Sunrise Rotary Club
January 10th , 2018
Meeting at American Legion
Our dear President Michelle called the meeting to order lest we become an unruly Animal House
This Day in History:
1776 “Common Sense” pamphlet was published by Thomas Paine advocating American Independence
1861 Florida secedes from the Union
1951 UN Headquarter opens in Manhattan, NY
Quote for the Day:
Find what you love and let it kill you ~ Charles Bukowski
The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why ~ Mark Twain
Scribe Duties:
She surprised the scribe of the day in the midst of his drinking coffee so he left to get a note pad. Herewith are the notes/minutes of the day
Guest Speakers:
Turner is up on January 10th but replaced by Katia Matthew who presented Keller Allen
Birthdays:
Lisa Fitzgerald who was serenaded with harmony!
Lisa Fitzgerald who was serenaded with harmony!
Ex- Former Student Rotarian
Bethany was invited to tell us about her life, an unexpected invitation to speak
Cards:
Toni won $10,000,000 with the 4 of clubs and was escorted out by her bodyguard the Sargent-at-Arms
Bowl of Life:
Lived in Steamboat Springs, CO, for 2 years after completing undergraduate degree. Mike admitted to this and hours of joy cruising Rocky Mountain slopes.
Announcements:
Rotary International Notes:
The leadership institute for District 7870 is scheduled for March 3rd at the Concord Community College, Concord, NH. It will be held in the Nursing Building adjacent to McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center, 7:30 AM to 3:30 PM. Register at rlinea.org. Topics include Leadership Development, Rotary Knowledge, Project Leads, Team Building, etc.
Stone Soup Social
Sign ups included Katia Matthew, Josh Goldberg, Drew Hazelton, & Mona Williams. The sign up sheet was left in the room.
Honduras
Please buy the coffee and Danny’s thank you notes were read
Ali will be joining the February trip to San Pedro Sula and the Merendon mountain range where Danny lives
Luncheon at Turning Point a Flat Street revitalization committee took place Wednesday at 1PM. She is excited about building a pergola in the spring.
Jacques
The new member project should be available to all so the email list will be provided in Club Runner
Brags:
Ali for Lisa who arranged travel for all 4 to Honduras, for Ali’s daughter who is visiting the Grand Canyon, and for the chance to meet Maria Leonard who influenced her daughter
John Secrest for having married someone smarter than he is
Cindy for having chosen SUNY NY and stayed away from party schools
Josh for Saturday event on Flat Street, Twinkle Town, 2-9
Jim going to Cuba Feb 15th
Turner for also having married someone smarter than he is and for being away in South Africa & Tanzania
Jeff for Monday Night Trivia and having created Bar Baby team
The Speaker introduced by Katia
Keller Allen, an Anticoh grad, has been committed to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and the Lakota Sioux for 7 years. Feels very emotionally connected to their cause and described the genocide practiced by our political, military, and capitalist leaders since the mid 1800’s. The lemma was “Kill the Indian save the man” so kids were sent off to boarding schools where their Indian identity was stripped away, hair cut, clothing burnt, language forcibly prohibited, in fact they were punished severely if they spoke their native tongue. Life on the Rez is extremely difficult; poverty is 97%, unemployment 85%, heart disease is 2X the national average, juvenile suicide is 2X the national average, families have little money for gas to get to full grocery stores so depend on the junk at convenience stores.
He asks of them “what can we do to help, to improve your lives” and hears, always ask, never forget, keep coming back.
He & his wife travel and live there each year and now are creating a retreat resource center. They have purchased a saw mill, harvest and process their own lumber and now build the structures they need. They have 1 acre of land dedicated to food and hope to expand that to 2 acres and then a mobile farm market that can provide better quality locally grown foods that ought to improve diet and health.
They have 3 main objectives:
Expand the farming and create the mobile food market, create a buffalo herd, & create jobs. The herd will be “managed”, or rather each cow will be owned and the calves can be sold to support the owner’s needs, like Heifer International.
He believes that the needs of the indigenous, especially the Lakota, should be must be his generations cause celebre. This way of life is disappearing, reduced eliminated by successive decisions by governments and as there is a threatened species list there should also be a threatened populations list. Keller is passionately committed to these people which we all saw in his very emotional message. He is looking for partnerships whose synergy can make a greater difference than the work he and his wife make.
He ended by saying they would love to buy a tractor to help till the ground they are farming.
Respectfully,
Your partially attentive, almost prepared scribe……. tristam