This week at Rotary the virtue was Empathy!
Jessica Navarro read the virtue through Zoom! Her personal experience with empathy was growing up without anyone explaining what empathy was. In her home there were no emotions. Her parents were hard working, conservative immigrants. "We didn't ask for help and we didn't want sympathy." Later in life she discovered the meaning of empathy. She began to communicate her experiences to others. Through empathy she found freedom. She could finally bridge the gap between her past and her present. "Let's move forward to a society that has more empathy when people are sharing their stories!"
Reading Partners is a program similar to Rotary Readers. Our speaker was a teacher for 39 years. Last year she participated in Rotary Readers at Jefferson. It was a great experience. She wanted the kids to experience the book and not just read it.
Brandon Gliem suggested she try Reading Partners. Jefferson and Lincoln schools have teachers monitoring the program. it's 45 minutes with each student twice a week. 10 minutes of prep and 5 minutes to summarize what they read. There is a less than 2-hour training for those interested in volunteering. Anyone interested in serving in this way please consider Reading Partners.
Brandon led fellowship with law enforcement questions for each table. These questions came from the police officer exam.
-Mark Kenney was excited to work at an election judge! There was a great turn out!
