Join us for TINFA’s annual fundraising dinner – virtual this time to support kids in rural Guatemala so that they get the education they deserve.
We are excited to have, as a keynote speaker, award winning journalist Sonia Nazario. We will also connect to one of our partner teachers and students in Guatemala to hear the impact our technology and curriculum are having in our partner schools.
More information and registration here.
World Polio Day is a time for Rotarians and Rotaractors across the globe to raise awareness about our work to eradicate polio for good. If we stay committed to making progress, polio will be the second human disease ever to be eradicated.
In our fight to end polio, we’ve used our collective strength to defeat this devastating disease in almost every part of the world. This year, the World Health Organization’s African region was certified free of wild poliovirus – showing that eradication is possible even in very difficult circumstances. Wild poliovirus still paralyzes children in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and as long as polio exists anywhere, it remains a threat everywhere.
Let’s Take Action
A polio-free world is possible, but we can achieve it only by taking action together. With the challenges to vaccination programs posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s even more crucial that Rotary continues to build awareness and raise funds for polio eradication.
Join the effort to vaccinate children and end polio by organizing a World Polio Day event for your community. In 2019, Rotary members held more than 5,900 events in 136 countries. This year, online events and activities will allow us to expand our reach even more and inspire others to join us.
Not sure how to take action for World Polio Day? From virtual event ideas to social media posts and photos, the World Polio Day Toolkit can help you start planning and promoting your activities now.
Join the University Sunrise Rotary Club for our weekly program. We meet via Zoom every Thursday morning at 7:30 a.m. Pacific. The line opens at 7:15 a.m. Registration is not required. Login by clicking here.
The University Sunrise Rotary Club has a long standing relationship supporting TINFA (Technology and Information for All) bring technology to rural student learning in Guatemala. Our program will be a report on the progress of the effort. Speaking will be Emma Le Du, TINFA’s Director and Mike Madden, Secretary and a board member of the University Sunrise Rotary Club, as well as a board member of TINFA.
Mike will summarize the partnership with TINFA to date, and the status of our Rotary Global Grant projects, “Technology for Teachers in Rural Guatemala I & II.” Then, Emma will talk about the conditions in Guatemala now, what we are doing to adapt to the pandemic shut-down and plans for the rest of the current project.
Emma Le Dû is the Exec. Director of TINFA. She has previously held positions at the Grameen Foundation as Senior Technical Program Manager. She has been in Information Technology for over 15 years, at Microsoft and Amazon.com in various positions in International and Program Management. Emma has spent two years in Lao P.D.R, as a computer consultant to the European Union and UNDP. She holds an Engineering degree in Robotics and Electronics (ESIGELEC in Rouen France) and a Master of Public Administration from the Kennedy School (Harvard University) with a focus on Leadership and International Development. Emma is TINFA’s co-founder.
Mike Madden is retired and lives in the Loyal Heights neighborhood of Seattle, just north of Ballard. He attended Western Washington University and completed a Bachelor’s Degree in Education, majoring in History and French. Mike taught at Meadowdale Junior High School for five years before joining Safeco Life Insurance Company, now known as Symetra Life Insurance. Mike retired from Symetra as Vice President and head of the Individual Product Line after a rewarding thirty-three year career there. Mike believes in volunteer service, having served several years as President of the Northwest Regional Board of Dollars for Scholars. He is a board member and Secretary of the University Sunrise Rotary Club. He is a volunteers with the Seattle Bureau of Fearless Ideas tutoring organization and is President of the Board of Bright Future Dollars for Scholars.
Our program on September 3, 2020, featured Jamie Lee of SCIDpda. She is Director of Community Initiatives at the Seattle Chinatown International District Preservation and Development Authority. Jamie oversees community focused projects at the SCIDpda. Jamie joined SCIDpda in 2014. With senior leadership, she supports external relations of the organization, and oversees funding and operations of community initiatives and Hing Hay Coworks.
SCIDpda is a leading force for the economic health of Seattle’s Chinatown International District, implementing strategies that range from support for individual businesses to marketing the entire neighborhood’s lively retail and cultural environment. SCIDpda is an effective and informed advocate for our neighborhood’s residents and businesses, promoting community improvements and public safety and protecting our community from negative impacts. SCIDpda focuses its development efforts in a way that honors the rich character and history of the Chinatown International District.
