edited by
JOHN PATTERSON
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What a great program this week. Hope you didn't miss it ! The Devereux School is doing a wonderful job with kids with numerous and diverse disabilities. Once again, David Wyatt has come up with an outstanding program. I hope most of you will have attended our first Social which will be carefully monitored (and sponsored) by our own Knightess of Merriment and Frolic, Patty Murphy. These will be held every Thursday evening from 5 to 7 pm at the Royal Scandinavian. Our Board talked extensively at our retreat about how to achieve more camaraderie among our members and this is a first step. Bob Moir is handling the Fourth of July fund raiser for our very busy past president, Butch Philips. They both promise to make this the best fund raiser and community service project yet ! They will need a lot of help from everyone. In October, our Club participated with the other Clubs in Group Nine to host a remarkable Group Study Exchange team from Romania. We had reason to believe that other clubs in the District might host them in the traditional (read: "sometimes dull and predictable") manner of meals and meetings. Instead, we gave them a night at the Maverick Saloon, complete with a cake with their pictures in frosting. And, man could they dance! The leader gave a stirring talk about being politically free and doing all we could to help keep the world free. It was even more moving when we remembered that only fourteen years ago, this country was one of the most repressive on the planet. Many thanks to all in our Club who hosted the members of this team and for the international goodwill you gave. In November, Kris Kersten, Lou Karpf, Deepa Willingham, Bob Hinnrichs, and me formed a work team and took off for Oaxaca, Mexico. More on this project at the 25 February program. We have hosted Marie Loustelet, our beautiful Youth Study Exchange student from the Pyrenees Alps in France. Currently, Butch and Wendy Phillips have opened their doors to make Marie part of their family. Marie will be staying at the home of Deepa and Dick Willingham for her final quarter of the school year. Deepa has been her sponsor for the entire year. From the beginning of King Richard's reign, we have worked on a child-sponsorship project in the slums near the great city of Calcutta, India to provide education, nutrition, and health care for young girls. Our goal has been to share this project (called PACE: Promise of Assurance to Children Everywhere) with the Solvang and Los Olivos Clubs and to find sponsors for 50 girls. The project has been launched in conjunction with Hope Foundation, a service provider non-profit that has been active in the slums of India for many years. Sponsors have come from each of the three Valley Clubs. And, we now have the opportunity for a sister-club relationship with the City of Joy Rotary Club, near Calcutta. Deepa Willingham will visit Calcutta this month to complete arrangements. Finally, our Club has supported Dr. Rick and Esther Zander in the Philippines for another year. As you remember Rick gave a report on the program just recently. I am proud to know and love Rick and Esther and proud to have them from our Club, and proud that our Club has supported them so generously. There is much yet to do, and I hope we will continue to stand by the Zanders in this vital work. Rick has requested that we bring any old unneeded hand or garden tools to the next meetings for our project in the Philippines. He will have a box available for you to put them in. He is covetous of a 2 inch pipe threader. Look out in that shed and see what has cobwebs and bring it to Rotary. Wanda Mcpherson has asked us to think of her nephew, Jon Paul, who is serving with the Air Force in Iraq. He was supposed to have returned this month but has been extended to an undetermined date. Keep him and all our servicemen in Iraq in your prayers. Coming Programs Wednesday Feb. 25, 2004 @ 12:10PM A 3-D photographic report on our member's trip to Oaxaca, Mexico, by Bob Hinnrichs. Wednesday Mar. 3, 2004 @ 12:10PM Richard Shawcroft has a short video about the upcoming architectural design contest, which will be followed by a new members "Craft Talk". Wednesday Mar. 10, 2004 @ 12:10PM John Dean from Leathers & Associates will discuss the design of the Rotary Centennial Park. |
