It was our first meeting of Fall and we had a great turnout! Twenty eight Naples Rotarians were joined by 7 guests including Anna and Uryu, our exchange students. Frank also welcomed Rotarians Don Poole from Canandaigua and Chip Weismiller who will soon return to Vero Beach. Our new member Kelli Becka and past member Nardine Paquin also joined us. Our speaker tonight was Jess Alinaitwe from the Uganda Water Project.
President Elect Jack rang the opening bell at 6:03 pm and led the Pledge. John picked You're Grand Old Flag for our song. Rose's invocation quoted Pope Francis: "Living for others is a rule of nature. We are all born to help each other. No matter how difficult it is, life is good when you are happy but much better when others are happy because of you."
Calendar highlights:
9/26 8 pm Rotary 201, online
9/28-9/29 Grape Festival!
9/30 Noon Building Minds in South Sudan
10/7 Noon Bruce and Betty on Camp O
10/9 6 pm Rotary Lite, location TBD
10/14 6 pm Grady Grove RYLA
10/21 Noon Club Assembly
10/24 5:30 pm World Polio Day at Brew & Brats
Announcements: Rose created a box for Program Ideas that will be placed at the sign in desk. *Bristol Valley Theater has a Fall for the Arts season and a raffle going on. Rose has info and tickets. *Frank thanked everyone who helped at Camp O this year. He handed out info for upcoming events and raffle tickets for the November 1, 2024 Annual Dinner. *John told us that "America the Bountiful", a PBS show, will be filming the Grape Fest on Saturday. Monier St. at Main will be closed off. We will have 11 Swedish Friendship Rotarians here too.
New Member Kelli Becka was inducted tonight. John is her sponsor and was joined by Liz, Jack, Rose and Cindy for the ceremony. Welcome to Naples NY Rotary Club, Kelli!
John introduced our speaker, Jess Alinaitwe. She is an advisor and manager for the Uganda Water Project (UWP) based in Lima NY. She has been involved since 2014, living in Uganda after learning of the needs for clean water there while a student at Houghton College. Her husband is Ugandan. Uganda is located near the equator in Africa, near Lake Victoria. Most people have to spend much of their day, every day, walking long distances to get water, much of which is not fit to drink. Children miss out on education because of the need to acquire water daily.
The Uganda Water Project is working to make this the last generation of children who walk for water. Currently most middle schoolers start carrying containers, weighing 45 lbs. from water pits also used by animals. The UWP uses multiple means to bring clean water to villages, medical facilities and schools. Excellent filters cost $75, provide 200 gallons a day and last 10 years. For $2000, bore hole wells can serve 500-1000 people. They are accessed by a hand pump and must be 100 ft. deep. A quarter of these may not be functioning due to age or poor construction. Rain water collection systems with 8' storage tanks cost $3800 but provide for 250 people for 30 years. Newer options are wells with immersible solar powered pumps. UWP has sponsored 1770 projects in 16 years, helping 83875 people in 2023 alone. Jess feels so fortunate to be a part of such an amazing mission. As one of the providers at a health care center said "Water changes everything".
Happy Bills today went to Jess's program tonight and her efforts for UWP. Many welcomed Kelli to Rotary. The Smiths said that Parker is doing well in Sweden. We are happy to have our exchange students here. Chip was wished a good winter in Florida. We look forward to a great Grape Fest with good weather reports. We share our concern for several friends facing health issues.
Welcome back to Nardine!
Ace of Hearts pot is $243 with 14 cards left. Chip had the winning ticket but picked the King of Spades. A Rotary Moment from Carrie happened when she picked up Anna and Uryu from an overnight. Grady rode along and was happy to see a friend from his RYLA group!
Following the Four Way Test, Jack adjourned at 7:10 pm - in plenty of time to get home for the Bills game!
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