The Highlighter
September 2011
Vol 85 No 3
Table of Contents
Governor's Message
Doug Fowler
Month
number two as District Governor is just another point as I ride the
Rotary Trail. Our preparation for the September branding season is
"New Generation" month in Rotary. The New Generation designation has
been a Rotary concept for a few years and was officially approved as
the 5th Avenue of Service at the 2010 Rotary Council on Legislation.
It really is as if Rotary seeks to re-invent itself but, most
importantly, it's how Rotary is going to continue to evolve.
In this era of diversity, it certainly makes a lot of sense to not
only bring in the established business professionals, but to seek out
the generation that is only now starting out in their chosen career
paths. New members bring in new and fresh ideas that can help stimulate
a Club to seek bigger, better, and bolder projects. Many Clubs in the
District have "firesides" or some other type of social functions. Invite
a young professional to the event and most certainly talk about what
your Club does in the community.
I have tasked all the
Assistant Governors to meet with their respective regional Presidents
monthly to explore joint efforts in both community and international
projects. This could be the opportune time to bring up a new and fresh
idea suggested by a young professional. Their social media contacts may
light a fire with a simple suggestion or idea of something that is
needed in your community.
In my current Governor
visits, I am finding many Clubs with younger members who have only been
in Rotary a short period of time. Don't let them stagnate. Invite them
to a board meeting so that they can not only see the actions of
leadership in their own club, but also encourage them to provide input.
This can be the opening of providing leadership training. Encourage and
pay for their attendance at District Training events, and you just may
have provided the hook to keep them as Rotarians, to encourage them to
serve, and even to chair committees. It has been written in many
articles that these young people are looking to give back to their
communities and other worthy causes. Don't let that get away from us.
I believe we are making positive strides with our New Generation
professionals when, at RYLA this past March, a young man was introduced
as a facilitator who had attended RYLA when he was in high school. I
believe there were several young Rotarians from throughout the District
who participated at RYLA in some way.
Remember we all
are supporting and encouraging new leadership in this 5th Avenue of
Rotary Service with programs such as Interact, Rotaract, RYLA, Youth
Exchange, TLC, and Interact Symposium. Are you taking aim at helping to
select the participants? These simple acts could result in the
successful professional growth of the younger generation. They may even
end up as a Rotary Club President some day. Now let's ride the Rotary
Trail together and lasso ourselves a legacy as we "Reach Within to
Embrace Humanity."
September 10
Chino Rotary "Stateline Bus Trip" Fundraiser
September 15
September 16
High Desert-American Heroes Dance
September 24
October 9
Centennial Hills 3rd Annual Charity Golf Tournament
October 22
November 13
2012 Group Study
Exchange News
by
Mary Ann Avnet
District 5300 and District 4320 from
Northern Chile are beginning to plan for the 2012 cultural and vocational
exchange between their countries. Mary Ann Avnet from the Rotary Club of Las
Vegas has been chosen to lead the team from our District. They will depart
on March 17, 2012, and arrive in Arica, a beach town at the very tip of
northern Chile. Because our seasons are the opposite of each other, our team
will arrive in Chile at the beginning of autumn. During their five week
visit to District 4320, the group will travel south throughout the district
and end in Valparaiso, located in central Chile near Santiago, the capital
city. District 4320 contains 66 clubs and over 1200 Rotarians.
Mary Ann has been a Rotarian since 2006. During her time as a Rotarian,
she has been actively involved in many youth projects including serving as a
Rotarian advisor at TLC twice, one of the advisors to the Las Vegas Rotaract
Club, and the Club Chair for their Sole Power Project which provides shoes
and socks to needy children, in acknowledgement of weekly speakers at her
Club. Mary Ann is one of the Co-Chairs for the 2012 RYLA program. She has
served on the Board of Directors for the Rotary Club of Las Vegas for the
past three years and is currently the Club Secretary. In 2011, she
participated in the Rotaplast mission to Guatemala as a non-medical
volunteer from our District.
We are currently soliciting
young professionals to apply for the wonderful opportunity to participate as
team members. We are seeking applicants from any profession, and we promise
them an opportunity to interact with fellow professionals in Chile as part
of their trip. We encourage every Rotarian to share information about GSE
within their community and to encourage employers to offer this opportunity
to some of their promising young colleagues.
