November 18, 2010: Rotary Log (Schweitzer Fellowship)

Rotary Log 11/18/10

By Jon Flagg

Our meeting began with our now-traditional Vocational Minute with today’s presenter Father Gordon Allen. Father Allen was surprised to be asked to speak in light of the fact that he is retired. Despite his retirement, Father Allen points out that he has very little spare time. He either has chores around the house, is running away from a moose cow and her calf, or visiting the sick or filling in for other clergy who are away. Father Allen said that as long as he lives, he will be a clergyman and will never be truly retired from the ministry as he will continue to serve others, just as Rotary does.

We had a variety of announcements, including 5 (you got that right) new members going on 7 day notice. Excellent! Gene still wants you to bring in glasses and old cell phones. Thanksgiving (in case you have been on the moon) is this week! Call Frank if you can help out in any way with the Thanksgiving Dinner which, this year, has moved to the Jarvis Center behind the Greek Church and is Thanksgiving Day from 12-2.

Don’t forget to sign up for Christmas tree sales because if you do not volunteer, they will find you! Contact Basil for you Poinsettias!

Mort announced that Rotary International was founded in 1926 and the Rotary Foundation has raised $2 billion dollars since then for good around the world. He then introduced Jay Gibson who introduced our new Paul Harris Fellow. He described her as a great volunteer who has worked in Balise, delivered Thanksgiving meals, raised money for the Garden Club, and recently raised, along with her daughter, $10,000.00 to help fight breast cancer. He then introduced his very lovely wife, Mary Pat Gibson. Congratulations, Mary Pat, on a well-deserved recognition. Mary Pat acknowledged that she has been blessed from the day she was born and is so happy to have the opportunity to give back.

THE PROGRAM

Visiting Rotarian Ian Stevenson, Chief Financial Officer of the Doctor Albert Schweitzer Fellowship headquartered in Boston was our speaker today. The Schweitzer Fellowship has 2,000 Fellows, both in this country and abroad. The Fellows serve 25,000.00 people a year and since 1991 have logged in 400,000.00 hours of service. "Lambarene" is the name of the town in Africa where Doctor Schweitzer founded a hospital to help the less fortunate. His famous quote is "everyone has his or her own lambarene". He has inspired thousands of people to make their own lambarene their life passion. The Schweitzer Fellowship has eleven locations nationwide and 200 new members are invited to join each year. They are selected from the top 100 schools in the country and primarily serve ethic minorities and those less fortunate. They are placed with service organizations and medical care providers. They may be helping incarcerated youth one day, hepatitis B preventers in Chinatown the next, or with a hospital in Africa.

Doctor Schweitzer, who was German, was in France when World War I broke out and was actually incarcerated in a prisoner of war camp even though he was not in the German Army. It was there that he "decided to make my life my argument". Doctor Schweitzer had a reverence for all life and wanted love and respect for all people, regardless of their stage in life and his work earned him a Nobel peace prize. He was a major influence in the assistance to leppars in Europe and Africa. He once remarked that the only ones are among you who will be truly happy are the ones who have found a way to serve others. This, essentially, is what Rotary is all about. What a remarkable program and a remarkable person.