Meeting Recap 03/11/2010
by lou on 19/03/10 at 4:57 pm
BULLETIN FOR MEETING OF 3/11/10
The meeting opened on a sad note, with PREZ LOU noting the passing last week of Betty Jo McCully, wife of CLYDE and mother of BRIAN (and Eric, Mandy and Kevin). A moment of silence was observed, and all of us who knew Betty Jo over the many years of their involvement with Rotary will miss her deeply.
Invocator of the Week DOYLE DANIEL struggled to get sound amplification, but ultimately did just fine on his own. The Pledge was led by GORDON KNOTT. You’ll have to ask him what he said, I couldn’t quite hear it but it was very well received by the crowd, or most of them, anyway.
PAT BRADLEY ably introduced visiting Rotarians and Guests. While we had several visitors, guests were all attached either to the program or to an NFR member (welcome again, Kim Smaldino!) SHERIAN ECKENROD introduced new materials to help us all change that by making it easier to invite prospective members to be our guests. There is now a very nice membership flyer that explains North Fresno Rotary, together with a handy business-card-size reminder, which you can fill out with your name and number, hand to a prospect, and ask them to call you when they’d like to visit Rotary. Pretty slick deal, and thanks to SHERIAN and JIM CLARK for the effort and printing services in getting these done.
No travelers this week. DOYLE and I decided that Hanford and Mendota (respectively) didn’t count, so we weren’t volunteering. Secretary DAVE REULAND is once again at Lake Tahoe skiing. All there is to say about that is retirement seems to suit him, and I hope to be as physically and fiscally fit when I am his age and employment status.
ERIC MAYU reported on the Lowell School barbecue, which was relatively well-attended by members, including ED KAZMAREK who was able to stroll on over from the YFC office. Such a convenient location!
NICK SMALDINO reported that the Wine Tour, previously scheduled for April 24, has been postponed until June 5. No specific word on why, but June will be nice weather and a lovely day is expected, if last year’s Wine Tour can be any guide.
Speaking of April 24, we wouldn’t want to leave it barren so the COGs are putting together a Roger Rocka’s Good Company Players night out. The show is Oklahoma! Dinner and dessert are included in the $55/each price, and you can see any COG to sign up.
Our Rotarian of the Day was STEVE MCLEAN, who admitted to being an attorney in business litigation. STEVE has been in NFR since 2007, back when DON HENDERSON was president. He enjoys the outings and the service events the most. His worst job ever was working in Food Service at UCLA, which must have been a complete joy and probably good motivation to get into law school.
ERIC MAYU presented a check for $1000 to the Boys and Girls Clubs of Fresno, in sponsorship of their Boys Night Out event, upcoming April 2. They are looking for one-on-one mentors just for that night, no long term commitment. You may recall MARK BRAGE has coordinated this event the past couple of years, and MARK has been a big fan. If you are not of the make persuasion, then unfortunately, they can’t use you for Boys Night Out. The good news is there is a Girls Night Out on April 9, and if you don’t qualify to work at one, odds are excellent you will qualify to work at the other.
The raffle was won by PAT BRADLEY, who actually WON by drawing the black marble. Bad news for PAT is that, as noted above, DAVE REULAND is off skiing, and has all the prize money with him. Presuming that said prize money is actually in Fresno and not being wagered on the Tahoe gaming tables, PAT can expect his prize soon as the check is in the mail.
BOB KITTREDGE introduced our program speaker, Dr. Mark Scoffield, who is the executive director of American Medical Overseas Relief, or AMOR. Initially founded in Fresno by the Assemi family after 9/11, AMOR is “dedicated to improving the health status of communities throughout the Middle East. (They) focus on maternal and newborn care, trauma and urgent care, nutrition, health and hygiene education, communicable disease intervention, mental health issues and creating a supply of essential medications to those in need.”
The point of focus for this mission so far has been Kabul, Afghanistan, where AMOR has recently completed a 125-bed clinic/hospital. Built at a cost of $3 million (American hospitals cost $1 million PER BED!), this clinic has already seen over 40,000 patients and continues to see over 2,500 patients per month. The demand is very large. Staffed almost entirely by Afghans, the clinic does not appear to the locals to be an American institution, and so has quickly earned the trust of the people of Kabul.
Dr. Scoffield notes that 40% of children born in Afghanistan die by age 5 (compared with 1% in the US) while 25 percent pregnancies end with the death of the mother in childbirth. These are staggering statistics, brought about by a complete absence of medical care availability, and the overall attitude of Afghan society towards women. AMOR is working to change these things.
AMOR has a vision of going nationwide, and has hired a development director to take it to that next level, beyond the ability of one (admittedly well-off and very generous) family to support it. There are plenty of opportunities for individuals to make one-time and monthly donations to raise that support level, and for more information you can check out their web site at www.AMORelief.org
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