Rotary eBulletin week of August 4, 2014

Other news:

Volunteers still needed for the August 23 Thunder Chicken Race, please contact Justin Finn.

Past-president Diane Foley received the following request, which we are forwarding to our membership.   Since we have no official Rotary Youth Exchange this year while the district and RI re-tool that program, we thought some of you might be interested in considering: please contact Diane Foley if you would like more information.

“I am a Regional Director working for CIEE, the non-profit agency that coordinates foreign exchange students.  We are one of the agencies that the State Department has designated to supervise the students when they come into the country.  Our mission is to help people gain understanding, acquire knowledge, and develop skills for living in a globally interdependent and culturally diverse world. We are always looking for good host families and Local Coordinators to help make sure the students that come here have an enriching stay.  

“I am writing today because we have a couple students coming to Portsmouth and surrounding areas for the 2014-2015 high school year and we need assistance in finding them good homes and families.  In your position in the community, I thought you may be someone or know of someone that would like to host a CIEE student.   We accept all kinds of families - kids, no kids, empty nesters, single parents, and so on. The main requirement is kindness and a willingness to learn about a foreign culture. Families who welcome a student will not only gain a new member, but will also learn about the world, its many values, traditions, languages, food, and more.

“Our students have the appropriate visa, medical insurance and pay for all of their own expenses, with the exception of food and utilities. Students are between the ages of 15-18. They are arriving in August and are on a 10 month program. A family may act as a welcome family and bring the student into your community for a part of their experience as well. 

“If you are not in the position right now to host a student, we would greatly appreciate your help in forwarding this along to your network of friends and family.

“Thank you for your time!”

Here’s a summary of what the three students wrote about their backgrounds:

Boy. Zhengyang is a 14 year old boy from CHINA. I love music very much! I can sing Peking Opera and play trumpet. I have been learning Peking Opera and trumpet for many year. I am the leader of the school music club. Music is part of my life. I am easygoing, so I have a lot of friends in my high school. In my daily life, I like play table tennis and badminton, I think sports is good for our healthy. I am looking forward to meeting you and participate the family activities. I believe we will be happy with each other.

Boy. LUIS is a 17 year old boy from SPAIN. I am an open minded and friendly person. I love all sort of sports though swimming, basketball, skying and soccer are my favourites. I also very fond of meteorology and becoming a meteorologist will be my dream. I am sure that I will not have any problem on adapting to my hosting family as I have stayed for two month in Ireland during 2 summers and it was such a good experience for me. I have three sister and I am the little brother. My parents and my sisters went to University so it has been easier for me to study because of their help. I like sharing my time with my friends and family.

Girl. Emily is a 17 year old girl from ITALY. Hello! I’m an Italian girl and my name is Emily. I’m sixteen and next school year I’ll do the best experience of my life! The USA have always been my dream: Anyway, I hope I can give myself a challenge, grow inwardly and live like an American girl for a year. I’ve never been to the USA but I’d really love to. I love the place where I live because it is in the mountains and has beautiful landscapes, amazing natural places, there’s no pollution and there’s always something to do and sports to practice in the outdoors. But it’s rather inconvenient because there aren’t many shops or places where to go and meet friends.

Special thanks to our speaker, Neil Novello, who talked about the Naval Prison:

We look forward to seeing you at Thursday's meeting!