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Escondido Sunrise Rotary; Meeting to Serve our Community via Zoom; and “Water and Forest Restoration in Ecuador”…… January 21, 2020

Editor’s Note…

As we all try to conduct our professional pursuits in new ways, it’s appropriate to remind ourselves of who we are as a Serving Organization… Our accomplishments, our fellowship and the reminder of our many successes is valuable as we await the time we can gather together again…

 

So, we met via Zoom… On January 21 …  Sunrise Rotary members talking about service and connecting through fellowship in new ways…

 

President Chris opened the meeting… Even with a gavel and the familiar chime of a gavel striking a bell…  23 Sunrise Rotarians joined the Zoom meeting… Nice job all of you for joining us…

Membership Chair, Dr. Joe Holtz led the salute to our Nation’s Flag… 

Past President, Barry Baker offered an invocation…

Guests and Visitors:

    Visiting and presenting the program today were:

    Dick Stevens, Past District Governor (2012-13) of District 5340

    Amelie Cathalene, President of the Solana Beach Eco Rotary Club

    Karina Copen of “Nature and Culture International”

    Valeria Sorgato; connected to the Ecuador Water Project

 

Now, some Sunrise Rotary member milestones…

Birthdays:

    January         23:    Marcia Agnew

 

Anniversaries:

    None this week

Rotary Anniversaries:

    None this week

Sunrise Rotarians Having Fun…

Past President Jack Anderson celebrated his recent birthday in ‘family style’…

Shown are Jack with his three grandsons; Luke, Jake and Nate Perez and with his son Todd and Daughter Rebecca Perez… Jack’s also wearing the Dodger World Series Champions shirt he received from his Dodger-Fan son-in-law and grandsons… Rich Aeling was impressed; and Mark Maus was weeping…

 

Past President Jeff Johnson celebrated his birthday in ‘Family Style’ as well during an outing to Joshua Tree… While paying close attention to the cacti…

 

A ‘throwback’ photo from a Sunrise Rotary trip to bring needed items to an orphanage in Ensenada many years ago… Past President Mike Dunlap produced the photo of Past President Mike Muehl (as a much younger man) posing by the Cocina Box Truck that met up with the hotel drive approach overhead… Mike did blame his navigator, Al Algauer’ (may he R.I.P.) for the “not so smooth” contact with the building… A great service project with a memorable incident…

 

 

Past President Mike Muehl in this current photo is explaining the details of the former incident… Mike even recalled meeting a Rotarian from the Ensenada Club who remembered the 'incident'... "The Rotarian S.O.B. from Escondido that wrecked the truck"...

 

 

 

Keep your ‘fun’ photos coming to President Chris…

Sunrise Rotarians Serving, and Announcements: 

Mark your calendar Sunrise Rotarians…

 

North County Veteran’s Stand Down Clothing Drive…

Past President Rich Aeling reported that the clothing drive will be held in March in preparation for the Stand Down in April…

Girl Scout Cookie Project

Plans are underway for a virtual visit by the Girl Scouts, as they prepare to undertake their major fundraising efforts with cookie sales…

Supporting Local Restaurants

This week you are encouraged to visit the ‘Sunnyside Kitchen’ on Orange Avenue… This small breakfast and lunch spot has great food; let them know that Sunrise Rotarians are supporting local businesses…

District Governor to Visit on February 4

District Governor, Steve Weitzen will join us for his ‘formal’ visit on February 4… Plan on attending and show Governor Steve that Escondido Sunrise is a great, and active Club…

 

High Fives:

None this week

 

Program:

 

This week’s program highlights another of the five Rotary Foundation Global Grant programs supported by Escondido Sunrise Rotary which include: The Guatemalan Literacy Project with about 500 Rotary Clubs Worldwide; The Navajo Family Water Project; The Clean Water for Ecuador Project; The Green Houses for Ecuador Project, and another Nairobi School Project… 

Past President Mike Dunlap shared some detail as to the local funding support for these projects from our Club and from the Cabins by the Lake Foundation… Many amazing projects are taking shape with these combined efforts other Rotary Clubs, resulting in a true blend of international resources to benefit great areas of need.

