Newsletter - Archive  Jul 1, 2009

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P.O. Box 620700                                                   Riki Itner                                                                   Dave Hyman 

Woodside CA 94062-0700                                District Governor                                                       Club President

                                                      http://wpvrotary.org                                          

Regular Meeting                                                                                         July 1st, 2009

7:30 AM - 8:30 AM Wednesday with breakfast by Encore Performance Catering, fellowship, project updates and an interesting speaker from the community.  The last Wednesday of some months we meet at 6:00pm at a local restaurant for and hors d'oeuvres and no host bar and meeting new people.  Please check our website calendar for details. 

Morning meetings:  Guild Hall, Woodside Village Church, 3154 Woodside Road, Woodside, California  Guests are not only welcome but encouraged!

This Week's Program:  Welcome to a New Rotary Year!  Our 2009-2010 president (and caterer and program chair, ah the blessing of a small club) is Dave Hyman.  Dave is going to take advantage of this first day of the new Rotary year to talk about his goals for the club for the year.  Says Dave, "I want the club to wonder what whimsical thing Dave will try to pull off each week."

Last  Week's Program:   (courtesy of Last Week Editor, Dean Babcock) 

David Hyman, president elect, introduced Joan Fuetsch, past president and peripatetic news letter editor, to speak to us about the community library program in Guatemala.  The library is located on the second floor of the community building in a remote 100% indigenous community in northwestern Guatemala. Our club has contributed $7500 altogether to the program. It is also supported by The Riecken Foundation (www.riecken.org) which has 52 libraries in Honduras and 11 in Guatemala. 

     When the library opened it had 3 computers.  A small fee is collected for use on the Internet.  At the grand opening, the indigenous ladies were quick to ask ‘When do we get Internet?”  They all have relatives in the U.S. and will quickly learn how to use Skype. 

     In addition to the computers there are games, language books,jig saw puzzles and a children's corner for early stimulation of the youngest.  There is a meeting room for teen-agers to control the noise.  When the ladies saw it they asked if they too could have meetings.

     There is a great deal of illiteracy in Guatemala but Rotary and The Riecken Foundation are working to reduce it!

Next Week's Program:  NONE/BLANK SPACE - YOUR PRESIDENT, CATERER AND PROGRAM CHAIR IS ASKING FOR HELP ON RECRUITING SPEAKERS.  EITHER BOOK THEMSELVES (CHECK THE WEBSITE CALENDAR FOR AVAILABILITY - WIDE OPEN AT THE MOMENT) AND LET DAVE AND JOAN KNOW OR SEND DAVE THEIR CONTACT INFORMATION.  SOME OF YOU MOST KNOW SOME INTERESTING PEOPLE. 

Club News:  (from Chris Bischoff, Director of Eastside Prep in East Palo Alto - we provide annual book scholarships to two students)  "Just recently we celebrated our 10th graduation. As with our previous graduations, 100% of this year's graduates are  heading off to 4-year colleges. I'm writing to share a story NBC Bay Area did to commemorate this achievement. To see it, please click on this link: 
Eastside Graduation on NBC Bay Area

    Another highlight of the ceremony was our keynote speech by Eastside alum, Marissa McGee. It's always been a dream to have one of our alumni return as a student teacher, as Marissa did this year. We're proud to announce that she also just received her master's degree from Stanford.
    This year's graduates are also going to great colleges -- Columbia, Yale and UC Berkeley are among some of their choices. We thought you'd like to share their excitement at becoming the first in their families to go to college."

Coming Events:

Next Board Meeting:  Tuesday, July 7th, 7:30am, Church Library 

Rotary Means Business:  Wednesday, July 1st, 5:30pm Encore Performance Catering

Kickout Party:  Sunday, August 16th, home of Art Barker

Taste of Woodside:  Sunday, September 20th 2009, 3-7pm, Woodside Village Church

Announcements:   Have you had a look at the Rotary International website lately for what is going on in Rotary's world?  www.rotary.org   How about finding out about what is going on in the district?  www.rotary5150.org