Coral Gables RotaryGram: Vol. 65 No. 48 Notes from the Podium

President's Time

You think you're having a bad day? How about the people who were dying in intensive care every Sunday morning at 11 a.m. but only because the janitor was unplugging life support for the vacuum cleaner. Or how about the two seals rescued from the Exxon Valdes oil spill in Alaska to the tune of $80,000 each that were eaten by a whale within minutes of being returned to the wild. Or the lady who came home to find her husband plugged in and vibrating but she didn't find out until she broke his arm that he wasn't plugged into electricity, just his iPod. Or the two animal rights defenders who were protesting the cruelty to pigs when they were trampled to death after a stampede from the slaughterhouse. Or, what about the terrorist who didn't put enough postage on a letter bomb and forgetting the bomb, when the letter was returned he opened it. Bet you're feeling better now!!!

Back from the Rotary International Convention in New Orleans last week, Sally thanked Annette Alvarez (and Walter) for their excellent restaurant selection at Mandina's on Sunday night. You can follow our exploits at the convention right here on this blog - scroll back to last week. We got to see/hear Bill Gates tell us how pleased he is at Rotary's efforts to match his $355 million contribution to End Polio Now. For those who wondered, he is a geek. Read his entire speech without a teleprompter, and the operative word is "read" from a folded piece of paper. But who cares? Because of him we are "this close" to ending Polio. New cases are in the single digits. Only one case in India since the beginning of the year. Now is the time to Text to End Polio. During the NBA Games. Text either Dallas or Miami to 50555 and follow the prompts and $5 will be donated to End Polio Now and charged to your cell phone.

CORAL GABLES ONE OF 200 CLUBS

SELECTED FOR RI PILOT PROGRAM.

Rotary has all kinds of new things going on right now ... there's a Future Vision Program and a new Strategic Plan, all in an effort to change with the times and grow membership. But they like to try things out first. Our Club volunteered to participate in the Membership Pilot Program which starts on July 1st and runs for three years. We will be trying out the Associate Member Program. More on this as we get the information from RI. Thanks to Yoli Woodbridge for getting us involved and for taking responsibility for reporting requirements for this program for the Pilot period.

THE NEW GENERATIONS AVENUE OF SERVICE

WE HAVE A NEW INTERACT CLUB!!!!

Several weeks ago we were contacted by the students from the Interact Club at Gulliver Academy. Until now, their sponsoring club was the Rotary Club of Miami Sundown. That club is no longer after June 30th and the 100+ member Interact Club wanted to have RCCG as their sponsor. They are a large, active and hard working club and they fit right into our way of doing things ... lots of community service projects and they're good at raising money so they can do good things. They're a good match for us and for the Coral Gables High Interactors too. So now we have TWO, highly visible, hard working, active Interact Clubs under our wings. Let's welcome them and use them wisely. Think of all the scholarship money we're going to need next year!!! With us today is the President-Elect, Dillon Patel, Nicole Tufts and their school advisor, Michelle Cooper. Hank Langston will be the Rotary representative for the Gulliver Club (of course!).

While we're on the subject of New Generations, we had a final visit today from our "shared" Rotary Youth Exchange Student Sebastian (Phillip) Rassfeld who is from Cologne, Germany. You'll recall that we shared his expenses with the South Miami Club and shared some quality time with him as well. That is when he could fit us into his busy travel schedule. He's been here nine months. He leaves in 18 days. He's sad to be leaving and had a wonderful experience. Maybe he'll come back again as an Ambassadorial Scholar. But one thing's for sure, he'll be a Rotarian for the rest of his life. Maybe we will have our own exchange students from among all the Interactors at Gulliver? It would be great for our Club to once again be one of the top RYE Clubs in the District! There were 200 RYE students at the RI Convention from one District in Central Philadelphia - they were the flag carriers for the opening ceremony of Rotary nation's flags. An amazing thing, these wonderful kids!

CONGRATULATIONS FOR PERFECT ATTENDANCE!

Bill Quesenberry for 3 Years

Terry Long for 9 Years

Thank you both for all your service!

Happy Rotary Anniversary this week to Greg Martini ... we're not sure exactly how many years but it's somewhere between 17 and - well - whatever!! Thanks for all your hard work Greg.

Happy $$$$

Dandy Randy returned today and found a few really happy Rotarians including Yoli Woodbridge who had lots of money and happiness for 1. the Gulliver Interact Club; 2. Sebastian our Exchange Student and 3. For the gift that Judy Pantoja brought her from England. Bill Quesenberry was happy to have had a lovely time in vacation in France however, Melissa she woke up from a nap on the plane with radial nerve damage in her hand. But it's not super serious and they still had a good time. Sally B was happy for the dental services of Dr. Randy. He works very slowly so it takes longer but when he's done it's perfect! Dick Golden told us about the old lady who got a speeding ticket - she was driving fast because she might forget where she was going (!?!?!?!). Jon Arthur said he was happy because last month he had a large prostate and now he has a small one. Deena Bell had a great time last week playing golf with Special Olympics at the old Mel Reese Golf Course. They got to teach some of the high school students how the drive balls. Be sure to come out next year, you're bound to enjoy yourself helping these kids too. Carlos Bolado was happy to return a favor. Last week Abe Horowitz modeled he new Bolado Men's Wear wardrobe and so Carlos just wanted to say thanks to Abe for the good plug! Terry Long was happy that because of Deena and her landscaping talents she now has a beautifully landscaped atrium with a water feature in her home. Randy didn't do too bad ... he made scholarships Groh! Happiness pays so keep on smiling!

Working Rotarians - June 2, 2011

Greeter - Rodney Langer

Registration - Aaron Glasser

Collections - Carlos Bolado & Abe Horowitz

Head Table - John Wallace

Special Needs - Chris Morrison

Open the Meeting - Dick Golden

Invocation - Lan Nghiem-Phu

Pledge - Bill Oates

Singers - Bill Quesenberry & Dan Scipione

DeWitt Law Silver Dollars - Debbie Swain

Given To - Dillion Patel & Sebastian Rassfeld

Pin Drawing Gift - Dan Scipione

Pin Drawing Winner - Paolo Possenti

50/50 Raffle - Gloria Burns

50/50 Winner - Rosendo Castillo

5 Way Test - Ed Morris

Today's Program

“Boot Camp”
Gregory Bennett, Captain
Miami-Dade County Corrections and Rehabilitation

The Boot Camp program started in 1994, and was first accredited in 2004. Participants are young men and women between 14 and 24 years of age who have been adjudicated as adults. These young offenders have pled guilty and agreed to the sentence. Prior to admission, and complete physical and psychological evaluation is performed. Upon admission, the cadet must waive rights to certain privileges, such as visitation and phone calls, which may be earned.

Entry is limited to 38 cadets in each platoon, with a new platoon entering every 74 days. Cadets are transported from several facilities by bus at 3am. Once on the bus, they are treated to yelling and several stops where the get off and back on the bus. In intake, heads and faces are shaved. They now enter Phase 1, a 4-month basic training that includes basic education and evaluation for eligibility to take the GED. About 10 – 12 of the cadets will not complete this phase, and are returned to prison.

In Phase 2, participants are trained in employability and life skills, including communication and moral recognition. They are allowed unsupervised off-site work, which is closely monitored. Phase 3, which lasts 10 months, they are provided education and job placement assistance. After successful completion of this final phase, they are released from the program.

NEXT WEEK'S PROGRAM: Honduras, An Overview of our Humanitarian Trip by Catarina Jimenez and Bill Quesenberry.