Jennifer spent a month in Africa visiting Tanzania, Zimbabwe and Rwanda with a group of friends from Reno.
They participated in both Jeep and walking safaris and were surrounded by hippos while looking for lions!
Various non-profit groups provided them with information on the anti-poaching and conservation efforts currently being implemented in the areas they visited.
They has the opportunity to meet with a Maasai Chief and his family and were introduced to and supported various small business women.
While visiting a couple of schools they donated supplies and provided education on dental care.
They met a family of silver backed gorillas while trekking through the mountains of the rainforest of Rwanda and visited the Genocide Memorial Museum in Kigali, Rwanda, which was both devastating and proves how resilient the human race can be in the face of adversity.
Marrianne McBride, President and CEO of the Council on Aging, was our speaker at Thursday’s breakfast. The mission of the Council is to enhance the quality of life for our aging community by providing services that promote well-being and maintain independence. There are approximately 130,000 seniors in Sonoma County and this number will greatly increase in the next few years. Seniors face many challenges that they may not have anticipated while they were younger. For example, 25% of seniors outlive their ability to drive, which in an area with poor public transportation like Sonoma County, leaves these seniors unable to get around without outside help. Seniors also often lack financial security and feel that they are out of touch with their communities and not respected.
The Council on Aging works to lessen the negative aspects of aging with a variety of programs, including case management, the Family Justice Center, a fee-based ongoing care program, disaster case management, a legal program helping seniors with basic probate and trustee issues, senior peer support and a health and mental health service. The Council is also currently working on programs to lessen the serious housing deficit in Sonoma County for seniors, and recently purchased, with donor support, 5 new manufactured homes intended to help those who lost their Journey’s End homes in the fire. Marrianne also gave us some tips for a long and healthy life: limited coffee and wine are ok, eight hours sleep per day, a diet based on plants, movement, and a sense of purpose. Especially for seniors, a balanced life should have some spiritual component, socialization and engagement.
Marrianne did not have enough time to speak about the Council’s most recent program, Age Friendly Sonoma County, but it is fully described on the website at www.agefriendlysonomacounty.org. Many thanks to Marrianne for her informative presentation and let’s keep the Council on Aging in mind as we develop our volunteer and giving programs.
On a regular basis, our resident photo pros Warren Smith and Jack Strange submit 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 and Jack!Link to Meeting Sightings. The most recent are on the last page!
Students from Kagashima smile with delight and relief after a rigorous session picking, bagging, weighing and crating what seemed like tons of Bosch Pears at the Redwood Empire Foodbank, directly following the Rotary meeting on August 16. Along with Sunrise chaperone drivers (back row, right) Marina Gachet, Ken Petro and Merle Hayes, students worked diligently for just under two hours to fill three four-by-four-by four crates of bagged produce to be distributed to hungry families, seniors and children who apply for assistance.
Following their labors, the SRKSEP participants were given a tour of the warehouse filled with crates of carrots, bread and... a crate, just being brought in via forklift, of bright red pears.
Past President Merle explained to the students that the pears they packaged were not sent to market because they were irregular and would not be selected by customers who chose only perfect produce. Even though these pears were just as delicious and nutritious as their beauteous companions.
Following the Food Bank activity, the SRKSEP teens were transported to Exchange Bank to meet their coordinator, Shauna Lorenzen, and enjoy lunch surrounded by the bank's historical and financial assets.
Many of us may remember that long ago time when Sunrise treasurer Penny Millar was a blushing bride. And some of us still recall the day when she was called up in recognition of her anniversary. And she said, with a grin, "The Big One (1)." And the president, at that time, who was intent on significantly recognizing this momentous occasion, requested a "minimum of $5."
No longer honeymooners in the usual sense of the term, but still a lovely "young" (in anniversary years) couple, Penny announces yet another anniversary this month. Always a prominent membership recruiter, who has also brought in to Sunrise her husband, Paul O'Rear, Penny and Paul are now well into double digits in terms of anniversary years, much like the rest of club members.
Congratulations to Penny and Paul on their wedding bliss that continues to charm us over the years!
Where did Warren find this at the Rotary meeting...???
Always on the lookout for a "photo op," Sunrise photographer Warren Smith, who also is Past President and one of our "Founding Fathers," snapped this gem at our last meeting. Where did he find it? And who else at the meeting noticed it and can report it to our president, at the next meeting?
1. ____ It was in a poster on the wall.
2. _____ One of the SRKCEP students had this on her backpack.
3. _____ A Rotarian wore this on the back of her jacket?
4. _____ Shauna Lorenzen displayed this as part of the new SRKCEP logo
5. _____ This was not at the meeting. It is a ruse to check on Sunrise early morning perception abilities.
Coming up on the 30th of this month is our initial step trekking toward enhanced membership activity engagement. Between 5:00 and 7:00 PM Jenifer Adams has negotiated a group drop in at Redwood Empire Food Bank.
You will have the “Hands-On” role in preparing nutritious meals for distribution to our less fortunate community members.
This opportunity is an excellent time to invite friends who have an interest in community service and Rotary engagement.
Rumor has it that following our work, we will nourish ourselves, catching up and catalyzing the energy unique to Sunrise sup’s!
Service Project Chair Jennifer Adams announces the new Sunrise Rotary monthly service project to begin on August 30, from 5 - 7 p.m. at the Redwood Empire Food Bank.
SRKCEP participants load up on breakfast energy in anticipation of their trip to the Food Bank to also pack produce that will commence directly following the morning Rotary meeting.
Minutes later, at the Food Bank storeroom, the same breakfast partners are industriously "packing pounds of produce." See related story in this bulletin.
Note to Sunrise Rotarians: Check with SRKSEP chaperones Past President Merle Hayes and Ken Petro -- experienced food packers -- for advice on how prepare for, approach and master the delicate and complex art of packing produce that will feed Sonoma County's hungry families, seniors and children.
Jan Coulter Thanks Sunrise for its Donation to Minmahaw Students
Jan Coulter and her significant other, Andy Lennox, attended our August 16th meeting to thank the club for its donation to the young students from the Minmahaw School in Burma. Jan originally contacted the club through her employer, Linkenheimer. She presented a donation opportunity to help five young women graduating from the Minmahaw School with scholarships to the Asian University for Women. Although they had full scholarships, they could not attend the University without additional help for such items as travel costs, visa and passports, and miscellaneous items. The club donated $1,000 to help these young women with the incidental costs. This donation opportunity allowed the club to partner with a couple of great organizations (including Linkenheimer) and help some wonderful young women in a very tangible way. By the way, we received great letters from each of the students. Good Job Sunrise!
Beaming with an extra special glow, Sunriser Carmen Fuentes Gutierrez announces that we need to list her on attendance forms as "two" until January when Sunriser Jr. will make his grand entrance. Carmen, who has served the Sunrise club in various significant positions, has found a new way to continue delivering services with a new expansion innovation. Welcome to the very, very youngest Sunriser among us!
Rotary Club of Santa Rosa Sunrise - Founded June 30, 1986
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