The changes in our lives keep coming, not just day by day, it seems they occur hour by hour. The same is true for what is occurring with Rotary. There is constant contact with Rotary International, within our district, between the club Presidents, also with our club, and the opportunities that we are facing.
The first item is our meetings. Clearly we will NOT be meeting at Valentino’s for some time. I had been making arrangements for a meeting, outdoors, in a church parking lot, where appropriate social distancing could take place. The Mayor’s announcement tonight, limiting meetings to 10 people, ended that thought. Our next-best thought is a virtual on-line meeting via Zoom. We have been offered several methods of doing this, we just need to sort through how this will work, so be patient on that thought.
On Tuesday, I watched the Club 14 meeting via Facebook. The idea and content of the meeting were terrific, however Facebook was overwhelmed, and the broadcast was interrupted quite often. If we go to Zoom meetings, we will try to test the method first.
Next to discuss are our service projects. The Bair scholarship winner has been selected. The selected recipient is Evin Rasho, of Lincoln North Star High School. However, there are NO applicants for our four Lincoln East Rotary scholarships. These are to be submitted by April 15th. If you know of a graduating senior, you may want to connect with them, to contact their high school counselor on how to apply. Thanks to Lillie Larsen, Dave Caudy, and Dennis Schmidt for their work on this committee.
Board members had discussed meeting at the Food Bank on Wednesday mornings, to again package food, as a means of service and fellowship. Dick Coming found today that they are closed to any volunteers. Several of us have signed up to volunteer delivery of Meals on Wheels.
Club 14 is forming a Covid-19 Task Force. This Task Force is looking for ways to continue to provide service. They are inviting all clubs and Rotarians to join in on this. Their ideas at this time mirror the things we have done, plus asking Rotarians to donate their meeting lunch money to the Food Bank, and be pen pals. More will follow on this as time goes on.
Club 14 is also asking for donations to their Foundation to help with the financial struggles of those who are economically challenged by the Corona Virus. I would like to have us all consider donating to our Lincoln East Rotary Foundation, and have our Foundation designate those specific funds for distribution locally, or to the Rotary International Foundation for global impact. Checks could be sent to Gordon Bair or Wayne Casper for our foundation or to Minnie Stephens for the RI Foundation.
Your Lincoln East Rotary board will try to meet, either via Zoom, or in an open area, to continue our leadership. All of you please keep in contact with and encourage your friends, family, and other Rotarians, as we travel on this long hard road together.
Dennis has asked me to get started on the budget for 2020-21. May I ask for suggestions for service projects for the 2020-21 budget year. This may be a continuation of an existing project, expansion of an existing project, or a new project. Please send your suggestions to me via email at: (sunshine5254824@twc.com) or call me at 702-524-7199. This will allow us to hit the ground running when we can meet again.
Given the current pandemic and the mostly bad news, I thought I would share the good news of what’s happening in Zambia with the project we have been engaged with for so long. We have recently raised funds to conduct a 3-year nutrition project in Muzya where we have had success with water projects by drilling and repairing wells, conducting agricultural workshops and beginning a nutritional education program for mothers. The latter has been handicapped by a severe drought with limited access to food, and failure for the local folks to continue the project.
We realize that improving the lives of indigenous people and overcoming poverty takes a long time. Thus, the new project will carry on where we left off, but will begin by working with a small group of families by working more individually in their homes.
We are fortunate to have Lincoln East Rotarian Bob Simmering’s sister-in-law to oversee the project there. She has made 2 visits to the villages that have dams, to assess the interest of the leaders and mothers and to get their input as to how to solve the malnutrition problem. Because stunting (short of age), is a major marker for impaired mental and physical health in adulthood and is not easily recognized, it is important sensitize the villagers to this malnutrition problem.
Measuring babies has been neglected for a variety of reasons, so we will need to focus on this at this time. As the first step, we gave the health personnel a measuring mat which they did not have. Petronella, our liaison will send us the length and weight measurements on a selected basis and then Susanne Schuerman and others will plot them on a WHO graph to determine the degree of malnutrition. Should you have an interest in helping with this, that would be great. There is a short learning curve to do so, but with minimal IT skills it can be done.
Another positive development is we are close to having the funds to Pack the Pond i.e. providing fish for the dams, that will enable folks to give a nutritious supplement to infants in the first thousand days of life. If you want to contribute to this cause, send your check made out to the Lincoln East Foundation, noting Zambia donation fund, to me at the address below. Please let me know if you would like more information about the project. I love to talk about this project that Lincoln East has so faithfully supported.
Rotary is closely monitoring the pandemic of COVID-19, the illness caused by the novel coronavirus, and continuously assessing the potential impact on Rotary operations, events, and members.
Your health and safety are always our top priorities. Read more for information on Rotary activities that may be affected.
International delegation of Rotary leaders visits Pakistan in support of polio eradication
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan. – A delegation of Rotary International leaders from around the world traveled to Pakistan this week to meet with government leaders including Prime Minister Imran Khan, Minister of Health Dr. Zafar Mirza, Army Chief of Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa and Dr. Rana Safdar, head of Pakistan’s Polio National Emergency Operations Centre.
This was written by Rotarian A. B. Chappell, from Auckland. New Zealand and published in the songbook "Songs for the Rotary Club" in 1928. So Rotarian's you can continue to sing this creed, while staying safe and in good health.
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ellness Chairman Greg Schnasse has requested information in regard to any illness by club members and/or their family members.
