Submitted by Lori Gast 

President Garry Gast brought the meeting to order at 12:17 P.M.  

Saul Cohen led us in the Pledge, and Greg Chidlaw gave the thought for the day, a prayer to St Francis of Assisi. 

Visiting Rotarians

Jerry Ghirardo introduced the visiting Rotarians from the Novato Rotary:  Jean Brown, President of Novato Rotary, Don Beyer, Novato Rotary, Burt Hoffman, Novato Rotary 

Guests of Rotarians

Maxine Pepin, wife of Denis, Diane Mugford and her husband, Les - guests of Stan Dennison, Erica Leabo, daughter of Susan Gilmore, Lori Gast, wife of Garry, Speaker Paul Schwarzbart and his wife, Sharry 

Announcements

Garry thanked Fred for a fantastic Fireside at Novato Horsemen’s.  The camaraderie was special, the food delicious, and the jokes … well, they were funny!  Fred’s fabulous steaks and Roland’s fabulous beans will surely be remembered!   

Fred reminded everyone of the Debunking July 9^th. 

Garry thanked those who read today to the kindergarten and first grades at Loma Verde School – Wendy Irving, Susan Jacobson, Stan Warner, and Lori Gast.  There is another reading on Thursday, May 26^th. 

At our next regular meeting, there will be a brief summary of what the Foundation does.  AKA, “State of the Foundation.” 

Larry reported on the median strip.  Thank you to the 20 Rotarians and spouses who worked on Saturday, April 30^th.  Wendy and Jay provided the equipment and food for a BBQ after the work party.  The homemade beans were especially great!  Thank you, Jay and Wendy.  The next work party will be on May 28^th at 9:00 am.  Please bring shovels, rakes, picks, etc.  After the work is done, we will enjoy margaritas, beer and tacos. 

Pauline announced the recipients of the Wulbern Scholarships.  Each will receive $2,500 per year to attend UC or California state universities.  They are Tamoha Ghosh from San Rafael High, Cami Mandell from Novato High, and Amelia Whitson from Tamalpais High.  We will need three Rotarians to present the scholarships on Thurs., June 2^nd 7:00pm at San Rafael High; June 9^th 5:30pm at Novato High; and May 25^th 5:30pm at Tamalpais High. 

Pauline then announced that the GSE Team from Mexico will arrive on May 30^th.  The team needs drivers for May 31^st, June 1^st, and June 2^nd.  Thank you to those who volunteered. 

Larry asked for volunteers for the Novato Art & Wine Festival June 11^th and 12^th.  Shifts will be 4 hours each.  Free t-shirt!  

Wendy talked about the Relay for Life, which will be held on June 25^th and 26^th at the San Jose Middle School football field.  The event begins at 9:00am Saturday with a cancer survivors' lap.  Both walkers and donors are needed.  The point is to have walkers on the track all 24 hours.  Breakfast, lunch and dinner will be served to all team members (walkers).  And, of course, a t-shirt!  Please contact Wendy and put your name on the sign-up sheet.  The awesome Luminaria Ceremony will take place about 9:00pm Saturday.  Luminarias are $10 each.  There will be lots of activities occurring each day.  Overnight campers are encouraged (sorry, no doggies).  Relay for Life is a major fundraiser for the American Cancer Society.  Thanks for participating in this fun, worthwhile event. 

Daryl announced that on June 2^nd at 5:00pm, there will be a short dedication ceremony at the Gazebo area, Scottsdale Pond Park.  This will celebrate all of the hard work that the three Novato clubs have devoted to this centennial project.  You deserve to be there! 

Jerry presented Maxine Pepin with a Paul Harris Fellowship.  Congratulations to Maxine for her commitment towards world understanding and peace. 

Stan presented Diane Mudford with the Educator of the Year award.  Diane, a teacher at San Marin High School, has a long and illustrious career as a dedicated educator.  She is credentialed in four subject areas and has BA degrees in History, Political Science, and French, as well as an MA in Education.  Her husband, Les, was also in attendance. 

Speaker

Dave introduced our speaker, Paul Schwarzbart, who wrote the book entitled Breaking the Silence … Reminiscences of a Hidden Child.    

