Iranian-born journalist Ali Reza Eshraghi, 35, is the Iran project manager at the Institute for War and Peace Reporting and a teaching fellow in the Department of Communication Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. After working as an editor at several Tehran newspapers – all of which were eventually banned or shut down by the government – he became a visiting scholar at the University of California, Berkeley, and met Pate Thomson and Mary Alice Rathbun, of the Rotary Club of Berkeley. In 2012, he completed his studies as a Rotary Peace Fellow at the Duke-UNC Rotary...
A project to provide clean water to all of Lebanon’s schools is uniting leaders from many of the country’s diverse religious, cultural, and political divisions.
In 2011, Rotary members in northern Lebanon decided to install new tanks and water filters in a few nearby schools with the help of a Rotary Foundation grant. The idea caught on and a few other clubs followed suit.
Two years later, District 2452 Governor Jamil Mouawad and other district leaders saw the potential of creating one giant water project that could reach every school and involve all 24 of the country’s Rotary clubs. They...
The World Health Organization certified on 27 March its 11-country Southeast Asia region has eradicated polio, a long-awaited declaration given that five years ago India represented nearly half of all polio cases worldwide. The region’s last wild polio case was reported in West Bengal, India, on 13 January 2011.
“This achievement is an important milestone for the Global Polio Eradication Initiative [GPEI],” said Rotary Foundation Trustee chair Dong Kurn Lee at the WHO’s South-East Asia Regional Certification Commission for Polio Eradication meeting in New Delhi, India, on 27 March. “We have...
On 27 March, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) will declare the South-East Asia Region of the World Health Organization polio-free, an important milestone in the worldwide effort to eradicate polio. The 11 countries in the region -- Bangladesh, Bhutan, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, India, Indonesia, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Timor-Leste -- are home to 1.8 billion people and represent the fourth of six regions worldwide to be officially certified polio-free.
We need your help to spread the news of this historic accomplishment. Share your voice by...
When the editors at Reader's Digest made a list of the "50 Surprising Reasons We Love America" for their July 2013 cover story, they placed Bruce Springsteen and Jon Bon Jovi at No. 50, Bill Gates at No. 25, and at No. 11, sandwiched between sliced bread and tumbleweeds, was Little Free Library, a homespun-tribute-turned-international-phenomenon started by Rotary member Todd Bol.
People in 55 countries have installed more than 16,000 Lilliputian lending libraries, run on the premise of "take a book, return a book," since Bol built his first in 2009 in memory of his mother, a teacher who loved...
Martha (Marty) Walters - Japan Disaster Coordinator
Our speaker on February 3 was our newest member Martha (Marty) Walters, who though not the scheduled speaker gave an excellent presentation on her experiences as a General Electric employee working in Japan at the time of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami and subsequent nuclear accident, the level 7+meltdowns at three reactors in the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power reactor explosion where G.E. had equipment and personnel. Marty was living outside Tokyo with her teenaged children who were in school when the event happened. Transportation was almost at a standstill. Marty had worked out communication with her children in the event of an emergency so she knew they were safe.
Unexpectedly, Marty became the disaster coordinator for all the employees and facilities in Japan. Many of the procedures she, in consultation with people from the U. S. and elsewhere, had to develop as circumstances arose during the aftermath, such as finding a way to transport employees and family members from the threatened areas. The government was not forthcoming with much information, she said, so relying on social media became one of the important sources of information. Many of the stateside employees were trying to get out of Japan as soon as possible but travel out of Tokyo was not available. They had to go to southern Japan to get flights.
There was also the fear of unsafe levels of radioactivity from the nuclear accident. One of Marty’s efforts was to work with people stateside to figure out what was a safe level and relay the information to the employees. She spoke of working 20 hour days with their offices in the States and a number of consultants just to manage of the many issues involved and answer the employee’s questions which were coming at an overwhelming rate. They were able to set up a single site where information would be available.
In a way, it was the earthquake and resulting eventsthat brought Marty to Quincy and our club. Her current business as a consultant came via her work as disaster recovery coordinator when one of the firms consulting with GE offered her a new position. It was an exciting and well-presented program.
Our latest Blue Badge Member, Darryl Swarm
Craig, Jim and Siegfried distributing dictionaries to 3rd graders at Quincy Elementary.
Randy updated us on how quickly his office is able to issue use permits due to the low number. He explained that the High Sierra Rural Alliance out of Sierra County has litigated the EIR on the new General Plan. He is also concerned about the drought and how it could impact the county.
Meeting Activities:
Our newest member, Marty Walters (Michael Henry sponsor) was inducted. She has a very interesting background having worked in the biohazard field and lived in Japan during the devastating earthquake, tsunami and nuclear melt down. She has three children and is interested in youth and international services.
Joe was fined $10 for his daughter's recent wedding. Johnny was fined $10 for promoting Ground Hog Day, February 1. There will be over 20 booths with lots of festivities and fun things to do. Walt reminded those that owe money for shirts and hats to square up with T'S 2 Go.
Bob remarked about The Rotary Foundation (TRF) and how 50% of your money comes back to the District to be distributed to clubs while the other 50% goes to international grants like the Uganda Nursing School. All administrative costs are paid by the interest on the money that is held for 3 years before it is distributed.
Suzan updated the Junior/High School on all of Rotary's youth service programs. She prepared an information board and talked up youth exchange, speech and music contests, 8th grade and RYLA leadership camps and the four scholarships we award every year. Craig is looking for 2 volunteers to help distribute dictionaries to 3rd graders at Quincy Elementary on Thursday, January 30, at noon. Thank you letters from the 3rd graders at the Christian School were passed around expressing how thankful they are for their new dictionaries.
Special thanks to John Sheehan, Rick Leonhardt, Dwight Pierson and Julie Hochrein for volunteering to be judges at the Quincy Elementary Spelling Bee held last Friday. Honorable Mention goes to Julie Hochrein for all her effort in preparing for the competition. Four students from each third through six grade classrooms earned the right to participate in the Spelling Bee. The winner, Emma Leff will be traveling to Redding to participate in the Regional Competition. Mike Flanigan got the golf bug and missed participating as a judge ($10 fine). Volunteer readers are needed for reading to the Quincy/Pioneer Elementary School at 11:00 a,m., Thursday, February 6, 2014. Those wanting to volunteer should call (283-3429) or e-mail Dwight Pierson at dwightpierson@gmail.com
Lori Simpson gave us a "State of Plumas County" overview on January 13, 2014.
Oakley Sims also told us of his grand stay in Quincy as an exchange student from Ballarat Australia. He is pictured here with Suzan Leonhardt, Youth Services Director.
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