There will be no Thursday gathering of The Rotary Club of Rochester this week. Rotarians and friends who previously registered will meet in the pavilion at Willow Creek Golf Course tomorrow, September 16, 12 - 1 pm, for boxed lunch, a meeting, and Rotary Speed Networking. Tee times for those who registered to play golf will begin after 1 pm. Social distancing will be followed, and masks will be worn unless eating.
If you didn't register to attend this year's Rotary Golf Outing and still want to enjoy Rotary during your day, join fellow Rotarians at White Oaks Park (4597 55 St. NW) Wednesday evening for community service. Rotarians and friends and family of all ages gather at the park at 6 pm to make sure the park is clean and safe while enjoying the outdoors and each other.
Finally, the Rotary Ethics Workshop Team will meet on Friday via Zoom at 7:30 am. This 3-club group coordinates and hosts our annual workshop for high school students. Although the workshop will not take place in person this year, the team is working to host the event online. If you are interested in learning more about this team, please contact Lorie Luedke or Stacey Vanden Heuvel.
STRIVE mentoring will look different this year. The high schools are starting the school year with distance learning, which means STRIVE will begin the year with virtual meetings between the students and the mentors.
John Marshall and Mayo High School will be on a different type of schedule this year. Instead of the traditional 8-period day, the day will be a 4-period day. The schedule is called an A/B block schedule. Periods 1 through 4 will be on A day and periods 5 through 8 on B day. Class periods will be longer.
STRIVE meetings will be held during the school day, but closer to the noon hour. This will allow the students to attend a STRIVE meeting and meet with their mentors closer to the end of a class and right before the student’s lunch. The meetings at John Marshall will be on Tuesday and Mayo on Wednesday, both at 11:00 am and the RALC, Wednesday at 11:15 am. We plan to have the main meeting shorter. Students and mentors would break into small groups, so the mentor and student would have time to get to know each other and develop a rapport. Mentors will still discuss how the student is doing in his/her classes and what if anything he/she could do to improve. Most likely we will use Goggle Meet since that is the virtual meeting platform the school district uses, and students have access to.
We write to you because we need your help in keeping a successful program that benefits young students in Rochester high schools. The program is called STRIVE which is an acronym for Students Taking the Renewed Interests in the Value of Education. STRIVE is a mentorship program for high school seniors who have faced some academic challenges but want to make the most of their last year of high school. The STRIVE program, initiated in Rochester in 1999, and since has operated successfully in all three public high schools and now has a program at the Rochester Alternative Learning Center.
The program requires many hours from volunteers to make this successful which is why we can use our funds for scholarships, events, and materials used solely for and by the students. Over the past years, we have a greater than 95% graduation rate and 85% of those went on to post-secondary education with many returning to the local workforce.
The mentors in this program are not just Rotarians in Rochester but are concerned business, medical, and other community persons who have a caring for the education of students and our future.
September is upon us, and unfortunately, so is Covid-19. We have been in continued contact with the field teams in Guatemala and would like to keep you all updated on the status of the project through the pandemic.
Updated Data on the Project:
140 families have enrolled in the project (100% of goal)
140 completed baseline surveys
79 follow up surveys completed at 6 months of enrollment (enrollments have been at 10 families/month, so this is on a sliding scale)
14 families have completed 12 month follow up surveys (with sliding scale enrolment, this was on track when the pandemic hit)
65 gardens have been built to date (the rest of the gardens were slated to be built this summer. We are making plans to assure that remaining gardens will be implemented)
19 families have completed a follow-up survey from the garden implementation
All 140 families have been receiving nutrition intervention and growth charting on their children
Rotary and its GPEI partners celebrate a monumental achievement, say global eradication of wild polio is possible with the continued dedication and persistence of Rotarians.
The World Health Organization (WHO) on 25 August announced that transmission of the wild poliovirus has officially been stopped in all 47 countries of its African region. This is a historic and vital step toward global eradication of polio, which is Rotary’s top priority.
After decades of hard won gains in the region, Rotary and its partners in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) — WHO, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, UNICEF, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and Gavi, the vaccine alliance — are proclaiming the milestone an achievement in public health. They offer it as proof that strong commitment, coordination, and perseverance can rid the world of polio.
The certification that the African region is free of wild poliovirus comes after the independent Africa Regional Certification Commission (ARCC) conducted thorough field verifications that confirmed no new cases and analyzed documentation of polio surveillance, immunization, and laboratory capacity by Cameroon, Central African Republic, Nigeria, and South Sudan. The commission had already accepted the documentation of the other 43 countries in the region.
This is our LAST CALL for nominations for selecting District 5960’s District Governor for the 2023-2024 Rotary year.
I have already shared that the journey from applying, interviewing, preparing, and doing the role, was nothing short of amazing. I shared that the role of District Governor is a very rewarding one. I have shared that as District Governor, you are not alone. We have the Council of Governors, the Board of Directors, and our District Office Administrator Kathy Hughitt in place for support along the way. Certainly, you will have the support of your Club as well, since they need to endorse your nomination.
Now I am asking you to share. If you meet the qualifications below, I ask you to consider sharing your knowledge, passion, and experience in Rotary with the rest of the District by applying for this very important role.
Scrip cards to Apollo Liquor, Kwik Trip, and Menards are still available for purchase to support The Rotary Club of Rochester. Remember, you purchase and spend the cards at face value, and the club receives 5% back from Apollo Liquor and Kwik Trip, and 4% back from Menards. The club gets an additional 5% on purchases at Kwik Trip, other than gas, inside the store.
If you would like to make a scrip purchase, please email the Rotary office with your request. Apollo is sold in $10 increments, and no change is given in store. Kwik Trip may be purchased in increments of $5 up to $25, increments of $25 up to $100, and then $200, $250, and $500. Credit remains on the card until the full value is spent. Menards cards may be purchased in any denomination between $10 and $2000 with the credit remaining on the card, as well. Apollo and Kwik Trip cards will be delivered within a few days, and Menards cards may take up to two weeks. Scrip cards make especially great gifts for celebrations, including birthdays and graduations!
Separate from the Scrip program but another way to support Rotary is Amazon Smile. If you are already shopping on Amazon, please consider shopping Amazon Smile instead. Same items are available, but if you designate The Rotary Club of Rochester Foundation as your organization of choice, Amazon donates a portion of your purchase to RCRF. Thank you for your support!
Scrip cards to Apollo Liquor, Kwik Trip, and Menards are still available for purchase to support The Rotary Club of Rochester. Remember, you purchase and spend the cards at face value, and the club receives 5% back from Apollo Liquor and Kwik Trip, and 4% back from Menards. The club gets an additional 5% on purchases at Kwik Trip, other than gas, inside the store.