During World War II, Paul lived a life of secrecy.  In May of 1940, his father, Fritz Schwarzbart, was taken away from their home in Brussels by the Belgian police.  Paul was just seven years old.  Fritz was under Belgian arrest because (so they said) his country of origin (Austria) was at war with Belgium.  There was “pandemonium in the streets … utter chaos.”  Soon afterwards, Paul was taken to a Catholic boy’s school where he was hidden from the Germans for the remainder of the war.  He never saw his father again. 

Upcoming Meetings:

May 26            Foundation update

June 2              Dark (because of joint meeting June 3^rd)

June 3              Joint meeting with the Novato and Novato Sunrise clubs at the Margaret Todd Senior Center - GSE Team from Mexico.

June 16            Regular Meeting

June 23            Dark (because some will still be in Chicago!)

June 30            Supervisor Cynthia Murray 

July 28             Disctrict Governor Holly Axtell 

All Rotarians are encouraged to think about speakers for meetings. If you have a suggestion, please contact Dave Pitchford at 382-8150. 

Mark your Calendars Now! 

Events:

June 10, 11, 12                 District 5150 Conference, Asilomar

June 17-22                        Rotary International  Chicago Centennial Convention

June 25-26                        Relay for Life - San Jose Middle School 

Upcoming Firesides: 

Upcoming Socials: 

Upcoming Community Service Projects:

May 28^th at 9:00 am             Median strip work 

Upcoming Board Meetings:

(every 2^nd Wednesday of the Month, 5:00 pm at Bank of Marin
378 Bel Marin Keys Blvd.) 

District 5150 Newsletter and Information

For more information all you need to do is log on to the District Web Site at:

http://www.rotary5150.org/newsletter.htm 

International

May 11, 2005

Rotary's Big Boots

By TINA ROSENBERG 

Next month Rotary International turns 100. Rotary clubs, a staple of small-town life, are celebrating the construction of innumerable parks, the holding of myriad blood drives, the awarding of countless college scholarships - and the imminent global eradication of polio. 

Twenty years ago, there were a thousand new cases of polio every day. Now polio strikes only about a thousand children a year. By next year, that number should be zero. People who think of Rotary as a congregation of service-minded dentists and funeral directors may not have noticed, but the dentists and funeral directors have created the largest, most successful private health initiative ever. 

When Rotary celebrated its 75th birthday, its leaders decided to find a project that all its clubs - now in 168 countries - could work on together.  A Rotarian ophthalmologist in the Philippines, where polio was rampant, asked Rotary to vaccinate Filipino children. It vaccinated six million, then made similar efforts in five other nations. In 1985, Rotary decided to wipe out polio completely. 

By the time polio is eradicated, Rotary clubs will have directly contributed at least $600 million, more than any other organization except the United States government. And they offer more than cash.   

"We realized the task of getting vaccines to children, persuading mothers and fathers of the value of immunization, was a problem of distribution, logistics and social mobilization," said Herb Pigman, an American who was one of the campaign's early leaders. "And here's an organization with boots on the ground in hundreds of thousands of communities." 

Big boots, too. "Every polio meeting you go to, you see them," said Rima Salah, deputy executive director of Unicef. "They have commitment, credibility and influence with leaders." This is crucial, as the challenge today is political. In August 2003, Muslim clerics from the northern Nigerian state of Kano charged that America had laced the polio vaccine with drugs to render African girls infertile. Kano stopped vaccinating. Kano's cases doubled, and Nigerian strains of polio have spread to 16 other nations that had beaten the virus. 

Coincidentally, the president of Rotary International that year, Jonathan Majiyagbe, was from Kano. He helped broker a compromise: Kano would use vaccine made in Indonesia, a Muslim country. In August 2004, Kano's governor publicly vaccinated his infant daughter. 

Although the countries Kano infected will have to spend millions on emergency vaccination campaigns, they will probably be successful. The real challenge is to eliminate polio at its epicenter, Nigeria. If Kano does not bolt again, this will probably happen in a year. "We would not be here without Rotary International," Dr. Salah said. "Rotary is the heart and soul of polio eradication."

Need to make up a missed meeting?  Now you know where and when: