Weekly News & Views by: Matt Crider
Photographs by: Patsy Inouye
Rotary Notes for
Get Up and Go
May 31, 2019
Reported by Matthew Crider
President Rose started the meeting at 7:05 am by ringing the bell. Chuck Snipes called all to join in with Smile, and then America the Beautiful.
President Rose then polled the members to see who was wearing their Rotary pins. Long-time members Manny Carbahal and Andrew Newman both needed new ones.
Visitors
El Presidente then called for visiting Rotarians. Our speaker, Donna Boyd, was visiting from the Mount Shasta Rotary Club in the State of Jefferson.
Visitors included Don Lipper (sp?), who was one of the team members winning Trivia night, Nathalie Mukome’s children, Judah and Tin Tin, and Rotaract members Megan and Ray.
Announcements
Chuck Snipes confirmed that the last social of the Rotary year would be a pot luck and pool party on June 22 at 3 pm at David Murphy’s house. Details to follow via email.
Brody Hamilton announced the demotion dinner.
Nathalie Mukome announced a benefit dinner for Tese Foundation on Saturday, June 8. She also announced a Juneteenth celebration this Saturday, June 2, at the Davis Senior Center. http://www.tesefoundation.com/
Vanessa Errecarte reminded us there is a work day tomorrow, June 1 from 10 am to 12 noon for Farm Davis. Details will follow by email. Vanessa also mentioned going to the Rotary Convention in Honolulu in June with Rose and John and invited other Rotarians to join her (and provide babysitting services). http://farmdavis.org/
Marc Thompson solicited volunteers to sign up for Grad Night: He is looking for 25 people to help out. Jobs and times are available on June 13 (Thursday) in the afternoon, and on June 15 (Saturday) in the early morning. Brunch will be afterwards generously hosted by Lori Raineri. https://www.davisgradnight.org/
Rose gave thanks and gratitude for making her year as president great, including but not limited to Dave Heard for set up, Andrew Yang for audio visual magic, and Chuck Snipes as song leader.
Larry Greene announced that through the end of May 2019, our club has surpassed donations to Rotary International for the same time period as last year. We collectively gave $23,000 to Rotary International. Our club is also above the average for the district. Forty percent of our members are participating in Every Rotarian Every Year. https://www.rotary.org/en
Larry also mentioned that the Davis Sunrise Rotary Foundation will use points to give members a nudge towards their first Paul Harris Fellow, either to start new members or to give members who are more than half way there a hand. He will award 17 Paul Harris Fellows over the next several weeks. This week’s Paul Harris Fellow pins went to Tom McHale, Sean Yao, Ray Salomon, Mitch Mysliwiec, Andrew Newman, Michael Hallinan, and Matthew Crider.
Rotaract members Megan and Ray announced that their club has completed over 1,500 hours of service projects, and that some of their members are going to the Rotaract Big West Institute, a leadership program, in July 2019 in San Jose. https://www.bigwestrotaract.org/
Sergeants
Today’s Sergeant was Lori Raineri. First up, she declared May 31st to be Celebrate Davis Sunrise Rotary Day. She fined everyone $1 who wasn't wearing their Rotary pin.
She also passed around a bag with the names of club members writing on barely-legible strips of paper (this reports age-related eyesight may be the culprit for the difficulty in reading the small print). Sergeant Raineri instructed everyone to draw a name and contact a fellow member to take that member to coffee, drinks or a meal. Keith Wattenpaugh drew his own name, so he had to draw again.
Lori called for HappyBucks™.
Dan Carson was happy for a successful colonoscopy. Everyone was happy that Dan didn’t elaborate on the details.
Gretchen Peralta gave HappyBucks™ for a bag of women’s shoes from Lori that Gretchen intends to donate to CommuniCare for their shoe drive (https://www.communicarehc.org/communicare-kicks-off-our-shoe-drive/). She was also happy that Jacques Franco donated one bottle of travel-sized shampoo.
Nathalie Mukome (winning a hat trick for her 3 mention in today’s GU&G) was happy for successfully moving to a new place, and appreciated all the help, especially use of Chuck Snipes’ truck. Friends help you move; Real friends help you move bodies. . .
Carolyn Stiver gave Pre-HappyBucks™ for a G Street Clean Up event to be held on June 9, with a follow up clean up on June 30.
Andrew Newman was happy about a trip to Denver to pick up his daughter from college, and the 12-day road trip back to California. Andrew and fam visited Moab, Zion, and Bryce National Parks, just to name a few. Shout out to Keith W. and Brianna Brandow for giving Andrew tips on where to go.
