About 300 miles south of Ciudad Juarez, one of Mexico's most dangerous cities, is the small town of Guerrero in central Chihuahua. The community is home to the Guerrero Clinic, which has weathered neighboring drug wars and financial setbacks to treat the poor since 1980.
Walter Branson, a member of the Rotary Club of Brazosport, Texas, in the United States, has been involved with the clinic since 1983. Branson says the governor of Chihuahua credits the clinic with providing 60 percent of indigent care in the state.
The drug wars in Mexico, which began in 2006, initially scared away U.S....
Ron Burton has made the world his office.
Over the past year, the Rotary International president has traveled more than half-a-million miles across 50 countries, to inspire and motivate Rotary's 1.2 million members. Although many encouraged him to use cheaper, virtual alternatives, he believes it takes face-to-face engagement.
"I was the first president to have a Google Hangout and have done Facebook chats," Burton says, reflecting on his term, which ends at midnight 30 June. "But I asked Rotarians this year to Engage Rotary, Change Lives, so I needed to live that as well, by sitting at...
Ever wonder why the Rotary year begins 1 July? The international convention initially played a key role in determining the start date of our fiscal and administrative year.
Rotary's first fiscal year began the day after the first convention ended, on 18 August 1910. The 1911-12 fiscal year also related to the convention, beginning with the first day of the 1911 convention on 21 August.
At its August 1912 meeting, the Board of Directors ordered an audit of the International Association of Rotary Clubs' finances. The auditors recommended that the organization end its fiscal year on 30 June to...
This week, the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) was detected in a sewage sample collected in March 2014 near São Paulo, home of this year's World Cup. Brazilian authorities are conducting further investigations to rule out any local spread, but at this time no cases of polio have been reported in Brazil, which has been polio-free since 1989.
Genetic sequencing found the positive sample to be most closely related to a virus found in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, in March. The risk of further exportation of polio from Equatorial Guinea remains high as...
Marta Lopez bakes up to 100 items a day in a small clay oven. Higinia Reyes owns a corn mill. Remigia Dominguez is the head of a weaving co-op. All of these women live in rural Honduras and run their own businesses with the support of loans provided by the Adelante Foundation and Rotary International.
The rural villages of the Lenca Corridor in the western highlands of Honduras are home to some of the poorest indigenous people in the country. This is where the Adelante Foundation, a microlender, finds poor women who want to become self-sufficient business owners.
Adelante collaborates,...
Our speaker for June 2 was Jim Dahl, Liaison for Senator George Runner, member of the State Board of Equalization from District 2. He presented an overview of the types of taxes, the history of the agency and talked about some of the things that effect business and tax assessor offices.
Jim is based in Redding and serves five counties in the surrounding area including Plumas. The Board oversees the collection of sales, use and 30 other tax types including the Cal Fire fee. Interestingly, the California Board is the only one elected by the voters. In all other states they are appointed. There are only four districts, each one representing approximately nine million people.
The district offices such as the one Jim manages are operated to provide support to tax assessors and collectors, small businesses and tax payers. They offer personal support, provide seminars on new and changing tax regulations and provide online services as well. For more detailed information, you can go to their web site at boe.ca.gov/info/agencyhistory.htm
Quincy Rotary Student Ambassadors to Ballarat, Victoria, Australia
We had as our guests two sophomores from Quincy High School who are going to be short term exchange students to Ballarat, Victoria, Australia. Ashlin Hamlin is looking forward to her experience in Ballarat. When asked to share her likes, she mentioned reading and travel and thinks this will be a great travel experience. She is anxious to meet her host family and begin school to meet and make new friends. Riley DuPont has been playing sports for most of his life. First it was baseball, then American football and soccer. Perhaps he’ll get a chance to see some Australian Rules football while in Ballarat. Riley said he was most looking forward to the experience of learning about the culture and the people and how they are the same and different. Riley and Jim are just finishing their sophomore year and will be entering tenth year while in Ballarat. Riley said that while it looks like they will be repeating, he’s sure it will be a totally new experience.
These two young people are sure to be excellent representatives of Quincy and the Quincy Rotary Club. We wish them well and look forward to a report of their experience when they return.
Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) is a program of Rotary International that is funded and supported by each Rotary District. The program encourages servant leadership in youth by recognizing and rewarding deserving 11th grade students from each club area who are chosen to attend RYLA as an "award" for their past and present leadership and service activities. These select young people attend an all-expenses-paid camp where they are inspired by a diverse group of exceptional speakers, make life-long friends through fellowship activities, and discuss the ethical and social issues of today. These activities are conducted in an atmosphere of trust and respect. The result is that these students return to their schools and communities motivated to take on additional leadership roles and to find additional ways to serve. Some of the topics that arise in the course of RYLA activities and discussions include the ethics of positive leadership, the importance of communication skills in effective leadership, conflict management and problem solving, and building self-esteem and self-confidence. On April 21, Quincy Rotarians heard from some of last year’s attendees and met the three students who will be attending the 2014 Camp RYLA for high school juniors.
Two of last year’s attendees to the 8th Grade RYLA were unable to visit in the Club in the fall. Bret Beeson and Kai Hall talked about what they’ve done with what they learned to build better relationships between all their class mates. They hope to continue working with Dr. Segura to break down barriers and improve the high school experience for all students.
Last year’s students who attended Camp RYLA for high school juniors spoke briefly about their respective experiences. Kendall Hicks couldn’t “say enough good things about her experience and that it was surprising how much they learned in such a short time. As an example, she said she’d wanted to be a part of the ‘S’ Club, but that she didn’t think she was ‘S’ Club worthy, but her RYLA experience inspired her to get involved. Kendall hopes to attend U.C. Davis after high school. Claire Hopson also had a great experience. Her advice to those going this year? “Go into it with an open mind.” What did she learn? “RYLA helped me learn how to stand strong as an individual.” Claire plans to take a ‘gap’ year and travel to Peru, Honduras and Argentina for language immersion and to serve by doing volunteer work.
Quincy Rotary will be sponsoring three students for Camp RYLA this year – Abbey Edwards, Dale Morgan and Ava Hagwood. Abbey is the president of this year’s Junior Class at QHS. She is looking forward to the opportunity and hopes it will make her a better leader. Dale is Junior Class Vice-President. His brother is a former RYLA graduate. Dale looks forward to growing as a person.. Ava is also excited. She said there have been a lot of challenges to overcome as a junior class leader, and she hopes to gain skills to motivate her class as they move into their senior year.
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