CASA of Sonoma County (Court Ordered Special Advocates)
The Sonoma County Court Appointed Special Advocates Program (CASA) serves abused and neglected children coming before the Juvenile Court for protection and rehabilitation services. The CASA Program provides every foster child a trained volunteer who will act as a consistent role model, advocate, and potential life connection.
Anytime a child is abused or neglected, it’s a tragedy – one that all too often scars victims for a lifetime. At CASA of Sonoma County, we help children victims of child abuse and neglect heal, feel safe and loved and have a “voice” in court, in schools, and in the community and thrive. Our Court Appointed Special Advocates, also called CASA volunteers are trusted adults in these children’s lives so they can have a chance of a successful future. They make sure foster kids don’t get lost in the overburdened legal and social service systems or languish in unsupportive foster homes. CASA volunteers stay with children until their court case is closed and the child is placed in a safe, permanent home. A CASA volunteer, trained by our program and appointed by the Juvenile Court Judge, provides the court with the comprehensive and objective information the court needs to make the most well-informed decisions and to help ensure positive outcomes for children and youth. These individuals not only advocate for children within the court, child welfare, and school systems but also form relationships with them that last for years. They receive ongoing support from CASA program staff to help them advocate effectively on a child’s behalf.
Our very special guest speaker for September 15, 2022, was our own amazing Dr. Peter Banks! Dr. Banks’ topic was “NASA’s Great Step.” Peter was introduced by Past President Eloise Tweeten, who reminded us that Peter has a master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Stanford and a PhD in Physics from Penn State University. His professional interests include space plasma physics, upper atmospheric phenomena, and startup technology companies! Peter has had a lifelong professional connection with NASA. He was in a NASA traineeship program before he went on to get his doctorate at Penn State. He’s been an advisor to NASA, a recipient of NASA funds, an outside critic, and a member of the National Academy of Engineering and Science.
NASA’s great next great step sets a new direction for a governmental institution that has done marvelous things over the past 40 years. The goal of Artemis is to go back to the moon and eventually to Mar and Venus. The program will involve tens of thousands of experts and require billions of dollars and will include a scientific study of the closest planets. Artemis astronauts will travel to the moon, Mars, and Venus. The rocket for the first launch to the moon was set for August 29th but has been delayed due to a technical problem.
The communications problem is complex. For example, you can’t communicate with Venus when the sun is in the way. How do you get people communicating with one another while travelling to the moon, Mars, and Venus? The command control and data network will be centered around a satellite just outside the earth’s atmosphere as the recipient of signals from satellites on the moon, Mars, and Venus. Peter also reminded us of the relative sizes of the planets compared to our sun. (The size ration of earth to sun is 1:108!) Some of the key challenges to the program are the sufficiency of human and electronic communications, the well-being of the astronaut crews, and the lack of rapid transport and delivery systems. For example, the communications speed will be relatively slow. We can send a communication to the moon in 8 or 10 seconds, but it will take 30 minutes to receive a communication from Mars. We’ll have to learn how to adapt to that problem. Peter expects the first 8 years of so of the program will focus on moon exploration.
Our thanks to Peter for the enlightening and entertaining presentation. With Peter’s insights we’ll have a much better fundamental understanding this program and the many challenges it faces!
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
Shauna Lorenzen presented Steve Amend with two Paul Harris Fellow awards honoring Walter and Alejandra Murillo.
Merle Hayes is JAZZED! The kick off for Elsie Allen High School's Interact Club saw 40 students in attendance and fifteen have signed up for the creek cleanup. She was especially impressed with one young new member who has a lot of great ideas for the Interact year.
Peter Hoberg announced a revelation his wife, Molly, discovered. It seems her printer can translate English text into Ukrainian. This is beneficial to one of her students from Ukrain.
Sunshine Report:
Dicksie Tomanha is recovering well and out of rehab after having knee replacement surgery with the added benefit of having her legs evened out!
Do you have Happy or Sad Dollars? There is no need to wait until the meeting. Send them to the editor.