Meaghan Likes had HappyBucks™ for a successful Ribs & Rotary, and also for John McNamara and his son Anthony who helped breakdown and clean up.
Irena Asmundson was had HappyBucks™ for it being 25 years since she attended Grad Night.
Sergeant Lori then asked people to stand who have been members of Davis Sunrise Rotary for 20 years or more and instructed them to name 3 traditions of the club. John McNamara said In Pro Per, Ribs & Rotary, and Octoberfest. Will Portello said the Demotion Dinner, Student of the Month, and the rolling speeches for induction. Clay Brandow said singing Smile, America the Beautiful, and having bacon. Jack Latow said, “Sergeants who have trouble filling their allotted time,” and happily parted with $2. Dick Berry said coming to meetings, meeting friends, and supporting the service activities of the club. Duncan Hay said supporting Yolo County Fair, having meetings on Friday mornings, and having hash browns. Dave Heard said members having millennial babies and Black Bear diner. Gretchen Peralta said Sergeant meetings, keeping the club informed with sign ups, and everything we do. Bud Harmon said Get Up & Go, its editor Bill Kopper, and outstanding fellowship. Don Morrill said Skunk Island, mathematician Bruce Wolk, and Draw of the Day. Bruce Wolk said singing, Get Up & Go, and Tom Read. Tom Read said the transition of the post office box key to the new incoming president, and that sometimes the club bell is “misplaced.” Lori Raineri concluded by saying community service and service above self.
Speaker
Bill Kopper introduced Donna Boyd, our speaker. Donna has roots in Davis. Her mother is Susie Boyd, who used to live in Davis and was a Davis School Board Member and City Council Member but later moved to Mount Shasta. Donna works as academic support for a community college.
Donna talked about the Mount Shasta Rotary Club’s support of the water catchment system project in Tanzania. She began by asking the rhetorical question: “How would your life be different if you had to carry all the water you consume on your head each day?” That is the case for many people living in Tanzania.
The water taps in certain villages in Tanzania sometimes work, but sometimes don’t. Without clean water:
- Nothing is safe to drink;
- There is not enough food;
- Children – usually girls – lose time from school; and,
- The economic opportunities are limited.
The water projects occur in an area in Tanzania where the water has a high fluoride content. This high fluoride affects brain development and results in a high rate of birth defects.
Rotary’s involvement has consisted of 6 grants over the last 10 years totaling over $1 million. This has resulted in over 130,000 people having access to clean water who previously did not. These numbers include 27 villages with over 5,000 school-age kids.
How did Rotary do it? 22 clubs from 4 districts in 3 countries have been involved.
This project has created rainwater storage for over 3 million liters (or nearly 80,000 US gallons). The rainwater catchment systems typically are built on the roofs of school buildings.
The project teaches local villagers how to grow food in a permaculture style of growing, so the children have a hot meal at school .The project also has planted over 4,000 trees in the project’s areas to help keep the water in the area.
The Rotary clubs involved in the project have partnered with Save the Rain, a non-profit based in Mount Shasta which has been working in Tanzania for over 20 years. Save the Rain has over 150 employees in country. The non-profit has an angel investor who pays for all of Save the Rain’s administrative costs, so all donated money to Save the Rain goes towards projects.
Donna opened the floor for questions. Dave Heard asked whether the water has to be treated after it is caught in the system. Donna said there is no treatment of the water, but the rain catchment systems have progressively smaller filters that capture debris. The water in the tanks is tested twice each year and is clean.
John McNamara asked how often it rains in the villages, and do the villages have to budget water? Donna said there are 3 rainy seasons, 1 big one and 2 small ones. A budgeting system works throughout the year, and the tanks usually are emptied and filled 2 or 3 times each year.
Andrew Newman asked how many communities have the water catchment systems in place. Donna said there are over 30 villages where the project has installed water catchment systems.
Rose concluded Donna’s presentation by asking her to sign a book, which will be given to the Davis branch of the Yolo County Library.
Draw of the Day
Dave Heard reported that the pot totaled $490. Justina Vega confirmed that the Joker was in the deck, stifling accusations that Dave only puts the Joker in late in the year. Nathalie Mukome’s kids drew the numbers. Mitch Mysliwiec had the first winning ticket, but got no Joker, so he got a free breakfast. Irena Asmundson had the second winning ticket. She also got no Joker, so she got a free breakfast.
President Rose concluded the meeting by announcing next week’s speaker, Randy Choate, a retired MLB pitcher.