Jamie addressed the issues that have been faced in the International District in the pandemic.
The pandemic began to hit the International District early in 2020. Businesses began to slow down as early as January, well before the March 16 shutdown. The Asian source of the coronavirus had an early and negative impact on the neighborhood. The impacts were broad and ranged from a reduction in business traffic from nervous consumers to incidents that may well have been racist.
Vulcan became an early hero with a donation of $100,000 to help create a business assistance relief fund. A total of $800,000 has been raised in the wake of the Vulcan initial gift.
Efforts to assist the community have included business relief efforts, helping to improve food security, and creating Internet access for resident children for online learning.
If you would like to help, Jamie provided us with the following information:
I wanted to just follow up with information for our upcoming virtual fundraiser for SCIDpda. Fun part about the event this year is that you can purchase “Neighborhood Boxes” and get goodies from the CID delivered to your home.
A the link to donate is here – you can also find information about how to RSVP for our virtual event and about the Neighborhood Boxes on that page too.
Jamie has over ten years in the nonprofit sector focusing on community engagement and nonprofit management, including working with individuals experiencing homelessness and launching a transitional housing program for homeless women. She also worked at the University of Washington’s Carlson Leadership and Public Service Center, networking with over 300 nonprofit organizations in the Seattle area and connecting them with undergraduate and graduate students looking to integrate service into their studies. Jamie has been active in the CID since 2005, with Chinese Information Service Center and the International District Chinatown Library in their after school programs, the International District Housing Alliance (now InterIm CDA) on their fund development committee, and the board of the Washington Asian Pacific Islander (WAPI) Community Services.
She currently serves on the board of Sanctuary Art Center, Historic South Downtown, the Chinatown International District Business Improvement Area, and the CID Public Safety Council. Jamie has Masters in Social Work and Public Administration from the University of Washington.
An old physician, Doctor Gordon Geezer, became very bored in retirement and decided to re-open a medical clinic.
He put a sign up outside that said: “Dr. Geezer’s clinic. Get your treatment for $500 – if not cured, get back $1,000.”
Doctor Digger Young, who was positive that this old geezer didn’t know beans about medicine, thought this would be a great opportunity to get $1,000. So he went to Dr. Geezer’s clinic.
Dr. Young: “Dr. Geezer, I have lost all taste in my mouth. Can you please help me?”
Dr. Geezer: “Nurse, please bring medicine from box 22 and put 3 drops in Dr. Young’s mouth.”
Dr. Young: ‘Aaagh! — This is gasoline!”
Dr. Geezer: “Congratulations!
You’ve got your taste back. That will be $500.”
Dr. Young gets annoyed and goes back after a couple of days figuring to recover his money.
Dr. Young: “I have lost my memory, I cannot remember anything.”
Dr. Geezer: “Nurse, please bring medicine from box 22 and put 3 drops in the patient’s mouth.”
Dr. Young: “Oh, no you don’t — that is gasoline!”
Dr. Geezer: “Congratulations! You’ve got your memory back. That will be $500.”
Dr. Young (after having lost $1000) leaves angrily and comes back after several more days.
Dr. Young: “My eyesight has become weak — I can hardly see anything!”
Dr. Geezer: “Well, I don’t have any medicine for that so, “Here’s your $1000 back” (giving him a $10 bill).
Dr. Young: “But this is only $10!”
Dr. Geezer: “Congratulations! You got your vision back! That will be $500.”
*Moral of story* — Just because you’re “Young” doesn’t mean that you can outsmart an “old Geezer”
*Remember:*
Don’t make old people mad. We don’t like being old in the first place, so it doesn’t take much to tick us off.
ENJOY YOUR DAY!!!
P.S. Written in large print for old Geezers.
The Club is running a series of programs designed to increase our understanding of race relations and, hopefully, point us in ways to be more helpful in dealing with these issues.
Our speaker on August 27, 2020 was Marvin Charles, the Executive Director and Co-Founder of DADS (Divine Alternatives for Dads Services).
