Rotary Log for December 7, 2017
Portsmouth Rotarians joined together for a wonderful lunch as always. Judy Ringer led us in song and our greeter Matt Randall in The Four-Way Test. John Rice provided the invocation, remembering those who died at Pearl Harbor 76 years ago. President Ben then promptly began the meeting with no minute to spare.
We congratulated six Rotarians on their anniversaries of club membership. Coming in with 109 years of service are Cleo Villaflores, Priscilla MacInnis, Ben Wheeler, Judy Ringer, Marc Greer, and Paris Khavari. Thank you all!
L to R: District Governor Dave Underhill, President Ben Wheeler and Past DG Lawrence Fishburn
The District Polio Plus Chair and former District Governor Lawrence Fishburn presented the club with a certificate of appreciation. Last year we contributed $7,000 of the $70,000 donated to the “Making History Today” campaign. That made us second highest in the district for giving.
Guests were welcomed. Among them were Kathy Herold (introduced by Dave Underhill) and Linda Underhill (Bob Herold did the honors.) Other guests were Sarah Johnston, Angela Feris, Ann Rictor Arnold, and Eric Fernall.
Announcements
Judy Ringer was seeking Salvation Army bell ringer volunteers for 9AM to-4PM Wednesday, Dec 13….
Craig Taylor says the Richie Mcfarland Bruins Alumni game is at the Exeter Rink, 1:30PM this Saturday, December 16th . Tickets are on sale for $10…
Ted Alex reports that 3,300 chess sets have been given away to 4th graders. Contact Ted if you would like to volunteer in the schools teaching chess…Leonard Seagren announces that travel scholarships are available for the trip to Kenya next spring…
Joanie Dickenson showed off the 9.2 pounds of can tabs that Jim Rini collected for PHS Interact. The club is stuffing stockings for Chase Home and Crossroads.
50-50 Raffle
Luis Melchor won, but it wasn’t a match.
The Program
The meeting then moved on to the speaker, our very own Bob Herold. Bob talked about his 2007 Polio trip to Ethiopia. Ethiopia has now spent the past three years polio free. There have only been 16 cases of wild Polio in the world this year.
In the meantime, Rotary has been involved with several projects there. The first back in 2007 was to take care of begging children. Later, with the help of President Diane Foley’s discretionary fund, we built and fully stocked a library. This library was solely for women and children victims of domestic violence. In 2014 there was $900 dollars left in the budget which the organization put towards Cancer Care Ethiopia. CCE gives patients a place to live while they’re in transition with treatment. Bob told many moving stories about CCE. He recalled a mother whose son sold everything so that she could receive treatment. CCE runs on an annual budget of $50,000. Bob hopes we can continue to provide support.
In 2014 our club got involved in the Elder Care Project. Some 80 percent of elders have no income and rely on their children for “social security.” The Elder Care project provides roofing for houses so that people have a dry place to live during the rainy season. A mere $200 renovates a house for Ethiopians in need. So far we have covered 14 houses which have 32 inhabitants, keeping them dry for the rainy season.
It is also important to note that the Bee Hive is flourishing. The man running the hive is often seen on Facebook selling his honey at tradeshows.
Bob reminds us that we should feel very lucky for winning the “birth lottery:” being born in America. With the giving season here, Bob also suggests that donations to Ethiopia would be great gifts for people who have everything.
Respectfully submitted, Madeline Warren
Photos by Jim Rini
