnership, which generates up to $150 million annually for polio eradication, will continue. Under the agreement, Rotary is committed to raising $50 million a year over the next three years, and each dollar will be matched with an additional two dollars by the Gates Foundation.
In a video address at the 2020 Rotary International Assembly in San Diego, California, USA, Bill Gates told incoming district governors that the partnership with Rotary needs to continue.
“The Gates Foundation’s longstanding partnership with Rotary has been vital to fighting polio,” Gates said. “That’s why we’re extending our funding match, so every dollar that Rotary raises is met with two more.”
He added, “I believe that together, we can make eradication a reality.”
The funding will support polio eradication efforts such as disease surveillance, technical assistance, and operational support for immunization activities.
The partnership between Rotary and the Gates Foundation has yielded $2 billion, and Rotarians have given countless volunteer hours to fight polio since Rotary started its PolioPlus program in 1985.
Be a part of the fight to end polio and have your donation matched 2-to-1 by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Visit endpolio.org to learn more and donate.
