April 9, 2026 Notes by Jackie Lebow
Invocation: President Cara Sauceda opened the meeting by ringing the bell at 12:07 pm. David Hartman gave another timely prayer about peace and love.
Pledge and Song: Arnold Oliver lead the pledge followed by singing of “Daisy, Daisy.” Club members greeted one another in Rotary fashion.
Visitors and Guests: Dwight Thayer and Larry Stutte (both of Iowa Park Rotary Club), and Shelle Green were are guests.
Sunshine Report: None
Brag Bucket: Carla Dowlen provided the brag bucket. Her nephew did not play baseball this past week. Lisa Stephens-Musick mentioned that she has eight grandchildren and two of them played T ball against each other in Iowa Park. Jeff Sporei invited members to a concert by the MSU Singers tonight at 7:30 pm at the Akin Auditorium. He also noted that the MSU Maroon and Gold Giving Day concludes today at 4:00 pm. President Cara mentioned that her son is involved in the Homeschool 3 on 3 basketball tournament and was perfect in 3 pointers at the last game. Josh Phillips noted that his daughter played in the Dallas Club Soccer Tournament where there were 450 teams. Her team made it to the quarter finals for age 19 division. Congrats! Monica Horton had Pauli, our exchange student, as her guest today. Pauli recently achieved the highest score on record for the Star test. Monica also mentioned that the BBB is having a shred day on 4/18 for anyone wanting to shred documents. David Kelley mentioned that his parents just celebrated their 60th anniversary and he gave his parents a 2002 red T-Bird for their anniversary. Will Goodner reminded everyone about the stud donation program for the Habitat for Humanity at $100 each. David Spencer was pleased to announce that he now has turkeys on his ranch which he has not seen in several years. He is also going to his 50th reunion at the UT Southwest Medical School tomorrow.
Blue Badge Presentation: CMSgt Wilfred Morgan who is the Commandant of the NCO Academy at Sheppard AFB received an Honorary Rotarian Award. Noros Martin and President Cara made the presentation.
Announcements: District Training will be April 19, 2026, at the First United Methodist Church in Arlington, TX. If interested contact President Cara Sauceda.
Program: Global Eye Project presented by Dr. Anshu Chandra
Dr. Chandra gave a live video on-line presentation about the Global Eye Project in Haiti. Dr. Chandra is a fellow Rotarian and started her presentation by sharing how desperate eye care is in Haiti especially for children. She has been a doctor for 17 years and chose a life of service in her medical profession to help people see.
She started her career in the Himalayas helping children to see for the first time. Giving sight to people became her priority. She turned down numerous jobs offers so she could provide volunteer work. Her organization, The Global Eye Project, now serves twelve countries on four continents.
Her focus is on Haiti where there is devastation for those without eye care. People are going blind with eye conditions that are treatable if caught in time.
In 2015, the eye clinic had one small room. Original goals were to provide rural access and make program sustainable. The Clinic grew rapidly and now has eleven exam rooms. By 2025, there have been 132,000 eye exams with 7,000 receiving special treatment. Community education consists of eleven audios as well as computer applications. 2019 Launched the treatment of premature babies with 1,500 served and 50+ receiving special treatment.
In 2027 the existing facility will be closed, and plans are underway for the new home. In 2025 land was obtained for the project. Phase 1 for the clinic needs $755,000 funding of which $195,000 has been donated. Phase 2 will be a surgical center and Phase 3 will be an optical lab. The US team is 100% volunteer and no paid staff.
Dr. Chandra is asking Rotarians to spread the word to clubs and districts throughout the U.S. to help fund the project and keep it going. The website is globaleyeproject.org.
Adjournment: President Cara adjourned the meeting at 1:01 pm with the 4 Way Test.