A Female Officer’s Perspective on Military Service and the First Gulf War
A Sonoma County native and Rotarian since 2013, Ann graduated from Petaluma High School before attending the University of Southern California, where she majored in international relations. Following graduation, she received her commission from the United States Marine Corps, and she served as an officer for 11 years, including deployment to the Middle East in the First Gulf War from 1990-1991.
Ann later returned to Sonoma County and became active with the Rotary Club of Santa Rosa, focusing on various local service projects, youth exchange, and other international Rotary initiatives. She is currently president-elect for her club and looks forward to helping raise the profile of Rotary in our community.
Ann considers herself a professional volunteer, contributing her time to many school, church, and Rotary projects. Her husband, Jeff, is also a long-time Rotarian, and together they have a 13-year-old son and two grown children and are currently hosting a Rotary exchange student from Sweden.
Polio is Only a Plane Trip Away by Past District Governor Bob Rogers
Our speaker for Thursday, November 3, 2022, was Bob Rogers, past District 5130 Governor (2017-2018). Bob’s topic was Rotary’s Efforts to End Polio, a topic with which he is extremely familiar as a polio survivor. Bob joined the Rotary Club of Sebastopol in 2007, was Rookie Rotarian of the Year, joined the District’s PolioPlus Committee, and was Rotarian of the Year a few years later. He is a past President of his club, became an Assistant Governor, and then District Governor. As our DG he collaborated with others, including Peter Hoberg, to establish “Pedal 4 Polio,” a project for a 350-mile ride from Crescent City to Petaluma. Bob and Peter (and others) raised $140,000 for polio eradication efforts! Bob is now the District 5130 Polio Chairperson.
Bob gave us a great summary of the status of polio eradication efforts. At the beginning of 2022, Bill Gates reported that the world had never been as close to eradication as it was at that time. Unfortunately, 29 new cases of wild polio have been detected in 2022 so far, including 20 in Pakistan, 2 in Afghanistan, and 7 in Mozambique. The Afghanistan and Mozambique cases appear to have resulted from Pakistani travelers. The increase in polio cases in Pakistan can be attributed to vaccine disinformation, violence against polio workers, and recent floods. Campaigns are underway to fix these problems and increase the vaccination rates. Bob also described the “vaccine derived” polio problem. “Vaccine derived” refers to a strain of the weakened virus contained in the oral vaccine, which can, in rare conditions, revert to a form that causes illness and paralysis. This isn’t a huge issue in the U.S. because we’ve exclusively used the inactivated poliovirus vaccine since 2000. However, it can be a problem in under-immunized communities. There have been 1,113 cases of vaccine derived polio in 2022 to date. One case came from Rockland County, New York and there have been instances of this form of polio in sewage samples in New York City and surrounding boroughs.
The great news is that at the 2022 World Health Summit in Berlin leaders pledged $2.6 billion to secure funding for the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI). The goal is to secure $4.8 billion in pledges. Rotary International was the 2nd largest donor at the Berlin Summit! More good news: the Polio Plus Society, which was started in District 5130, has just been approved as an official program of the Rotary Foundation! Bob also thanked and awarded 9 club member for their contributions to polio eradication by joining the Polio Plus Society: Marty Behr, Ralph Harryman, Harry Coffey, Scott Holder, Roy Johnston, John Jones, Paul O’Rear, Penny Millar, and Randy Seelye! Members of the Society have agreed to give $100 to the Foundation each year until polio is eradicated. Finally, don’t forget that November 29 is Giving Tuesday, a great time to donate to help conquer polio!
Thank you, Bob, for the terrific update. And thank you for your many years of Rotary service and terrific representation of our District.
Click HERE to view the presentation for a limited time.
On a regular basis, our resident photo pro Warren Smith, submits pictures of what is going on at the weekly meetings. You can always find the most recent pictures at the websites photo journal called "Meeting Sighting" Please note that all the meeting photos for the entire Rotary year are at this location with the most recent on the last page.
Thanks for all the great pictures Warren!Link to Meeting Sightings. The most recent are on the last page!
First it was "Fines". And when that was thought to be "negative" it became "recognitions" and after that "High Five". But Jack has announced a new twist for these moments, designed to fit every celebration as well as sorrowful news. And it does not have to be a "High Five". "Happy Dollars" and "Sad Dollars" can be whatever you want them to be. Or whatever you feel is appropriate.
