ROTARY CLUB OF JASPER
MONTHLY NEWSLETTER
FEBRUARY 2004


MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT

Fellow Rotarians:

You all make my job so easy! It is a real pleasure to work with a group of people who are so willing to do whatever it takes to ensure the success of our projects. Thank you. We have just finished a very important vocational activity - Job Shadow Day - and it went extremely well. Rotarians really turned out for this one and did an excellent job representing Rotary. We had about 27 Rotarian businesses hosting students, several Rotarians Businesses providing information booths, about 6 Rotarians manning the Rotary booth, and several presenters at CHS in the clusters. We also had 7 Rotarians on the planning committee. A job well done!

You’ll see from the Upcoming Events section that we have a lot left to do this year. Please take a minute to read the details of what will be needed to ensure the success of these projects and make plans to participate as much as you are able.

Everything we do is so important. We have a significant impact on our worldwide community through our projects and contributions. Our contributions to Rotary International, PolioPlus and to the District provide funds for much needed services. The money we raise locally goes to fund local projects that make a real difference in the lives of our neighbors. We are responsible for educating people throughout the world, alleviating hunger and oppression, improving the health of others and our efforts are directly responsible for these successes. Please do everything you can.

Yours in Service

Pam Fikes



SPEAKERS IN FEBRUARY

February 3       A representative of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville. Introduced by Gwaltney McCollum.

February 10     A representative of DHR will give information about Foster Parents of Walker County. Program arranged by Fred May.

February 17     Introduced by Haig Wright.

February 24    TBA



Birthdays                      Anniversaries
Betsy Lavanna 3rd         Trudie and Reza Seirafi 7th
Alec Grant 14th             Brian and Jana Kennedy 10th
Tony Sparks 15th          Fred and Susan May 13th
Bill Ashenfelter 17th

New Members
Allen Seehusen
Jimmy Cannon


ANNOUNCEMENTS

February is World Understanding and Peace Month

February 23rd is Rotary’s 99th Anniversary - World Understanding and Peace Day

Board Meeting - Monday, February 9th at noon.

Members responsible for speakers in March: 2nd - open, 9th - John Wills, 16th - Phillip Windham, 23rd - Cheryl Allison, 30th - Business Meeting.


Upcoming Events:

The First Annual Rotary BBQ, featuring Cliff’s Chicken will be held on Saturday March 6th. All proceeds will go to fund the community and family enhancement projects provided through the Jasper Area Family Service Center. Rotarians and Service Center staff will need to sell 500 plates in advance. Tickets will be available at the next Rotary meeting. Please pick your tickets up as soon as possible and begin selling. The event will be held at the Bevill State Community College Cafeteria. Tickets are $6 and the plate includes ½ bbq chicken, baked beans, slaw and bread. Besides ticket sales, we will need volunteers to help the day of the bbq: food preparation, assembly and delivery.

PETS/District Assembly March 12 - 13. The President Elect and President Elect-Elect will attend PETS on March 12th. We will also send up to 8 members to District Assembly on March 13th. Please let Tony Sparks know if you are interested in attending District Assembly.

PolioPlus contribution deadline March 31. All members will need to make their required $35 contribution by mid March. Make checks payable to Jasper Rotary and indicate the check is for PolioPlus Contribution.

Annual Rotary Egg Hunt - Saturday April 3rd. All Rotarians are required to sell 10 tickets at $10 each. More information to come.

District Conference April 22 - 24, Callaway Gardens in Pine Mountain Georgia. Four Rotarians will attend. These spaces are currently booked. You may get on the stand-by list - let Pam know if you are interested.
GSE Team Visit - May 8th. We will combine our annual banquet with our GSE Team visit this year. Arrangement information is not currently available. This year, however, we will be planning a reception-type format instead of the traditional banquet. The Team is from Taiwan and will be with us for only one day. If you have an idea of a great place for them to tour during their visit, let Pam or Russ Robertson know. More information later.

Resignations: Greg Williams. Purged from books - Karen Bevill, Bob Reid, Tom Ward, John Crump.


ROTARY SPOTLIGHT

Rotary and Interact Clubs - Working Together

Sixteen month old Karam Mohammad Jabbar Alubadie is a recent benefactor of the Gift of Life Program. Following the outbreak of war in his homeland of Iraq, Karam traveled with his mother 6,000 miles to undergo open-heart surgery to repair a small hole in his heart. Karam arrived in New York just three months after fighting ended in Iraq. There he received the Gift of Life thanks to the members of the Interact Club of Great Neck North High School, Great Neck, New York. The club raised more than $5,000 during a year-long fundraising campaign to help pay the expenses of the trip and surgery. Also contributing to the success are Drs. Gregory Crooke and Henry Issenberg of Children’s Hospital at Montefiore in the Bronx, who donated their services to perform the lifesaving cardiac surgery.
Interact Club co-president, Allison Polland, states “this experience has made me appreciate the fact that we are part of a global community and that our lives need to be grounded in a concern for justice and responsibility to the individual human life, wherever it is needed”. The Gift of Life program was created in 1975 by a group of Rotarians in Manhasset, New York. Today, more than 60 hospitals worldwide perform open-heart surgery on children who could not receive the lifesaving procedure in their home country. With about 40 chapters, Gift of Life has helped more than 5,000 children worldwide and is sponsored by Rotary and Interact Clubs. RotaryWorld January 2004