In the Rotary calendar, November is The Rotary Foundation (TRF) Month. Through our dues structure, every member contributes $50 per year to TRF. This qualifies us to be a EREY (Every Rotarian Every Year) club. Many members of our club do more than this, making TRF their charity of choice. These members may give an additional donation above the $50. Some also mention TRF in their wills and become Benefactors (less than $10K), Bequest Society members ($10K and more), or even members of the Legacy Society (minimum of $1M). If you have not done so already, please make TRF one of your charities of choice, giving what you can.
Obviously, we are experiencing turbulent and divisive times. As Rotarians, we are in a position to bridge the gap between opposing views. In addition to the Four-Way Test and Rotarian Fellowship, the club constitution provides boundaries as to what our club and its members can and cannot do. Following is an excerpt from our club constitution for your consideration.
Article 14: Community, National, and International Affairs
Section 1 – Proper Subjects. Any public question involving the welfare of the community, the nation, and the world is a proper subject of fair and informed discussion at a club meeting. However, this club shall not express an opinion on any pending controversial public measure.
Section 2 – No Endorsements. This club shall not endorse or recommend any candidate for public office and shall not discuss at any club meeting the merits or demerits of any such candidate.
Section 3 – Non-Political.
a.) Resolutions and Opinions. The club shall neither adopt nor circulate resolutions or opinions and shall not take action dealing with world affairs or international policies of a political nature.
b.) Appeals. This club shall not direct appeals to clubs, peoples, or governments, or circulate letters, speeches, or proposed plans for the solution of specific international problems of a political nature.
I saw a sign the other day that I liked. It said “Make America Friendly Again”. As Rotarians, I hope that you can do your part to make this a reality.
Welcome to October. I’m sorry to say I think this means summer is just about over. But no worries, AHS Rotary will keep you informed and engaged with one interesting and important speaker after another this month.
October 6, Mary Stewart from Community Partners with Youth has been a key partner with the Northern Ramsey County Emergency Coalition, organized and managed by past club president, Kent Peterson. Mary will fill us in on the important work her organization is doing to relieve food and housing insecurity among young people in our area during the Covid-19 pandemic.
October 13, District Governor Ed Marek will join us for a visit and talk about his plans for the district and our club’s place in it this Rotary year. Ed is returning from a leave of absence in connection with the passing of his beloved daughter. Please be sensitive to this fact.
On October 20, during this time of social and political unrest, past club president Bill Klumpp brings us a timely presentation from Heather MacDonald, who will lead us in a discussion of the sensitive topics of Crime, Race, and Policing.
And on October 27, what could be more timely than Beverly Wadsworth’s talk about fundraising during a pandemic? Thanks to Al Ramos for bringing Beverly, her ideas and wisdom to us on this crucial topic at this difficult time.
November 2020 Update on the Amaravati Sewing School Project
As reported earlier, the schooling offered by Pushpa’s Sewing School in Amaravati, India has been shut down by the Covid-19 Pandemic. Although, much more populous than the United States, India is second to the United States to the number of deaths attributed to the Pandemic. After ten of the first seventeen students at the Pushpa Sewing School finished the curriculum last February, the sewing school had had to close in view of Government mandates. Another cohort group of students had just joined the remaining students from the prior group and many of them were making steady progress toward completing the curriculum this summer, until a shelter in place order was issued throughout India in response to the Pandemic. It has disrupted everything in India except for the deeply rooted poverty that is so pervasive in the ghettos in the cities and in much of the rural areas. Amaravati has not been spared.
In a recent conversation with Gummadi Franklin, Pushpa’s founder and chair, Chairman Franklin was very positive about the school and the role he hopes it will continue to have in Amaravati, assuming the shelter in place order is eventually lifted. The school had come together very well and the landlord has generously minimized rental payments in view of what is hoped by all will be the temporary closure of the school. How well the school will be able to reorganized after the closure remains to be seen, but the elders in the community and the landlord want the school to remain. It has been welcomed in Amaravati.