Sunrisers Interact at the Santa Rosa Creek for Worldwide Clean Up Day
Last Saturday 10 Sunrise Rotarians and 7 Elsie Allen Interactors spent 2 ½ hours cleaning up the Prince Greenway stretch of Santa Rosa Creek.
This was part of an organized creek clean up project put together by the City of Santa Rosa with a total turnout out of about 60 Santa Rosarians of all ages.
Being part of Worldwide Clean Up Day, not only was plastic, metal and paper debris collected, bagged and taken away but each team of participants catalogued what exactly what they collected. The results are being forwarded to an international data base being assembled so that there is real time knowledge of what types of debris are ending up in the rivers and creeks around the world. Besides the expected paper wrappers, cigarette butts, aluminum cans and single-use plastic bottles, Sunrisers also extracted a bicycle seat, two BBQ grills, a sleeping bag, pants, assorted glass and a bar of soap.
Joining the work crew from Sunrise Rotary were Peter and Mary Banks, Peter Hoberg, Del Raby, Katherine Anderson, Penny Millar, Paul O’Rear, Marty Behr, Jim Moir and Merle Hayes. A special shout out to Merle who organized the participation of the seven Interactors.
Marianella, Ana Lucia's sister views the poster made by Cherkasky Ukraine children and brought to Sunrise recently by Dan Lambert while advocating for relief to the area.
No stranger to oppression, Marianella and the Fonseca's share compassion and hope as they continue to rebuild their lives here in the United States. Luciana wears one of immediate Past President Jennifer Adams' debunking caps custom made by Penny Millar!
Enjoying a calmer moment, Marianella, Ana Lucia, Betsy and little 'n lively Luciana affirm their friendship sporting new matching tees.
What is more Ana Lucia is a great tour guide in her Ram 3/4 ton, sporting her and Xavier's USA and Nicaragua connection. Yes, in Florida it is legal for such a plate to be displayed ~ on the front only. This photo in Tarpon Springs started our tour of the Greek settled spong diving center founded in 1905 and continuing today. Of course we found a baclava bakery, olive oil and (shh cigars;).
If in Florida, of course a beach is near. we were treated to remarkabley warm water as we watched a dolphin frolic, pelican dive to dine and see two 5 year old strangers meet, play and leave as friends. A parent or two couldn't resist the opportunity to imagine and create outside their usual box. Xavier was nearby filling a bucket with the warm brine.
All that fresh air and exercise builds a good appetite. As luck would have it, the hunt for food at the end of the rainbow ended not at the golden arches, but the creamy Culver's, renown for frozen custard and other dairy delights. After some carbo and calorie loading we loaded ourselves into the truck for a brief tour of Clearwater's sundown scenes.
That is another story. The 5 year old on board was already sleeping. A full day, discovery of new places and reminding how 6 friends brought together years ago, far away, continue to connect on our common path toward Goodwill and Better Friendships.
Ana Lucia, Luciana and Xavier Fonseca show their enthusiasm with smiles of gratitude and anticipation. Since arriving in Sonoma County in 2018 they have advanced in their quest to resume their dental practice step by step and have been invited to interview for a residency program at St Vincent's Medical Center, Cleveland Ohio in November.
Currently residing in Florida where he earned his Dental Hygienist license, Xavier has been proceeding non-stop towards the goal of DDS practice here in the United States.
Ana Lucia has been working as a Dental Assistant toward the same goal as Xavier.
Betsy and I want to share a note of background to the link below.
In 2010 I travelled on my first of four trips to Nicaragua with Santa Rosa Sunrise Rotary. Since then Betsy has served on three successive missions and our son Brett participated in 2018.
Our daughter Rebecca is a future candidate.
To say these service missions for vision and dental relief were life-changing would be an understatement. In 2010 I met Xavier, then a dentist and Public Health Doctor working for Colgate in Nicaragua. In 2016 Betsy and I met Ana Lucia, now married to Xavier. Ana Luci is also a dentist and Public Health Doctor. They volunteered extensively with our missions and in 2017 their daughter Luciana was born.
In 2018 the political climate in Nicaragua became oppressive to government outsiders like Xavier and Ana Lucia. After deep discernment Xavier and Ana Lucia decided Luciana’s future was more secure elsewhere. They travelled here as tourists and commenced then courageous rebuilding of their lives when they realized the very real threat to them in Nicaragua.
