Believe it or not, even though Coronavirus cases are soaring, and that is driving record hospitalizations and deaths, news sources I follow say that unless another, more dangerous, variant emerges, there may be a light at the end of the tunnel.  That is precisely because, between the fact that millions been vaccinated and boosted, and so many others have been infected, we may in fact be approaching something approximating “herd immunity.”  So, the predictions are now that infections may begin to decline sometime in February, and the pandemic may become something we learn to live with, much like the flu, later this spring.

 

What that means to us is that we should continue to meet on Zoom for now, and perhaps think about returning to in-person meetings in the April or May timeframe.  I know Zoom doesn’t have the same feel as coming together in person, but health and safety come first.  And after two years of virtual meetings, what’s another few months?  So, I do not anticipate returning to Trellis until the experts suggest that the risk has diminished to near normal.

 

 

I hope that many of you will join club leaders at the D5960 Rotary Foundation Virtual Happy Hour on Wednesday, Feb. 2^nd, at 4:30.  Our club will be highlighted for our outstanding giving during the 2020-21 Rotary year.  There was a signup email sent from Zoom on January 25^th, so be sure to RSVP and get the Zoom link to the celebration.

 

 

Thank you all for listening to my frantic five-minute introduction to the Nigerian WASH in Schools global grant that our club took responsibility for in 2019 and is now nearing completion.  Questions I hear about global grants are, “Where do you find them?  How do they get started?”

 

There is no one simple answer to that.  Sometimes Rotarians just have contacts in other countries and learn about needs that we could satisfy that way. 

 

Another great way to learn about potential projects is at “House of Friendship” displays.  Almost every significant District, Zone, or Rotary International event has a House of Friendship.  That’s a large space in which Rotarians have set up displays in an effort to attract attention to and support for Global Grant projects.  Sometimes a U.S. club is looking for funding partners for grants for which they are already the U.S. partner.  Sometimes a “Host” Rotary Club will be there looking for a U.S. partner.  If the project interests you, you (or we) might become that partner.

 

Rotary.org has a “Rotary Showcase” page, which lists hundreds of projects looking for U.S. sponsors.  Find Rotary Showcase and scan the many projects listed.  Go to Rotary.org / My.Rotary (you must sign in to My.Rotary) / TAKE ACTION / Develop Projects / Rotary Showcase.  Go ahead.  Explore.  It’s a great way to get a sense of the needs Rotarians all over the world are trying to meet.

 

Have a great February.  And remember, “It’s practically spring.”

Kent Peterson - February 7

Jack Livingston - February 18

Glenn Bowers - February 21

 

Through the effective reuse of donated items Bridging improves lives by providing quality furniture and household goods to those transitioning out of homelessness and poverty. They serve over 240 people each week who are given a sense of dignity as they rebuild their lives.

 

n 2015, Bridging provided 4,831 dressers to our clients. 1,693 of those were sponsored and assembled by community partners like Rotary. Bridging would like to provide one dresser per bedroom but they are short over 3,000 dressers each year so our sponsoring a dresser build helped to achieve this goal.

 

 

Ten Rotarians and two spouses helped meet our goal of building ten dressers.

 

 

 

 

Although the COVID-19 Pandemic continues to change the way people strive to stay safe from viral infection and hospitalization in India, just as people do here in North America, we are encourage that we can report that the Amaravati Sewing School has once again reopened to a new class of students and that the Lead Teacher has been retained to teach the new cohort.

 

The new class has ten students and Dr. Franklin reports that, in consultation with community leaders and Pushpa, the Lead Teacher has directed that one of the six sewing machines in the school is to be designated for production of products to be sold by the school in an effort to introduce elements of entrepreneurialism into the curriculum and to develop a means for raising funds to keep the school open when the funds from the initial Rotary grant from Rotary District 5960 are depleted. We believe this is, at least in part, a response to encouragement that was provided when the grant was given.

 

As we understand it, COVID-19 has continued to disrupt everything in India with the exception of the terrible poverty that is so pervasive in the cities and of the rural areas of Andhra Pradesh and much of India. Amaravati is a small village in a rural area of Andhra Pradesh which has not been spared of the ravages of COVID-19.

In a conversations with Dr. Franklin, Pushpa’s founder and chair, and his wife, Shirley, who live in Arden Hills, they have been encouraged by the response of the community elders to the development of the school and the role it appears to be having in Amaravati. The school has been in existence now for nearly three years and, although the school has been close for two different periods of time during the Pandemic, the promise that the school brings to the community has been an encouragement to the community leaders and the community as a whole.

 

As readers of our prior reports will recall, the school came together very well initially. With the onset of the Pandemic, however, everything was disrupted. The elders in the community had wanted the school to remain open as much as was practical, but the leaders at Pushpa and the teachers have taken a somewhat more conservative approach as has been needed.

As previously reported, the first graduating class received their certificates of completion prior to the Pandemic. A picture of the graduating class seated with their arms raised as they wait for their certificates is shown below.