Happy Dollars
Steve Amend had raving reviews of their Criterion Cruise - The Amazon, Sacred Valley of the Inca, and Machu Picchu. Marty says the next opportunity for this amazing deal in April will be announced soon.
Merl announced her twin grandsons, John and Logan, turned age 21. Instead of celebrating the usual way, the boys were responsible with their school studies!
Mary Banks was happy about her trip to Lincoln City, Oregon to celebrate her son's birthday.
Mark and Julie Campbell celebrated their anniversary down in the South of France! They look forward to visiting Santa Rosa soon.
Del Raby was moved by a phone message he received last month - The Boy Scouts were celebrating the day he became an Eagle Scout on 10/6/1943.
Do you have Happy or Sad Dollars to share? There is no need to wait until the meeting. Send them to the editor.
M.J. Girard is currently an on air personality on KOWSfm.com His “Roots of Rock” is broadcast every Sunday morning at 7 AM
As a Vietnam Veteran, and broadcaster for the past many decades, I wanted to share with you a song written by a C&W icon, Earnest Tubb. This sentiment is from the Second World War, but as any soldier could tell you, it applies to any conflict that may have happened, or will happen. God Bless America and those who fight to keep it free.
When the postman delivered a letter
It filled her dear heart full of joy
But she didn't know till she read the inside
It was the last one from her darling boy
Dear Mom, was the way that it started
I miss you so much it went on
Mom, I didn't know, that I loved you so
But I'll prove it when this war is won
I'm writing this down in a trench, Mom
Don't scold if it isn't so neat
You know as you did, when I was a kid
And I'd come home with mud on my feet
The captain just gave us our orders
And Mom, we will carry them through
I'll finish this letter the first chance I get
But now I'll just say I love you
Then the mother's old hands began to tremble
And she fought against tears in her eyes
But they came unashamed for there was no name
And she knew that her darling had died
That night as she knelt by her bedside
She prayed Lord above hear my plea
And protect all the sons that are fighting tonight
Since the 2017 fires, Santa Rosa City Parks have had 75 acres of city park lands damaged. Rebuilding and recovering from the damage has been an ongoing challenge to priorities and resources. In addition to the play areas the city has had to rebuild, extensive irrigation in parks and roadway landscaping. The 19 acre site on Kawana Springs Road, home to the planned Kawana Springs Community Park has had its share of setbacks. The following link gives updates to this significant investment and community development.
Click HERE for the Kawana Spings Park Project page.
Being asked to Imagine Rotary can seem like a big, heady exercise, but the most important element of it is something quite small, even personal.
Not too long ago, Rotary members were expected to perform our acts of service quietly. I understood and appreciated the thought behind that — humility is a wonderful trait, and we should continue to nurture it in other ways.
But keeping Rotary to ourselves has a cost. and by sharing our Rotary moments, we are being generous with others and giving them an opportunity to understand the impact of Rotary.
It brings to mind that wonderful aphorism: “People will forget what you said. People will forget what you did. But people will never forget how you made them feel.”
So how do we make people feel Rotary? The best way is to share our Rotary moments. We have all had them — when the ordinary collides with intention to create something extraordinary.
Some people have those Rotary moments the first time they go to a meeting. For others, it can take years, before seeing the joy in the eyes of someone we serve. Or perhaps in hearing from another member something that hit close to home.
As Nick and I share this journey, we are amazed at the work you are performing and the lives that are transforming. Throughout the year, I’m going to share with you the sights and the stories that made those tours meaningful for us.
I hope you can do the same in your corner of Rotary. It can be something you share in meetings or on social media. For the most savvy and ambitious, it could be an event you publicize with local media. Even sharing your stories with friends has impact.
We need ambassadors for Rotary’s message and our dreams for a better world. The best ambassadors are you. The more you share stories — and share them from the heart — the more you encourage others to partner with us, to join us, and to stay.
To give you just one small example, in the months ahead, I will be turning over this column to Rotary members who will share their personal stories as they relate to diversity, equity, and inclusion in our organization. It’s important that we hear these stories directly from the people who experienced them as a way of feeling the importance of DEI for the future of Rotary.
