Twas the day after Grape Fest and all through the Redwood, Rotarians gathered to celebrate a great weekend together! Our numbers were less than a usual meeting, 15 members and two guest speakers, but not unexpected after the energy spent over the weekend! Celebration of our success and fun, in spite of the rain on Saturday, was palpable!

 

Cindy greeted while Frank was at jury duty today. Our special speakers were Sebastian Maroundit and Mary Rees from Building Minds in South Sudan (BMISS).

 

President Karen opened the gathering with the bell, followed by the Pledge. John led us in God Bless America. Rose gave an invocation thanking God for the Peace, Creativity, Camaraderie  and Joy of working together at the Naples Grape Festival!

We sang September birthday congratulations to Tony, Micah, Alan and Blanche and for Judy and Skip's anniversary.

Calendar updates are listed below and on the website. Rose reminded the Light Up Naples committee of our first meeting on Wednesday at 6 pm at her home. Additional volunteers are welcome to join in!

John thanked everyone for their participation in the success of the Grape Festival with a hint of records being broken - more info to follow! Jo Anne echoed her thanks as well, saying she saw the best collaboration ever in this year's volunteers!

 

Sebastian is a familiar visitor to our Club and he introduced Mary as a founding member and a board member of BMISS. She greeted Sebastian when he first arrived in the US 23 years ago. He views himself as one of the lucky ones who came here with the Lost Boys who escaped the civil war in Sudan. He first went to Ethiopia then had to escape again to a refugee camp in Kenya. He became a US citizen in 2007. He was able to then return to South Sudan to see his mother after 18 years. There, the children, all boys, were being taught under a tree. He became committed to building schools in his village to educate and enhance the lives of the entire community. In the years since they have built  classrooms that teach 959 students, 300 of which are girls. Historically, girls were not allowed to go to school but Sebastian has been working diligently to change that cultural tradition. He went to the village chief to ask for more schooling for girls. Still, the students had a building but were sitting on the ground. He showed a slide of the benches that were funded by our Naples Rotary Club! Mary's late husband Jim has also been instrumental in funding help for expanding facilities. Recently 800 girls are now attending a new school. Donors in Brighton have funded solar lamps, given to students so they can study and read after dark. A new high school has been named for donor Bill Cook. Future plans include solar lights for all students, lap tops with Starlink connections and a PreK program next year. Sebastian will soon be speaking at an international conference on education for girls and women. He has been working for many years to help get girls to school by providing them with sanitary pads. He continues to fight for breaking the cultural barriers to education for girls in South Sudan and other neighboring countries. 

 

The Ace of Hearts was up to $259 today with 13 cards remaining. Jo Anne had the winning ticket and drew the ACE OF HEARTS! Congrats Jo Anne!

Happy Bills today thanked Sebastian and Mary for all they are doing for South Sudan and especially for the future of the girls. The Naples Grape Festival success, JoAnne's win and Judy Miller's surgery were also on our minds.

 

A Rotary Moment was the use of poker chips for bathroom trips from the Beverage Garden, which turned into a comedic moment for the hardworking Rotarians.

Rose recalled her discussion with her stunned teenage granddaughter about a Rotary Magazine article that discussed cultural issues worldwide about menstruation.

 

We also welcomed Nardine back to Rotary!

Laurie circulated a sweet greeting card for longtime member Jane Schenk who is in our thoughts.

 

Karen led the Four Way Test and adjourned the group at 12:52pm. Have a great week!

 

Note: Correction to 9/23/24 Grapevine - our guest from Canandaigua Rotary was Ken Poole.