To "attend" the meeting, scroll down the screen, review all the information from top to bottom, view all the videos, read all the information, and enjoy your time here with us at our Rotary meeting.
Dear Fellow Rotarians, visitors and guests!
WELCOME TO OUR E-CLUB!
Thank you for stopping by our club meeting! We hope you will enjoy your visit.
Our E-Club banner is shown at left! Please send us a virtual copy of your club banner and we will send you a copy of our new club banner in exchange. We will also display your club banner proudly on our meeting website.
We are now officially a fully-fledged chartered Rotary Club in District 7020. Our charter date is August 12, 2013. We hope you will find the content of our meeting enlightening and will give us the benefit of your opinion on the content.
September is Rotary Celebration of Youth Month!
Visiting Rotarians. Click this link to Apply for a Make-up. We will send you and your club secretary a make-up confirmation.
Active Members. Click for Attendance Record.
Happy Hour Hangout. We are adjusting the time of our Happy Hour Hangout to Saturday mornings - early enough so that you can join before your day gets away from you.
We meet for a live chat and sometimes business discussion. If you are interested in dropping by, please click the link below. Morning coffee is on the house! (Your house, that is...) Hope to see you there!
Please note: Now, attending our HHH will earn you a make-up!
The link to the Happy Hour Hangout for Saturday is at the bottom of this meeting.
Interested in joining us? Click the link Membership Application and Information.
Our President, Kitty, would now like to welcome you to this week's meeting. Please listen in...
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ROTARY E-CLUB OF THE CARIBBEAN, 7020
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ABCs OF ROTARY (Cliff Dochterman)
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| Cliff Dochterman RI President, 1992-93 |
The Permanent Fund of The Rotary Foundation
It was Arch Klumph, father of The Rotary Foundation, who said, "We should look at the Foundation as being not something of today or tomorrow, but think of it in terms of the years and generations to come."
That's why the Foundation's Permanent Fund is considered the most important way to assure the future of Rotary's educational and humanitarian programs. Contributions to this fund, formerly called the Endowment for World Understanding and Peace, are invested for the future. Only earnings from their investment are used to support Foundation programs.
Ultimately, it is intended that the Permanent Fund will provide a steady and secure supplement to Foundation support, always guaranteeing a minimum level of program activity and allowing for the possibility of new and expanded programs in the future.
The Foundation gives special recognition to anyone who includes a substantial git to the Permanent Fund in his or her estate plan or gives outright a minimum cash gift of US$1,000 to the fund. Such a donor is designated as a Rotary Foundation Benefactor. In 1995, there were more than 18,000 Benefactors worldwide.
Foundation Facts (as of 24 April 2013)
Paul Harris Fellows: 1,380,043
Foundation Benefactors: 89,591
Major Donors: 17,804
Arch C. Klumph Society Members: 426
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Somalia Polio Outbreak Places Ethiopia at Risk
Steve Baragona (http://www.voanews.com/author/4446.html)
August 22, 2013
A polio outbreak on the Horn of Africa has spread to Ethiopia. An 18-month-old child in the Warder district of Ethiopia is the country’s first polio case since 2008.
Warder district is just across the border from Somalia, where 108 polio cases have been reported this year.
Carol Pandak heads Rotary International’s polio eradication program.
“It’s not surprising that the virus is spreading. This area has been considered high risk because of its
The outbreak began in Somalia in May, when a two-year-old girl came down with the disease, the country`s first since 2007. But this strain of the virus did not originate there, Pandak says.
“That virus comes from West Africa. And so, we need to deal with the remaining endemic countries because that’s where the virus originates. And so, you have to deal with both at the same time," she said.
Nigeria, Pakistan and Afghanistan are the last three countries where the polio virus is still endemic.
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MORE INFORMATION ON ROTARY PROGRAMS and Individual Recognition (new)
Individual donors
The Rotary Foundation offers several ways to recognize Rotarians and friends for their generous support.
