Pollock Pines-Camino Rotary - Newsletter

Ann Hively, Orangevale Rotary Club, spoke about WAPI’s. Reusable Water Pasteurization Indicator’s are a simple, low cost device containing a special soy wax that helps users determine when water has reached pasteurization temperature.

She related that the Orangevale Club and the Rotoract Club been able to provide over 1,000 of these WAPI’s to Sub-Sahara Africa. They have partnered with the Lincoln Club that makes and provides solar cookers that can be used with the devices.

Water related diseases are responsible for 80% of all illnesses and deaths in the developing world. An estimated 1.5 billion cases of diarrhea occur each year, resulting in the deaths of nearly 2 million children. Worldwide, about 1.3 billion people do not have access to safe drinking water, including nearly half of the populations of Sub-Sahara Africa.

Editor’s note: for a very modest contribution we can help in this life saving effort.

February 3: BOD Meeting

The BOD approved the following donations: a contribution to the Community Center for the cost of utilities for Breakfast with Santa, donations to Snowline Christmas Candles and M.O.R.E.

Michelle Schoenemann was accepted as a new member. Welcome, Michelle.

Feb 3: BOD continued.

A letter from a member with suggestions for improving our meetings was discussed. As a result a microphone will be utilized at the meetings and special attention will be paid to the format and length of meetings. Input from members is extreenly valuable to the BOD and most welcome.

Jeanne announced she will be attending PETS Feb 20-22. She will also be requesting that members accept leadership roles for 2009-2010. It is important for members to share the leadership

responsibilities.

Fundraising Committee:

There was a meeting of the Fundraising Committee prior to the general meeting. The committee decided that there will be a Chili Cook-Off in the spring. The Golf Tournament will not be held this year but will be kept in abbayance for spring of 2010.

February 10:

February 10: Speakers-Susan Spenser, Superintendent Pollock Pines School District and Sean Martin CFO Pollock Pines School District.

Susan and Sean presented a very informative overview of the impact of the State Budget changes on the Pollock Pines School District. As expected, the state funding is decreasing but Pollock Pines has been able to stay ahead of the curve because of careful planning for the future. The impact will hit most noticeably in the area of the fine arts and sports. The Booster Clubs, PFA and other sources of funding have been able to mitigate budget shortfalls but there is concern for how long this can continue. One of the real problems for the schools is that the budget for the next year must be established before the state funds are determined. A real guessing game for the schools.

We have received Dictionary thank yous from all the third grade classes. Beautiful bound books and note of thank you from Pinewood School and a fabulous banner with pictures showing the kids at Camino School enjoying the Dictionaries.

Welcome to Michelle Schoenemann inducted as a new member today. Michelle is the manager of Snowline Hospice Store in Camino. She lives in Shingle Springs with her family.

February 17: Music Contest and Valentine’s Party.

Our third Annual Music Contest was held in spite of the snowy conditions. On arrival the weather was mild but by the time we adjourned there were about 6 -8 inches of snow on our vehicles and the pavement. Some of us took good advantage on leaving and held an impromptu snowball fight.

Diana Worden and her Mom

The contestants, Cory Harkins (Concert Tuba), Jason Stoddard (Piano) and Diana Worden (Piano) came very well prepared.

Cory and his Mom

This was Cory’s third appearance in our contest and was our winner last year playing on the trombone. Diana performed her own very apropos composition “Storm”. The piece was scored well and thus qualified for the contest.

Jason was declared the winner for his performance of “The Flight of the Bumble Bee’. Jason has agreed to return to the club, March 10, to perform his piece again.

Many thanks to Betty Linville for her organization of the event. Her decorations of roses and red carnations as well as the dessert of Valentine Candy topped brownies made the evening quite special.

February 24: Dale van Dam, Dean of Placerville Campus of Folsom Lake College.

Dale presented a very enlightening discussion of the Los Rios College District and the local campus in Placerville. The greater district enrolls 90,000 students!! Class sizes are relatively small and include courses targeted to the needs of our region as well as fulfilling basic freshman and sophomore core requirements.

They include classes suggested by EID, fire management and health care. Currently under consideration for future class offerings are subjects such as wind power, agratourism, and courses geared toward travel and tourism within El Dorado County.

Dale states that Los Rios did not take as large a funding hit from the state as they feared. The junior colleges have been able to hole the line on course fees to the current $20 per unit. The extreme rise in gas prices and other colleges that have much higher tuition costs seems to explain the surge in enrollment this past year in the Los Rios system.

The El Dorado Campus, although small, offers a microcosm of the full range of services at larger campuses. The library has access to all the other libraries in the system as well as Sacramento State. They have an array of labs that is unusual for the campus size. Interactive TV classes allow students to participate in classes not available on this campus.

Dale invited the club to attend the annual Open House on May 13^th.

Christa reports that Career Day is in progress. The program needs a Structural Engineer/ Robotics. Contact Christa is you have such a contact.

Jeanne completed her PETS training in LA this weekend. She reported being inspired, impressed and grateful for the expert and well-organized presentations she experienced. A highlight was meeting our RI President D.K. Lee and three other Past RI President’s.

Jeanne will share more of her weekend with the club in the future: it was truly a packed time intensive training session and absolutely no “vacation”. We thank you, Jeanne, for giving of your time and we know that the Pollock Pines-Camino Club will benefit from your training.

AROUND THE DISTRICT

Nancy Kemp: District Chair for Peace Fellowships informs us that the District is searching for potential candidates for the fellowship program. The program funds either a master’s degree (2 years) or a professional development certificate (3 months) at one of seven Rotary Centers for International Studies. (Nancy spoke to our club last year) Let me know if you need more information. Applications are due May 15, 2009.

Sparks Centennial Sunrise: sponsors a Raffle with the potential Winning Ticket of $5000. Let me know if you wish more information.

2009 Rotary International Rose Parade Float

This float was made possible by donations from Rotary Clubs around the world.

Although our club did not donate this year, I found the World Wide exposure for Rotary very exciting. This photo was taken from my TV screen!