Weekly Announcements
June 27, 2006
| Rotaract Club of Downtown San Diego Weekly Announcements June 27, 2006 |
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| Next Meeting Our next general meeting will be held on Tuesday, July 18, 2006 at 6:30 pm at Kansas City BBQ, 610 W. Market Street, Downtown San Diego. Please Note: Our club is dark for the 4th of July – please have a safe and fun Independence Day! Return for our meeting on July 18th as Bridget and her new board begin the Rotaract year with a bang! We're looking forward to seeing you there! |
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A Farewell Message from
President Andrea Espinoza Dear Friends, I cannot believe that the 2005-2006 Rotaract year has come to a close. Although the time has flown and inevitably I haven't gotten everything accomplished as I set out to do, this year has been a great one and I am so honored to have been able to lead you in it. I have had the privilege to serve with one of the greatest and strongest and most fun boards I've ever been a part of. Together we were able to bring you some great community service events such as the annual Life Skills Scavenger Hunt and Tijuana Homebuilding and some new events such as the beach clean-up with the other Rotaract Clubs in the District. We had some great social events such as the Grunion Run, Holiday Party, Family Feud and Whale Watching. And something I've been especially excited about has been the international interactions within Rotaract this year. We've been able to really connect with two amazing international Rotaract clubs – The Kavaklidere Rotaract Club from Ankara, Turkey and closer to home, the Siglo XXI Rotaract Club of Tijuana. I truly had one of my best experiences in Rotaract this past weekend when ten of our members spent the weekend with our Rotaract friends in Tijuana. As a club, we've grown together professionally as we've heard from some very talented, intelligent and inspiring speakers. We've also been able to cumulatively donate the most money to charities this year including the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, a Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund and Water for Children Africa. Thank you to everyone who contributed this year and to everyone who is excited to dive in and take lead for the next year. I am greatly pleased with Bridget Johnson taking over the presidency for the 2006-2007 year and I know she, along with her talented board, will take Rotaract to the next level. In Rotaract Love, Andrea Espinoza Rotaract President 2005-2006 |
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Board Positions
Available Would you like to become more involved in our club during the 2006-2007 year? Do you have interest and skill in web design and development? Website Chair may be for you. Do you enjoy planning events and having your hands in the success of our fundraisers? If these two ideas have sparked something inside of you, or if you have interest in becoming more involved with Rotaract in another capacity, please email Bridget. |
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| Lights, Camera, Action: USCC Rotaract
Conference July 19-23 (Wednesday - Sunday) or July 21-23 (Friday - Sunday) UCLA The United States, Canada, and Caribbean (USCC) contains more than 400 Rotaract Clubs, working on a variety of projects on the basic principles of Rotary's "Service Above Self." The Lights, Camera, Action USCC Rotaract Conference is an amazing opportunity for our club to meet more of our Rotaract Family from the USA, Canada and the Caribbean! Anyone that attended last year's Chicago conference can attest to the level of energy, insight and plain ol' fun that was shared... and this year's LA conference will be no different! The conference is from July 19-23rd and as you are welcome to attend the whole conference, our club will most likely be carpooling to LA Friday (July 21) and leaving Sunday afternoon (July 23). We are looking into accomodations as to make the registration amount less and will get more information to you ASAP. Please put this date on your calendar and get ready to truly experience Rotaract! Events include various keynote speakers, workshops, group exercises, the Getty Center Museum, dinner at a Hollywood Mansion and of course... our own Los Angeles after-parties. To find out more informaton, view USCC 2006 and to see pictures from last years' conference in Chicago, view Chicago Rotaract Conference 2005. If you are interested, please email Bridget Johnson. |
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Senior Center 2nd Saturday of each month Volunteers (2-3) are needed the 2nd Saturday of each month from 11:00 am - 1:00 pm to help serve lunch at the Senior Center Downtown. Please contact Miguel for details and availability. |