Past President, Mike Dunlap introduced this week’s program on the ‘Clean Water for Ecuador’ project. This weeks presenter is Dick Stevens, Past District Governor in 2012-13… Dick was accompanied for the presentation by three ladies directly involved in worldwide conservation programs. Amelie Cathlene of the Solana Beach Eco Rotary Club, Karina Copen of ‘Nature and Culture International’ and Valeria Sorgato, of the Zapotillo organization. The goal of the project is to bring international support to provide much needed water and re-forestation efforts to an arid region of Ecuador. 

Dick Stevens speaking to Sunrise Rotarians…

 

Amelie and Karina shared the relationship of a number of organizations to serve the nearly one thousand people in the region. Overtime, the foresting industries have destroyed much of the vegetation needed to continue to naturally provide clean water for the region. The combination of removing forests, the arid seasons of the year and the impact of livestock on the rivers has resulted in pollution issues and lack of natural recharging of the water shed through natural vegetation.

Amelie Cathlene sharing details of the project and the need for global Rotary Foundation participation…

 

Different organizations are involved, to not only provide clean water sources, but to teach the indigenous peoples about the importance of managing the resources; specifically also to learn the best methods for livestock management to reduce animal pollution of the water supply…

 

Karina Copen of Nature and Culture International explains the importance of both the re-establishing the water supply, but also educating the local residents on water management and conservation…

 

 

 

The project is expected to be implemented over a 24-month period at a cost of approximately $65,000. The Rotary Foundation Global Grant process requires international participation… To that end, District 4100 in Ecuador has some clubs involved. Escondido Sunrise has provide $2,500 towards the project’s costs…

 

 

 

Valeria Sorgato explains aspects of the project that relate to the preservation of water sheds upstream from the key project area, and the goal to plant 1,000 trees to enable capture of rainfall and recharge the ground water…

 

 

 

Second Half of the Rotary Year Begins Now…

A reminder to all of Escondido Sunrise Rotary Members; President Chris has led us artfully through the first half of his presidential year in spite of the pandemic impacting our ability to meet in person. We accomplished a significant event with our Virtual Grape Day 5K, and raised an amazing amount of money for all of the good things we do as a group of “Sunrise Rotarians… 

But now, we have the last half of President Chris’ year to continue being the beacon of good hope and strength to our community… 

Keep attending online meetings and supporting all of our efforts to care for those in Need…

 

Next Week’s Meeting:

Pat and John Downing discussing Colorado Desert Archaeology…

 

Thanks for Attending Today’s Meeting…

 

 

Support for our Escondido Community …

Our great community and the success of its businesses is all of our responsibilities… Support the businesses that are doing all they can to survive during this challenging time… Take out some chow… Be ready to support them when the economy begins working again…

The ‘Giving Arch’ on Grand Avenue and Centre City Parkway reminds us that Escondido is a caring, giving community… 

 

 

To all; be safe and be well…. God Bless those men and women that carry the load at our medical facilities, and God Bless the first responders… May our governmental leaders be wise, thoughtful and smart as this pandemic is overtaken by our hard work and collective support… 

 

Online Meetings:

Technical Support for Online Meetings: 

Our on-line meetings continue to be technically managed by President Elect Richard Agnew… Thanks for that Richard… And, Richard is prepared to support all of our attempts at joining the on-line meetings… Look for his email with details and links to log on to the upcoming Zoom meetings…

Watch for emails defining the next online meeting. The system works fine, dependent upon your technical support available through your PC or laptop…

SEE YOU SOON… ON LINE OR IN PERSON….. Next meeting; Thursday January 28; 7:30 AM… Check President Chris’ or President Elect, Richard Agnew’s email for the Zoom Link…