Gift of Life-District 7190 last week was in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, for its ninth training visit there since the COVID-19 pandemic set in.
GOL has treated nearly 180 children on these visits. One was Daniel, age 20, who waited more than 19 years from when he was diagnosed with a congenital heart defect to when GOL operated on him this past Tuesday.
Gift of Life has been there for more than 42,000 children since 1975. It now is the largest humanitarian organization in the world providing care to children in the developing world with heart disease. Every three hours, GOL is providing life-saving surgery somewhere in the world.
We just completed World Vaccine Week, and the turmoil and human suffering continues in Ukraine.
Two very different crises, but Rotary International is hard at work lending a hand in both initiatives.
Check our club’s Facebook page (there’s a link to it at the top of our website) to read two stories on efforts to aid Ukrainians, and a third story detailing the latest vaccine efforts.
As a reminder, we always add our website posts to our Facebook page for quick access, but Facebook sometimes contains stories and announcements not seen anywhere else. If you’re a member of Facebook, all you have to do is type “SRC Club” in the search box to gain access.
Members Attending (9): Debbie Rodriguez, Dick Drumm, Jim Leyhane, Roberto Martinez, Tony Morris, Pat Bailey, Ray Hannan, Dean Calamaras, Doris Calamaras.
Guests (3): Lois Hannan, Mary Drumm, Debbie Morris.
Doris and Dean Calamaras hosted a sit-down dinner as our second “Summer Casual” event of the year, preparing a menu of baked ham, new potatoes, vegetables, fruit, and desserts galore. Our thank to them for another nice event.
Business Items:
• Ray and Lois Hannan have volunteered to coordinate our club’s participation in the annual school supplies drive for Circles of Mercy. Bill Dowd already has mailed copies of the preferred shopping list to all members, as well as posting it on the club website (https://srcrotary.org/2021/07/12/annual-back-to-school-supplies-drive-begins/). Details on dropoff/pickup dates and locations will be provided at a later time.
• New club president Debbie Rodriguez is preparing to schedule a Board meeting to discuss possibilities for meetings in September, as well as any other items that might arise.
• Our next “Summer Casual” event is scheduled for next Thursday, July 22, co-hosted by Jim Leyhane and Roberto Martinez at Jim’s residence. All kids and vaccinated adults are welcome, but need to RSVP to either co-host no later than Monday, July 19. We are asking for a contribution of $20 per member, $10 per adult guest, and $5 for kids, with all proceeds going to the club treasury to help support our man y community service activities. Hot dogs and hamburgers will be provided; please bring an appetizer or a dessert. And remember, the pool will be open to all. Please scroll down for the updated “Summer Casual” calendar of events and their RSVP deadlines.
Meanwhile, here are several scenes from the Calamaras dinner:
Our hosts, Dean and Doris, serving up some goodies.
Rotary International has opened online registration for its virtual 2021 Convention. Just click here to take advantage.
Attendees will be able to network in virtual lounges, meet new partners in service, and join fun activities with Rotary members from around the world. The event is scheduled to be held from June 12 through 16.
Registration fees: $49 through May 7, $65 through June 16 (Registration must be paid in full by May 7 to receive the lower fee)
Registration also is open for the Rotaract, Youth Exchange Officer, and Inter-Country Committee pre-conventions, which will be held on June 10-11. 2021. The cost of each pre-convention event is $20.
Both the convention and pre-convention events include access to the virtual House of Friendship. That is where convention attendees gather to learn about Rotary products and services, share project information, and shop.
Because of the ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic, the Rotary International Convention originally scheduled to be held in Taipei, Taiwan, has been changed to a virtual event June 12-16.
The Rotary Board of Director says the decision “is necessary to protect the health of everyone involved. We will share more details about the 2021 Rotary International Virtual Convention soon. Here’s what you need to know now:
Registration
The Virtual Convention will be open to all Rotary members and participants. Registration will open in mid-April and will include a promotional fee of $49 for the first 21 days of the registration period, increasing after that to $65. The cost of each pre-convention event is $20. Both the convention and pre-convention events include access to the House of Friendship. Please continue to check back for more details and updates.
Convention, pre-convention, and ticket refunds
RI is in the process of automatically cancelling and refunding all existing registrations. This includes purchases made for Rotaract, Youth Exchange, and Intercountry Committees pre-convention events, and ticketed meal events.
We kindly ask that you NOT contact RI Registration to inquire about registration, ticket, or housing cancellations as they work diligently on finalizing the process of those cancellations and refunds. Those who had already canceled prior to today will receive a refund of the $50 processing fee.
The HOC event ticket fees will be refunded by the Taipei HOC. For more information, please visit rotarytaipei2021.org.
Hotel rooms
No action is required from those attendees who made accommodations secured within Rotary’s official housing block. Maritz, formerly Experient and Rotary’s official housing partner, has already cancelled all individual and group room block reservations and refunded the groups who made partial payments.
We will post more details as they become available.
Have you ever wondered what it is like to attend a Rotary International Convention? While a few SRC members already have participated in the annual event held at various places around the world, most have not. This month, you’ll have the opportunity to do so without any of those pesky travel plans.
That’s because this year’s June 22-26 convention was planned for Honolulu, but because of the global ramifications of the COVID-19 pandemic it has been reconfigured to become a virtual experience you can access via computer.
Plans call for a busy schedule you can drop in and out of to experience the topics that interest you most.
In addition to the the wide-ranging General Sessions and the traditional House of Friendship that facilitates mingling with people from around the world, a host of breakout sessions are planned with topics ranging from conservation initiatives to rethinking how Rotary meets and serves its members, strengthening Rotaract, digital trends for 2020-21, and on and on. Some of them even will be held in July as a sort of extended convention attraction.
You do have to register (you can do that by clicking here) to gain access to the events. When you use that link, you’ll see a full schedule to help you choose what you want to experience. Don’t delay. Do it today and mark the dates on your calendars.
A portion of the list of online Rotary meetings worldwide.
Travel obviously has been severely curtailed during the covid-19 pandemic, and international travel is nearly non-existent.
However, you can be a globetrotter once again by using the Internet to connect to more than 200 online Rotary meetings around the world.
There’s a staggeringly-detailed spreadsheet available to you that lists all the regularly-scheduled online meetings and activities of clubs throughout the world, live links to visit them, plus password information where needed.
Even if you don’t join in, simply looking at the amount of activity Rotarians offer in the virtual world will be worth a minute or two of your time.
Our Rotary meetings may be on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic guidelines, but you still can be in the loop through Rotary.
Join the #RotaryResponds “COVID-19 Livestream Telethon” at 11 a.m. Saturday, May 2 to hear stories of hope, inspiration and gratitude from Rotarians, Rotaractors, and friends of Rotary from across the globe as they share what they are doing to help their communities.
Southern Rensselaer County Rotary Club 