A picture of the graduating class seated with their arms raised as they wait for their certificates is shown below. What happened here in the U.S. also happened in India. The Covid-19 Pandemic disrupted the entire country and has caused Pushpa to suspend its classes.
Two of the graduating students are picture in another picture below, one, who was chosen to speak to the gathering at the graduation ceremony and another who is receiving her certificate from Chairman Franklin. Also with the students and Chairman Franklin is the Teacher (Suzanne) and a teaching assistant.
Pushpa's mission is to help marginalized community members of rural Guntur District villages transition from migrant, subsistent lifestyles, dependent on seasonal labor and temporary shelter, to sustainable livelihoods in healthy communities. Its mission has not changed. The organization’s main goal is to work together with underprivileged (tribal) members of rural Guntur District villages to find ways to enable socio-economic change in small ways, one person, one family, one student, at a time, through projects in which the recipients themselves participate. (See http://pushpaproject.org/vision_mission.htm )
One of the elders in Amaravati is pictured below after he was given the honor of cutting the green ribbon in a ceremony for the opening of the school in May of 2019.
A lot of hard work went into establishing the school and there are many people to thank for their hard work and significant contributions. The Sewing School has now graduated its first class and it is especially gratifying to see that the labor and hard work is now being rewarded and that young people’s lives in Amaravati are being touched by those efforts. We are now awaiting further word as to further progress of the current students once the shelter in place directives in India are lifted. Pushpa will be there to restart the teaching when that happens.
The leaders of PUSHPA, both here in Arden Hills and in Andhra Pradesh, India are especially grateful for the support for the new sewing school from the Arden Hills Shoreview Rotary Club and Rotary District 5960 and have expressed their gratitude privately and acknowledged the Club’s sponsorship of the school by erecting the sign shown in the picture below.
We and Pushpa are thankful for the matching grant received from Rotary District 5960 and to the following Rotary Clubs for their generous support of our project: Belle Plain; Brooklyn Center; Forrest Lake; Fridley Columbia Heights; New Brighton Mounds View; Prior Lake; Roseville; St. Croix Falls; St. Paul No. 10; Siren Webster; West St. Paul Mendota Heights; and White Bear Lake.
Our Global Grant to provide water, sanitation, and hygiene facilities, and training in their use and maintenance, to five rural schools in Nigeria passed a landmark in September, by transferring $23,370 to the “Implementing Partner” on the project, Partnership for Initiatives in the Nigerian Delta, otherwise known as PIND.
These funds represent the contributions of nineteen Rotary Clubs (local and as far away as Tampa, Florida) and the non-profit, H2O for Life. By wiring the funds directly to PIND, we avoided $1,157 in “processing fees” that RI would otherwise have charged us for doing essentially the same thing.
This does not, however, mean that the project can now move forward in Nigeria, as the five Nigerian clubs with whom we are partnering have not as yet raised their share of the funding for the project. While the Covid-19 pandemic has curtailed our local activities, the situation is even worse in Nigeria, and it is apparently the custom to wait until the US clubs have assembled their funding before starting the process in Africa.
So now we wait, while encouraging the leadership of our Nigerian partners to complete their task. We can only be thankful for the cooperation and generosity of our US clubs. Meanwhile, the first progress report to RI is due on January 1st. Fingers crossed.
The Suburban Ramsey Emergency Coalition has been successful in providing grants for food, housing and mental health/well-being needs related to the COVID-19 pandemic. An unexpected benefit has been enrichment of the 15 participating organizations through this cooperation. We are creating methods to work together for a common goal to help our communities at levels we certainly could not have done alone. I hope that benefit will last beyond the pandemic.
As of the end of October, we raised $130,442, not including projected $20,000 being raised through raffle of the ’73 Mustang convertible. Donations have come from about $53,000 from the organizations; $42,000 from individual donations; $20,000 from the Minnesota Disaster Recovery Fund and $15,000 from the virtual Walk/Run event. Those donations and the volunteer project to sew 200 isolation gowns for Ramsey County Care Center resulted from involvement from hundreds of people throughout our 8 suburban Ramsey County communities.