Sustaining Member
Anyone who contributes US$100 or more per year to the Annual Fund is automatically recognized as a Rotary Foundation Sustaining Member.
Sustaining Members are critical to the Foundation. If every club member contributed $100 every year, Rotary could nearly double its efforts to help needy people worldwide and support the continued growth of its programs.
All gifts cumulatively count toward other Foundation recognition programs.
Benefactor
You may become a Benefactor by making the Permanent Fund a beneficiary in your estate plans or by donating $1,000 or more to the fund outright. Benefactors receive a custom certificate and insignia to wear with a Rotary or Paul Harris Fellow pin.
Bequest Society
Couples or individuals who have made commitments of $10,000 or more in their estate plans, such as in a will, living trust, or through whole or universal life insurance, can become Bequest Society members. All Bequest Society members receive recognition from the Trustees of The Rotary Foundation. Donors may elect to receive an engraved crystal recognition piece and a Bequest Society pin. Unless you request to not receive recognition you will be recognized automatically upon notification of your bequest commitment.
Paul Harris Fellow
Donors of US$1,000 or more to the Annual Fund, PolioPlus, or an approved Foundation grant, or people who have that amount contributed in their name, can be recognized as Paul Harris Fellows.
Major Donor
The Rotary Foundation recognizes couples or individuals whose combined personal, or cumulative giving has reached $10,000. All outright contributions made to the Foundation are included in this total, regardless of the gift designation.
Donors may elect to receive a crystal recognition piece and a Major Donor lapel pin or pendant. Recognition items commemorate giving at each recognition level:
Level Contribution (US$)
4 $100,000 to $249,999
3 $50,000 to $99,999
2 $25,000 to $49,999
1 $10,000 to $24,999
Arch C. Klumph Society
Donors whose cumulative gifts total US$250,000 qualify for the Arch C. Klumph Society. Qualifiers are invited to an induction ceremony at RI headquarters in Evanston, and their pictures and biographies are installed in the Arch C. Klumph Society interactive gallery. Arch C. Klumph Society members also receive invitations to special society events, along with membership pins and crystals that commemorate giving at each level.
Level Contribution (US$)
Foundation Circle $1 million and above
Chair's Circle $500,000 to $999,999
Trustees Circle $250,000 to $499,999
What to expect after your gift
The Rotary Foundation will
- Send letters of appreciation for all gifts
- Send emails for gift acknowledgments and tax receipts (if applicable) from gifts received from www.rotary.org or at the Foundation's Chicago bank. Email attachments from the email address " giftacknowledgement@rotary.org " with the subject heading "A note of thanks from The Rotary Foundation" are legitimate and safe to open.
- Honor requests for privacy (if a donor wishes to remain anonymous, the Foundation must be notified when the gift is made)
- Subtract the fair market value of recognition items from receipts when required to do so by U.S. law
- Acknowledge major gift pledges at their full value when written documentation and an initial gift payment are received
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A BRIEF COMMENT - ROTARY INTERNATIONAL VICE-PRESIDENT
Anne L. Matthews on Rotary’s Future from Rotary International on Vimeo.
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NOTE FROM THE DISTRICT INTERACT CHAIR - DISTRICT 7020
As you are aware, September is NEW GENERATION MONTH !
And as part of the new generation team, I am sending this message to give you some simple ideas on how we can make this month just awesome, especially for Interact!
Firstly, some house keeping. Kindly complete the attached form and send to me so I can update our records
Secondly, here are some ideas to enhance and engage our Interact clubs
• Appoint a new generations chair (if one is not appointed as yet)
• Sponsor a new Interact club or revive a dormant one !
• Invite our Interactors to a meeting, possibly be a guest speaker this month
• Do a joint project or assist with a fundraiser
• Check out & "like" your Interact District 7020 Facebook page (more information and pictures to come)
• Visit your Interact club meetings, remind them that we, as Rotarians are here to help
• Send your Interact/activities/pictures to me or post on our FB page, so we can share with the District!
