Inspiration: Susan Cole…Malala Yousafzai who was shot in the face attempting to go to school. She says let us remember “one book, one pen, one child, and one teacher can change the world”.
Song: Bill Arnone “Singin’ in the Rain”
Scribe: Leah Hansen
Bill Bolster introduced our Outbound Exchange Student: Caden Huletts – Netherlands.
Michael Juric: Rotary Friendship Exchange: A group that’s coming from the south of France. We have four host families: Carol and JB, Ken and Pam, Michael Juric and Mike and Maureen. The RFE team will be here from April 23rd to May 7th. We need a couple of hosts and a couple of alternates for two nights…May 2nd and 3rd. The hosts provide shelter and generally breakfast and can join us on the day’s events (but not required). Please contact MJ at his email or text 707.478.7527.
Carol Martin announced that the first Thursday of the month is the Redwood Empire Food Bank. If you would like to participate please put it on your calendar. She will bring the sign-up sheet next week.
Sandie announced the Rotarian meetups – if you haven’t selected a name from the hat yet please do so.
Craig Curreri announced the distribution for the 3rd-grade dictionaries at Windsor Creek. It will be the last distribution at Windsor Creek because they are closing. I need just one or two volunteers to meet me Friday, March 8th, at Windsor Creek at 9:00 am. Leah and Jason volunteered to assist.
Dine & Donate at KC’s on February 28th: This is to help Greg Way, a Rincon Valley Fire Volunteer who was a dozer operator fighting the Mendocino fires last year, who was seriously injured. A portion of your payment goes directly to Greg’s recovery. Dine at KC’s for breakfast, lunch or dinner.
Fines: Doug Williams. This is the last Thursday of the month and a time you can recognize or commemorate any event that happened in February. Maureen got a new car. She has wanted a Hybrid for a while. She ended up with a dark blue Hybrid Kia. She just has to remember to “plug it in”. Jason has been wearing his three suits for four years now and he bought a new suit…the one he is wearing. Doug committed to another $50 himself.
Caden Huletts…our ‘19-‘20 Outbound Exchange Student. He will be going to the Netherlands. He loves that they have bicycle freeways in the Netherlands and the country itself is pretty small so he will be able to ride his bike everywhere for the year he is there. Second, he is excited about the Dutch Game Garden which is a government-funded program to help people develop video games. He still needs to raise money for it so he has come up with fundraisers. One is a tournament…a game where there are five different versions and people sign up to play games they remembered from long ago. Another fundraiser is working with other exchange students for an event at The Raven theater. The idea is on an unpopular night for one of their shows you buy a bunch of tickets at half price and sell them at full price. They get seats filled they wouldn’t have had filled. On a side note he is studying Dutch because he doesn’t want to get to the airport and not know what to say. His hobbies are art, programming, video games and reading.
Sandie announced that the SCARC dinner on March 28th will be hosted by our club. Presenters will be Tom Boylan and Wally Krutz. It will be at the Mary Agatha Furth Center.
Ken Moulton introduced Heather Cullen, Director of the Windsor Performing Arts Academy, who is here to talk about the Windsor High School Grad Night…a project our club will be funding as part of our grant program. She mentioned she has been in communication with a consultant, Roger Oblad, who is volunteering his time to design sound and lighting for the event. It can be controlled anywhere in the room from your laptop or phone. Her organization is one of the beneficiaries of our Lobster Feed.
Michael Juric discussed the Lobster Feed. We already have four $2,500 sponsors thanks to John and Craig. We already have 11, in the queue, for the Live Auction and Jack has a list for the Silent Auction Donation. Sue Nelson asks for us to just make a commitment to donate a bottle of wine…doesn’t matter what kind. It should be a bottle valued at least at $20.00.
JB introduced our presenter for today: Pam Moulton. Pam was born in Oakland and raised in San Francisco. Her father was a Rotarian for 50 years. Pam has degrees in Comparative Literature and Psychology. She enjoys cooking, travel, and photography. She has children, grandchildren, and two Rotarian dogs. Pam and Ken have been married for almost 30 years. Pam is also a Paul Harris fellow. Pam participated in Rotaplast in India in December 2018 and that is what she will be presenting today. Rotaplast started as an International Project by the San Francisco Rotary Club in 1992. The Rotaplast mission is to eliminate cleft lip, cleft palate, burn scarring and other deformities. It is funded by other rotary clubs and private donations and has served more than 17,000 patients in 26 countries. The mission cost ~ $100,000 to operate. This mission was the first in Namaui and people traveled up to 15 hours to attend. Pam said you can feel the anticipation and anxiety in the air. One lady who brought her child in for surgery was pregnant and didn’t want anymore children if they would be born with a cleft lip. She said the grandmothers tend to take on the primary responsibilities in the families. The missions usually go a full 10 days. Pam said she feels blessed to have been involved in this mission and travels with all of us on her back.