Applicants should be between 25
and 40, with at least two years of work experience in their profession. They
should both live and work within the District. Rotary Foundation guidelines
stipulate that team members cannot be related to Rotarians by blood or
marriage (children, step-children, grandchildren, spouses etc.). We
encourage interested applicants to view GSE information and a short video on
our Facebook page (specific info to be included).
Click here for:
GSE Team Member Application
http://rotary.org/RIdocuments/en_pdf/161en.pdf
GSE Brochure
http://www.rotary.org/RIdocuments/en_pdf/160en.pdf
Cowboy Logic
Next month's theme
Vocational Service
Click here for publishing guidelines.
[Editor's Note] We would like to have participation and contributions from members of your Interact Clubs. Please encourage them to contribute to The Highlighter. Interactors can receive The Highlighter by sending their names, club names, and email addresses to highlighter@district5300.org.
Ambassadorial Scholarship Program Update
Johanna Glaser, sponsored by
the Claremont Club, just finished up her scholarship year at Ashei
University College in Ghana. Johanna chose not to focus her academics on
pursuing a degree but to use her time in Ghana to study West African
life by taking Africana courses and immersing herself in volunteer
projects. She worked hard at her classes and was successful at making
the Dean's List. She will be pursuing a pre-med curriculum here in the
States starting in September.
Johanna worked with the
Leading Ladies' Network to host a number of workshops during her
scholarship year, topics ranging from building self-confidence to resume
writing to networking with other women as mentors. In addition, Johanna
volunteered at a children's shelter where she organized weekly craft
projects, coordinated a service project of painting the children's
dormitories, and enlisted volunteers from Ashei to spend time with the
children and tutor them.
The Ambassadorial Scholarship
provided valuable insight for Johanna to clarify her career goals. She
wants a career dedicated to service. She had initially thought working
with a non-profit would be the best fit for her but her volunteerism in
Ghana showed her that nonprofit work often requires extensive fund
raising, and sometimes the mission becomes fund raising rather than
service. Therefore, she will be working towards a medical degree where
she can practice directly with those in need rather than focusing on
fund raising.
Johanna proudly represented Rotary's
Service Above Self throughout her Rotary year, and she is looking
forward to personally sharing her experiences with Rotary Clubs in
District 5300.
Christine Vasquez - Quiet Humanitarian
Interviewing
Christine (Chris) Vasquez gives one a feeling of talking to someone who
is content with the way her life has evolved, grateful for the gifts
life has brought her, and who takes pleasure in passing those gifts on
to others, especially to children.
The quiet, cheerful
confidence she exudes as a branch manager for Desert Community Bank
masks a fierce dedication to children - her own children and the
children of the High Desert community. Sometimes abrupt with adults who
waste time or resources, with children Chris is as gentle as a mother
bear with her cubs - and as quick to rise to their defense.
Confessing a character defect, her inability to say no to requests,
Chris becomes notably dreamy-eyed as she reminisces about one activity
that steals her time but brings much personal satisfaction and
motivation all year long - Santa Clothes. Santa Clothes is a local
Rotary event that provides dozens of elementary and middle-school
children with a mentor-shopper and cash for a Christmas clothing
shopping spree at a local Target store. Chris was invited to volunteer
for a Santa Clothes event many years ago, before she became a Rotarian.
At the end of that day, Chris applied for membership to Victor Valley
Sunrise Rotary Club where she has been actively serving the community
ever since. That became Chris' "Rotary Moment," that time in a
Rotarian's life when they know they have found an outlet for the passion
that makes them who they are.
Accepting the nomination
as this year's Sunrise Rotary Club President, Chris once again has
fallen prey to her inability to say no, but it is with evident
excitement that she and her board plan the activities that will bless
the lives of High Desert residents, especially its children.
Christine Vasquez' customers may know her only as a competent bank
manager from nine to five, but after hours she is a shining example of
the best kind, a quiet humanitarian.
Operation Showers of Appreciation
Picture
the floor of a Las Vegas casino bustling with pregnant moms, babies,
strollers, and baskets of gifts. Certainly not the usual scene at the
casino. Operation Shower of Appreciation, a culmination of months of
planning and dedication to honor expectant mothers from all branches of
the military, took place at the East Side Cannery on July 30th.
