Newberg Noon Rotary Club Newsletter for June 26, 2019

GREETER today was always-smiling Angel Aguilar….doing very well for a novice in the position!

Where is our INSPIRATIONAL 2018-2019 Club President, Om? OH!…There she is…not really “backing” out…but rather showing off with pride her shirt with her special “Be The INSPIRATION” logo on the back. Dr. Stan Kern led us in the PLEDGE….

Guests: Destiny Johnston [host/Shannon B.]; Zora Stephens [host: Matt Stephens]; Brandy Penner [host: Shannon B.]; Susan Brown [host: Michael Pollock]; Gabi Quinteros & Chloe Wilkinson [both are Client Relationship Assistants for Om…and have happily helped with the Auction and other Rotary stuff for their boss]; Jameson [host Aaron Lewis].

Visiting Newberg Early Bird Rotarians: Ken Austin III, & Kari Fahrenkopf [last meeting of her Rotary Club President year!].

City of Newberg announcement: Last Survey/Action Plan…a NewBERG Community Vision..take it today at: http://bit.ly/anewberg3

Jeff Lane/Pancake Breakfast…SELL! – SELL! – SELL! The $$ we get from pre-event sales all goes into OUR club’s coffers!

We need your HELP! Please click on the link below to sign up to help at our Rotary Pancake Breakfast: Saturday, July 27^th and Sunday, July 28^th at Memorial Park. https://signupschedule.com/noonrotary

Please send your best wishes to fellow Rotarian Curt Walker who was recently ill. Curt is now in good spirits and doing fine. Every year, Curt volunteers to be the Pancake Ticket Sales Chair. We can help Curt during his recuperation by purchasing or selling Rotary Pancake Breakfast tickets!

Please email Curt at cdw_901@yahoo.com to request the number of Adult and Child tickets. Adult Tickets: $7.00 each; Child Ticket (Ages 5-10): $4.00 each

AND……Denise Bacon is now home from her brief stay at the “large gray hotel” in SW Portland—Providence St. Vincent Medical Center. Please send your good wishes for Denise’s speedy recovery to: Denise at denisebacon@aol.com.

Om was recognized/thanked for her 5 years in Newberg Noon Rotary…

Spike Sumner…said all major Pancake Breakfast sponsors are taken care of…but now we need to sell table sponsorships!

AND…then Spike proudly received his 35 year Rotary membership certificate from Pres. Om.

and all-smiles Deborah Cather-Seymour for her 25 years in Rotary!

…Om gives Geoff Gilmore his 10 year Rotary Certificate….

…..and Karl Hughes gets his 10 year Rotary certificate…

Today’s DUCK MANAGER Patrick Bancke collected $195 toward Polio Eradication…to be sent to The Rotary Foundation [TRF] a.s.a.p. to be credited in this fiscal Rotary Year.

Early Bird Rotarian Ken Austin III said a few words about A-dec’s involvement with the Rota-Dent program and presented to Spike Sumner a check for $60K to our Foundation! He said the contribution amount is tied to sales, and sales have picked up! That’s the way it works, folks! Thanks, Fellow Rotarian, Ken!

Outgoing Club President Om provided each table with a summary of “Highlight Accomplishments” during her year handling the Noon Rotary Club’s gavel. She covered the points in detail with a slide show:

Club Operations: 2018-2019 Budget continues with strong fund balances; $4364.95/Pancake Breakfast; $1,4523.22/July-May 3rd Week Polio/Duck contributions; $88,000/45th Annual Auction; $60,000/Rota-Dent.

Beneficiaries: $46,000/Newberg & St. Paul H.S. scholarships; 2 RYLA candidates; Mt. View M.S. Resource Room; NHS Interactors coordinated Health & School supplies to girls’ school in Uganda; Tree planting in Newberg; Mental Wellness Week; Nepal EMT Training; Scouts Troop 9265; Peace Builders; etc.

Club Strengths: 7 new Rotarians & 1 new Friend of Rotary; Memorandum of Understanding with Early Bird Rotary; District 5100’s strongest Interact Club [28 members] and world’s first Peace Building Interact Club; each Senior Interactor wore a special BLUE SASH at graduation; Looking at ROTARACT community or school-based for Newberg; FUN & BONDING within club w/ EXCELLENT TEAMWORK.

“Thank you for ‘Being the Inspiration’. It is an honor and a privilege to serve you all. Yours in Rotary, Om Sukheenai, President 2018-2019.”

