Rotary Gram
September 4, 2003
Chessa opened the
meeting with a moment of silence to remember our veterans and others who have
given so much to our country. She led
us in the pledge.
Announcing that we
had a full day, with two programs, she went around the room for the
introduction of guests. Joining us for
the day were:
Visiting Rotarians:
Mr. & Mrs. Eddie
Cheung, Newberry Park, CA
Diane Wildfang, Lake
Havasu City, AZ
Ronda Ledford,
Farmington, NM-San Juan
Mr. and Mrs. Jim
Jackson, Mt. Vernon, IL
Guests:
Andrée Stetson, Sue
Petranck, Tom West and Stephanie Moran from the Adult
Education Center.
Kathy Price, Terry’s
wife.
Bill Grunm
Angie Beach
Chessa reminded us
of the ground breaking at the Vallecito Community
Center on Friday,
September 5th.
And, on Saturday,
September 13th, High Noon Rotarians are invited to
gather at 8:45 AM,
with pick, shovels and friends in tow, to begin planting
5,000 small trees in
an area burned in last year’s Missionary Ridge Fire.
There will be a
second effort, if necessary the following Saturday. Get
more info on
location at the meeting this week.
The horsy-set,
headed by Past Presidents Dr. Bob Volger and Steve
Wheeldon, are
coordinating a fall horse-back ride.
Please contact either of
these gentlemen to
be part of this fun and colorful event.
In a compensated
announcement, Steve told us of the new show at the
Diamond Circle
Theatre. Was it based on a Louis
L’Amour book? It’s running
now, so contact the
theatre (247-3400) for details.
Terri Lee announced
a chamber music event at the Fort, with a pot luck
supper to follow, to
be held on September 20th.
Contact her at 385-4322 to
sign up.
Chessa indicated
that Sam Stites had resigned, for business reasons if I
remember right. Further a card was circulated for Nancy
Hammond who lost
her mother a few
days before the meeting.
Bess indicated
progress on the new member bags, which all Rotarians are
invited to
contribute to. Give her stuff related
to your business etc. and
it will find it’s
way into the welcome bags.
Chessa invited Ron
Holligan, Jill Wark and Angie Beach to the podium to
induct Angie into
the club. Ron introduced Angie to the
club, including
comments about her
involvement in community service, including the Women’s
Resource
Center. Angie has lived in a number of interesting
places
including Indonesia
and Alaska, but has her roots here and wants to get more
involved in with
service. Her philosophy of service
makes Rotary a natural
fit. Welcome Angie!!
On September 19th
at the train museum there will be the official
presentation of the
visiting Group Study Exchange (GSE) Team from Milan,
Italy. It is a pot luck and our club attendance is
being coordinated by
President-Elect,
Mike McGuire. Having returned from
Argentina last June,
where we presented
to 21 Rotary clubs, I was overwhelmed by the effort the
club members made to
make us feel welcome and to attend our presentation.
Make every effort to
be there and to participate in one of Rotary’s
important efforts to
build understanding among people from different
countries.
In the ‘This is Your
Life’ segment, Chessa brought Terry (Thornton)
Price to the podium
to help us become better acquainted him.
Terry
indicated that a
recurring theme in his life is not logic or reason, quite a
statement from an
attorney/author.
He explained how he
was influenced by his father who, in Terry’s words,
“always
underestimating the difficulty of a task, while at the same time,
overestimating his
ability to accomplish it.” He cited the
example of his
father taking the
family on a bamboo raft, no larger than the jeep resting
upon it, across the
Ganges river in India back in 1956.
Terry related that
at 2 ½ hours into the ‘crossing’ that they were
about ½ way across
the river, that only his father could swim and that the
river was brimming
with crocodiles. Terry told the story
to show how he was
preconditioned to
undertake tasks that he never should have, but somehow
survived.
One such task was
taking over a felony case in 1978 while a Deputy City
Attorney in Arizona.
He successfully defended a member of a motorcycle gang
in a felony case.
A few years later,
having backpacked with his daughter in tow, he saw
the virtues (and
possibly the profits?) in llama-culture.
He and Kathy
created and
published the industry news letter, Llama Life and continue to
raise the critters
today. They sold the newsletter and
Terry reports that
he is trying to
write a book. Given the lessons that he learned from his
father, there is no
doubt that he will succeed. Thanks
Terry.
Two numbers were
drawn, the fortunate ones being Wayne Bedor and John M.
Neither selected the
Queen of Hearts from the deck, so the pot rolled over.
