Volume XII, Issue 38: April 25, 2014

The Latest from Alex
Our Exchange Student from France, Alex Rialet, reported that he spent part of Easter Sunday at Firemen's Park in Ferndale. He played some bocce with Praj White and the rest of his host family. Alex said it was similar to the bocce he has played in Europe, but the balls are different. Later, they went to the beach. Last week was Spring Break for Arcata High School, so Alex had the week off - he went camping, to the movies with friends, and he's been able to sleep in (until last Friday, at least).

Calendar Items & Announcements
President Jessica noted that Romi Hitchcock Tinseth greatly appreciates the supportive messages she has received from Sunrisers and others following the tragic bus accident that took the lives of several potential HSU students along with those of her colleague Arthur "Tury" Arzola and HSU alumni Michael Myvett and Mattison Haywood. Scholarships have been established to help first-generation college students coming to HSU from inner city environments. Donations can be made by clicking this link: http://alumni.humboldt.edu/giving/accident-memorial-scholarships.

Karen Burgesser, Ron Sharp, Lori Breyer, Barbara Browning, and Megan Breyer joined President Jessica on Saturday, April 19th to help in the Mad River Clean Up in Blue Lake. "The poison oak was there," Jessica reported, "the hillside was steep, the garbage was plentiful!" The Sunriser Sextet worked hard with volunteers from the Mad River Alliance and the Eureka Noon Rotary to clean areas that had been used as an illegal dump site. Our Club arranged for the dumpsters used and for the much-appreciated beer and pizza afterwards.

The recent Mentorship/Membership Mixer was a success, and President Jessica thanked Brandi Easter for coming up with the idea, and Karen Burgesser and Scott Heller for making it happen. 

There will be no regular meeting on Friday, May 9th - instead, you should be attending one of the four Fireside Meetings that will take place earlier in the week. If you haven't signed up for one yet, please contact President-Elect Barbara Browning to get on the schedule. If you're unable to attend any of the Firesides, let Barbara know that, as well - she'll still want your ideas for her Presidential Year. 

The low-cost rooms may be gone, but there's still time to sign up for the District Conference, which will take place in Rohnert Park May 16th through the 18th. You may be able to share a room with President Jessica, if you act quickly and ask politely.

Sunday, June 3rd should also be on your radar, or at least marked on your calendar. That's the day that we will be chumming up with the Humboldt Crabs for our annual Kids, Crabs, and Rotary event. We will once again be out in left field (figures, don't it?) serving hot dogs and watermelon to a bunch of local Little Leaguers and other youngsters.

Recognitions

Lentswe and Maggie

Since it was Spring Break for local schools, Sunriser Kyle Visser was able to join us last Friday, and he led us in Recognitions. We bypassed the slides of absent members, but Maggie Kraft was there, and she told us that she had traveled to San Francisco the previous week to pick up her fiance, Lentswe. She said that in the nine days since he arrived, she has learned that there are a few things that may be stronger than love (or at least led to him not joining Maggie at last week's meeting):

• Jet lag
• Humboldt County rain (when you're from Africa)
• A new iPhone
• Fear of public speaking 

She hopes that we will have the opportunity to meet Lentswe at our next meeting. Maggie said that we are all invited to the wedding reception on Saturday, May 31st. (If you plan to attend,  RSVP to Maggie.) Lentswe will be looking for a job once he's eligible to work - after they are married, he has some paperwork to complete. He has worked with people with disabilities, and he is interested in continuing in that field here.

Kyle then asked Terri Clark about her post-tax season trip to Ashland, Oregon. For the past 30 years, Terri has made the pilgrimage each spring with a group of seven women. "We used to call it 'Ladies on the Loose', but we're older now," she said. They stay at a hotel that is a stroll away from the theater, and watch as many plays as possible during their visit. During the day, they also do some shopping. Terri loves to quilt, so she hits the fabric stores. They saw three plays, although Terri was too tired to make it all the way through one of them. On their last night, they saw a stage adaptation of the Marx Brothers' movie "The Cocoanuts", which she greatly enjoyed. Although she had a good time, Terri said that she wants to delay the trip so it doesn't fall on the first weekend following tax season. Like a seasoned journalist, Kyle asked a probing follow-up question: "Did you really do a three-hour spa visit?" Terri acknowledged that she had been to the Waterstone Spa for a 90-minute facial and a 90-minute hot stone massage with Jean-Paul. Maggie was passionate in Terri's defense: "There is nothing wrong with that!"