At this point, 16 grants totaling $97,500 have been awarded for food, housing and mental health programs serving residents of Mounds View and Roseville School Districts. During October, the new grant awards were: $10,000 to Community Partners for Youth to assist with supervised distance learning and youth development for 100-120 children from low-income, diverse backgrounds in New Brighton;$5,000 to Aeon for rental relief for residents of 3 apartment properties with 317 affordable homes in Roseville and Little Canada; $5,000 to Every Meal (formerly Sheridan Story) for food for children and families in Roseville Area School District and $10,000 to Northeast Youth and Family Services to help re-open the NETS day treatment program for youth needing intensive mental health services. Prior grants awarded to organizations we have supported were to: Quincy House, Ralph Reeder Food Shelf, YMCA and Solid Ground.
The Mustang Raffle,in partnership with CLIMB Theater, has added a lot of energy and fun to the Coalition. Huge thanks to the generous, anonymous donor who made this fundraising possible. It will conclude with the drawing at The Mermaid on “Give to the Max Day”, November 19, and will be live-streamed on the Facebook page of CLIMB Theater.
During October, the Coalition is partnering with Visit Roseville on aBike/Drive of Roseville-in-Bloom, 20 rose statutes painted by local professional artists. The public has been able to get the map for biking or driving, register for prizes and optionally donate to the Coalition through our website. We got a few donations. The drawing for 5 prizes will be on November 2.
The Coalition has become a way for all our member organizations to promote their fundraisers, gaining involvement of members of other clubs and optionally sharing proceeds with our COVID-19 Response Fund. Here are two current fundraisers:
·St Paul North Ramsey 500 Lions Club Flower Power holiday fundraiser gives you the chance to buy flowers on-line and donate to charity. 50% of all proceeds will go to the Coalition and remaining 50% to other worthwhile charities the Lions Club supports annually. To order go to: http://northramseylions.fpfundraising.com/
·Falcon Heights/Lauderdale Lions Christmas Tree Sale, November 27-December 14, Falcon Heights Community Park. High quality trees and wreaths. A portion of the proceeds will go to the Coalition for COVID relief needs.
Finally, the St. Paul and Minnesota Foundation has approved extension of the Suburban Ramsey COVID-19 Response Fund through 2021. We will continue to raise funds and award grants as long as the COVID-10 emergency lasts.
Today's presenter was Lesley Perg from the Ramsey County Master Gardener Program sponsored by the University of Minnesota Extension organization. In order to become certified as a master gardener, one must apply, be interviewed, do 48+ hours of horticulture education and then be committed to volunteering in the community in events that promote horticulture education. The Mission of the Master Gardener Program centers on horticulture skills, growing food locally, promoting water-wise gardening, and educating in areas such as climate change and current areas of concern such as bee pollination. The focus of Lesley's remarks today was not about gardening per se, but on the importance of spending time engaging with nature outside. She spoke of the "Biophilia Hypothesis" which says that humans have a biological need to connect with nature; that it is important for our mental and physical well-being and that lack of nature encounters has negative health affects. "Communing with nature" helps us regulate our emotions and relate more effectively with other people. After 6 months of quarantine brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic, I think most of us can relate very well to this theory.
Today's speaker was Sylvia Allen. Sylvia grew up in the Twin Cities, currently resides in New Jersey, yet is a member of the North St. Paul/Maplewood Rotary Club. She was a producer for KSTP radio and TV for many years, then taught Public Relations at New York University for 20 years. Her real passion, however is the "Sylvia's Children" organization, which was the primary subject of her comments today. She founded this non-profit which is devoted to helping more than 1,000 students and orphans, ages 3 to 14, at the Mbiriizi Primary School in Masaka, Uganda. In 2003, she went on a humanitarian trip to Uganda and while there, was asked by Geofrey Kawuma, head of the school, to be the school’s Grandmother, a responsibility she was honored to accept. Since that first trip in 2003, she has raised more than $800,000 for the school.
