Books to the World Project Update
Click the image for a closer look. Click here for a print-friendly pdf.
Upcoming Activities
January 23: Beach Cleanup! 9:30 at the Sid Snyder Approach
January 26 Regular Meeting: Boyd Keyser of Ocean Beach School District
February 2Regular Meeting: Shirley Pryor-Pyne will present a program on her trip to Thailand to visit our Akha Children of the Golden Triangle
February 9 Regular Meeting: Joe Devon from Ocean Beach Hospital
February 16 Regular Meeting: TBA; David George
February 23 Regular Meeting: TBA; Guy Glenn
March 2 Regular Meeting: TBA Bill Halstrum
March 9 Regular Meeting: Club Assembly on Oysters & Art
March 20 Fundraiser: Oysters & Art!
Rotary Training
Rotary Leadership Institute [RLI] is a fun day of learning about Rotary. It is designed to prepare Rotarians for Leadership roles in their club and beyond. Three, one-day workshops complete the Institute.
District 5100 also offers a self-study course, Essentials of Rotary Knowledge [ERK], which is appropriate for all Rotarians and especially new members.
RLI 2009-2010: Cost is $50
- January 30, 2010 – Hampton Inn, Clackamas, OR [ ] Session 1
- February 27, 2010 – Coastal Region [ ]Session 1 [ ]Session 2
- May 1, 2010 – Salem Area [ ]Session 1 [ ]Session 2
- May 21, 2010 – Welches Resort Prior to Conference
Registration & More Information: RLI09-10.doc
| RLI09-10.pdf
RLI 2011-2011: Cost TBD
- September 25, 2010 – Portland Area [ ] Session 1 [ ] Session 2
- November 13, 2010 – Pendleton, OR [ ]Session 1 [ ]Session 2
- February 26, 2011 – Coastal Area [ ]Session 2 [ ]Session 3
- May 21, 2011 – Salem Area [ ] Session 2 [ ] Session 3
Registration & More Information: RLI10-11.doc
| RLI10-11.pdf
Having leadership skills does not alone assure good Rotary leadership. An effective Rotary leader must ALSO have Rotary knowledge, perspective about where Rotary has been, where it is now going and a vision of what Rotary can be.
Save the Date: March 20, 2010
Oysters & Art is our club’s key fundraiser for the year, a benefit for children’s programs, including the Boys & Girls Club of the Long Beach Peninsula, the Family Health Center at North Beach Children’s Dentistry Program and the Peninsula Arts Association’s Youth Scholarship Program, along with our International children’s projects.
Silent & Live Auctions | Nibbles, Sips & Spirits | Music & Laughter
March 20, 2010 | 5-9 pm | Chautauqua Lodge
Click for a closer look, or download OandAposterflyer011210.pdf
Update from Thailand
From AG Sharon Starr, who is in Thailand with our own Shirley Pryor-Pyne, working on our Akha Children WCS project:
On Friday, we flew from Bangkok to the Children of the Golden Triangle Center, now re-named Children’s Rescue Mission.
Waiting with us for the plane were 80 Asians in red vests that said FIDO DIDO. I was very curious and tried to ask one of them what FIDO DIDO was. She didn’t speak English but noticed the Rotary wheel on my vest. She started calling out to the others in her language and pretty soon we had the whole group surrounding us and chattering like crazy. A few spoke a little English, and we quickly learned they were Taiwanian Rotarians who have a water project going somewhere near Chiang Rai. They took lots of photos of us and them together, and seemed excited to learn we were on a Rotary trip too. Some are going to the Convention in Montreal in June, and we said we’d try to meet again there. The red FIDO vests, it turned out, were freebies from their District Governor’s sister’s software company and they were wearing them so it would be easy to spot each other in a crowd. And of course it was great advertising for FIDO DIDO!
As soon as we arrived at the Center, David gave us the grand tour. The chicken house (financed by our Club) is finished and filled with 320 red hens. The hens only arrived a couple days ahead of us and haven’t started laying yet. The tractor we bought is being used for all kinds of projects. It has several attachments–blade, grass cutter, plow and disk. I hopped on it and tried my hand at pushing some dead brush into a pile with the blade. This was not really work, however–just a photo op for a new website David is planning.
The Aussies who are here right now are putting the finishing touches on a very nice playground, just beyond the pre-school classrooms (for those of you who have been here before). The kids love it! Swings, slides, monkey bars, climbing structure, the works!
The new project (there always IS one, isn’t there?) consists of 14 primary school classrooms to be built on land near the new playground. The land was purchased by the Singapore RC, and now all David has to do is raise $14K for each classroom. He’s hoping I’ll go back and raise at least enough for one classroom. Hmmmm. Any ideas? He is very anxious to get this done because an Akha girl (age 12) and a Lisue girl were raped by a teacher at the local elementary school, and David is very anxious to pull all his kids out of that school. The teacher has a history of this at other schools and was shuffled off to this school by another jurisdiction. The school is protecting the teacher and claims it was the girls’ fault. Charges were filed, but the police released him immediately and he is back teaching at the same school. Luckily, nothing like this has happened at the HS, and all is going well there.
Saturday we had a bit of a scare. Two little boys lit a fire in some dry grass, and it got away from them very quicky and started spreading rapidly toward the chicken house. The older boys were out there stomping the flames with their feet and beating it back with bushes and blankets. We were carrying buckets of water from the kitchen and got it contained fairly quickly, maybe in 15 or 20 minutes. I was afraid a kid would be hurt and/or those 320 new chickens would go up in smoke before they laid a single egg! Luckily there was no breeze or we would have been in big trouble. David got sprinklers set up, and we watered the whole area down for several hours to be sure there were no hot spots left in the grass.
Yesterday we and the Aussies took 26 kids elephant riding and then out to lunch. The kids were thrilled with this special treat.
This morning I did some gardening. The beds we worked and planted in April 2008 are still in fair shape, but certainly in need of TLC. This afternoon Shirley and I inventoried a tangled pile of metal table, bench and bed frames. Our job was to sort out 20 repairable table frames and 80 benche frames. Next we have to sand, prime and paint to get them ready for new plywood tops. It was hot, heavy work and I’m taking a rest. Shirley is at the clinic now doing health checks. Lynne has been painting lovely tropical flowers on the dormitory walls, with the encouragement of lots of admiring little girls.
So, as usual, just a typical first few days at our favorite Five Star Refugee Camp!