Each did receive,
courtesy of Steve Redding and the ‘Wal-Mart’ Subway, a
certificate good for
a sandwich. Thanks Steve.
Program #1
Chessa introduced
Paulette Church, Executive Director of the Adult
Education Center in
Durango. She led a presentation about
the mission of
the AEC, explained
their programs including GED (General Educational
Development), Adult
Basic Education, Lindamood-Bell Reading Program, Family
Literacy, English
for Speakers of other Languages and Community Education
Classes.
Below is an
introduction of the center from their website,
“The Center is a
non-profit organization that has been serving Durango and
La Plata County
since 1986. Through fundraising, grants and partnerships
with other
organizations, we are able to provide free or low cost services
to our community.
The Adult Education
Center is a private, non-profit organization that has
been dedicated to
providing educational resources for adults and youth in
the Durango area for
16 years. We serve adults, seniors, and youth.
If you want to brush
up on a few subjects, learn to speak English, learn
computer skills, or
earn your GED, feel free to contact us at 385-4354 or
stop by the Mason
Center at 301 E 12th Street, uphill from the tennis courts
on 3rd
Avenue.
GED, ESL, and
tutoring are free. We get our funding for these programs
through grants and
donations. Our Computer and Community Education classes
are available for a
low fee.
Adult Education
Center
301 E. 12th
Street
(4th Ave
and 12th street)
Durango, CO 81301
Phone: 385-4354
Fax 385-7968
High Noon Rotarians
involved with AEC in addition to Paulette are our
President Chessa
Gill who serves on the board and Bob Chaput who instructs
computer classes.
Paulette explained
that GED instruction is given at the center and twice
weekly at the County
Jail.
Programs and Classes
Include:
Computer Classes:
Everything from
learning basic computer skills, word processing,
spreadsheets,
Internet, e-mail, and digital camera.
GED
The GED (General
Educational Development) test is a nationally recognized
certificate that is
awarded in Colorado as a High School Equivalency.
ABE
Adult Basic
Education provides assistance to adults needing improvement in
basic skills such as
math, writing, reading, or workplace skills.
ESL
We offer English as
a second language on Monday and Wednesday evenings for
adults who are
learning English. We can help novice to advanced English
speakers.
Reading
Specialized reading
classes are available in the morning using
Lindamood-Bell
multi-sensory methods.
Parent Coaching
Patsy Ey uses the
Parent as Teachers curriculum to coach young parents.
Second Languages
Spanish
We offer basic
through advanced Spanish classes.
Russian
We offer Beginning
level courses in Russian.
French
We offer Beginning
level courses in French.
To assist and
encourage students to participate, on site child care is
provided. Paulette explained that 40% of graduating
High School seniors
can’t pass the GED
test.
As an indication of
their program’s successes, she cited a student that,
after 72 hours of
instruction, was able to read 7 years above their skills
before the
instruction. Another indication is
that, when AEC graduates are
tested, they score
67% higher that traditional seniors.
The Durango Adult
Education Center is graduates 18% of the high school seniors in Durango and
they score significantly higher than their traditionally educated counterparts.
Paulette asked that
we refer anyone we know to the center who would be
unlikely to attend
DHS. Given the successes of the center
and the skills of
the instructors, we
are a better community for their efforts. Thank you
Paulette Church! Chessa added that her program has received
national
recognition.
Program #2
Chessa introduced
Charlie “Mr. International” Albert, Immediate Past
President, Jeff
Brown and Past President, Tom Galbraith, to announce the
International
Committee’s major program for the year and perhaps beyond.
The committee has
selected the Wheelchair Foundation for it’s support. The
foundation is a
non-profit with international reach that has provided a
total of 162,565
wheelchairs (committed or delivered.)
Recipients to date
are located in the
following countries. The figures
indicate the number of
chairs delivered or
committed.
