Rotary 5110 in Action eNews 04-28-2020

Coincidentally a Rotarian in California has stepped up with the blessing of RI and created a website to train Rotarians how to be medical assistants to do exactly what you are suggesting. Here is the website: https://volunteersurge.com/ After the online training you are a Certified Nursing Assistant, CNA. I believe the training is 30 hours, consolidated just last week by experts in the medical field. Then Rotarians will be connected to work assignments through participating medical partners in contact tracing or other COVID related phone interviews. Anyone can participate and it is free. Very cool eh? Folks can start the training any time.

We are in receipt of a $25,000 Disaster Relief Grant for food and sanitation supplies in District 5110. We are naming the project #RotaryResponds to be consistent with the # that RI has started on Twitter. Anyway, getting folks to volunteer from our Club the week of May 4-9 would be awesome—click here to read more. I hope we can announce the exact details at this weeks meeting.

We should open by thanking all Rotarians for their service through these challenging, unchartered times of COVID-19. Making masks, delivering supplies, feeding health care workers, first responders and those highly susceptible at senior and retirement centers…the list goes on and on and is indicative of what Rotary is all about.In gathering these heroic stories, Rotary International is looking for a collective home run with the production of the COVID-19 #RotaryResponds Livestream Telethon on Saturday, May 2nd, 8 a.m., Pacific time. We are pleased to invite you to participate in this one-hour Telethon to raise critical funds for disaster response. This Facebook Live event will be simulcast on the Rotary International Facebook page. The goal is to raise more than $1 million (the link is now live). PLEASE CLICK HERE TO INQUIRE HOW YOU CAN PARTICIPATE, SPREAD THE WORD, DONATE AND ADVOCATE FOR THIS EFFORT.

Rotary is where neighbors, friends, and problem-solvers share ideas, join leaders, and take action to create lasting change. The Coos Bay-North Bend Rotary Club is putting their money where their mouth is during this time of COVID-19.

When word quickly reached some local health care professionals in that Rotary club, that area businessman Rick Stillwagon had partnered with the Southern Oregon Workforce Investment Board to shift from producing rum to churning out hand sanitizer, we thought, “how can we help?.”

Soon, a major effort to get more hand sanitizer from the recently certified maker of the safety product to local Coos County first responders and frontline healthcare workers was conceived and kicked into gear. The Coos Bay-North Bend Rotary Club has now contributed at least $9,000 in funds and goods, including labels that are being contributed by Rotarian Alan Ledesma.

For more on this story of service, click here.

Another group of digital 4-Way Test speeches have been uploaded to our website for all to view. Five more speeches have been added to the origina group and serve as great examples of the talent and confidence exhibited by the students. Each is to be congratulated for a job well done. I encourage Rotarians to leave comments for the students to read on our website. Club Presidents, when you hold your club’s Zoom meeting, consider using one of the speeches as an inspiration to begin your meeting, or use more than one as the main presentations, or use one to close your meeting. All speeches have met the requirement for length – between five and seven minutes. Your club members will be delighted to hear the perspectives of the high school students as they apply the Rotary 4-Way Test to a topic of their choice.

When the COVID-19 pandemic closed schools in Corvallis, the Corvallis Public Schools Foundation ramped up its homeless student outreach program to help ensure emergency food security and housing stability for those most vulnerable students and their families.

The Foundation needed to quickly raise $100,000 to cover the costs of these additional and unexpected needs. The Rotary Club of Corvallis’ members, building on our long-standing support for homeless students, quickly donated nearly $6,000 for the emergency program. This, along with other community donations, allowed the CPSF to exceed its goal and, as of late April, provide over 170 families in need with supplemental food/hygiene bags and 45 households with short-term rent and utilities assistance. Over one hundred families now get weekly food box deliveries. Click here for more detail on the work to sustain such assistance.

Springfield Rotary Exchange Student Liïsa Sarkïo has prepared a booklet of recipes from her native Finland. In a normal year, these would have been shared th the club at a year-end fundraising dinner for her year-end trip. The trip was cancelled; the dinner was cancelled. But Liïsa followed through with the recipes. Here is her message and her request.

Springfield!! “Hi folks! Even though, unfortunately, a live Rotary meal is not an option during our time of social distancing and Covid-19, I still wanted you to be able to enjoy some Finnish flavors. Here is a three-course-meal constructed of typical Finnish foods: a carrot puree soup, meatballs with mashed potatoes and a blueberry pie with a traditional ‘pulla’-dough. Click here to read more on how this project is contributing to the COVID-19 crisis. This is why I ask all of you who receive this recipe book to donate a minimum of $5 to World Central Kitchen. WCK is a global, non-profit organization that distributes food for those in need, working especially during crisis. During this pandemic, many safety nets, like school feeding programs and food banks, are struggling to meet the basic needs of the community, while people still need nutrition as much as ever. Check out the World Central Kitchen’s website wck.org/ for more information and donating. Thank you!”

Oregon’s chapter of the American Public Works Association (APWA) nominated long-time chapter member Rick Olson as the chapter’s nominee for the National Top 10 Public Works Leader Award.

Although Olson was not one of the 10 people selected in this year’s highly competitive national judging, David Derrick, chair of the APWA National Top 10 Review Committee, recognized the significance of being nominated by Oregon APWA. “Your nomination reflects your commitment and service to the public works industry,” Derrick said.

Olson’s career in public works spans nearly 50 years. Click here to read more on our DG’s recognition and his long history of industry and community service.

This week’s BUSINESS OF THE WEEK RECOGNITION goes to STAR AUTOMOTIVE in Grants Pass, whose principal is Rogue Gateway Rotarian Jim Lefeber. Star Automotive is another of B2B’s early adopters. Jim Lefeber recognizes the benefit of promoting his business to other Rotarians through the B2B Directory by purchasing a Gold subscription costing only $45 for a full year. Check out Star Automotive at https://5110b2b.org/business-listing/star-automotive-we-fix-cars-right/ Every D5110 Rotarian with a business is entitled to a FREE listing in the new B2B business directory.

While the current national emergency caused by the CoVid19 pandemic requires physical distancing, Rotarians can still remain socially connected to other district Rotarians. The Rotary E-Club of the State of Jefferson invites all Rotarians to make up virtually: the club posts a complete meeting each Thursday and the club library contains hundreds of programs on a wide variety of informational and entertaining topics. Use the make-up form to inform your club secretaries of your attendance. Any Rotarian can register on the Club website to receive an email notification with a link to weekly meetings – without obligation. Click here for a link to their website and e-meetings.