Coordinator Jody Shervanick praised the Summerlin Rotary Club for
helping make the event a success.
Expectant mothers
were everywhere, all pampered by the caring volunteers. The mothers were
greeted with a gourmet selection of food, drinks, desserts, and a
spectacular red, white and blue cake. The professional photographer's
line was a popular touch, as were the massage chairs. Volunteers
entertained smaller children with face painting and crafts.
Each mother received a long stemmed rose from the absent dads. On
the big screen, overseas dads spoke tender words to their sweethearts,
eliciting joyful gasps of surprise as each mom recognized her missing
partner.
And, yes, one expectant mother went into
labor toward the end of the event. Cries of, "Is there a doctor in the
house?" went out. Our own Donna Coonrad, RN, promptly deployed (that's a
military term) to assist if needed. The mother was taken by ambulance to
the hospital.
Summerlin Rotary Club donated baby items,
wrapped presents and gift baskets, and assisted their assigned mom by
dispensing motherly advice and support. As you can imagine, lots of
tears of joy were shed.
Wearing their yellow or blue
Rotary Club t-shirts, Summerlin Rotary members helped the overjoyed
mothers manage their gifts, including cribs, carriers, strollers, diaper
bags and many, many gift-filled baskets. Overall, it was an amazing and
heartwarming experience. Pats on the back go to our dedicated Summerlin
Rotary volunteers, led by Glenn Trowbridge and Gregg Townsend. They
included President Jim Cady, Kathy Cady, Leslie (Jim Cady's niece),
Tricia Trowbridge, Carol Townsend, Dom and Alice Addonizio, Dennis and
Judith Filangeri, Joe Germain and Marel Giolito, Sean Mullaly, and
Sharon and Nick Exarhos.
More than 3,500 families have
benefited from the semi-annual Military Baby Shower: Operation Showers
of Appreciation, since it began not long after 911.
Job Creation & Entrepreneurship in Nigeria
The
successful entrepreneurial training program for 1,800 New Generation
youth at two universities in Nigeria that was held in January by a team
from District 5300 will be followed by an even more ambitious outreach
in early 2012. The goal is to double the number of youth reached, with a
further doubling each year. Teachers will also be trained at each
location to carry on instruction in succeeding years. By 2020,
one-million New Generation youth will have been reached. It's an
ambitious goal, but with one in five actually starting a business in the
next 10 years, and hiring, on average, four others, there are five jobs
created for every five trained.
At a meeting in August between the board of the International Foundation for Entrepreneurship Education (IFEE). and Altadena Rotarian advisors John Frykenberg and C. Ray Carlson, this ambitious goal was set.
IFEE was formed in 2005
by Nigerian Americans under Sarah Philips' leadership and first
introduced at the District 5300 Peace Conference that year when the
theme was Job Creation and Prosperity Through Entrepreneurial Education
in Africa. The essence of IFEE is that Africans in diaspora, living in
the USA and elsewhere, can more readily cut through red-tape and, with
the entrepreneurial expertise and assistance of non-Africans, they can
get things done in a culture they fully understand. Several
Nigerian-Americans have become Rotarians as a direct result.
Fund raising efforts toward a Matching Grant are underway, which will
encourage Rotary Clubs to collaborate in this JOB Creation program.
Altadena Rotary started working on this job creation program in 1991 in
Poland, with the participation of 21 clubs in District 5300, then moved
on to other countries, always with district support.
Job Creation and Entrepreneurship are well-developed signature
activities of our district. A new brochure on Service Areas of Rotary
was published in August by Rotary International and includes for the
first time a full page on Job Creation and Entrepreneurship. Vocational
Training Teams are the new vehicle for achieving these goals. Travel
expenses for the teams will be covered by the Matching Grant.
Contact: Sarah Philips,
philipset@aol.com M 909-904-3802, or
Industry Hills Rotarians Make a Difference
Industry
Hills Rotarians, families & friends, the Delta Kappa Gamma (retired
teachers) and New Horizons assembled 300 rolling backpacks filled with
school supplies for third graders in the Hacienda La Puente and Bassett
Unified School Districts. Matt Briglio, Bouty Boutwell, Vicky Rossier,
and Cathy Jamieson coordinated the distribution center. This is the
fifth year of the Rotary Club of Industry Hills Backpack Program, which
is one of the projects funded by the Industry Hills Annual Rotary
Charity Golf Tournament.
