Two years ago, U.S. Rotary members in Maine set out to improve the education system in Bikaner, Rajasthan, an Indian city near the border of Pakistan.
The Rotary Club of Kennebunk Portside chose Bikaner because club member Rohit Mehta was originally from the area and had connections there. Mehta put the club in contact with Rotarians in India to provide desks for four government-run schools.
But when community leaders returned with a request for more desks, the Maine Rotarians decided they had to think bigger. The Rotary Foundation had rolled out its new grant model, which required that the...
Enjoying calm winds and peaceful Pacific waters, Seung Jin Kim dove off his 43-foot sailboat, the Arapani, to swim with some dolphins nearby. The serenity that day near the equator was a stark contrast to the 60 mph winds and 23-foot waves he had to fight around Cape Horn, the southern tip of South America. But Kim, a veteran sailor and member of the Rotary Club of Seokmun, in Chungcheongnam, Korea, expected such challenges when he set out in mid-October on a 25,600-mile journey around the world. In addition to fulfilling a lifelong dream, Kim is using the trip to raise awareness and funds...
After the first cases of Ebola reached Liberia's capital, Monrovia, last June, local Rotary members feared that the city's limited health care system wouldn't be able to contain the highly infectious, often-deadly disease.
Those fears were realized when infections quickly multiplied, underscoring the speed with which Ebola can spread in an urban center. It was the first time the hemorrhagic fever had threatened a major city since it erupted in West Africa last March.
Now, after months of crisis-level response, and with the number of new cases declining, club members are looking to the long...
Despite his longstanding interest in polio eradication, polio was not on Joe Pratt's mind as he prepared for a mid-April 2012 climb of Mount Everest, the highest mountain on earth. But that changed in late 2011, when the resident of Nottingham, New Hampshire, USA, participated in a polio immunization project in Pakistan with fellow Rotary member Steve Puderbaugh.
Moved by the efforts of the Pakistanis to battle the crippling disease, and by the vulnerability of the young victims, Pratt reset the focus of his climbing adventure. Pakistan is one of three countries where polio has never been...
Members of the Rotary Club of San Francisco Evening meet at a wine bar after work, share a social outing, and promote all their activities on social media like Meetup and Facebook.
As the first evening club in the city, it has attracted many young professionals from Silicon Valley tech firms whose work schedules keep them from joining a more traditional club that meets for breakfast or lunch. But more than that, the evening format has helped the club grow by 30 percent since it received its charter in mid-2013.
Danielle Lallement, who was its charter president, says the club has been...
This 'hands-on' project has now been fully subscribed. If you have not already done so, please download the three page PDF instructions, complete page 3 and return to Vincent Campbell at your earliest convenience.
Our Club has secured Tuesday May 19 as a Community Project day and a good number of our members have signed up to work on a house construction in the 'Neufeld Landing' area of the city's south west.
For that reason, the regular lunch meeting has been canceled. For those of you who are physically unable to volunteer to work on the project, you will not be required to make up the meeting.
Fort Edmonton Park Cleanup on Rotary Day by the Rotary Interact Club of J. Percy Page High School
Saturday May 9, 2015 was Rotary Day and the Rotary Interact Club from Page High School kicked off the spring season with their cleanup of Fort Edmonton Park. The Interact Club joined the Rotary Club of Edmonton Strathcona and other Edmonton Rotary Clubs for this annual event. The Interact Club brought energy and enthusiasm to the big event cleaning up a major area of the park and at the sing a long later at the barbecue. A big thank you to all who came out to cleanup Edmonton's second top attraction just in time for the park opening.
The amount of inorganic and organic garbage that was collected was very impressive and will help keep this great venue looking good.
Eric Germain
Hard work was well rewarded with a BarBQ, singing and dancing.
WANTED – Flag planters, sales & marketing personnel
The 2015 updated brochure is now posted in the files section of the Canada Flag site page.http://tinyurl.com/FlagProg
An online registration/payment feature is now in place. You can register yourself and direct friends and neighbours to this form:http://tinyurl.com/flagpayment
This important club fund raising initiative needs your help! We currently generate close to $19,000 per year (less expenses) from our “Canadian Flag Program”. Your ideas about how to retain current clients and grow the business would be welcomed.