Today’s program: David McNamee, Ph.D./Newberg “CHAOS – Servant Leadership in Afghanistan”

…Newberg Early Bird Fellow Rotarian Dr. McNamee’s opening statement about CHAOS led us right into his fascinating accounts…with supportive photos… of his Executive Leadership Training/Development efforts in Afghanistan.…Quoting Dr. Dave,

• Cut-off in mid-sentence, confused and a little stunned, I watched as my carefully planned seminar appeared to unravel. Several of my participants were having a disagreement about something. Others nodded their heads in agreement; a few clearly had other thoughts. I wondered, “Had I said something offensive?”

  Turning to my translator, I asked her to give me the gist of the animated dialog going on between my participants. “It’s not you,” she said. “They love what you’re teaching them about servant leadership. But they are struggling with how to make it work in all their different situations. They don’t understand how to connect the theory with their reality.”

  This past month I took my first trip to Afghanistan. I had been invited to present seminars on servant leadership to several groups. One group—a last minute addition to the schedule—consisted of 40 women who headed various departments and organizations within the Afghan government. What had originally been set to be a short half-day seminar had morphed at the last minute into a 3-day event. While my other workshops were presented to English-speaking groups, this presentation had to be presented in Dari, the variety of Persian spoken in Afghanistan. Subtle concepts like servant leadership required careful translation.

  The rest of Dr. McNamee’s seminar can be followed at: DMcnamee@foundationsforleaders.com Passion – a Key to Success/Servant Leadership and Gender Equality This material is the crux of his presentation to us today. Dr. Dave provides professional…and personal…. insight into the challenges…and successes…of “leadership” on multiple levels….personal, professional, societal, etc. A visit to his website is “worth the trip”!
  

  Thanks to Dr. Dave McNamee for such an insightful look at this often-overlooked subject!

  REMINDER: No meeting next week….as we take pause to celebrate Our Nation’s BIRTHDAY!

  AND….meetings through July will be at Friendsview…NOT the CCC! As summer camp programs for kids will take over the facility!

  Our July 10 meeting will be the start of our new Rotary Year…with President Corey Z. at the helm! For scheduled programs go to the Club’s website and check out the calendar.

  NOW…with the solid guidance of Rotary’s Four Way Test of the things we think say or do….

  First – Is it the TRUTH?

  Second – Is it FAIR to all concerned?

  Third – Will it BUILD GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS?

  Fourth – Is it BENEFICIAL too all concerned?

  REMEMBER….

  “Being INSPIRATIONAL…ROTARY CONNECTS the WORLD!”

  Respectfully submitted,

  Rick Kaufman

  Newsletter Editor

  And a little humor to brighten your day….

  The Best Way To Pray

  A priest, a minister and a guru sat discussing the best positions for prayer, while a telephone repairman worked nearby…..
  “Kneeling is definitely the best way to pray,” the priest said;
  “No,” said the minister. “I get the best results standing with my hands outstretched to Heaven.”
  “You’re both wrong,” the guru said. “The most effective prayer position is lying down on the floor.”
  The repairman could contain himself no longer. “Hey, fellas,” he interrupted. “The best prayin’ I ever did was when I was hangin’ upside down from a telephone pole.”

   

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

First off, must give some kudos to Todd Engle and the folks at Friendsview for hosting us last week. What a nice lunch…delicious food attractively presented, nice table decor, and helpful, friendly staff. Thanks so much.

A fellow Rotarian, Bill Rogers from the morning club, was our presenter. Bill is the principal of the Newberg High School Alternative School. He was introduced by Newberg High School Principal Dave Parker, who indicated that the Alternative School offers another opportunity for students to be successful.

Our own Paula Radich originally hired Bill. The school’s first home had a few issues….roof leaked a lot, birds lived in the walls. Luckily, improvements were included in a successful 2011 bond measure.

In 2012, the existing buildings were demolished and the school set up temporary quarters in the basement of the Northside Community Church. They graduated 12 students that year. The Springbrook Education Center on Deborah Road opened in 2013. There are 117 students in the program now. Most come from Newberg High School, although some come from Amity, Dayton and Sherwood.

What does an Alternative School do?

