May 20, 2020 Bulletin

ROTARY NOTES

A publication of the Rotary Club of Warren

This month, Rotary focuses on the Rotary Motto development of young people up to the age

of 30. Rotaract, Interact, RYLA, Youth Service Above Exchange and the New Generations Service Self Exchange Programs invest in the development of young professionals by 4-Way Test improving their life skills to ensure a better future, while recognizing the Of the things we diversity of their needs. Please support think, say or do: the fundamental needs of our youth who are the next generation of Rotarians! Is it the truth?

Is it fair to all May 20, 2020 concerned?

Will it build goodwill and ASSIGNMENTS better friendship? This month, we will be incorporating Fellowship and

Magazine Reports into our virtual Club meetings via Zoom. Will it be beneficial to all Assignments, as previously scheduled, are as follows: concerned?

Avenues of Service FELLOWSHIP

May, 2020 – Ted Stazak Club Service June, 2020 – Lauren Kramer Vocational Service

Community MAGAZINE REPORT Service May, 2020 – Diane Sauer

June, 2020 – Volunteer Needed International Service

Youth Service

FELLOWSHIP Areas of Focus

Promoting Peace

Fighting Disea se For our lesson on “Today in History”, Ted Stazak reported that in 1873, Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis invented Blue Jeans, which today Providing Clean Water represent the most popular types of trousers worldwide. In 1927, Charles Lindbergh departed from Long Island in the United States and Saving Mothers and arrived in Paris, France at 22:22 the next day. This was the first & Children solo non-stop transatlantic flight. th Supporting The following famous individuals celebrated birthdays on May 20 : Education *1971 – Tony Stewart, American race car driver *1946 – Cher, American singer/songwriter, actress, producer Growing Local and director Economies *1944 – Joe Cocker, English singer/songwriter th Last Saturday, May 16 , we celebrated Armed Forces Day, which is Club Officers designated as the third Saturday each May and is a day set aside to President honor those currently serving in the Armed Forces. This Monday, we’ll Teri Surin celebrate another American Holiday, observed on the last Monday of May,

honoring the men and women who died while serving in the U.S. military. President Elect Dominic Originally known as Decoration Day, it originated in the years Mararri following the Civil War and became an official federal holiday in 1971. Unofficially, it marks the beginning of the summer season. Vice-President Christine Cope The Civil War, which ended in the spring of 1865, claimed more lives than any conflict in U.S. history and required the establishment of Secretary the country’s first national cemeteries. By the late 1860s, Americans in Judy Masaki various towns and cities had begun holding springtime tributes to these

Treasurer countless fallen soldiers, decorating their graves with flowers and reciting Cheryl Oblinger prayers. It is unclear where exactly this tradition originated; numerous different communities may have independently initiated the memorial Past President Venita Collins gatherings. Some records show that one of the earliest Memorial Day commemorations was organized by a group of freed slaves in Charleston, South Carolina less than a month after the Confederacy surrendered in 1865. Nevertheless, in 1966, the federal government declared Waterloo, Board New York the official birthplace of Memorial Day. Waterloo, which first Members celebrated the day on May 5, 1866, was chosen because it hosted an Bill Beinecke Tony Iannucci annual, community-wide event, during which businesses closed and Lauren Kramer residents decorated the graves of soldiers with flowers and flags. Ted Stazak On May 5, 1868, General John A. Logan, leader of an organization Kim Straniak Lisa Taddei for Northern Civil War veterans, called for a nationwide day of Julia Wetstein remembrance later that month. “The 30th of May, 1868, is designated

Rotary Club for the purpose of strewing with flowers, or otherwise decorating the Foundation graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late Board rebellion rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village and hamlet

President church yard in the land,” he claimed. The date of Decoration Day, as he Chris Shape called it, was chosen because it wasn’t the anniversary of any particular battle. Vice - President On the first Decoration Day, General James Garfield made a speech Cindy Matheson at Arlington National Cemetery, and 5,000 participants decorated the Secretary graves of the 20,000 Union and Confederate soldiers buried there. Many Judy Masaki Northern states held similar commemorative events and reprised the

tradition in subsequent years. By 1890, each one had made Decoration Treasurer Cheryl Oblinger Day an official state holiday. Southern states, on the other hand, continued to honor their dead on separate days until World War I. Christine Cope Confederate Memorial Day is still celebrated in several Southern states, Jim Ditch Ken LaPolla although the practice of commemorating the Confederacy became even Teri Surin more controversial after the 2015 massacre at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston. Memorial Day, as Decoration Day gradually came to be known, Contact us at: originally honored only those lost while fighting in the Civil War. However, Rotary Club of Warren during World War I, the United States found itself embroiled in another P.O. Box 68 major conflict, and the holiday evolved to commemorate American military Warren, OH personnel who died in all wars, including World War II, the Vietnam War, 44482 the Korean War and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. th For decades, Memorial Day continued to be observed on May 30 , the Our Website: date Logan had selected for the first Decoration Day. However, in 1968, Warrenrotary.org Congress passed the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, which established

Memorial Day as the last Monday in May in order to create a three-day If you have weekend for federal employees; the change went into effect in 1971. The any questions or suggestions same law also declared Memorial Day a federal holiday. about our Cities and towns across the United States host Memorial Day parades newsletter, or each year, often incorporating military personnel and members of veterans’ if you would organizations. Some of the largest parades take place in Chicago, New like t o become York and Washington, D.C. Americans also observe Memorial Day by a sponsor, visiting cemeteries and memorials. Some people wear a red poppy in please remembrance of those fallen in war. This is a tradition that began with contact: the following WWI poem written by Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, a Judy Masa k i Canadian who served as a brigade surgeon for an Allied artillery unit.

