Who doesn’t love Disneyland almost more than life itself, have nothing but fond memories of checking out of reality for a day and exploring the greatest amusement park in the world? Disneyland is way more than an amusement park though, it’s more a state of mind and emotion. Marcy Smothers has been studying everything about Walt Disney and Disneyland for years (no doubt since the first time she set foot in the park) and has written three books on the subject. Her most recent book, “Walt’s Disneyland: A Walk in The Park with Walt Disney” has just been released and is an excellent read, giving the history and background of every “Land”, street and building in the park. Marcy will be our speaker Thursday morning, March 17th , so get your questions ready and invite everyone you know who loves Disneyland (that’s probably most of the planet)! Pick up a copy of the book locally at Copperfields or on Amazon for the Disneyphiles in your life.
The Program from March 10th was... a handful of past presidents.
The Foundation Rotarians Are Building
Steve Amend, Shauna Lorenzen, Paul O Rear and Randy Seelye are experienced partners in Sunrise Rotary's role in growing The Rotary Foundation.
Shauna Lorenzen is Sunrise' current Club Board Director for The Rotary Foundation. Her role is to inspire and manage member support for Foundation activities. Becoming a Paul Harris Fellow is the path members follow in reaching their first $1,000 contribution level to The Rotary Foundation.
Since Sunrise inception in 1986, $525,000 has been generated to The Rotary Foundation. Susan Glowacki recently pushed us over that goal. Sunrise has presented 389 Paul Harris Fellows, and members may continue their support well beyond the initial $1,000 level.
Our club's reach locally and internationally has benefitted from the structure of the foundation. Portions of funds generated in each District are returned in a three year cycle. These funds may be used for local grants and Global Grants. The matching leveraging benefit multiplies donations nearly 3:1. Local projects include a bunny and goat barn at Elsie Allen High School,
and enhancements to their Theater Arts.
and a saxophone in their music department.
In addition, Global Grants foster collaboration between countries and in Sunrise' case made possible the construction and equipping of a 2,000 sq. foot surgical center in Nicaragua.
Rotary changes lives ~ for the better.
Paul O Rear composed the PowerPoint presentation for the program today. He also received his Paul Harris Fellow plus five recognizing his foundation support at the $6,000 level.
Steve Amend presented an historic recap of Sunrise' Rotary Foundation support and the Global Polio Initiative. His summary recalled the Polio Plus initiative dating back to 1988. Through collaboration with the World Health Organization, United States Centers for Disease Control and Rotarians around the world, the steady march now with additional support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has reduced the peril of Polio cases from 35,000 in 1988 to 1 reported last year.
Steve added a very inspiring personal note: His brother-in-law Bobby, Kathleen's brother lived with the physical limitations of polio. Both Bobby and Kathleen and another sibling contracted the disease in 1955. While Kathleen recovered her mobility, Bobby endured iron-lung treatment and spinal fusion. He persevered with life and ran his own Bookkeeping business into his forties before succumbing at age 48. Steve spoke of Bobby as a brother.
Randy Seelye has served multiple terms as Club Director for The Rotary Foundation. Our club currently has 51 of its' 64 members Paul Harris Fellows. 48 have reached multiple levels. During Steve Amend's Presidential year, 2002-3 and Steve Worthen in 2004-5 Sunrise achieved 100% Paul Harris Fellow status. Since then Sunrise has been a District leader in support to The Rotary Foundation. As of January we are at 79% of our goal.
The Rotary Foundation really emphasizes the INTERNATIONAL scope of Rotary. Santa Rosa Sunrise continues to project Service Above Self beyond our District, and partner in ways and in places we could not do alone.
For more about The Rotary Foundation, check out the Rotary website http://www.Rotary.org
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!
Our chakras are the energy centers of our bodies. It translates to wheel or disc in Sanskrit. Much like the root system of a tree, our energy centers are interconnected. We all have seven orbs of energy that spiral and spin within our souls. A healthy Chakra system is beautifully aligned, but when energy gets stuck, we may feel blocked or unable to act in an emotionally balanced way. Fortunately, there are methods you can take to heal these blocks through self-awareness and spiritual guidance.
Today, I want to discuss the Root Chakra also known as the Muladhara. Our Root Chakra is the foundation of our system. It is our own root system that serves to ground us. This energy center sits at the base of our spine. It embodies our basic survival skills. When that root energy is aligned we feel as if our needs have been met and we feel safe and secure. We trust that we are divinely supported. We are vital and passionate, and connected to our higher source. We have a trusting relationship with ourselves and others.
If you struggle with feeling safe and secure, you may have a blockage in your root chakra. My friends from Tamed Wild Sorcery provide this advice to unblock your root chakra energy and live your best life. They recommend wearing red or procuring red crystals. These two simple practices can help the support of unblocking that energy. Another very vital approach to clearing your energy block is to be out in nature. Perhaps take your shoes off and feel the coolness of the earth under your feet. Meditate, and in your meditation, imagine you are a tree and your roots to the center of the earth.
Do you have a favorite red piece of clothing or a red jewel that makes your heart sing? After a hike or a trip to the coast, do you feel more alive?
Be on the Lookout for the Next Eye and Dental Mission!
The Nicaragua Eye/Dental mission is in the planning stages! We are looking at a departure on Friday evening January 27, 2023 and a return on Monday February 6, 2023. The mission will include sponsored dental care via local dentists assisted by our equipment and Ezbon Jen, combined with vision testing and eye glass dispensing by our Sunrise Rotary crew. Similar to previous missions. The work will be in the Sabalos region of the Rio San Juan, with lodging in El Castillo. The costs will cover air, meals, lodging, eye glasses and dental supplies. It is typically turnkey. Costs are a maximum of $2500 per person. A scholarship or two is available. See John Jones for any and all details. 707-291-4526 or jjones@linkcpa.com
The Rotary International Foundation has created a Ukrainian Disaster Relief fund
As world citizens we are all concerned with the events occurring in Ukraine and I have been asked by a number of people how we can help. The Rotary International Foundation has created a Ukrainian Disaster Relief fund if you are so inclined. Here is some information from their website:
"In addition to support provided through the Disaster Response Fund, the Foundation is coordinating with partners and regional leaders, exploring effective solutions to the increased humanitarian needs.
- We are in contact with the United Nations High Commission on Refugees – USA to prepare for and respond to the needs of those being displaced in Ukraine and to neighboring countries.
- ShelterBox, our project partner for disaster response, is in communication with Rotary members in Eastern Europe to explore how it may offer support with temporary transitional housing and other essential supplies.
- The Rotary Action Group for Refugees, Forced Displacement, and Migration is also mobilizing its resources to assist in this crisis.
More than 2 million people have fled Ukraine and are in dire need of emergency aid. The United Nations estimates that number could grow to as many as 5 million people displaced. Rotary clubs in Europe and around the world have stepped up their relief work, some working on the ground to help displaced families."
As a secondary option, our club board of directors are exploring the possibility of sending money directly to Rotary clubs in Poland to directly help with humanitarian needs. More information will come forward if this option comes to fruition.
How to donate:
- Go directly to the RI website https://www.rotary.org click the "donate" box in the right-hand corner. This takes you to another screen where you may choose the donation dollar amount via a credit card.
- Send a check directly to my address: 5735 Los Alamos Ct, Santa Rosa, CA 95409. Indicate in the memo: Ukraine and I will forward the funds to RI. (The payee should be Rotary International Disaster Relief Fund.)
As a side note: Any funds donated, can be used for Paul Harris recognition.
Please let me know if you have any questions or I can help in any way.
We have overcome so many challenges these past two years and changed numerous lives. It brings me great joy that we have worked so hard this year to grow Rotary through the Each One, Bring One initiative. The result has been excellent growth in membership. Let us keep up the momentum. I am happy that you have put a spotlight on all we do by organizing projects around the world in our Rotary Days of Service. The future looks brighter than ever for Rotary and our 1.4 million members.
On 11 March 2020, the World Health Organization declared that COVID-19 constituted a pandemic, and two years later it is important that we continue to draw on our expertise in our disease prevention and treatment area of focus to help people worldwide cope with the continuing challenges. The pandemic continues to defy all expectations, but we cannot be frozen in fear. Our work is too important. It is also important that we make time for each other, and I urge you to register for the upcoming 2022 Rotary International Convention in Houston. It is a great way for all of us to safely celebrate Rotary service.
We can continue to build hope and spread peace in the world by using our resources to help the most vulnerable and keeping our faith in the future. The pandemic has had an especially devastating impact on girls worldwide. On the first anniversary of the pandemic, Henrietta Fore, the executive director of UNICEF, said that “immediate action is needed to mitigate the toll on girls and their families.” This need, unfortunately, remains just as strong a year later. The ripples of the pandemic have affected girls in unique ways — stunting their educational attainment, weakening their job prospects, and contributing to other terrible results such as child marriages and increased human trafficking.
Data from UNICEF reveals why our action is so essential. In the 2010s, important progress was made toward eliminating the practice of child marriage, and UNICEF estimates that 25 million such marriages were averted worldwide. Unfortunately, the pandemic reversed those positive trends, and as a result an additional 10 million girls are vulnerable to becoming child brides by the end of this decade.
This is why our focus on Empowering Girls is such vital work, and I am delighted that at this year’s virtual International Assembly, President-elect Jennifer Jones committed to continuing this initiative for another year. In my travels, I have witnessed many wonderful examples of club projects that back our Empowering Girls goals. But all Rotary members know that real change requires big efforts sustained over many years. This is the power of our global grants and actions taken within our areas of focus.
I encourage clubs to think of innovative ways to empower girls when designing their grant projects. Every step we take to improve education, health care, and economic opportunities for girls makes an important difference in helping them achieve their full potential. With opportunity we create hope, and with hope we address the root causes of conflict around the world, setting the stage for sustainable peace.
None of us know how long the COVID-19 virus will linger — and as an organization that has worked tirelessly for decades to eradicate polio, we understand better than most the difficult work that lies ahead for the world. That is why we need to remain focused on the future and on what is possible — not feeling nostalgic for the way our lives were, but looking hopefully to a future that uses this opportunity to Serve to Change Lives. I look forward to continuing this good work with you.
In the mid-18th century, Benjamin Franklin wrote: “When the well’s dry, we know the worth of water.”
Right now, in the 21st century, many of us take water for granted because we have been fortunate to live in places where clean water is plentiful. But that’s not the case for millions of others around the world. The United Nations estimates that 2 billion people — about 1 in 4 people on the planet — lack safely managed drinking water. Just under half of the world’s population lives without access to safely managed toilets and sanitation systems, and nearly a third lacks basic hand washing stations with soap and clean water.
Isn’t it astounding that, in an age of instant information and space tourism, we still haven’t managed to guarantee the necessities of water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) to so many?
Rotary is doing something about it; WASH projects are among the most funded within our areas of focus: Since 2014, Rotary clubs have carried out more than 2,100 global grants related to WASH by using $154 million in Foundation funding, impacting countless people.
In addition, Rotary’s WASH alliance with USAID, more than a decade strong, is considered Rotary’s largest partnership outside of PolioPlus. Rotary and USAID have committed a combined $18 million in WASH funding to large-scale strategic efforts at the national level in countries such as Ghana and Uganda. The partnership unites the technical expertise of USAID’s development professionals with the local leadership and advocacy of Rotary members to find workable, sustainable WASH solutions in hundreds of communities. You can learn more at riusaidwash.rotary.org.
The theme of World Water Day, 22 March, is Groundwater: Making the Invisible Visible. This is an opportune time for clubs to learn more about WASH issues and take action collectively to create and sustain momentum for expanding access to universal WASH services. Rotary members can bring attention to the WASH challenges that impact us locally by sharing the stories, experiences, and WASH needs of those we serve globally.
We can be proud of the work that Rotary clubs and our Foundation continue to do to provide communities with clean water and working sanitation and hygiene systems. But let’s not stop there.
This month, let’s look out for our neighbors around the world whose wells are running dry or who lack toilets or soap. Rotary has the resources, partnerships, and passion to improve WASH services for millions in need worldwide. And most important, we have the people who can make it work — you and me.
The Rotary Foundation creates channel for direct humanitarian support in Ukraine region
In response to the deepening humanitarian crisis in Ukraine, The Rotary Foundation has created an official channel for donors around the world to contribute funds to support the relief efforts underway by Rotary districts and has designated its Disaster Response Fund as the main avenue for contributions.
To this end, The Rotary Foundation has approved:
Now through 30 June 2022, designated Rotary districts that border Ukraine and the Rotary district in Ukraine may apply for grants of up to $50,000 each from the Disaster Response Fund. These expedited disaster response grants can be used to provide relief to refugees or other victims of the crisis including items such as water, food, shelter, medicine and clothing.
During this same period, other impacted Rotary districts that wish to offer support to refugees or other victims of the crisis in their district can apply for $25,000 grants from the Disaster Response Fund.
Now through 30 April 2022, Rotary districts can transfer unallocated District Designated Funds (DDF) to support the Disaster Response Fund, directly supporting these Ukraine-specific humanitarian grants.
Contributions to the Disaster Relief Fund in support of Ukraine can be made here. All funds need to be received into the Disaster Response Fund by 30 April 2022 in order to qualify for use in support of the Ukrainian relief efforts.
Although the Disaster Response Fund will be the main avenue for Rotary Foundation support, Rotary and Rotaract clubs are also encouraged to create their own responses to the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine.
In addition to support provided through the Disaster Response Fund, the Foundation is coordinating with partners and regional leaders, exploring effective solutions to the increased humanitarian needs.
We are in contact with the United Nations High Commission on Refugees – USA to prepare for and respond to the needs of those being displaced in Ukraine and to neighboring countries.
ShelterBox, our project partner for disaster response, is in communication with Rotary members in Eastern Europe to explore how it may offer support with temporary transitional housing and other essential supplies.
The Rotary Action Group for Refugees, Forced Displacement, and Migration is also mobilizing its resources to assist in this crisis.
More than 2 million people have fled Ukraine and are in dire need of emergency aid. The United Nations estimates that number could grow to as many as 5 million people displaced. Rotary clubs in Europe and around the world have stepped up their relief work, some working on the ground to help displaced families.
We will continue to monitor the situation in Ukraine and neighboring countries. Visit My Rotary and follow Rotary on social media to stay updated on how clubs can get involved and what actions Rotary members have taken and the impact it has had for people in the region.
For all other questions and to obtain more information, please contact the Rotary Support Center at rotarysupportcenter@rotary.org.
Rotary Club of Santa Rosa Sunrise - Founded June 30, 1986
.png)
.png)
