2023                                       Calendar for Durham Rotary
A p r i l							1
	2	3	4 Meeting Eric Miller, Solid Waste Div. Mgr. on Neal Rd. Facility (Mike Crump)	5	6	7	8
	9	10	11 No Meeting	12	13	14	15
	16	17	18 Meeting Heather Lowe, Durham HS alumni teaching in Chico at the BCCC. (Steve Plume)	19	20	21	22
	23	24	25 No Meeting	26	27	28	29 Rotary Visibility Day
	30
M a y		1	2 Meeting TBA (John Bohannon)	3	4	5	6
	7	8	9 No Meeting	10	11	12	13
	14	15	16 Meeting TBA (Daryle Polk)	17	18	19	20
	21	22	23 No Meeting	24	25	26	27
	28	29	30 Meeting TBA	31

 

The Meeting Opening   The meeting was called to order by Eric Hoiland at the Butte Creek Country Club.  He asked our Student of the Month, Jake Loulukowicz, to lead the pledge, which he did. He then asked Jim Patterson to present the invocation, which he did.  He asked Larry Bradley to lead us in a song.  He led us in singing “God Bless America”.

FUTURE MEETINGS: Meetings will be at the location noted, at 6:00 pm.

April 4th:  Mike Crump will present Eric Miller, Solid Waste Div. Mgr. on Neal Rd. Facility at the BCCC   April 18th.  Steve Plume will present Heather Lowe, Durham HS alumni teaching in Chico at the BCCC.   April 29th:  Rotary Visibility Day   May 2nd:  John Bohannon will present a program at the BCCC.   May 16th:  Daryle Polk will present a program at the BCCC

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Announcements

 

District Grant

Between Larry Bradley and Jen Liu, they reported that the total cost of the Ansul Fire Suppression System we had installed in the Durham Veterans Hall was $37,517, which was within the original estimates.

Durham Parade

The annual Durham Parade will be held in May 13^th.  They need 7 volunteers for traffic control.  If you can help contact president Eric.  They are also adding something this year.  Fireworks in the evening and they are seeking funds to help with that.

Camp Royal

Camp Royal will be June 5^th to 10^th at the Bar 717 Ranch, near Hayfork.  For more information and registration go to:   www.camproyal.org. 

Camp Venture

Camp Venture will be June 21^st to 25^th, probably in Vallejo, but I have no further information.  It is not on the District’s web site yet.

Member’s Wife Needs Blood

Larry Bradley reported that Dave Jessen’s wife has been diagnosed with leukemia.  She is in need of blood donations.  If you can donate, please do so. 

Vitalant Blood Donation is at 555 Rio Lindo Ave, Chico, CA 95926. Phone (877) 258-4825

 

Introduction of Visitors.

 

Jen Liu introduced District Governor Susanne Bragdon, of the Fairfield-Suisun Club. and Glen Eaton of the Redding Club who is one of the Assistant District Governors (ADs) for District 5160.

Steve Plume introduced Jake Ilukowicz, our Student of the Month for March, and his parents, Greg and Debbie Ilukowicz.

Students of The Month

Larry Bradley presented a Student of the Month plaque to Jake Ilukowicz for March. Jake is an Eagle Scout.  He is Student Body President at Durham High School  He is also involved in baseball, football, Interact. He talked about his participation in the Every 15 Minutes drill recently conducted at the High School.  This is a two day program involving high school juniors and seniors that encourages them to think about personal safety when alcohol is involved, making mature decisions and recognizing that their actions affect others.

Recognitions

 

Tom Knowles was presented with his Blue Badge (even though he never was given a Red Badge).  He contributed $100 for his Blue Badge and rang the Bell.

President Eric conducted an auction of the Grinder.  It became a battle between Jessica Thorp and Steve Plume.  Steve got it for $75.00.  I guess she concluded that her recognition for what she was planning on doing would not be as high.

Next Meeting

The next meeting will be on April 4th at the Butte Creek Country Club.  Mike Crump will present Eric Miller, who will talk about the Butte County Garbage Land Fill.

 

Tonight’s Meeting Program

 

District Governor Susanne Bragdon visited us.  She first met with the Board at 5:00 pm and then with the Club at 6:00 pm.  The District Governor is a member of the Fairfield-Suisun Club.  Susanne talked about may things in the form of stories.  Her story is that she was City Manage of, I believe she said Rio Vista.  As a result of an in  house battle she was fired.  Yet when she attended her Rotary meeting the next day she was hugged by many of the members. 

 

She showed us  something that students in Africa who had no school desks could use for a desk, on their laps.

 

 

 

 One of her programs is the Be Club Strong program.

 

Another is Rotary Club Visibility Day on April 29^th.  This is a program to market Rotary. Where each club in the District is to do something to make them visible to the community.  Our Rise Against Hunger program would have been ideal, but unfortunately it has been cancelled.

 

 

Then at the end of the meeting she presented Eric with a photo on plastic of him which had be manipulated by her husband, a photographer.

    

 

Membership

Bring guests who you think you can interest in becoming a member.  Think of business owners or managers to bring.  Your dinner and your guest’s dinner will be paid for by the Club.  Also, bring a guest to one of our occasional social gatherings in the Durham Park or a Pizza place (Monday Night Football).

