This week Jeff Mow, Superintendent of Glacier National Park, will be our featured presenter. Should be fascinating! Join us at noon - at the country club or on Zoom! If you attend in person, please be sure to bring along a mask to ensure the safety of others in attendance.
Also, this week Kurt Baltrusch will bring a card for Ryan Miller for Rotarians to sign as he works on full recovery. For those of you who prefer to send him a personal note, his current address is: Ryan Miller, Encompass Health Rehabilitation of Littleton, 1001 W. Mineral Avenue, Littleton, CO 80120. He will be there until at least April 8, when his situation will be re-evaluated.
Last Week at Rotary
Last week was the first time since September 15 that our club was able to meeting in person, and even on Zoom you could sense the conviviality in the room! Bob Hermes, retired Missoula broadcaster and past president of the Montana Broadcasters Association, was our featured speaker via Zoom. He told us about his recently published book, Go Play.
Bob has become concerned about the random acts of violence in our society and believes that one strategy for prevention is to promote unstructured, free play for children. He recalled the expression for television coined in 1961 – “the vast wasteland” – and noted that watching a lot of TV, as children did then, seems innocent compared to the use of social media, cell phones, and video games so prevalent in childhood now. Yes, concerns about abduction and the like have made parents more cautious, but it’s important for children to play without adults structuring and supervising them all the time.
Bob used the expression his mother used when he was growing up – “go play” – as the title for his book because it captures the importance of letting children go find their own joy outside. Games like 21, Red Rover, and Tag keep children physically active, but they also get them interacting with each other, establishing and enforcing their own rules, solving their own problems.
Bob believes that there is a role for technology, but recommends “everything in moderation." Children need to get outside and have fun hiking, playing sports, and being active. Bob’s book is available on Amazon. Sounds like a good read!
Step Up for the Foundation That Steps Up for All
Judge Holter reminded us last week of the importance of contributing to the Rotary Foundation. Your contribution earns you points that, when accumulated to the $1,000 level, qualify you as a Paul Harris Fellow. You can also donate your points to another Rotarian who is closing in on that honor. Beyond that, the Foundation funds projects that provide significant help on a variety of fronts. One such front is the pandemic itself. Through grants from The Rotary Foundation and the initiatives of local Rotary clubs, Rotarians have been providing for those in need.
In the Washington D.C. area alone, the Metro Bethesda club provided $53,000 to support three local nonprofits on the frontlines. The Columbia Town Center donated nearly $60,000 worth of personal protective equipment to local senior care facilities. The Rotary Club of Annapolis organized its yearly crabfest as a drive-through. The Rotary Club of Baltimore launched a $30,000 initiative to help feed first responders during the crisis. The Rotary Club of College Park mobilized volunteers to distribute meals.
Are we doing enough? Is there a local need we could be meeting?
Celebrating Spouses
Last week's meeting was also notable for the spontaneous celebration of Rotary spouses. The first kudos came for Gaines McFadden, husband of Beth and honorary member of our club for many years. Last week the Great Falls Public Schools presented him and Dan Oakland with its Good Apple Award for his philanthropy. Gaines and Dan raised funds, crafted and donated 100 students desks to provide students homebound by the pandemic "A Desk of Their Own." School board trustee and fellow Rotarian Mark Finnicum wanted all Rotarians to know what Beth knows so well: Gaines is always going the extra mile for somebody or something, and the extra mile of the "Desk of Their Own" project made a big difference in a lot of kids' lives.
David Cameron added to the celebration with a presentation that began simply with the statement, "I am so proud of my wife." Tanya Cameron has fulfilled a dream many years in the making. When her grandfather, a pre-revolution well-to-do Russian, left some 600 pages of memories upon his passing, Tanya took up the task of translating them, adding context, and getting them published. This required that she learn enough Russian to do the translation, visit Russia to document the places and events he described, and find the scholarly home for this important legacy. The Hoover Institute of Stanford University has become that home. A remarkable achievement! Congratulations to Tanya and David.
Milestones
We see the month out with the birthday of Lara Tait on Tuesday. She joins Vincent van Gogh, Celine Dion, Piers Morgan, Warren Beatty, and Norah Jones in celebrating the day. Well, not literally ... at least, not that we know of. Best wishes, Lara!
Weekly Wisdom
Heidi Hockett's "Rotary Moment" was memorable enough to become this week's words of wisdom:
"What is the difference between education and experience? Education is how you learn to read the fine print. Experience is how you learn when you don’t."