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| Downtown San Diego Breakfast Rotary Meeting The Downtown San Diego Breakfast Rotary Club is meeting every Wednesday at 7:00 am at the Symphony Towers University Club, 750 B Street, Suite 3400. Next scheduled speakers / events:
For last minute changes, please check http://www.sdrotary.org! |
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Members' Bulletin Board
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| Rotaract & Rotary Trivia Rotary Wheels Lead to Better Future For girls in south Asia, having a bicycle can mean the difference between going to school or not. Without an education, girls face illiteracy and the inability to support themselves. The 26 December 2004 tsunami in south Asia destroyed major structures, such as schools, and washed away bicycles. Many students — but especially girls — then faced the possibility of a bleak future without an education. After the tsunami, students had to travel long distances to the area's remaining schools. Without bicycles, the long commute by foot meant that the children walked home at night, says Dr. Rekha Shetty, past district governor of District 3230. For girls, the walk was not an option. "Families would not allow girls to go to school if they had to walk through remote areas after dark," Shetty says. In January 2005, Shetty and Dr. Peter Patel, of the Rotary Club of Birmingham, United Kingdom, took a trip to assess damage along the coast of Tamilnadu, south India. While at the Cuddalore District collector's office, the Rotarians saw three girls petitioning for bicycles to replace those they lost in the tsunami. The assistant collector asked the Rotarians to purchase bicycles for the girls "so they could continue their studies and not face a life of misery and drudgery," according to Shetty. She realized then what a difference a bicycle can make. "A bicycle changes a girl's whole life pattern and determines her future," Shetty says. With bicycles, the girls would be able to commute to and from school much faster. Patel agreed to buy bikes for the girls at the office, but he and Shetty were informed that there were almost 800 more girls in need of bicycles. The Rotarians agreed to raise the necessary money and began the Rotary Education on Wheels project. "We really didn't know if we had bitten off more than we could chew," Shetty says. But in typical Rotarian fashion, districts worldwide contributed. The Rotary Club of Jerusalem, Israel, funded 100 bicycles, and Rotarians from the Rotary Club of Katmandu Mid-Town, Nepal, a country being torn apart by civil war and poverty, rallied to raise money for 95 more. In India, members of the Rotary Club of Pune Central raised money for 100 bikes. The Rotary clubs of Madras Temple City, Ambattur, and Cuddalore Midtown pitched in by coordinating and distributing the bicycles. "The bicycles are moving promotions for Rotary," Shetty explains. Each of the bikes has the Rotary wheel on the fender and the name of the club that donated it. The girls who received the bicycles have dreams of having careers as teachers, policewomen, or working in the medical field. "I was surprised by their ambitions," Shetty says. "Not one said they wanted to be a housewife." Shetty believes women should have a choice of whether they want to stay home and raise a family or pursue a professional life. And education is the key that can open many doors. "Illiteracy is a problem," she explains. "Girls are the first to drop out of school in families." Rotary Education on Wheels is a long-term effort with 2,000 bikes planned for distribution in the coming year. Shetty hopes to expand the project to include more countries. © 2005 Rotary International. Rotary International News. June 22, 2006. By Tonya Weger. http://www.rotary.org/newsroom/programs/060622_bikes.html |
| Contact Information If you have information, suggestions or feedback that you think the board might use to improve the club, we'd love to hear what you think, so please send your ideas to info@sdrotaract.org, snail-mail them to
or contact any member of the board directly:
Looking for information from one of our past newsletters? Accidentally deleted one of our Weekly Announcement e-mails? Click here to get to our Newsletter Archive! If you have an announcement you'd like to have included in the weekly newsletter, please send it to newsletter@sdrotaract.org with "Newsletter" in the subject line no later than Friday evening. You are receiving this e-mail, because you have come to a meeting of the Rotaract Club of Downtown San Diego and have filled out your e-mail address on one of our forms. If you would like to be removed from all (!!!) Rotaract Club of Downtown San Diego e-mails, please write an e-mail to newsletter@sdrotaract.org with "Remove" in the subject line. We'll miss you! |
| ©
2006 The Rotaract Club of Downtown San Diego http://www.sdrotaract.org |