If all our “able bodied” members were to generate or continue to maintain a small manageable customer base close to home, it would enable us to continue this program. Existing large customer client routes also need to be maintained as best we can and your help would be appreciated for these accounts.
This Mill Woods Cul de Sac has 10 flags; and another 4 within 3 blocks!
Maintenance of existing physical inventory is ongoing and new flags, poles & holders have been ordered. A reasonably accurate list of current clients has been produced. Your thoughts & offers of assistance, where needed, can be communicated via e-mail to our chairperson Dennis. email: freeman5@telus.net He is looking forward to hearing from you soon.
Posted by Stephan Jansen van Vuuren
on May 11, 2015
Recently, President Stephan presented a cheque in the amount of R50,000 , or about $5,000 to the New Hope School in the Pretoria area of South Africa.
The school aims to support children with special learning disabilities and the project was adopted by our club as part of our International projects.
Read recent article in the Pretoria News:OPEN DOCUMENT
Press release to the Pretoria Newspapers:
"New Hope School was privileged to host Dr Stephan Jansen van Vuuren, President of the Rotarian Club Edmonton [Strathcona] in Canada, and members of the Rotary Club of Pretoria at the school on 25 March 2015. The aim of the visit was to hand over a cheque of R50 000.00 from the Canadian Rotarians to the school that will be used to address the critical needs of needy learners. Guest also visited the newly upgraded junior playground. The upgrading was paid for by donations received from friends, family and Rotarians that attended the funeral of Jan van Zyl, old mayor of Pretoria and enthusiastic Rotarian last year
New Hope School is a non-profit organisation and one of the largest schools for special needs education in the country. For more than forty one years, since New Hope School opened its doors, we have been providing the highest quality teaching for learners with cerebral palsy, permanent physical disabilities, metabolic disorders or syndromes, traumatic brain injuries and specific learning difficulties. Learners of any religious persuasion, any socio-economic background and any race are welcome at the school. Key components to our success include in-depth knowledge and understanding of all our students, adaptability in order to meet changing needs and a truly committed staff. We understand that success criteria will vary between learners and it is our duty to ensure that all learners will be met and supported at their own level to enable them to reach their potential.
The logistical and operational requirements of a school such as New Hope are significant. As the support received from the Gauteng Department of Education is not sufficient to address the needs of the school, our governing body has to employ additional teachers, therapists, assistants and facilitators to ensure quality education to every learner from Pre-Primary to Grade Twelve and in the Skills Phases of New Hope School. As the state only pays for a portion of the staff employed at the school, the rest of the funding needs to be generated from fundraising events organised by both teachers and parents, school fees and donors exclusively."
FLTR Dr Stephan Jansen van Vuuren, President of Rotary Club Edmonton Strathcona, Mr Ray Harley, Mr Ys Visser and Mr Claude Matromatteo of the Rotary Club Pretoria and Mr Dawie Harmse principal New Hope School.
11. Your body has enough iron in it to make a nail 3 inches long.
12. Earwax production is necessary for good ear health. It protects the delicate inner ear from bacteria, fungus, dirt and even insects. It also cleans and lubricates the ear canal.
13. Everyone has a unique smell, except for identical twins, who smell the same.
14. Your teeth start growing 6 months before you are born. This is why one out of every 2,000 newborn infants has a tooth when they are born
15. A baby's head is one-quarter of its total length, but by the age of 25 will only be one-eighth of its total length. This is because people's heads grow at a much slower rate than the rest of their bodies.
16. Babies are born with 300 bones, but by adulthood the number is reduced to 206. Some of the bones, like skull bones, get fused into each other, bringing down the total number.
17. It's not possible to tickle yourself. This is because when you attempt to tickle yourself you are totally aware of the exact time and manner in which the tickling will occur, unlike when someone else tickles you.
18. Less than one third of the human race has 20-20 vision. This means that two out of three people cannot see perfectly.
19. Your nose can remember 50,000 different scents. But if you are a woman, you are a better smeller than men, and will remain a better smeller throughout your life.
20. The human body is estimated to have 60,000 miles of blood vessels
Monica is with us for only one more month.
Contact Don Henry if you'd like to take her somewhere Canadian.
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