In Flanders Field

In Flanders field the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row

That mark our place; and in the sky The larks, still bravely singing, fly W Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the dead. Short days ago A We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved and were loved, and now we lie In Flanders fields.

R Take up our quarrel with the foe: To you from failing hands we throw The torch; be yours to hold it high. R If ye break faith with us who die We shall not sleep, though poppies grow In Flanders fields. E Have an enjoyable Memorial Day, but please take a few minutes to remember the men and women who gave their lives so we can continue to N enjoy freedom in our great country.

A WEEKLY ANNOUNCEMENTS

Y JOIN US on Wednesday, May 27th at Noon for a Rotary Club of Warren virtual meeting via Zoom! Stay tuned for log-in information. We will be continuing our virtual meetings through the end of this Rotary year.

ROTARY CLUB OF WARREN SERVICE PROJECT – More volunteer drivers are needed for our service project!! 20 Meals are picked up from the restaurants on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 10:30 a.m. and W delivered to the hospital around 11:00 a.m. It only takes about 30 minutes of your time, and the recipients have been very appreciative! If you can help out once or twice a week, contact Patti Augustine at A (330) 727 – 7484. You can reach Patti via email at: [email protected]. You can also help by making a monetary donation on the GoFundMe page for this project. R SAVE THE DATE – Mark your calendars for the June 20th to 26th first ever on-line Rotary International Virtual Convention! You can join Rotary participants from around the world during this time of R unprecedented challenges and be inspired by innovation, celebrate resilience, and explore how clubs are addressing COVID-19. A Flag Ceremony, inspirational global speakers, and much more will be offered to E participants free of charge! More information will be available later this month. CLUB DUES – By now, you should have received your invoice for Club N dues. Please continue to support our Club and forward your payment to Treasurer Cheryl Oblinger as soon as possible. Even though we are not able to meet in person at this time, there are still operating expenses to pay! MEMBERSHIP ENGAGEMENT- While we are physically distancing R ourselves from one another, there are still ways for you to be a part of our Club and RI. First, consider joining us during our weekly Zoom meetings! It’ simple; just Google “Zoom Meetings”, follow the directions O to download the app launcher if necessary, hit the “join a meeting” tab, and enter the login information provided by President Teri Surin each week. You can stay engaged by helping out with our service project. T Finally, check out the Learning Center at Rotary.org/membership, where you can discover professional and personal development opportunities. These on-line courses allow you to learn new skills from your own home.

Sally Alspaugh-Finn has been a R member of Rotary in Cincinnati for only two years. Yet, she said she feels like she’s belonged for a lifetime. E Sally grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, and her father was an active Rotarian in the ‘50s and ‘60s. He often shared the N Rotary motto and speaker information with his family. In the 1970s, Sally went into business on her own, but at that time, Rotary clubs did not accept women as members. As a result, Sally didn’t join Rotary until one year before her retirement! In May, R 2018, she attended a Rotary meeting while on a trip in Ireland, and she met someone who knew her niece. Through this networking, she became involved in The Guatemala Literacy Project. O The Guatemala Literacy Project is one of the largest grassroots, multi- club, multi-district projects in Rotary. It all began with Rotarians Enrique Gandara and Juan Forster from the Guatemala Oeste and Sur Clubs. They T learned of an innovative textbook program that a non-profit organization, Cooperative for Education (CoEd) had set up. They approached CoEd to become a partner in developing literacy programs in Guatemalan schools and A recruited other Rotary Clubs in the U.S. to serve as international co- sponsors. Thus, the Guatemala Literacy Project was born. Sally has had requests from over 100 clubs for her presentation regarding this project. R The mission of the Guatemala Literacy Project is to end the cycle of poverty through education. Guatemala is one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere. Four out of Five individuals live in poverty, most with less than a fifth grade education. Two out of three children drop out of Y school due to financial concerns, and 95% of poor children will never graduate from high school. 90% of students in Guatemala have no access to textbooks. 1/3 can’t read or write. More than 600 Rotary Clubs in 46 states and eight countries are

involved in the Guatemala Literacy Project, and 57,222 students benefit every day. The project’s reading program provides teacher training which includes techniques to engage students in the reading process. Books are provided for classrooms in math, science, social studies, and Spanish. The W children participate in a reader’s theater and puppet show, and they eventually learn to write their own books. This program is so important because the best way to combat education is through textbooks and teacher A training. When teachers and children have access to textbooks, one fourth of instruction time is regained. In 2001, a computer program was added to the project. 60% of mid- R level jobs require computer skills. In this program, 100 lessons in computer skills are provided throughout the middle school years, and 95% of graduates are able to find employment. R The Rise program offers life skills and leadership training to students. Children who are about to drop out of school are selected to be recipients of scholarships and job skills training, and as a a result, the graduation rate has been shown to increase to 80%. A psychologist also provides E support during this program. Part of the program involves design and participation in community service projects to benefit others in need. In these ways, The Guatemala Literacy Project has been dubbed the N Gold Standard of Rotary Projects. You can help by giving a $100 donation to the Guatemala Literacy Project Global Grant. Matching funds will be provided to the project. In addition, two trips per year, in February and July, are typically planned to deliver books to Guatemala. For more R information, visit: www.guatemalaliteracy.org/get-involved.

HAPPY BUCKS O

*** Dominic Mararri offered a Happy Buck in honor of our speaker and all of our female Rotarians who have been Rotary Club Presidents. He is in R the process of planning his Rotary Presidency. *** Julia Wetstein appreciated Ted Stazak’s Memorial Day presentation during Fellowship. Y *** Mike Bollas is happy to be in Myrtle Beach! *** Bob Hoy had Carpal Tunnel surgery two weeks ago, and all is well.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY W