John Jones will be speaking on the status of our mission work to Nicaragua along with a brief history of our involvement via eye and dental projects and the construction and equipping of the Sabalos Surgery Center. Bring friends and family that have an interest in international service and one of the Club’s most significant projects.
Our speaker for Thursday, February 9, 2023, was Mary Stompe, Executive Director of PEP Housing. Mary became PEP’s ED in October 2004. She is a CPA, has an MBA in Business Administration, a BA in Management, served as a Petaluma City Councilmember, is a Senior Professional in Human Resources, a license real estate broker. She served on the Board of Directors of Leading Age, CA, and as VP on Leading Edge’s Housing and Public Policy cabinets. She also founded Rebuilding Together in Petaluma, which provides home repairs at no cost to seniors and individuals with disabilities.
PEP Housing develops and manages affordable senior housing and provides services for older adults with limited incomes. Mary showed us a video featuring a musician who lost everything in the Tubbs Fire. He had a limited income and could not find no place to live after the fire. He eventually got connected to PEP. Mary facilitated his entry into a housing unit at a PEP facility, but since he had no possessions, PEP also provided him with transportation, food, home furnishings, and other necessary items. The average age of people served by PEP is 78 years, and the average income is $15,000 per year. In other words, most of the people who live at a PEP facility cannot afford rent, food, transportation, or medical care. Housing for the elderly is a huge national problem since 1 in 3 Americans will soon be over age 65.
PEP serves 700 seniors, 500 of whom are in Sonoma County. It currently operates 14 properties in Petaluma, 3 in Santa Rosa, 1 in Ukiah, 1 in Oroville, and 1 in Marin County. PEP’s properties typically have Resident Services Coordinators with the best ratio of coordinator to residents in the business. PEP’s waiting list is now 7 years! Linda has found that the most correct-effective way to bring senior residential units online is to rehabilitate older buildings. PEP’s experience is that rehabbing old buildings costs 35% less than new construction and is typically much quicker. One example is the Linda Tunis Senior Apartments, which is the former Scottish Rite building in east Santa Rosa. The development is named after Linda Tunis, a resident of Journey’s End Mobile Home Park who died in the Tubbs Fire.
PEP’s ongoing funding typically relies on management fees and developer fees. Funding for development projects comes from various federal, state, and local governmental entities, as well as a variety of private funders and donors. For example, Linda Tunis was funded with bonds and tax credits, as well as donations from Kaiser, Providence St. Josephs, and Sonoma County, among the many “buckets” tapped for development.
Many thanks to Mary for the enlightening discussion of the amazing services provided by PEP Housing. And thank you, Mary, for all the good work you do!
Click HERE to view Mary's 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!
Don "Flo" Floriano Bass, Rob Sanville guitar and vocal, drums beat by Joe Wachter last Saturday at Chops Teen Center.
Abundant food prepared by Chops Culinary mentor Steve Rose and CALORIC delights by members kept our dancing in high gear. Rob & Betsy Sanville's daughter in law Angela is Development Manager at Chops and helped coordinate our use of the amazing resource.
Fine wine and Cuver brews helped cool our heat. Stacy and crew's decorations put us into a wonderful romantic atmosphere. Young and younger alike enjoyed the sound and moody lighting. Our faces tell the story!
You can take the man out of the theater, but not the theater out of the man!!
What is absent in the above photo?
Randy was the hippest by rockin' the walker and healing well!
DANCE TIL YOU DROP!! Arlo Sanville, Rob and Betsy's grandson, pride of parents Ax and Angela set everyone in motion. THERE WERE PLENTY OF COOKIES TO RECHARGE WITH.
A fantastic evening was enjoyed by all. Thank you to Rob, Flo, Stacy, Angela, Steve Herron for tending libations, the entire Crew for a much needed long overdue FUN RAISER!! Jack, your photos are exceptional! You gave Warren and Wendy an evening for themselves.
Hardly boring, cutting edge, inner sanctum discussions of relevant life changing subjects punctuate each monthly meeting of the Elsie Allen High School Foundation! Currently representing Sunrise Rotary are board members Carolyn Anderson and Merle Hayes along with community advisory member Rich Randolph.
The Foundation supports the campus students and faculty Dream, Plan and Achieve. Through scholarships, teacher grants and promotion of student enrichment and Interact activities, the Foundation is making a dramatic difference in connecting the community with the school and students with a brighter future.
On this month's Sunrise Rotary Homepage Elsie Allen is our featured sponsor. Click HERE for a closer look at one of those remarkable students whose life, inspired in such an affirming campus reminds us how our encouragement can lead to dreams come true.
M.J. Girard is currently an on air personality on KOWSfm.com His “Roots of Rock” is broadcast every Sunday morning at 7 AM
Happy Saint Valentine’s Day!
According to legend, a priest named Valentine was persecuted for attempting to convert pagan Romans, questioned in person by the emperor Claudius ll, who was impressed by Valentine and wanted him to accept the pagan faith, Valentine refused that lifesaving offer and true to Christianity, attempted to convert the Roman Emperor to the young Christian religion! Upon which, Valentine was jailed awaiting execution!
Whilst incarcerated, he summoned the healing powers of Jesus and brought sight to the blind daughter of his jailer.
Prior to Valentines execution, legend has it that he performed marriages of Roman soldiers, cutting paper hearts from parchment to remind them of Gods eternal love and the sanctity of marriage.
Saint Valentine wore an amethyst ring with the image of Cupid which was the symbol of early bishops of the fledgling Catholic Church, which has become associated as the birthstone of those born in February.
“The Rose is red, the Violet’s blue
Honey’s sweet, and so are you.
Thou are my love I am thine;
I drew thee to my Valentine:
The lot was cast and then I drew,
And Fortune said it shou’d be you.”
An eighteenth-century English nursery rhyme.
Celebrating love and kindness, the last two editions of the “Roots of Rock” during February will air contributions of soulful performances from the foundation of Motown and requested music.
Love is in the air…may it fill ours hearts and sustain us forevermore!
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
Paul Millar announced his 90 and 91 year old parents just celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary. That's a lot of long-life noodles!
Steve Amend announced his oldest son, Chef Danny, is now an indoor farmer for Far Out Farms (growing food) and featured on the cover of Dirt Magazine (click here).
Del Raby announced a very special birthday - the Boy Scouts celebrated 113 years since 2/8/1910.
Sad Dollars
John Jones shared that he spent two hospital nights in Mexico being treated for a urinary infection and skirting sepsis. Let's hope for a full recovery.
Jack Strange's Interact Club members are back to visiting Broadway Villa seniors. One resident, Cora, was shedding happy tears because her own family rarely visits her.
Do you have Happy or Sad Dollars to share? There is no need to wait until the meeting. Send them to the editor.
A guy took his girlfriend to her first Football game. They had great seats right behind their team’s bench. After the game, he asked her how she liked the experience. “Oh, I really liked it,” she replied, “especially the tight pants and all the big muscles, but I just couldn’t understand why they were killing each other over 25 cents.” Dumbfounded, her date asked, “What do you mean?” “Well, they flipped a coin, one team got it and then for the rest of the game, all they kept screaming was: ‘Get the quarterback! Get the quarterback!’ I’m like…Helloooooo? It’s only 25 cents!!!!”
Answers from last week's brain teasers:
1. What comes once in a minute, twice in a moment, but never in a thousand years?
A) The letter "M."
2. I have keys, but no locks. I have space, but no room. You can enter, but you can’t go outside. What am I?
Recently, I spent time in the Nakivale refugee settlement in Uganda. As the "settlement" in its name suggests, the people living there are free to move around and integrate as best they can — one thing that makes the place unique.
I had a chance to play soccer with boys and girls from about a dozen nations and talk with women who had fled areas of conflict. It was a tapestry of human experience shared through both laughter and tears.
As I walked across a school campus at the settlement with a teacher, she shared with me the dire statistics on girls' education. Most don't get through grade school. Many are sold into child marriage to pay for food for their families. As I looked around at these young girls, I was gutted.
Our work with empowering girls and women is much more than creating equity — sometimes, it's about health or education. Other times it's about providing safety. Regardless of the path, it's always about basic human rights.
We can do more to empower girls and women, and we can expand how we share the progress Rotary members and our partners have made toward this goal.
There is no shortage of inspiring examples of our work, from interest-free microcredit loans for women in Nigeria, to projects in India that provide girls menstrual hygiene products. Hundreds of projects are taking place across all Rotary areas of focus and are making a meaningful and often lifesaving difference.
Together, we can address the needs and inequities that girls throughout the world face daily. But we must also monitor the impact of these projects and create awareness of Rotary resources and subject matter experts, including Rotary Action Groups, The Rotary Foundation Cadre of Technical Advisers, Rotary Peace Fellows, and others.
It is especially important that we tell the stories of our initiatives that have a positive impact on the lives of women and girls. This last point is near and dear to my heart. This means sharing our stories on social media, through local news outlets, in this magazine, and wherever we can inspire others.