Thirdly, check out our Interact information page on the 7020 website. All the forms for your Presidential Citation, Zone Awards, Application etc. are there for you to download at http://portal.clubrunner.ca/50041/SitePage/interact-clubs-in-d-7020-1
Lastly...MAKE IT FUN !!! Our young people are OUR future.
Please feel free to contact me for any additional information
PP Audley Knight
District Interact Chair
1-876-836-6035
ajgknight@yahoo.com
skype: ajgknight
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POLIO - ERADICATING THAT DREADED DISEASE
An army of Rotary volunteers is immunizing children, raising funds, and increasing awareness of polio. Polio has decreased 99 percent worldwide since the Global Polio Eradication Initiative began in 1988, and only three endemic countries remain: Afghanistan, Nigeria, and Pakistan. Confident in Rotary’s commitment to the effort, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has awarded Rotary two grants totaling $355 million.
The updated information the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation grants is:
On the brink of success
Energized by the launch of a new strategic plan and the highly effective bivalent oral polio vaccine, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative has scored significant gains against the disease. Rotary is a spearheading partner in the GPEI, along with the World Health Organization, UNICEF, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Polio declined by 95 percent between 2009 and 2010 in India and Nigeria, the sources of all recent wild poliovirus importations into previously polio-free countries.
In addition, 15 countries in Africa have stopped outbreaks of the disease that started in 2009, according to the GPEI Independent Monitoring Board.
WHO calls the progress encouraging “but the job is not yet finished,” said WHO Director-General Margaret Chan, at the World Health Assembly in May. “We must see this through to the end.”
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CAMILLE IS AWESOME!
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POLIOPLUS PROGRAM
Since the PolioPlus program's inception in 1985, more than two billion children have received oral polio vaccine. But Rotary's work is not done: The disease has not yet been eradicated. Contribute to the PolioPlus Fund online or by mail to support Rotary's goal of a polio-free world.
More is needed to end polio.
What polio eradication costs
Upwards of US$1 billion per year from all sources is needed in donor contributions to fund the final eradication phase. This level of expense is expected to decrease as wild poliovirus transmission is interrupted in the remaining polio-endemic countries and outbreaks in previously polio-free countries are reduced. The budget for the Global Polio Eradication Initiative is revised quarterly to reflect changes in epidemiology as well as financial contributions made by Rotary and other donors to the program.
Contribute to polio eradication
Let others know about Rotary's progress by placing the fundraising graphic on your club's or district's website. Visit the web ad page to get the html code to put this graphic on your website and have the fundraising numbers automatically update.
Rotary's Challenge is our response to the two grants totaling $355 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to help eradicate polio, which goes until 30 June.
Make a one-time gift or enroll in recurring giving to help End Polio Now.
Infected countries Polio remains endemic in three countries – Afghanistan, Nigeria and Pakistan. Until poliovirus transmission is interrupted in these countries, all countries remain at risk of importation of polio, especially in the ‘poliovirus importation belt’ of countries from west Africa to the Horn of Africa.
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ROTARY ANTHEM
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SPEAKER - The "opportunity" of Adversity
A new kind of thinking about "disability" and language.
Aimee Mullins was born without fibular bones, and had both of her legs amputated below the knee when she was an infant. She learned to walk on prosthetics, then to run -- competing at the national and international level as a champion sprinter, and setting world records at the 1996 Paralympics in Atlanta. At Georgetown, where she double-majored in history and diplomacy, she became the first double amputee to compete in NCAA Division 1 track and field.
After school, Mullins did some modeling -- including a legendary runway show for Alexander McQueen -- and then turned to acting, appearing as the Leopard Queen in Matthew Barney's Cremaster Cycle. In 2008 she was the official Ambassador for the Tribeca/ESPN Sports Film Festival.
