Gulf Coast Gazette

Rotary District 6840 Newsletter February, 2012

Message from District Governor Betty Gill Upcoming Events

February 25 District Team Meeting Holiday Inn, Slidell, LA

March 9-10 Multi-District Ole Man River PETS Hilton Jackson, Jackson, MS

April 19-21 District Conference Best Western Landmark Hotel Metairie, LA

May 6-9 RI Convention, Bangkok, Thailand

May 11—June 10 GSE Team in Brazil, District 4640

May 19 District Assembly Long Beach Sr Ctr, Long Beach, MS _________________________________

In This Issue

Page 2 and 3, Club and District News

Page 4, District 6840 Cookbook

Pages 5, 6, and 7, District 6840 Mid Year Checkup

Page 8 District Attendance _________________________________ Serving Southeast Louisiana and the

Mississippi Gulf Coast

www.rotary6840.org

February is designated as World Understand-ing Month, and February 23 is World Under-standing and Peace Day, commemorating the first Rotary meeting in 1905. This article, enti-tled “Booking a Trip to Global Peace and Un-derstanding” by Maureen Vaught, appeared in the January, 2008, edition of Rotary World: When Rotarians participate in a Rotary Friendship Exchange , they return with more than souvenirs and laundry. They bring back lasting friendships, a global perspective, and a newfound appreciation for Rotary’s work. Carol Metzker of the Rotary Club of West Chester, Pennsyl-vania, USA, traveled to Ghana on her first Friendship Exchange. Taking advantage of the exchange’s visitor program, Metzker and her daughter spent a week touring the capital city of Accra with their hosts Kathleen Boohene, a member of the Rotary Club of Accra-South, and her husband. Among the many sites they visited was a fishing village. “The poorest of the poor were there repairing wooden fishing boats and mending fishing nets,” says Metzker. “There was a crude facility and an open sewer that served as toilets for the villagers. It was clear why Rotary’s work is so vital.” A seasoned exchange participant and three-time District 7810 Rotary Friendship Exchange chair, Canadian Pam Harrison has traveled on three trips and helped organize three more. Last year, she accompanied Rotarians from her district on a two-week exchange with District 3030 in Maharashtra, India. “I also work with clubs in our district to organize visits for incoming teams. It all takes time, but these exchanges build such goodwill and even better friendships,” says Harrison, a member of the Rotary Club of Sackville, New Brunswick. Participating in a Friendship Exchange also is an ideal way to celebrate World Understanding and Peace Day on 23 February, Rotary’s anniversary. And Rotarians now have a new resource to help locate an exchange destination. The RFE Matching Board provides a forum for districts to publicize exchange op-portunities in their regions. Launched in August, this Web-based publication is updated quarterly.

With deepest regrets we report that PDG Milam “Sonny 34” Cotton has died. Sonny served as District 6840 Governor in 1996-1997, and was a member of the Hattiesburg club.

Club & District News

The Rotary Club of Westbank/Gretna proudly announces that their Legacy Clock has now been installed in the City of Gretna's new Community Park Development in Old Gretna. The project has been in the planning stage for twelve years and required that the park first be built that would house the clock, a Rotary centennial project. The clock has the Rotary emblem on all four faces of the dial, a constant reminder to the public of Rotary’s presence and involvement in the community.

The Rotary Club of Northlake/Mandeville has expanded its scholarship program for high school students entering college. They now provide $10,000 for each student selected for the program, up from $8,000 previ-ously. Each year two new scholarships are granted four-year scholarships to entering freshmen, so that at any point in time there are eight students receiving aid from the program. The 14th Annual Rotary Scholar-ship fundraiser will be held on April 22, 2012, at Beau Chene Country Club from 6 - 9 pm. In the past thirteen years, 24 students have been funded, and awarded over $180,000. The program has an 88% student graduation rate. Students are selected so the scholarship will make the “Greatest Impact”. Selec-tions are based on three criteria: academic ability, community ser-vice, and a need for financial assistance. Several students at-tended the club meeting on December 29. Pictured are scholarship recipients Ashley Alleman, Raymond Braselman, Jessica Kapota, Ryan Rushing, and Jenna Angele.

