SDRotary - Getting Involved

November 12, 2003

This week’s Bulletin was written by Sig Weitzman

Sayers' just after sifting for Spode

Speaker Lloyd Young and Steve Waterman

Highway delays led to the meeting starting at 7:31 am with Frank nowhere to be seen. President-elect Ron Erbetta took over the podium, perhaps seeking to commence his term months early. But Frank then dashed in and, upon witnessing the early stages of this coup, re-ascended to his throne. Peter McGuire led us in the pledge, Dave Mc Quade’s gave us some humorous Mark Twain lines concluding with a trembling salute to friendship. Linda then led us in a rousing rendition of, “It’s a Grand Ole Flag.” We had a roster of visiting Rotarians including Dave Smith from Illinois. Melissa introduced her brother –they are a remarkable family. Rounding this out was the familiar cohorts from Club 33.

Announcements

Ø Reminder: Next week’s meeting (Nov. 19) will be a field trip to Market Square Manor. Buses will depart Symphony Towers at 7:10 a.m. and 7:20 a.m.

Ø Maureen Eberle advised that she could use some help with the upcoming RYLA camp activities. As we all know, this is very rewarding experience.

Ø Rick Logan reported on the recent Tijuana Homebuilding project. Two homes were built by two teams from our Club. This is also an extremely rewarding and worthwhile activity of our Club.

Ø Gary Green continued the distribution of Paul Harris Fellowships to David Archambault, Linda Fox, Rick Logan, Lou Scanlon, and Steve Waterman.

Ø Gary followed up his awards with an auction of a round of golf for four at a local course. This fetched $150.

Ø There is an unclaimed prize from the golf tournament that went to Dave Price. If this prize is not claimed by our next regular meeting, it will be auctioned off.

Special Thanks From Your editor

When Alan presented me with the pictures taken in Cuyamaca from the Rotary camping trip of years ago, I was completely taken aback by this wonderful gesture. Those pictures cannot be replaced and it instantly occurred to me that the entire Cuyamaca area has now been destroyed by the fires, so that particular environment will probably not be the same until our grandchildren’s generation. That made the pictures even more memorable. But when the Club presented us with 12 place settings of our beloved Spode Christmas pattern, along with side dishes, platters, and all the rest, you could have knocked me over with a feather. How could anyone have known how sentimental those item were to both of us and Kathy especially. The Spode collection was one of only two things that we spent hours digging through the debris of our home looking for (the only other item was a fireproof safe that did not survive). Immediately after the meeting I called Kathy and told her of the gift and we neither of us could hold back the tears. What can we say but that we thank you all from the bottom of our hearts. This was the most beautiful and meaningful act of kindness that we have ever experienced in our lives.

As a follow-up, everything has worked out as well as possible for us under these circumstances. Our insurance will cover the full cost of rebuilding our home and replacing our contents. Our architect and builder are already working on plans and the demolition contract is underway. We are living in an apartment with 25 of our neighbors in Scripps Ranch, so our everyday routines will be very similar. The emotional trauma has come and gone and we are getting back to business, so to speak. Every day so far brings a couple hours of “extra” stuff to be done, but we’re making our way through it and will eventually be better off with a new home, new furniture, new clothes, etc.

Once again, thank you all for your exceptional generosity. We are truly blessed to be part of this wonderful Rotary Family.

Speaker

Steve Waterman introduced Lloyd Young of the Sister Families Program. The Sister Families Program was conceived during a 1992 Rotary Friendship Exchange in Brazil. Over 10 million children in Brazil are abandoned and living on the streets. Not only is this heartbreaking for the abandoned children, but the result is tremendous crime and delinquency. Over 100,000-200,000 of these kids live in horrible ghettos and serve as runners for drug lords. Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro are the two most dangerous cities in the world as a result of these abandoned children. It is common for infants to be placed in Fabens (orphanages) where they live in cribs without human attention until they are 5. The operators receive $800/month/child and have no incentive to either care for the children or give them up to anyone who will care for them. The Court system is corrupted by bribes of up to $10,000 paid to the judges in return for a child. When Sister Families was formed, the challenge was to find an ethical judge who would deliver the children to the Program at great personal risk from other corrupt judges. Such a judge was found and a test program of 100 children was developed. In conjunction with the Lions, Rotary placed these children in proper homes and the Program has never looked back. For $216, we can take a child off the streets and place him or her in a proper home with loving and caring parents for an entire year.

Brazil is especially hard with abandonment (over 10 million kids), but world-wide the statistics are even more staggering. Sister Families has come to us looking for a special relationship to expand this program into Central America and Mexico. They are looking for enough Clubs to make a financial contribution that, with matching grants, $38,000 can be raised to launch the program in Mexico City. This would be the start of much loftier goals along the lines of the Polio Plus Program. Lloyd would like to see this program eventually set as a goal the eradication of abandonment, one child at a time. But first, let’s explore what we can do with our own neighbors.

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