She's a passionate advocate for a new kind of thinking about prosthetics, and recently mentioned to an interviewer that she's been looking closely at MIT's in-development powered robotic ankle, "which I fully plan on having."
“Adversity isn’t an obstacle that we need to get around in order to resume living our life. It’s part of our life. I think of it like my shadow — sometimes I see a lot of it, sometimes there’s very little, but it’s always with me.”
“There’s an important difference and distinction between the objective medical fact of my being an amputee and the subjective societal opinion of whether or not I’m disabled. Truthfully, the only real and consistent disability I’ve had to confront is the world ever thinking that I could be described by those definitions.”
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SMILE OF THE WEEK
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WORLD UNDERSTANDING
Have a look at rush hour traffic in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. There are many ways in which we may understand the world!
Click this link to view the video.
Click your browser's BACK button to return to the meeting.
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NEW YORKER - Responding to disaster new
Others may dither when a tsunami hits Japan, an earthquake levels parts of Haiti, or a hurricane like Irene or Sandy demolishes a vast swath of homes and businesses along the U.S. northeast coast.
For Kushner, past president of the Rotary Club of Inwood, Manhattan, in the borough’s northernmost neighborhood, natural disasters present no options: They demand and deserve immediate and effective action. How could anyone not drop everything and respond? he wonders.
Trained in emergency relief, and resourceful and unimpeded by the ties that bind, Kushner is typically out the door, equipped with supplies, and on his way to a disaster area before you and I have even begun to fathom the extent of the devastation.
Within a couple of days after Hurricane Sandy tore through the Rockaway Peninsula last October, he’d rented a truck and loaded it up with 55-gallon plastic drums. He’d planned to fill them with gas but there was none to be had in the city, where power outages had rendered the pumps inoperable. No problem. Driving up to Mamaroneck in Westchester County, he called in a favor from a former state assemblyman, who got him right to the front of a long line at an open station. Kushner knew from experience that with no electricity available in the stricken areas, generators were the only way to keep hospitals and relief centers functioning. He also knew that generators need to be continually refueled, and that gas would not be easy to find.
In times of need
Making his way down flooded streets and around trees uprooted by furious wind gusts, he arrived two hours later at St. Francis de Sales Church in Belle Harbor, New York. FEMA and Red Cross workers had set up an emergency center in the area. Kushner recognized two volunteers who had also arrived to help, both of whom he’d worked with in Haiti after the 2010 earthquake. Like Kushner, they seemed to materialize on the spot in times of dire need, no explanations required. All three immediately began to address critical tasks, such as transferring the gas to jerrycans.
Kushner also worked with teams of local volunteers. “You learn to trust the locals. They’re the ones who own the shovels,” he says. They’d have a quick meeting each morning, then be off. Kushner also got in touch with past and present Rotary district governors and filled them in on the needs of the day. “The people from the afflicted neighborhoods were the ones who were sustaining this relief effort,” he says. “Meanwhile Rotary clubs and other groups from all over were arriving every hour, it seemed, with clothes, food, blankets, the works. All good, but the size of the operation alone could’ve overwhelmed anyone. We were lucky, though; we’d seen it before. I was on the ground after Katrina for six weeks. I think this was worse, the sheer destruction.”
Kushner’s Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) training kicked in. So, too, did something less tangible: his instinct to stay focused and calm, no matter what. “I block out my feelings, I turn them off to do the work that needs to be done,” he says. “Otherwise it’s too much.” And afterward? “I try to keep it out of my conscious mind, but I have nightmares, every night.”
Now 64 and a Rotarian for more than 30 years, Kushner has made a practice of showing up in disaster areas and trouble zones around the world for over a decade – skirting danger, bucking bureaucracies, and shrewdly assessing priorities in his quest to provide meaningful aid. A Rotarian version of Zelig, Woody Allen’s famous “human chameleon,” Kushner has somehow gotten himself to Pakistan just after a massive earthquake, to Haiti, Japan, and Tanzania to lend a practiced hand after natural calamities, terrorist attacks, and kidnappings by pirates.