Kyle then caught up with Harry Johnson, who said that he had been in Mexico for about two months, and he's been back for about three weeks. He reports that Project Amigo is going well, and President Jessica added that the project's founders Ted Rose and Susan Hill plan to visit our Club in the near future. Harry said that his involvement with the dental clinic that we sponsor in Mexico is less "hands-on" than it was in years past, but he still checks to ensure that it is well-supplied. He did one emergency procedure, but he said that our efforts to provide fluoride to treat the teeth of children there has helped to decrease the incidence of such crises.The work has shifted to preventive dentistry.

Cam and Lisa Appleton celebrated their 33rd anniversary on April 18th. They traveled to Mendocino for the weekend, and enjoyed great weather with some good friends. Saturday morning they went diving, with amazing visibility. Later in the day, they wandered the town, and sampled some of the local cuisine.

Lynda and Mike Moore's anniversary was April 20th, which coincided with Easter this year. They had some friends over for a barbecue in the afternoon, and they also enjoyed the beautiful weather. "It was a fun, fun day!" she said.

Harry got up to let us know that he was gone for his birthday this year, but it was a milestone - his 70th! We sang him a hearty "Happy Birthday" to mark the occasion. 

Foundation Final Friday (Part I)

Susan and Terri

President Jessica asked us to participate in the Rotary Foundation's "Every Rotarian, Every Year" program. That means that every Sunriser makes a contribution to the Foundation each year. The donation doesn't have to be large, although no one will complain if it is. But it shows our Club's ongoing commitment to the many great programs that would not exist if there was no Rotary Foundation.

Jessica shared a story about our contributions in use in the fight against breast cancer in India. Breast cancer is often treatable in our country, but in rural India, many women died because they did not have the resources to travel to cities where screenings and treatments were available. A Rotary Club in Southern India teamed up with another Club in Maryland to write a Global Grant. The funds from that grant allowed them to purchase and equip the "Mammobus". The mobile facility's staff have performed over 2,500 breast cancer screenings and they have educated many more in the process of self-examination.

Bryan and Terri

Her second story was about the struggle to eradicate polio in Pakistan, one of only three countries where polio remains endemic. (Afghanistan and Nigeria are the other two.) The End Polio Now effort still meets with resistance here - there is an area near the northwestern border, near Afghanistan, where a team of vaccinators and their guards were killed just last year. This year, a team returned to the area, and this time, persistence won out. The team was able to persuade village elders and religious leaders of the value of the vaccinations. Despite the arrival of a team of potentially hostile militants midway through the process, the community's leaders convinced the armed men to back off. Jessica reminded us that success in one such community often spreads to other nearby villages.

Foundation Final Friday (Part II)
It's always a happy occasion when another Sunriser becomes a Paul Harris Fellow. This happens when a Rotarian (or non-Rotarian) donates $1,000 to the Rotary Foundation. Many Rotarians do it again ... and again ...

Last week, Foundation Chair Terri Clark honored three Sunrisers: Susan Jansson and Bryan Plumley both reaffirmed their PHF statuses, and Kyle Visser earned his first fellowship. Congratulations and thank you to all three!!

Foundation Final Friday (Part III)

Kyle and Terri

Last week we closed the Foundation Festivities with an auction. All proceeds are donated to the Rotary Foundation, with half the credit going to each item's donor, while the other half goes to the purchaser's account. Here is a list of the goodies:

• Ian Schatz kicked in an awesome panoramic photo that was purchased by Praj White.
• Maggie Kraft described her post-Easter basket of cupcakes and wine as a "Lent Remover". Harry Johnson was the winning bidder.
• Certificates for two oil services were offered by Orrin Plocher, and these went to Tami Camper.
• Kyle Visser offered his services as a certified policies and procedures manual writer, which was purchased by Joyce Hinrichs.
• Harry Johnson brought in two dozen 1/2 pint jars of canned albacore. This sparked a bidding war between Maggie Kraft and Cindy Sutcliffe. It was a war that they both won, when Harry promised to bring in a second case so they could each have tuna!
• Maggie donated another sweet treats and wine package for our final auction item. Sadly, I missed  writing down the name of the winning bidder - I got caught up in totaling the overall donation made by our donors and purchasers - a grand total of $1,160!!!