Bulletin from Club Meeting 08/25/2015

 
 
Members:
David Andrews
Joann Burak
Kristy Hebert
Meredith Robinson
Randy Spitler
Jason Sanchez
Yoko Toda
Dan Willeman
 
Guests:
Karen Babin
Max Hill (Rotaract Tulane)
Cassie Catalanotto (Days for Girls)
Kate Yoder (Days for Girls)
Mafo Kinnord (Days for Girls)
Shonda Diaz (Days for Girls)
 
Katrina 10 Program
Details on the Green Light New Orleans build.  Meet at A.L. Davis Park at 8 am.  The park is between LaSalle and Fourth Streets on the Freret Street side (across from KIPP Central City).  There will be a tent with signage, and a volunteer sign-in sheet.  Green Light will supply equipment, but it is strongly encouraged that you bring your own, particularly gloves, hedge clippers, shovels, etc.  Yoko and Jason plan to bring virtually their whole shed. 
 
We should receive instructions at 8:30 a.m., and walk/drive to our various project locations just after that.  There are likely to be at least 2 different areas we are working in, around the Saratoga St. and 7th St. intersection.  This will be about a 15 minute walk from A.L. David Park.
 
The project should complete by 12:30 p.m.  Lunch will be provided at the sign-in area.
 
Green Light New Orleans:
Green Light New Orleans is interested in partnering with us to build/maintain community gardens and to help with community garden education.  Expect more information on this partnership at upcoming meetings. 
 
Raffle tickets:
We sold a total of 383 raffle tickets.  Our sales translated to $3,830 doing directly into our budget for this years’ service projects.  In total, $125,000 was raised for various Rotary clubs in the New Orleans area.  We sold four out of the 30 winning tickets.  Way to go Riverbend! Next year we can sell out our entire allotment.
 
We need SPEAKERS:
We have a LOT of holes in our schedule, including this week, which is why tonight we went over our upcoming service projects.  Jason will be assigning each member to come up with a guest speaker in the coming weeks.  If you have someone who might make a good speaker, please let me, Meredith Robinson, or Anna Simpson know.
 
Update on our Rotary Postgraduate Scholar:
Anabel has arrived safely in New Orleans.  She unfortunately could not make the meeting as she has class on Tuesday evenings.  She is going to try to attend the Rotary Club of East New Orleans, which meets at UNO, on Tuesdays at 1 p.m.  Anabel will be at our Katrina10 service day on Saturday.
 
Guest Speaker – Cassie Catalanotto, Days for Girls
 
Cassie spoke about the Days for Girls mission with is to create a more dignified, free and educated world through access to lasting feminine hygiene solutions. Days for Girls International is a grassroots 501(c)3 non-profit. Women, and girls discover their potential and self-value, are equal participants and agents of social change and are given opportunities to thrive, grow and contribute to their community's betterment while ensuring quality sustainable feminine hygiene.  The Days for Girls vision is that for every girl and woman in the world with ready feasible access to quality sustainable hygiene & health education by 2022.​
 
What if not having feminine supplies kept you isolated during menstruation? No study for DAYS. No income for DAYS. No access to hygiene... for DAYS. It happens worldwide to women in impoverished communities. They miss up to 8 months of school in 3 years to this issue. Girls use leaves, mattress stuffing, newspaper, corn husks, rocks, the list goes on... all to try to stay in school. These often lead to painful infection. Worse, girls are often exploited in exchange for hygiene to keep them in school (see one girl telling her story here). This also affects early marriage, as menstruating girls who are not in school are considered "eligible" regardless of age. It turns out this issue is one of the keys to social change. It's hard to imagine, but true all over the world.
 
Days for Girls is an organization that is dedicated to supplying reusable feminine hygiene products to women and girls who do not have access to them.  In many developing countries, girls fall behind school because they are forced to miss classes when they are menstruating. 
 
Days for Girls creates reuseable feminie hygene products to give to these girls so that they do not fall behind.  Each kit includes clean panties, cloth pad liners, a button in pad, soap, two Ziploc bags, and a cloth drawstring bag.  All items are created and distributed by volunteers from all over the world.  The local New Orleans chapter meets meets the 2nd Saturday of each month at The Unitarian Church at 6690 Fluer de Lis Drive in Lakeview from 2pm-5pm.
 
Upcoming Speakers:
Sep 15, 2015: Florence Andre "Nola4Women"
Oct 06, 2015: Morgan Sasser "Arts Council of New Orleans"
Oct 13, 2015: Tim Paulin "Business Network International"
 
*We are looking for speakers for September and October dates