When tectonic plates suddenly shift, where tsunamis gather lethal force or tropical storms morph into devastating hurricanes that target urban centers, Kushner will likely be on the scene, ready to spring into action. It helps that he is a member of the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary, an ex-Marine who works closely with the 82nd Airborne, and a translator fluent in French who has worked with U.S. embassy staff members in former French African colonies. He knows who to call if he needs to jump on a C-130 military cargo plane or Coast Guard cutter, but even if he didn’t, you get the feeling he’d strap himself to the wing of an osprey or grab hold of a bottleneck dolphin’s dorsal fin to hitch a ride to quake-ravaged Port-au-Prince or tsunami-flattened Ishinomaki.
Whatever it takes.
That’s been Kushner’s mantra from a young age. He embodies Albert Einstein’s belief that you never fail until you stop trying. When Kushner discovered that his own community, Inwood, didn’t have a Rotary club, he started one himself and became its first president. When a man with disabilities and his wife, both HIV positive, had no place to live after their basement Rockaway apartment was flooded to the ceiling, Kushner helped them move into a small condo he owns for three months, rent free. “You do what you gotta,” he says.
Kushner received the RI Service Above Self Award, but perhaps it should be changed to Service Way Above Self. Even then it would fail to capture his compassionate compulsion to do good. “The world is such an insane place,” he says. “I can’t just sit around and watch.”
Born and raised in New York City, Kushner joined the Marines at age 18 and was assigned to Administrative Intelligence – “pencil-pushing,” as he calls it. He contracted a severe case of pneumonia at Parris Island in South Carolina. It recurred throughout his three years in the service and led to his discharge with a lifetime disability. He decided to continue his education and won a Rotary Foundation Ambassadorial Scholarship to study at University College in London, an opportunity that forged his bond with Rotary.
If you’re in Kushner’s company long enough, you’ll find that narrative cohesion may elude him, but a thematic unity will take shape. A moment after delving into the earlier phases of his life, Kushner leaps to a lengthy anecdote about rescuing dogs with a Zodiac boat crew in flooded New Orleans, post Katrina. Then, just as abruptly, he’s in a makeshift hospital in Pakistan. A minute later, he’s flying doctors into Haiti. He’s proved himself repeatedly as a first responder who values systemic organization and the logical deployment of resources, so you’re inclined to cut him some slack if his anecdotal thought processes don’t follow a similar path. You begin to trust that he will make landfall within reach of where he took flight.
Dropping everything to help
In time, Kushner’s reminiscences lead to a clearer understanding of his current status as a Rotarian with the will and wherewithal to drop everything and go where he’s needed. In 1991, he and two other ex-military men wrote a state law to help veterans with disabilities to work as New York street vendors; his friend Joseph Kaswan had discovered an obscure 19th-century version written to support Civil War veterans.
Together they updated it and lobbied the state legislature to get the new law passed, against fierce resistance from politicians defending brick-and-mortar retailers. The process took 10 years. By then Kushner had assembled a group of disabled vets – a committee, in his words – who, along with him, sold high-end jewelry on the street for bargain-basement prices. “I made a deal with the main importer for Macy’s, Bloomingdale’s, those places, to buy end-of-season overstock, stuff they have to move out, for pennies on the dollar,” he says.
This enterprise provides Kushner with a living and a flexible schedule. “We’re the only stands that make money,” he announces with pride as you stroll with him across a Midtown hotel lobby. He stops you in front of the hotel gift shop and points to a row of bracelets encrusted with semiprecious jewels in the display window. “Those, there, $50 each? We sell exactly the same ones for $5.”