Her goal is to make the school self-sustaining. “The community is filled with industrious and creative people,” Allen says, “it’s common sense that once they have a solid foundation, including quality education and basic necessities, they will flourish. It begins with nurturing the children.” The challenges however are great. The country has 1.5 million orphans. 95% of the population does not have electricity. More than half of the population lives on less than $2 a day. 95% of the population does not have water. And only 20% of the children go past 7th grade. She does not let these facts deter her, stating her guiding belief that "obstacles are what you see when you take your eye off the ball!"
Our presenters today were Angela Eifert from Alight (Formerly known as the American Refugee Committee) and Ted Johnson. Both Angela and Ted are members of the Roseville Rotary Club. Alight is based in Minnesota and has been doing its work for over 40 years. They define their work as: "Building a meaningful life for and with the displaced. When we find people displaced from their homes, countries, or lives, our instinct may be to focus only on their basic needs. And that is essential. But it’s also not a life. A life is filled with joy, dignity, connection, and purpose. And that’s what we aim to build. We are an open family of organizations that works closely with refugees, trafficked persons, and economic migrants, to co-design solutions that help them build full and fulfilling lives – lives that are Alight." Angela's comments today were focused on the work they are doing relative to the Covid-19 pandemic in Africa, especially Uganda. African countries have seen very low rates of infection and death but just recently a refugee camp in Uganda has had an outbreak. Since people live so closely together in these circumstances, it is very challenging to combat, once the disease arrives. Much of their work is around health messaging so that the spread will be minimized. Ted spoke about the Nakivale Rotaract club chartered in Uganda in 2017. The Roseville Rotary club is working closely with this group on this and other critical issues.
We were joined today by District Governor Dayle Quigley from the St. Paul Rotary Club. Dayle took a few minutes at the start of the meeting to congratulate our club on the high level of support we provided in response to our District's push late in the Rotary fiscal year to bring total District giving to the RI Foundation up to $400,000. The following members answered this call and donated $365 or more, which helped our district well exceed the stated goal: Mike Anuta, Bill Klumpp, Frank Mabley, Anoop Mathur, Charlie Oltman, Jerry Peterson, Kent Peterson, Mike Spellman, Peggy Strom, Dennis Erno, and Mark Stange.
Speaker for the day was Allison Alstrin, representing the MN Military and Veteran Exchange. This organization represents a coalition of other organizations with the single goal of creating a rallying point for all things related to creating healthy military and veteran communities. It provides a means of connecting government, community and non-profit sectors that make up the 3-legged stool of support for these individuals and families. There are hundreds of tools and organizations created to support those currently serving, prior service members, their families, and caregivers. So many, in fact, that it can be hard to know where to start looking. MNme raises awareness and provides organized, effective access to the resources available to the Minnesota military and veteran community.
Today's speaker was Brook Schaub. Brook is a former St. Paul police officer who got into computer forensics and became an expert in finding things on computers that others thought they had erased. Now he is doing computer forensics for a large accounting firm and has gotten very involved in searching in Russia for the grave of the Grand Duke Mikhail Romanov, brother and heir to the throne of Nicholas II, the last czar of Russia before the revolution. He is leading an elite team of searchers, who have made repeated visits to the outskirts of the city of Perm, where Romanov and his secretary are believed to have been killed and buried in a densely wooded forest. Besides Schaub, team members include a medical examiner from Moscow, a retired Blackpool, England, police officer and dog expert and a forensic geophysicist. They are working with the Russian Investigative Service. Since all Romanovs are considered saints in the Russian Orthodox Church, the team is also working closely with that group. Finding the remains of the last top royal member of the House of Romanov, a man tapped by his brother to become the next emperor months before his murder, is a big deal in post-communist Russia. The team has family DNA available that can be used to verify remains if they are ultimately found. There have been many findings but the search goes on!
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