Go to the following Rotary International web site for information on membership development:  https://my.rotary.org/en/learning-reference/learn-topic/membership .  From this website there is access to membership development and other related information

The Rotary Foundation Donations

You can make a difference in this world by helping people in need. Your gift can do some great things, from supplying filters that clean people’s drinking water to empowering local entrepreneurs to grow through business development training.

The Rotary Foundation will use your gift to fund the life-changing work of Rotary members who provide sustainable solutions to their communities’ most pressing needs. But we need help from people like you who will take action and give the gift of Rotary to make these projects possible.

When every Rotarian gives every year, no challenge is too great for us to make a difference. The minimum gift to The Rotary Foundation is $25.00.   An annual $100.00 gift is a sustaining member.  Once your donations accumulate to $1,000 you become a Paul Harris Fellow.

It is possible to learn more about The Rotary Foundation on the Rotary web site. 

Your gift can be made online or by sending Jessica Thorpe a check made out to The Rotary Foundation to Durham Rotary, P.O. Box 383, Durham, California 95958.

______________________________________________________________________

From the District Governor

 

 

From Rotary International

Small Rotary club in Ecuador’s Andes delivers big on water project

By Arnold R. Grahl

High in the Andes, an indigenous community had been waiting more than a decade for clean drinking water.

They had worked with a regional water agency on a plan, but didn't have the funding to put it into effect – until they met a new Rotary club willing to apply for their first global grant.

The village of Cochapamba lies in the shadow of Ecuador's highest peak, Chimborazo, about 250 kilometers (155 miles) south of Quito. Residents had to journey an hour to bathe or wash their clothes. They would draw a small weekly allotment of water for drinking from an irrigation basin meant for crops — and risk getting sick from the untreated water.

Villagers had formed a water board and worked with the regional water agency to design a system for pulling water down from a mountain catchment and treating it. But their plan couldn't be implemented without more funding. Meanwhile, some of the residents who occasionally came into Guaranda, a town about 8 kilometers (5 miles) away, got to know members of the Rotary Club of Guaranda, Bolivar, which had just chartered in 2019.

"We have been dealing with this problem for many years. We had a project ready, but nobody could help us," says Doroteo Santillan, a Cochapamba resident interviewed by the station GuarandaTV in a video made by the club. "But then we found the Rotary club ... and they helped us access the water."

"My wife saw how the women had to carry water on their backs and started thinking, 'How could we help?'" says Alfonso Camacho, service chair for the Guaranda club.

The new club had never applied for a global grant from The Rotary Foundation. But its members got lots of advice from others in Rotary, found a partner, and worked with people in Cochapamba on the system that now provides safe drinking water to 133 families.

Camacho's wife, Virginia Soto, is the club's treasurer. She and officials from the regional water agency met with the Cochapamba water board and others from the community. They told her about the water system plan that had been made but not carried out. Because Cochapamba already had a water board, it could provide liaisons, create a financial system, and set up a fee to cover maintenance.

"We like to help people, so we said, 'We can do it,'" Camacho recalls.

Under the new system, water from the mountain source is treated and channeled into a series of tanks before it's distributed to homes. The club worked closely with the community and engineers from the water agency, and the system was completed in June 2022.

We like to help people, so we said, 'We can do it,

Alfonso Camacho

The club used its US$50,000 grant for equipment, supplies, and project management expenses. The water agency designed and oversaw the technical aspects and provided other expertise, topographical mapping, and equipment and supplies such as water meters and valves.

Participating families provided the physical labor through a collective arrangement that benefits the community. Residents worked in shifts to dig the many trenches for plastic PVC pipes and often had to bring rock, sand, and other materials up the mountainside by donkey.

The water source is the same one that feeds the irrigation reservoir. Water flows downhill through the pipes to a reinforced concrete tank, where it is chlorinated. Pipes then carry the water to two distribution stations on nearby hills, where more pipes branch out to individual homes.

The grant project is remarkable for a new club. "We are a young club. We didn't know anything," Camacho says. "We didn't even know how to navigate My Rotary and the grant system."

"But we asked a lot of questions, worked together with the community, and [Past District Governor Juan] Prinz made connections for us," he adds. "When one is determined enough to do something, you can do it."

Prinz, a past governor of District 4400 who died in 2021, had provided considerable help to the Guaranda club. He had urged Camacho and Soto to form the club, and his club, the Rotary Club of Quito-Valle Interoceánico, Pichincha, served as its sponsor. Later, Prinz and fellow club member Odd Hanssen connected the Guaranda club with its international partner, the Rotary Club of Velbert/Rhld., Germany. Prinz and Hanssen had met members of the German club during a 2020 project fair that was held virtually because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Juan Gregori y Ribes, a member of the German club, recalls how his club wanted to sponsor a global grant project in Ecuador but hadn't found anything suitable. "Through Prinz, we got information to contact the Guaranda club. They had prepared the project very well," he says. "We were able to join the application, and with very good Rotarian cooperation, it was implemented successfully."

The project is sustainable as well. Cochapamba employs an engineer who works with the water agency, and every three weeks, Camacho and the engineer check on the system and visit families to discuss their health and hygiene and recommend ways to conserve water.

Cochapamba residents have reported fewer illnesses now that they have treated water. And with laundry no longer being washed in the river, the pollution from detergent has been eliminated.

The small Rotary Club of Guaranda is not done yet. It plans to build a similar water system in Kilitawa, Ecuador, that will help 180 families — using its second approved global grant.