Rotary is ALIVE and WELL!  The connections we make through Rotary are so indelible.  Last Tuesday we had the privilege of hearing about Mercy Ships from our own Honorary Member and Pat Swope’s daughter, Tracy Swope.  After a career in the Marines, she joined Mercy Ships and has been with them for 7 years now. 

 

Due to Ebola, Mercy Ships chose to relocate to Madagascar, off the east coast of Africa.  They continue to re-invent themselves in order to work better and smarter.  Mercy Ship realized Madagascar people had different health issues and so they reconfigured their surgical stations to accommodate the needs.  They are also now spending more time training local (native) surgical teams to remain in country and continue their work once Mercy Ship leave. 

 

Mercy Ships have wisely partnered with agencies of like minds (like Rotary) to accomplish more.  They don’t enter a country without an invitation from that country and support/commitment from the country (i.e. free docking at port, exemption from regular documents for staff/crew to enter their ports/countries, etc.).  For $1,000 they can transport 44 patients to the ship for surgery.  These are all reasons we, as Rotarians, desire to help Mercy Ship in their cause.

 

As a sidebar, Tracy shared that cassava, a staple food crop of Africa, contains levels of cyanide, to which Patience Awazi was quite enthralled.  This bit of information will, most likely, allow Patience to provide her African Ladies with invaluable advice regarding production of cassava.  Talk about those wonderful connections.  I left the meeting with Tracy and Patience deeply absorbed in conversation.  WOW!!  Things are usually bigger than we can imagine.  Thanks, Tracy, for sharing with us.  Pat Swope, you must be overflowing with pride with all that Tracy has and continues to accomplish!  Happy Birthday Tracy!  (And another honorary member, Susan Gisler, celebrates the same birthday-so a “shout out” to you, too, Susan)! 

 

After Barry Gray’s number was chosen by Tracy, he took the “triple your money” $10 offer.  That is a wise financial planner, aye? 

 

See you Tuesday when we will be hosting our annual Speech Contest.  I anticipate great energy and exciting news from our president-elect, Mark Fleming, who will have just returned from P.E.T.S. (President-Elect Training Seminar).  Doug McDonald will represent our District as a Sergeant-at-Arms for P.E.T.S.   Congratulations for being selected to serve in that position and for your willingness to serve!

 

Registration for the District Conference is now open. District 5190's conference will be held on May 14 - 17 in South Lake Tahoe. Golf, biking, Polio Walk, a cruise on Lake Tahoe, speech and music contest finals, outstanding speakers, recognition and fun are all on the schedule. Head over to www.rotarydistrict5190.org and follow the link for on-line registration.

 

All club members, especially officers and committee chairs, are invited to attend the Club Leadership Institute on Saturday, April 11 at the Atlantis in Reno. Specially designed courses will be available to help each of us understand our roles in the club, and more about Rotary. President-elect Mark would like his whole team to attend, and the club will pay for your registration fee. Register at www.rotarydistrict5190.org under "upcoming events." Grants Management Training is offered the day before (March 10) at the same location.