In everything we do, what people feel about Rotary will shape our future. I can only imagine what you will inspire through the stories you’ll tell.
Many of you will recall my challenge to Rotary clubs when I was RI president in 2017-18: to plant one tree per member to help the environment. Thanks to you, we estimate over 4 million trees went into the ground in Rotary’s name — quite a forest indeed.
This month, as we celebrate The Rotary Foundation, let’s remember that each Foundation project is much like planting a tree. With each sapling of hope, health, and peace we plant through the Foundation, we make an investment in the future that will one day grow into something even greater.
Such a tree was planted by Rotary in Sri Lanka, where more than 2,000 children born annually with a congenital heart defect can now get a corrective surgery that allows them to survive to adulthood. Local Rotarians identified the need to make the surgery more available and effective, and rallied 17 Rotary districts around the world to contribute District Designated Funds. After the Foundation matched those funds, a total global grant of $365,000 was used to create the first human heart-valve tissue bank in Sri Lanka, with the government providing the building, staffing, and supplies to ensure its sustainability.
Visiting this life-saving facility in 2017 was an unforgettable experience for me. But I have seen countless other great “trees” planted across our seven areas of focus. We planted PolioPlus in 1985 and it has grown into one of the greatest public health initiatives in history, helping reduce cases of wild poliovirus by 99.9 percent. Seven Rotary Peace Centers around the world have also taken root and are now bearing fruit as scores of peacebuilders and community leaders go forth with the skills to make the world more safe and secure.
Charity Navigator, an independent agency, has given The Rotary Foundation its highest ranking for more than a decade. Why? Our overhead expense level is much lower than most similar organizations — 91 percent of gifts to the Foundation go to programs and operations. Not only are we efficient stewards, but Rotary’s requirement of a community-needs assessment for global grants helps ensure the sustainability of our projects over the long term. And the Foundation is a charity you can trust because it is run by your fellow Rotarians.
However, only about 38 percent of members actively support our own organization’s great charity. We can and should do better. Just as I challenged you to plant trees as president, as Foundation trustee chair I would like to challenge each club to make a giving plan for our Rotary Foundation this year.
Imagine our impact — Rotary’s great forest of hope and peace that will flourish — and please give today.
A gene researcher’s breakthrough could lead to a one-time HIV/AIDS vaccine
Like many PhD students, Alessio Nahmad endured a string of research failures.
“Biology is not for the faint of heart,” he says. Now, at just 31 years old, Nahmad, the co-founder of Tabby Therapeutics and a member of the Rotary Club of Pninat Raanana, Israel, is achieving success — lots of it. He helped lead a team at Tel Aviv University whose research holds promise for a one-time vaccine for people with HIV/AIDS. Here, in his own words, is his story.
Yadid Levy
I wanted to study neurobiology because I liked psychology but wanted to know more about the science behind it. So I began a bachelor's degree in biology. Then I was in a genetics class, and I fell in love. I learned about new technologies to modify cells. I learned about stem cell therapy and gene modification techniques.
HIV is the king of mutations. It's a virus that mutates to escape the immune response. If we compare it to influenza, the diversity of influenza strains in the whole world is roughly comparable to the diversity of HIV strains you will find in a single patient infected with HIV. Type B white blood cells are the main players in neutralizing viral infections. So, in my work, we used the CRISPR gene-editing technique to engineer B cells that activate the immune system to produce antibodies that neutralize HIV. We were able to directly modify the cells in mice through a single injection.
To develop a cure for HIV, we need more than the grant funding from universities. Financing this is huge. We are very close to curing HIV. But we need that last push. There is no reason why 40 million people are living with HIV infection right now in the world. Governments should enhance funding for research by offering academia and industry competitive grants to tackle emerging or common diseases.
We think this technology will also work well against cancer. At Tabby Therapeutics, we are going to try to use it to treat tumors. HIV is a single virus. Cancer is a world of diseases, so a lot of people need treatments and solutions for cancer.
People need to know that science is fun. We need to encourage the next generation of scientists. The world needs bright minds to resolve the issues we are and will be facing. — As told to Orly Halpern
Rotary Club of Santa Rosa Sunrise - Founded June 30, 1986
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