Let me start out this week with a couple of important announcements:
1. The meeting today is at the MINING EXCHANGE. Please email Claudine immediately if you intend to come to the meeting today and have not already RSVP'd. She needs to give the Mining Exchange a head count in advance.
2. We will hold our annual meeting on February 7. We will still have a speaker and a regular program. However, we will also spend about 10 minutes voting on next year's officers and directors (and look for an email with the proposed slate later today), affirming some changes to this year's Board of Directors, and voting on some bylaw changes. I know that doesn't sound riveting, but our bylaws REQUIRE us to have a quorum of members present, so I need you to show up to that meeting. Please. Pretty please. I mean it. I'll bring you back souvenirs from Mexico.
3. Our food drive continues this week and next, so you have only two more chances to bring your dried food goods, feminine hygiene products, and other donations to the meeting.
4. It was so good to see so many guests last week. Please keep welcoming people who are Rotarians at heart to join us. If you would like Holly Flores or I to additionally follow up with your guests and make them feel comfortable and wanted, please let us know. We'd be happy to be part of your Welcome Wagon.
5. That's it. There isn't a five. I wish I had something inspirational or worthwhile to share this week, but I don't. Next week's column will be a guest writer, as I will be out of the country. Rodney Gullatte will run the January 31st meeting with Captain Dan, and you know he will do a wonderful job. I will see you all at the meeting today and then again on February 7.
Join the Colorado Springs Rotary Club in a non-perishable food drive for One Nation Walking Together and the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Your donations will also support Rotarian, Cass Daley's daughter, Emerald, in achieving her Girl Scout Gold Award for her ongoing project.
Emerald will be present at each Friday meeting in January (10th, 17th, 24th and 31st) to collect any non-perishable food donations like:
She will also be collecting Hygiene products as it has recently come to light that most teenage girls on the Reservation do not attend school one week a month due to the lack of money to purchase personal hygiene products. Often times these teenagers are faced with dropping out because they are so behind.
Emerald has walked to 2,400 houses door-to-door passing out flyers and requesting donations and it would be amazing if the Rotary Club can assist Emerald in achieving her goal.
Last year Rotary raised over 800 lbs. of food in two weeks. Let's see if we can surpass that in the month of January and support One Nation Walking Together and the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.
Charlie Brown is looking for Rotarians who can sit and listen (no law-related experience needed but Rotarians with speeding tickets accepted) to sign-up to judge our local high schools' mock trial tournament on February 7 (afternoon), February 8 (morning or afternoon) and February 11 (evening). Our high schoolers have put a lot of time and thought into their presentations. All they ask of us is that we listen and give positive feedback and constructive criticism. This is a one-time three-hour service opportunity.
Making simple lifestyle changes such as walking to work and getting enough sunlight could help boost your health this year.
If you want to boost your health in 2019 but resolutions seem too daunting, then read on for five easy ways to improve well-being each day and throughout the new year.
Cut out soda
Even making small diet changes can boost health, and cutting out soda and other sweetened beverages is one of the biggest small changes you can make, reducing both calorie intake and sugar consumption. A high intake of sugary drinks has been linked with a variety of health problems including increased risk of diabetes, chronic kidney disease, lower chance of getting pregnant, an increase in visceral fat (the type of fat that wraps around internal organs such as the liver, pancreas, and intestines) and even an increased risk of death.
Walk more
If the thought of a gym membership or marathon training is too big a fitness goal, simply walking more will still bring benefits for health. One study found that walking at least four hours a week, or just 35 minutes a day, may reduce the severity of a stroke, and walking to work has been linked with a lower risk of cardiovascular disease and death, with an even lower risk for those who also walk in their leisure time. Picking up the pace can also bring extra benefits, with walking at an average pace linked to a 20 percent lower risk for all-cause mortality compared with walking at a slow pace, and walking at a brisk or fast pace reducing the risk even further, by 24 percent.
Get some daylight
Getting enough natural daylight has previously been linked with a lower risk of depression, a lower risk of postnatal depression in women, and more recently with improved eye health. Previous research has suggested that getting outdoors in the morning is most beneficial; those who struggle to get outside are advised to open the curtains at home and sit by windows in offices to try to maximize the amount of light, or use light therapy lamps to help fight depression in winter months.
Enjoy a massage
A massage is a great way to help you de-stress, which is important for health, but recent research is suggesting the benefits may go further than simply helping us to relax. A recent study also linked regular massages with improved arthritis symptoms, while a study published back in 2014 also suggested that shiatsu massage could aid sleep. So, if you choose just one way to improve health this year, booking yourself in for a massage might be the most enjoyable one.
Visit blue and green spaces
If you live in the countryside this one is easier, but even in a city most of us have access to blue spaces, such as lakes and rivers, and green spaces, including parks and nearby forests. Taking in these locations can not only help you also get more active through walking, but many recent studies are uncovering a variety of benefits of being near nature and natural space, including fewer respiratory problems, reduced risk of breast cancer in women, improved mental health and a lower risk of depression, and improved overall well-being.
From the earliest days of the organization, Rotarians were concerned with promoting high ethical standards in their professional lives. One of the world's most widely printed and quoted statements of business ethics is The 4-Way Test, which was created in 1932 by Rotarian Herbert J. Taylor (who later served as RI president) when he was asked to take charge of a company that was facing bankruptcy.
This 24-word code of ethics for employees to follow in their business and professional lives became the guide for sales, production, advertising, and all relations with dealers and customers, and the survival of the company is credited to this simple philosophy. Adopted by Rotary in 1943, The 4-Way Test has been translated into more than a hundred languages and published in thousands of ways.
