Bulletins - 2008 - 09/17/2008
This
Week's Bulletin Was Written
By Mana Mahfoozi
Our speaker, Sister Ethel Normoyle, also lead us in a very inspiring song invocation. Pledge – led by Dave Ferguson. Song – You Are My Sunshine
Paul asked Sister Ethel to pull the first ticket. The guest from Texas won the first drawing and chose one of the restaurant gift certificates. Tanya Reid from Camp Pendleton pulled the second ticket and took a chance on the card drawing for a chance to win the pot, but didn’t pull the right card.
Bitches & Braggs:
Jonathan Stone gave an update on Jeff’s surgery. He’s having a presurgery on 9/25 and then the big, final surgery on 9/29. They will start doing meals for him again on 9/25. If you cannot make a meal, you can donate money and Jonathan will pick up meals.
Mel Gallegos brought Jeff Olson
Andrea Espinoza was visiting from Rotaract
Jeramy Larson brought Hal Hewell
Lucy Killea brought Amy Granger
Carlton Woodring brought Victoria Bate
Visiting Rotarians:
Tanya Reid from Camp Pendleton
David Inmon from La Jolla
Claire Maytum completed her first project (Ronald McDonald House) and things went smoothly. She didn’t run out of food and though she would do a few things a little differently next time, she would definitely do it again. Mel awarded her with a pin.
September 13th Foundation Seminar – 1st time attendees gave a brief description of what the seminar meant to them. Maureen was amazing and awesome. Attendees were: Carlton Woodring, Amanda Hunyh, Claire Maytum, Robyn Bottomly, Mana Mahfoozi.
Dave and Jonathan went over Holes for Heroes Fundraiser/Event on October 24th. They still need volunteers (morning, afternoon and evening shifts available) as well as sponsors and golf players. They also still need auction items. Please take flyers and pass them out to anyone and everyone you know. They will be on Fox Ch 5 on October 2nd promoting the event as well.
Susan Bleicher spoke about the importance of keeping membership in the forefront of our minds. Ask, ask, ask, and bring a guest. MGM = Member Get Member! She also gave the example of how Bobbi Spinner-Flack was recruited at a trade fair and what a significant impact Bobbi has made to our club. Everyone, please bring a guest. Mel addressed the fact that every service organization in the world is having issues with membership being down during these times.
Dan Gensler introduced our speaker, Sister Ethel Normoyle. He met her in Copenhagen 2 years ago and was so touched by her story that he shared it with the district here in San Diego. Philippe went to South Africa where she was stationed in Missionvale. Rotary donated a van to them. She accepted to come visit San Diego’s Rotary Club and to speak at the Foundation Seminar. There was a 20 minute video showing highlights of Sister Ethel’s project. She went there in 1988 from Ireland. The population is 120,000 of which 60-70% is infected with HIV/AIDS and unemployment runs rampant. On one of her trips back to Ireland when she reached out to her fellow Irishmen and women, she was able to gather 200 individuals who came to Missionvale and helped her build her existing facilities.
After the video, Sister Ethel described in detail the situation in Missionvale. During the apartheid regime, the government came and bulldozed down people’s homes. Many of these folks lived very far away from where Missionvale is located so they didn’t end up in Missionvale by choice. Missionvale is described as a dustbowl. Education was very lacking because if you didn’t have a birth identification card, you weren’t able to attend school. Due to the high percentage of AIDS victims, almost everyone has tuberculosis.
Sister Ethel ended up in South Africa because Ireland and South Africa are considered a part of the same province. She has set up classrooms up through 4th grade for the children. She has also set up a daily food distribution plan. In order for people to keep their integrity and not feel they are being ‘given’ anything, they are asked to donate recycled goods in exchange for the food they receive. Every day at about 4pm, Sister Ethel goes around to the local stores and asks for food donations. Rotary has also assisted with the donation of powdered soups for years.
They are still in need of a lot of donations to continue helping this community. A newsletter signup sheet was also passed around.
| 
