Meeting Summary Sept 27, 2011
President Anita Grossman welcomed everyone to the Rotary Club of Mountain View @ 12:31PM, the BEST club ever.
Pledge of Allegiance: Roger Kao
Thought for the Day: Ken Schwaderer
Song of the Day: Phil Armi
Introduction of Visitors:
Judy Hannemann welcomed visiting Rotarian Jim, from Trinidad and Barbara Bonar, president of the Los Altos Sunrise Club. Dee Cunningham and Loraine Hawks were also in attendance.
Presentation of Presidents Club Certificates: Bob Williams and Carla Paul were welcomed into the fold, and Dennis Kobza will mark his upcoming birthday by joining the Presidents Club.
Rotary Foundation Minute:
Geri Felix shared a story where the foundation has changed people’s lives.
Club Announcements:
● Please register for District 5170’s Avenues of Service. The event is on October 20 at the DoubleTree in San Jose, and the Club picks up the tab for the day. The sessions include forums on Rotary Foundation Scholars, FaceBook and Social Media, as well as videoconferencing through Skype. The nuts and bolts of the Youth Protection Certification Process will also be featured, and there will be LiveScan available on-site. The event will also include a Project Faire and an opportunity to purchase Rotary swag and other products.
● The District is looking for volunteers well-versed in database and website management program design to help create a new District website. The website is part of a major marketing and membership campaign that will begin in the next few weeks.
Speaker: Professor Joy A. Palmer-Cooper, PhD, JP
Northumberland, United Kingdom
Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar
To District 517 1982-83 at Stanford University
Joy is no stranger to Mountain View Rotary. While she was a Masters candidate at Stanford, she was hosted by our Mountain View Rotary Club. Irval Carter was club president at the time and MV Rotary past President Ernie Hawks was Chairman of the Foundation Student Counselor Committee. She later finished her PhD at Durham University in the UK. She is a Magistrate in her Majesty’s Courts. She was Pro Vice Chancellor of research and staffing and Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences at Durham University. She has papers published in over 100 journals and has published 50 books.
Currently Professor Palmer-Cooper is Director of Project Sri Lanka. This project provides opportunity for Rotarians primarily in Northern England and in Sri Lanka to coordinate efforts with students from Durham University to provide aid and assistance to Sri Lanka. She presented this project with slides about the rebuilding of Sri Lanka after it was devastated by the Tsunami in 2004 and the civil war with militant Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
The Tsunami destroyed almost everything including families, homes, schools and businesses. The death toll was 35,000. The survivors suffer from physical and psychological trauma. Some children still have difficulty visiting the beaches.
The students from Durham University and the Rotarians in England have united to raise money and volunteer time for the humanitarian venture. They have built 24 schools amidst the danger of civil war battles. In addition the project has replaced fishing boats and other manufacturing equipment to the towns. Durham MBA students have counseled small business owners. Other Durham students return to teach at the schools in the summer. New modern businesses are encouraged. For example one your man started a computer café to expose and help educate the local population to advances of the modern world.
The last planned project school #24 was completed March 29, 2011 in the heart of the home of the civil war militant Tamil Tigers. Most of the children have lost their youth from the Tsunami and civil war strife since 2004. The Sri Lanka Project aims to put an end to that through education and personal support.
Our presentation next week is Child AIDS Prevention in Liberia: An On-the-Ground Report
Our greeter/thought for the day/scribe for next week is Dave Cole.