Afghanistan 5330, Albania 50, Algeria 140,
Angola 3240, Argentina
720
Armenia 1354 ,Bahamas 360, Belarus 240,
Belize 240, Bangladesh 240
Bolivia 2294, Bosnia & Herzegovina 510, Botswana 50, Brazil 1335
Burundi 240, Cape Verde 226, Central African Republic
240
Chile 1440, China/Tibet 28163, Colombia 360,
Costa Rica 3328
Croatia 240,
Cuba 240, Czech Republic 600, Dominican Republic 4992
Ecuador 2289, Egypt 808, El Salvador 2026,
Estonia 250, Ethiopia
1048
Ghana 720, Greece 240, Guam 250, Guatemala 2916, Haiti 531
Honduras 2504, Hungary 120, India 2686,
Indonesia 520, Iran 2160
Israel 4010, Italy 18, Jamaica 660, Japan
750, Jordan 1200
Kazakhstan 480, Kenya 1760, Korea, Dem. People’s Republic 740
Kosovo 580, Kyrgyzstan 240, Latvia 240, Lebanon
1749, Macedonia 500
Madagascar 500,
Malawi 1920, Malaysia 1450, Malta 240, Mexico
18593
Moldova 240, Mongolia 540, Montenegro 120,
Morocco 240, Mozambique
600
Nepal 446, Nicaragua 1855, Niger 240,
Nigeria 780, Pakistan 655
Palestinians/Israel 1965, Panama 2340, Papua New Guinea 740, Paraguay
784,
Peru 3029, Philippines 730, Poland 11, Puerto
Rico 250, Romania
1090, Russia 460, Rwanda 5, Saint Lucia (UK) 280, Samoa
980, Senegal
240, Sierra
Leone 720
Somalia 88, South Africa 2460, Spain 775, Sri
Lanka 240, Sudan 200
Suriname 240, Swaziland 240, Syria 88, Taiwan
756, Tajikistan 240
Tanzania 568, Thailand 2270, Trinidad & Tobago
1040, Turkey 1270
Turkmenistan 240, Uganda
764, Ukraine 1527, United
States 14991
Uzbekistan 240, Venezuela 605, Vietnam 1779,
Virgin Islands (US) 280,
Western Sahara 153, Western Samoa 191, Zambia 120, Zimbabwe 990
Tom reminded us that
the second word in Rotary is International and that
for just $75, we can
provide independence, leading to a happy ending. In
fact, after the
eradication of polio, this could be Rotary’s next big
international
project. To this point, Rotarians have
funded nearly 31% of
the wheelchairs
provided by the foundation. And, Rotary
International is
one of just 5
organizations to invest $1mm in the work of the Wheelchair
Foundation.
Participation is
easy, there are no matching grant requests or lengthy
processes to deal
with. The committee’s goal is for the
club to fund 280
wheelchairs, a
container load, and to make the delivery after the first of
the year. The recipients will likely be from Mexico or
other Latin nation
and that will be
determined by the committee.
Chairs can be given
in the name of an individual other than yourself and
donors are invited
to participate in the ceremony where chairs are awarded
to feel first-hand
the reward of giving, with no expectation of any gain
other than that of
making another person’s life better.
See Charlie, Jeff or
Tom to make your commitment for several chairs.
With the holidays
coming, it’s a great time to consider giving a chair in
the name a relative,
a friend or a business.
The foundation’s
website is www.wheelchairfoundation.org Give it a
look, you’ll be
impressed by the board and by the founder, Mr. Kenneth E.
Behring.
Chessa thanked the
‘boys’ and brought the meeting to a close.
ps: Bulletin duties will be capably handled on
Sept. 11 by Terry Price and
on Sept. 18 and 25
by Spencer Pearse, with forwarding provided by Ward
Holmes. I’ll be visiting the CA branch of the family
and attending the
district conference,
where the GSE Team to Argentina will make a
presentation.
Coming Up:
September 11,
2003 (SURPRISE retirement for Mike
McGuire) 15 minutes.
Stories of two
police officers who were
shot in the line of
duty
September 18,
2003 Melodrama/Vaudeville---Laura will
contact Jeanie
Wheeldon
September 25, 2003
Animas La Plata Project Co-Sponsored with Kiwanis
Speaker is Ken Beck,
Director of Public Outreach Project
OTHER Possible
programs: Emil Nage—Emil’s history of coming to USA
….Who can ask
Emil???
October 2, 2003
Cowboy Poetry—Resource contact Bob Volger
October 9, 2003
Letters form 1880, SW Historical Society; (Resource Barton
Cross)
October 16,
2003 West Nile Virus.. Bob Salzer
October 23, 2003
United Fund information ( 10 minutes) ;
Rotary Business
Meeting break
out into committees /
also discuss Buckley
park
October 30,
2003 Big Brothers Big Sisters????
Or Halloween party???
November 6, 2003 GSE
team report from travel to Argentina
November 13,
2003 Animas Museum History
November 20, 2003
November 27,
2003 No Rotary….Thanksgiving Day
December 4, 2003
December 6,
Saturday Holiday train to
Cascade 12:00 5:00
December 11, 2003
December 18, 2003
December 25,
2003 No Rotary….Christmas Day
January 1, 2004 No Rotary…New Year’s Day
January 8, 2004