Marvin Charles has emerged as a community and national leader in creating stronger fathers and healthier families. Because of his own powerful story of separation from and then reunification with his own family, parents and children, and his 15+ years of helping others reclaim the positive role of fathers to their families, he is an experienced and trusted mentor and advisor. He has traveled all over the U.S. to speak about empowering fathers, to learn from other national leaders and to share our successes with other organizations hoping to implement fatherhood programs. Marvin Charles is an ordained minister and his extraordinary effectiveness comes from his ability to see through the pain and threats of those he counsels to the powerful change possible by embracing a living God and larger purpose. Neither class or ethnicity poses an obstacle to him being heard.
“A General in Satan’s Army.” That is how Marvin Charles describes himself in the first portion of his life. He had eight kids. Four were born crack addicted.
“High. Crime. Time.”
He was about to abandon his seven-month old daughter, when he began to turn his life around.
And turn around, he did. Today, he is Founder and Executive Director of DADS (Divine Alternatives for Dads Services), and organization dedicated to model healthy relationships as a means of creating healthier fathers and families, to stop to cycle of family violence and brokenness in order to improve the lives of children, and to encourage fathers to become agents of change in their communities. Operating now for twenty years, DADS has helped over 4,000 fathers. DADS helps fathers understand child support issues (including both rights and obligations) and works to help create parenting plans.
Fatherlessness, says Marvin, is the #1 problem in this country that costs our nation $100 billion per year. Marvin experiences were both illuminating and meaningful to our Club.
Fathers, he said, are critical role models. It is better to have a bad father role model, than no role model. Bad fathers, he said, at least show kids a path to avoid.
Lots to think about from this presentation.
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| Dear Rotarians, It our pleasure to announce to you that the African region has just been certified wild poliovirus-free. Rotary members have played an invaluable role in the effort to rid the African region of wild polio. We should be proud of all the hard work that we’ve done to eliminate the wild poliovirus throughout Africa and in nearly every country in the world. This progress is the result of a decades-long effort across the 47 countries of the African region. It has involved millions of health workers traveling by foot, boat, bike and bus, innovative strategies to vaccinate children amid conflict and insecurity, and a huge disease surveillance network to test cases of paralysis and check sewage for the virus. Over the last two decades, countless Rotary members in countries across the African region and around the world have worked together to raise funds, immunize children, advocate with local and national leaders, and raise awareness about the importance of vaccination, enabling the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) to effectively respond to and stop polio outbreaks. This milestone is an incredible public health achievement for Rotary members, the African region, and our GPEI partners, and a huge step forward on the road to global polio eradication. But we still have important work to do in order to eradicate wild polio in the last two endemic countries. We have faced many challenges in our journey to eradicate polio. But we’ve made remarkable progress, and the polio infrastructure that Rotarians helped build will serve as a lasting legacy that will continue to help protect vulnerable children against other diseases for decades to come. We are calling on you today to recommit yourselves to ending polio. We need each and every one of you to help finish this fight and continue raising $50 million each year for PolioPlus. The eradication of wild polio in the African region shows us that polio eradication is achievable, and shows how our hard work, partnerships and financial commitment continue to propel us forward, even during a global pandemic. Thank you for your continued efforts, for achieving a wild polio-free African region, and for remaining committed to fulfilling our promise of a polio-free world. Sincerely, Holger Knaack K.R. Ravindran President, Rotary International Chair, The Rotary Foundation Rotary International President Holger Knaack and Nigeria National PolioPlus Chair Dr. Tunji Funsho congratulate Rotarians on eradicating wild polio in the African Region. Watch here. |
| ONE ROTARY CENTER 1560 SHERMAN AVENUE EVANSTON, ILLINOIS 60201-3698 USA ROTARY.ORG |
French Country Restaurant …This is a 90 second video from a small country restaurant in France, which keeps its customers entertained while they are waiting for the main course.
The French restaurant “Le Petit Chef (Little Chef)” came up with an original way to entertain guests while waiting for their order by using an overhead projector on the ceiling.
The animation is on the table and your plate.There is a small chef who appears on your plate. Watch what he does!
After you click the website below, wait until the item comes on your screen, then click the arrow to start the video.
Bon Appétit… https://www.youtube.com/embed/yBJEP4lsRFY