The Rotarians are getting
ready for the Teacher Mini Grants, which will give $6,000.00 with the
help of Paul Gough and State Farm Insurance. Our Rotarians will also be
participating at the Industry Hills Pro Charity Rodeo in support of the
Gabriel Foundation.
Arcadia Rotarians
Participate in Patriotic Festival
Arcadia
residents and event-goers had an opportunity to learn firsthand the
meaning of "Service Above Self" from Arcadia Rotarians, as they
celebrated the nation's 235th birthday at the Arcadia's Best first
Patriotic Festival held July 2.
According to Arcadia
Rotarian Past-President Bruce McCallum, 650 Arcadians and more than 30
local groups participated in the event that had close to 4,000 onlookers
watching as the parade wound its way through downtown Arcadia. "As event
coordinator, I was actively involved in all aspects of the festival and
as such was delighted to see the Rotary Club of Arcadia have a booth so
its members could explain the purpose of Rotary to those stopping by,"
said McCallum.
McCallum recruited many Rotarians to
head committees and oversee many logistical aspects of the event, "all
of which went off without a hitch." Led by a Marines color guard, one
of the highlights of the parade was the presence of 14 former Rose
Parade queens and princesses going back to 1949. Attendees also enjoyed
a classic car show, gourmet food, and live music.
"It
was a wonderful event and I'm so proud that our club was able to
participate," said McCallum. "Our members spoke to a large number of
people interested in learning what Rotary is all about and possibly
joining our club."
Event organizers were recognized by
the Arcadia city council at their July 20 meeting.
We Must Never Forget
As
we approach the 10 year anniversary of 9/11, the efforts of former
military pilot and retired pilot for United Airlines 747, Captain John
McDannel, are about to unfold. On September 11, 2011, at 11:00 a.m. on
the corner of New York Drive and Bradley Street in Pasadena, the City of
Pasadena and neighboring communities will join pilots, flight
attendants, military personnel, multiple service groups, friends, and
family members of the victims and survivors to dedicate New York drive
as a memorial to 9/11/2001.
The ambitious project
began with replacing medians with native plants, crowned by 140 trees
McDannel has personally planted and watered. Over the last ten years the
vision for the area has grown to include, when complete, the 9/11
memorial, hopefully a small lake, hiking trails, pathways, California
Oaks, and the installation of approximately $300,000 worth of traffic lights,
bike lanes, and center dividers to enhance traffic flow and safety.
Join us on September 11, 2011, to participate in this dedication,
marking the first monument of its kind outside of New York, the
Pentagon, and crash landing site in Shankesville, Pennsylvania. If you
are an active or retired member of the armed forces, law enforcement, a
pilot, or flight attendant, showing up in full uniform would be the
highest honor of your attendance. There are rumors that the team
coordinating this event is working hard to get F-18s to fly a missing
man formation overhead.
When asked why he would work
so hard on a monument nearly 3,000 miles from the towers, McDannel
reflects on the events of that day. The memories today remain as vivid
as they did 10 years ago. "My son-in-law was in one of the towers, but
escaped with his life, unlike the other 2977 victims. The victims have
friends, relatives, and immediate family members all across the country.
Some who lost their lives were Southern California residents on their
way home. Many had passengers enroute to CA. I flew the actual airplane
and knew the pilot personally that flew into the South Tower that
fateful day. I can't think of a reason not to do this – 'we must never
forget'."
As Captain John McDannel, a Rotarian,
remembers – so must we. The gesture of a monument is insignificant when
compared to the highest sacrifice innocent victims, rescue teams,
pilots, flight attendants, law enforcement, and the military pay so that
we may sustain our way of life. We encourage you to be at the event on
September 11, 2011 at 11:00 a.m. to remember the impact that this event
had on all of us and help us to honor the many lives that were lost in
this terrorist act. Your attendance is a reflection of the patriotism we
all share. Remember patriotism is not dead in America.
For more information about the tribute, please visit:
www.pasadena911memorial.org.