Kushner’s street savvy carries over to every aspect of his volunteer work. He’s quick to offer well-meaning clubs advice based on his experiences around the world: “Before you write a check, you gotta know where that money ends up. Send somebody down there to see who’s who, what’s what, where the money’s really going. It costs a little, but it can save a lot. You want to help out an orphanage in the Dominican Republic? All well and good, but do the due diligence.”
They’re words of wisdom from a Rotarian who’s seen some donations disappear into the pockets of corrupt individuals while other contributions reach their intended recipients. The hard-won knowledge of a weathered veteran who’s battled floods, hurricanes, tsunamis, and tornadoes with a single purpose in mind: to leave things in better shape than he found them. Right now, at this very moment, you can be sure that whatever Jim Kushner is up to, he’s also preparing for the next calamity.
by Stephen Yafa
The Rotarian -- July 2013
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THIS CLOSE
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SPEAKER - Paul Nicklen
These images are about as far from the Caribbean images as one can imagine!
Share his hilarious, passionate stories of the polar wonderlands, illustrated by glorious images of the animals who live on and under the ice.
Paul Nicklen photographs the creatures of the Arctic and Antarctic, generating global awareness about wildlife in these isolated and endangered environments.
Paul Nicklen grew up one of only a few non-Inuit in an Inuit settlement on Baffin Island, Nunavut, Canada -- a childhood that taught him the patience, stamina and respect for nature required for his beat in the frigid climes of Earth’s polar regions. Best known for his vivid and intimate wildlife photos for National Geographic, Nicklen started out a biologist in the Northwest Territories, gathering data on such species as lynx, grizzlies, and polar bears. Today he bridges the gap between scientific research and the public, showing how fragile and fast-changing habitats are profoundly affecting wildlife.
During the course of his workday Nicklen regularly comes face-to-face with fantastic creatures: narwhals, Arctic foxes, elephant seals, and more. His most amazing experience? An underwater encounter with a leopard seal who for four days tried to feed him penguins through the "mouth" of his lens.
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RON BURTON - RI PRESIDENT, 2013-14
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DOCUMENTARY - BROWNSTONES TO RED DIRT
Thanks to Devorath for this information!
Click this link to locate the documentary online.
Don't forget to click your browser's BACK button to return to the meeting.
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AN EFFECTIVE ROTARY CLUB - OUR GOAL
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TO END OUR MEETING
To end our meeting, please recite aloud (on your honour!) the Rotary Four-Way Test of the things we think, say, and do.
The District Interact Chair, Audley Knight, leads us.
1. Is it the TRUTH?
2. Is it FAIR to all concerned?
3. Will it BUILD GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS?
4. Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?
...and official close of meeting
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Thank you for stopping by our E-club meeting! We wish you well in the next week in all that you do for Rotary!
The meeting has now come to an end. Please do have a safe and happy week! If you have enjoyed our E-club meeting, please leave a comment below.
Rotary cheers!
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Visiting Rotarians. Click this link to Apply for a Make-up. We will send you and your club secretary a make-up confirmation.
Please consider a donation to our Club. Just as any Rotarian visiting a Rotary Club would be expected to make a donation, we hope you will consider a donation to our Rotary E-Club of the Caribbean, 7020. Please click the button below:
Active Members. Click to indicate your Attendance.
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HAPPY HOUR HANGOUT - Saturday, September 7
Rotary E-Club of the Caribbean, 7020 is inviting you to a scheduled Happy Hour Hangout.
- 9:00 a.m. Atlantic Time
- 9:00 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time
Join from a PC, Mac, iPad, iPhone or Android device:
- Please click this URL to start or join. https://zoom.us/j/175528244
- Or, go to https://zoom.us/join and enter meeting ID: 175 528 244
Join from dial-in phone line:
- Call +1(424)203-8450 (US/Canada only).
- For Global dial-in numbers: https://zoom.us/teleconference
- Meeting ID: 175 528 244
- Participant ID: Shown after joining the meeting
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