It was a lovely fall day while 26 Rotarians met today at the Redwood, welcomed by smiling Frank. Joining us were our exchange students Anna and Uryu. Our speakers were our dedicated Camp Onseyawa volunteers - Bruce and Betty!

 

President Karen welcomed us and led the Pledge. Jack selected God Bless America for the patriotic song. Karen also gave the invocation asking us to look the best in others.

 

Announcements: Naples Library is sponsoring a mobile mammogram van from URMC on Saturday 11/16. Register at the Library for this free service for women over 40. * Frank has raffle tickets for a Camp O fundraiser and the annual dinner in Geneva on 11/1/24. * Rose has info on Fall for the Arts at BVT and a raffle for wine baskets and a "tree" full of NY lottery tickets. * John reminded us of World Polio Day on Thursday 10/24 at Brew & Brats. It's a pot luck and meet and greet so bring your friends! * Rotary Lite at 6pm Wednesday will be at Brew & Brats. Come for some casual social time together. * Jack announced the annual ecumenical concert at St. Januarius will be Sunday December 8. Light Up Naples will be the following Saturday, December 14. Stay tuned! Volunteers welcome!

 

Betty and Bruce have been participating for 6 and 8 years respectively at Camp Onseyawa. Each summer the camp takes place for two weeks in August and serves children with disabilities. It's located at Camp Whitman in Dresden on Seneca Lake. It is sponsored by Rotary Clubs in Ontario, Seneca, Yates and Wayne counties. This year, 89 kids, 65 staff and 12 volunteers had a 100% incredible time! Betty and Bruce enjoy giving their time and get so much back! The kids have many different kinds of disabilities and emotional issues. The counselors are amazing! Many take their vacation to donate their time to the camp. The camp day starts with a flag raising followed by breakfast. Next is clean up when the counselors plan the day and campers clean their cabins, go to the sensory room, or play music. The cabins are small with 4 kids each, with counselors near by in tents, monitoring activities 24/7.

For families, this may be the only time that parents get some respite from caregiving. Each cabin decides what activities to do for the morning. Options are frontier living, waterfront, fishing, archery and crafts. After lunch is siesta! It's the favorite time for many. Then, pool time is done one cabin at a time with shower time afterwards. A favorite activity is the cardboard and duct tape boat race in the pool! After dinner, evening activities can include a campfire, skits, talent night or just hanging out before bedtime. Betty and Bruce feel like they are part of a Big Family there! They encourage all to come to camp to see what a fantastic experience it is. Come for a day or a week, for set up or the carnival (Sunday of the second week). You will be glad you did! Volunteers are always needed and donations are very welcomed. Clean up day is October 19th. All 20 Rotary clubs involved pay an assessment each year. The cost is approximately $2000 per camper. This includes 2 nurses just for medications plus an EMT, counselors, food and the rest of the expenses. Betty hopes for some new golf carts soon! Next year they hope to build another shower facility. Camp O is another great expression of Service Above Self!

 

The Ace of Hearts started over with $22 and a full deck today. Karen had the lucky number 786 and pulled the Ace of Clubs.

A Rotary moment happened this week when Karen was visiting Nancy, Brenda stopped by to see what was going on, followed by Jack and Sharon checking in! Nancy was fine and smiling so all was well at an impromptu Rotary gathering!

Many Happy Bills went to Betty and Bruce's presentation and their long dedication to Camp O!

 

Karen led us in the Four Way Test, then the gavel hit the bell at 1:00pm.  Have a great week!