NEXT MEETING: April 1, 2016

Update from the Democratic Republic of Congo

Thanks to support from the Richmond Rotary Club, women in the village of Mumosho in the Democratic Republic of Congo received much-needed healing. The assistance provided these women with job skills that allowed them to support themselves. Rotarian Amani Mataboro is back in the U.S. to attend the District 5160 Conference and will discuss the first Congo Healing Program (CHP) that treats the local population at no cost. A second CHP clinic is planned to open in April 2016, in the New Hope Congo Hospital in Kavumu, an area that is experiencing an increasingly high number of rapes of young women and girls. This trauma unit will provide specialize therapy for children.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

• Prez Alan Blavins reported that he received a $500 check to support our wheelchair distribution program in Mexico
• Alan Baer announced that the RotoCare Clinic Open House at its new location the Family Justice Center (256 24th Street, Richmond) will be on March 31 from 6-7pm. Please plan on attending.
• David Brown reminded all of our hands on project on April 9 in Parchester Village. David will need 4 teams of 3 people to help with installing smoke detectors, curb numbers and fire extinguishers. Sign-up sheet soon.

MEETING OF March 25, 2016

Welcome

Prez Alan called the meeting to order and asked Dan Tanita to lead us in the Pledge and offered us a moment of silence for peace on earth. Sid Chauvin offered the following thought “A problems is a chance for you to do your best” Duke Ellington

Visiting Rotarians and Guests

Prez Alan had as his guest son Josh; Jan Brown with son Mathew and husband Byron; Stacey Street brought James Lee and Yolanda Oviedo; other guests included: Jeff English; Whitney Dotson; Jelani Dotson; Susanne Gordon, Steve Early; Chaire DeSophia; Jan Mignone; Nancy Baer; Larry Giustino; Peter Bauhon; Ann Killebrew; Toula Siacotos, Justine Blanchet; and Tom Kelly.

Special Events

Prez Alan presented Jan Brown’s son Mathew with a Paul Harris Award.

Recognitions and Happy and Sad Dollars

• Prez Alan celebrated his birthday on March 21
• Tom Butt celebrated his birthday on March 23 and reminded us that he shared his birthday with Don Hardison.
• Incoming Prez Josh Surowitz celebrated a birthday on March 24
• Simon Ellis celebrated his wedding anniversary on March 21. Hope you did get her something.
• Jan Brown noted that father Don Hardison would have been 100 on March 23.
• Your Scribe is happy that his Valpo Crusaders beat St. Mary’s and is now in the Final 4 in the NIT.
• Herb Cole is happy to be off to Mexico to deliver wheelchairs
• Bill “Sunshine” Kozial recovering from a long illness is happy to be at Club and happy to be headed to Hawaii.
• Ric Ambrose offered… “Go Ducks!” in the NCAA Tournament

PROGRAM

Prez Alan introduced our speaker who needed no introduction, our own Tom Butt, Mayor of Richmond who made a presentation on the Paris Climate Conference in 2015. The UNFCC COP21 brought together approximately 40,000 representatives from 196 countries around the world.

The key point that Tom made is that cities are leading the way on climate change. They are using local climate action plans to prioritize strategies to reduce their emissions. The City of Richmond in partnership with MCE is one of the best examples of positive change in climate control with community choice in the City of Richmond. The City is working on a Climate Action Plan. Tom gave thanks to Tom Kelly for help in preparing the presentation. If you missed the presentation you can find it at: http://www.tombutt.com/pdf/COP21.pdf

 

The Menehune “Rotating Editor”