On April 25, 2019, Xavier and his family were granted political asylum status. Since then, he and Ana Lucia have taken advanced courses toward their goal of licensure in the United States. They relocated to Florida in 2021 and both are working in dental clinics while continuing to study and prepare for licensure as dentists.
Throughout their resettlement in Sonoma County and then in Florida, their focus, commitment to each other and Luciana has been an inspiration to Betsy and me and others who are observing this family adapt, adjust and persevere toward a life of service and stewardship of their God given talents.
I could go on, and Betsy and I are eager to share our experience and hopes for this remarkable couple. Their story is one of hope, faith and love. Adversity kindled it. Commitment has sustained it. Your support can advance it.
On November 5, Xavier and Ana Lucia have interviews at St Vincent’s Medical Center in Cleveland. A four-day pre “bench test” prep course, travel and exam is $7,000 each. The program begins in July of 2023. This residency program has a 12-candidate cohort. My confidence in Xavier and Ana Lucia to succeed in the two-year program is firm.
Take this opportunity to contribute toward a fuller future and shining smiles for many.
When I overheard one of my cashiers tell a customer, "We haven't had it for a while, and I doubt we'll be getting it soon," I quickly assured the customer that we would have whatever it was she wanted by next week. After she left, I read the cashier the riot act.
"Never tell the customer that we're out of anything. Tell them we'll have it next week," I instructed her. "Now, what did she want?"
While Silicon Valley is among the world’s most affluent locales, hunger and income disparities strain food distribution programs in the area. For the past two years, the Rotary Club of Saratoga, California, has been a continuing presence at Martha’s Kitchen, a soup kitchen in San Jose, where members prepare food once a month. The club coordinated the $95,000 purchase of a refrigerated box truck so the facility could collect perishables and goods donated by organizations such as the Second Harvest of Silicon Valley, a food bank that covered half the truck’s cost. “The soup kitchen itself does not have extensive storage facilities. The truck helps so food doesn’t spoil,” says Sangita Seshadri, immediate past president of the club. With $3,000 contributed by the Rotary Club of Bangalore West, India, the project shows the power of international friendships. “Typically, people look at the developed countries giving to the developing countries,” Seshadri says. “There is need all over, and when we talk about partnerships, it is both ways.”
Brazil
A year after some of its members participated in their municipality’s inaugural road rally, the Rotary Club of Campo Novo do Parecis ventured into a bigger role as a principal driver of the event. The Travessia do Parecis, held in April, followed a roughly 120-mile route in the west-central state of Mato Grosso, with 87 vehicles and 261 motorists participating.
“The setting for the event is full of natural beauty — spectacular waterfalls, rivers with crystal clear waters — and indigenous culture,” says Adriano Paz, a club member and organizer who, with his wife, Heloisa, finished second at the intermediate level. About 35 of the club’s 44 members handled food and beverage chores to help the club raise more than $4,200.
This story originally appeared in the September 2022 issue of Rotary magazine.
Rotary Club of Santa Rosa Sunrise - Founded June 30, 1986
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past two years, the Rotary Club of Saratoga, California, has been a continuing presence at Martha’s Kitchen, a soup kitchen in San Jose, where members prepare food once a month. The club coordinated the $95,000 purchase of a refrigerated box truck so the facility could collect perishables and goods donated by organizations such as the Second Harvest of Silicon Valley, a food bank that covered half the truck’s cost. “The soup kitchen itself does not have extensive storage facilities. The truck helps so food doesn’t spoil,” says Sangita Seshadri, immediate past president of the club. With $3,000 contributed by the Rotary Club of Bangalore West, India, the project shows the power of international friendships. “Typically, people look at the developed countries giving to the developing countries,” Seshadri says. “There is need all over, and when we talk about partnerships, it is both ways.”
bigger role as a principal driver of the event. The Travessia do Parecis, held in April, followed a roughly 120-mile route in the west-central state of Mato Grosso, with 87 vehicles and 261 motorists participating.