As you do so, it's important to provide information that helps our Rotary family connect with others who are implementing activities in their regions, as well as across the world. Let's share our successes and learn from one another — then proudly tell our stories to a larger audience.
These are exciting times in Rotary, and the world is taking notice. As we work to empower women and girls to step into their full potential, we create new pathways for membership growth and greater collaboration with partners to create positive, lasting change. Thank you for your continued action in this vital effort.
One of the fascinating things about Rotary is that we are many things at once. We are a service organization based on action. We are also a professional and community networking group, not to mention a place to find friendship and fun.
And, when you stop to think about it, you and I are also part of a peace organization. I saw this in 2013 when I represented Rotary at an international symposium on advancing a peaceful democratic transition for Myanmar. Despite recent setbacks, the fact that Rotary was at the table demonstrates that the world sees us as peacebuilders who are not deterred by the most difficult issues.
How did we earn this reputation? Through literacy projects that help people expand their minds and viewpoints. And through water, sanitation, and hygiene projects that create common ground for communities in conflict. The Rotary Action Group for Peace promotes hands-on service projects, and our annual international conventions unite thousands in a celebration of global harmony.
Perhaps the most visible face of this cause is the Rotary Peace Centers program, now in its 21st year. Today, more than 1,600 Rotary Peace Fellows are advancing the cause of peace in more than 140 countries. On 1 February, we open applications for the next generation of peace fellows. Encourage your local peacebuilders to learn about Rotary and apply for this unique fellowship.
And soon, we'll be recruiting fellows for a new peace center in the Middle East and North Africa region as we begin working this year with a recently selected partner university. Made possible by a generous gift of $15.5 million to The Rotary Foundation from the Otto and Fran Walter Foundation, the addition of this center furthers Rotary's vision of peacemaking in action.
As we celebrate Rotary's 118th anniversary and Peacebuilding and Conflict Prevention Month, we can be proud of the many ways Rotary promotes peace. Without The Rotary Foundation, and your support of it, none of that would be possible.
You can directly support this work through the Foundation by visiting rotary.org/donate and selecting the peacebuilding and conflict prevention area of focus. I also encourage you to contribute to the Ian and Juliet Riseley Endowed Fund in The Rotary Foundation to support peace projects.
If Paul Harris could see us now, he would be amazed by the astonishing growth of the little club he founded in 1905 and the global force for good — and peace — that Rotary is today.
To foster connection among older adults who may have felt isolated during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Rotary Club of Kings Lynn Priory worked with a local cinema to offer discounted screenings through a Silver Mondays Cinema Club. Nearly 60 moviegoers turned out in November to watch Matilda the Musical. Club members served as greeters, ticket takers, and ushers, says Phil Davies, the club’s immediate past president and main organizer of the screenings. “The benefit to the cinemagoers is probably 70 percent the opportunity to socialize and 30 percent the film itself,” Davies says.
Spain
Members of the Rotary Club of Punta Prima International, in Torrevieja, sponsored and helped stage the Golf Tour Las Ramblas, a series of fundraisers begun in 2019 near the Mediterranean city. Sponsorships, start fees, and party and dinner tickets from the 2022 competitions brought in more than $1,500. Rotarians directed some of the funds to a church charity that assists women and children who have fled Ukraine, says Gunnel Thunström, a club member and tournament organizer. She says the partnership is mutually enriching, even if only a handful of the club’s members are avid golfers.
This story originally appeared in the February 2023 issue of Rotary magazine.
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To foster connection among older adults who may have felt isolated during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Rotary Club of Kings Lynn Priory worked with a local cinema to offer discounted screenings through a Silver Mondays Cinema Club. Nearly 60 moviegoers turned out in November to watch Matilda the Musical. Club members served as greeters, ticket takers, and ushers, says Phil Davies, the club’s immediate past president and main organizer of the screenings. “The benefit to the cinemagoers is probably 70 percent the opportunity to socialize and 30 percent the film itself,” Davies says.
Members of the Rotary Club of Punta Prima International, in Torrevieja, sponsored and helped stage the Golf Tour Las Ramblas, a series of fundraisers begun in 2019 near the Mediterranean city. Sponsorships, start fees, and party and dinner tickets from the 2022 competitions brought in more than $1,500. Rotarians directed some of the funds to a church charity that assists women and children who have fled Ukraine, says Gunnel Thunström, a club member and tournament organizer. She says the partnership is mutually enriching, even if only a handful of the club’s members are avid golfers.