“We explore new ways for students to learn. These kids get outside, connect with the community. Some get to visit college campuses” to inspire them. They learn how to work on a team, to problem solve, to communicate and to control anger. Some examples of this that Bill cited were:

• Doing improvements to the Harvey Creek Trail in Dundee
• Helping with setup for Newberg’s downtown Halloween celebration
• Working for Habitat for Humanity and the Chehalem Cultural Center
• Fixing bicycles
• Taking Jiu Jitsu classes

The goal is to get kids to graduate. “Get ’em on the stage!” declared Bill. Many who do are the first high school graduates in their families.

When asked what the secret to the success of the program was, Bill mentioned two things:

1. The teacher-to-student ratio. “With the smaller class sizes, we really get to know the students and what they need,” and
2. “The very personal and relational” aspect of the program.

Guests last week included Kaaren Hofmann, a City of Newberg engineer who told us briefly about a pavement maintenance and funding master plan that is being developed by city staff and consultants. With this, the City will look at establishing new funding to better take care of our roads. City Council plans to review the plan in November and take action yet this year. For more information, contact Kaaren at 503-537-1273 or at kaaren.hofmann@newbergoregon.gov.

Alex Brown attended for the second week in a row, and Brandi Cornelius from the Anvil Academy was Denise Bacon‘s guest. Jim McMaster‘s son Taylor also paid us a visit.

As I’m sure you can tell, Auggie Gonzales was not available to be our photographer last week, as he was visiting family in Mexico.

Don’t forget to mark your calendar for Thursday, Nov. 17 at 6:30pm for a joint meeting with the Early Birds Club to hear a very special presentation from a holocaust survivor.

Hi all,

This is our first newsletter using the blogging features of our new website. As we keep using it, there will be changes. Please be patient as we work out the bugs! Leah Griffith, newsletter editor

Kristen Harris Heading to Ghana

Newberg resident Kristen Harris is taking a break from her career with the US Department of Justice in Washington DC to spend a year in Ghana as part of the International Justice Mission (IJM.org) to help victims in countries with weak justice systems. She’s heading to a new office IJM recently set up in Ghana to fight child slavery. There are 50,000 children, some as young as 4, in the fishing industry in Ghana and 60% of them are enslaved They are beaten, and many drown. Kristen is part of a group to save those children and prosecute the slavers. IJM also works on aftercare for the kids that are released from slavery. There needs to be homes and counseling for these children to heal.
IJM has 600 paid employees in 18 field offices around the world and 95% of them are working in their home countries.

Then there are people like Kristen who are spending a year in an unpaid fellowship to provide leadership and other skills. Since IJM started in 2006, 23,000+ survivors of violence have been rescued and 800 criminals have been convicted. This is an amazing organization that is taking on violence against the poor throughout the world that includes sex trafficking, forced labor slavery, property grabbing, police abuse of power, sexual violence and citizenship rights abuse.

Kristen has left her job and is raising funds to help cover the $25,000 needed for her expenses for the year she is leaving her job. She’s almost there but is still in need of $7,000. Rotarian Paul Jellum is helping to support Kristen and the work of the International Justice Mission and you can too at GoFundMe.com/endchildslavery. (I just went online and made my contribution, it’s easy)

Briefs:

Rotarian Deborah Cathers-Seymour was presented her 20 year pin for her 21 years of membership in Rotary.

SMART is starting in September and volunteers are needed to read with students at Joan Austen and Edwards Elementary Schools. Walter Want is our SMART coordinator so connect with him about this great opportunity to serve kids directly by helping them become better readers and it’s fun too.

Leona Todd is managing Greeters for our weekly meetings so see her to sign up or sign up at www.signupschedule/noonrotary.

Polio vaccination is a major Rotary initiative and we’ll be participating in a joint Polio fundraiser with our Rotary counterparts in Sherwood this fall. Jim McMaster shared the story of his choir teacher as a youth, who had polio and when he asked if we knew anyone with polio, every hand went up. Rotary, along with its partners, is so close to eradicating polio from the world, let’s help.

It was International Dog Day on Wednesday and Geoff Gilmore had us sharing our dog stories as we contributed to the duck.

Suzanne Miller reminded us to all put Saturday, September 19th on our calendars. It’s the International Day of Peace and
in Newberg you can participate in a Peace Walk at 1 pm starting at Francis Square and it will finish the GFU Amphitheater at 2 pm where there will be a Peace Concert. Peace activities are an important part of Rotary. The day is jointly sponsored by Rotary and George Fox University.

 

Thanks Auggie Gonzales for the photos.

Send news to Leah Griffith, Newsletter Editor at newbergnoonrotary@gmail.com.