Rotary members worldwide are cautiously celebrating a ma-jor milestone in the global effort to eradicate the crippling disease polio: India, until recently an epicenter of the wild poliovirus, has gone a full calendar year without recording a new case. RI leaders see the Jan. 13 milestone as a testament to the determination of its international membership of 1.2 million – and especially the 116,000-plus Rotarians of India – to eradi-cate the infectious disease through the mass immunization of children, a goal Rotary took on 27 years ago.

The Rotary Club of Picayune participated in the Picayune Back-yard BBQ Challenge held Nov 2011. The Picayune Rotary Grill-masters Team won 1st Place in the Pork Division and 2nd Place Overall. Pictured, left to right, are Bill Roberts, Tony Paternostro, President Mark Stockstill, and Billy Geen. You will be able to own their award winning recipe for "Pork Stuffed Tenderloin"-- it has been submitted for publication in the new District cookbook.

Congratulations to Geoff Kergosien (Physical Therapist/Clinic manager) for his excellent recipe that propelled Acceler-ated Physical Therapy to winning the judges division of the Bay St. Louis, Mis-sissippi Rotary Club chili cook off! He got all three first place votes from three pro-fessional judges with more than 30 teams in attendance! Geoff is a member of the Rotary Club of Bay St. Louis.

In Memoriam Our condolences to the family and friends of Kristina Barnard, Ponchatoula High School student and Interact Club member. Kristina was a decorated cadet in her school’s Marine Corps Junior ROTC.

Club & District News (Cont.)

Rotary International President-elect Sakuji Tanaka will ask Rotarians to build “Peace Through Service” in 2012-2013. Tanaka unveiled the RI theme during the opening plenary session of the 2012 International Assembly, a training event for incoming Rotary district governors. “Peace, in all of the ways that we can understand it, is a real goal and a re-

alistic goal for Rotary,” he said. “Peace is not something that can only be achieved through agreements, by governments, or through heroic struggles. It is something that we can find and that we can achieve, every day and in many simple ways.” Peace has different meanings for different people, Tanaka said. “No definition is right, and no definition is wrong,” he said. “However we use the word, that is what peace means for us. No matter how we use, or understand the word, Rotary can help us to achieve it.”

RI has succeeded in meeting the Gates Foundation’s $200 million match in funding for polio eradication, rais-ing more than $202.6 million as of Jan. 17. “We’ll cele-brate this milestone, but it doesn’t mean that we’ll stop raising money or spreading the word about polio eradica-tion,” Rotary Foundation Trustee John Germ told Rotary leaders at the International Assembly in San Diego. “We can’t stop until our entire world is certified as polio-free.” “In recognition of Rotary’s great work, and to inspire Rotarians in the future, the Gates foundation is committing an additional $50 million to extend our partnership,” said Jeff Raikes, CEO of the Gates Founda-tion. “Rotary started the global fight against polio, and continues to set the tone for private fundraising, grassroots engagement, and maintain-ing polio at the top of the agenda with key policymakers.”

The Parklane Academy Interact Club recently adopted a Pike County family which had lost its home to fire. Shown in the photo to the left preparing the delivery of food, clothes, and toys to the family are: Lotte Vestb, Olivia Haskins, Leslie Willis, and Hunter Authe-ment.

Shoes for Orphan Souls District 6840 is teaming up with philanthropy Buckner Inter-national to ask Rotarians and local residents to collect shoes for children in need. The annual nationwide “Shoes for Orphan Souls” shoe drive is seeking to collect more than 250,000 pairs of new shoes, socks and shoestrings, with a nationwide campaign. Since 1999, Buckner has sent more than 2.2 million pairs of new shoes to vulnerable children in 74 countries around the globe, including the United States.

District Governor Betty Gill said, “We hope that with the support of area churches, retailers and civic groups, we can help Buckner reach their goal and make this life better for children.” Rachel Garton, director of Shoes for Orphan Souls, said, “We have seen the smiles that a new pair of shoes brings to children in the orphan-ages we visit, and we want to extend that same joy to others like them. Because of Rotary’s commitment to this program, we can continue to increase the number of kids who will benefit.” “Millions of children reside in orphanages throughout our world,” Garton said, “and those orphanages are not receiving enough money to care for the children’s most basic needs, like shoes and socks.” An unexpected benefit of donating new shoes is the sense of satisfaction on the part of the person who gives. “At Buckner, we say new shoes are good for the soul – yours and theirs,” Garton said. “A person who gives can’t help but feel as though they also have received a great gift.” Donated items should be for children and teens and due to customs regulations, shoes and socks need to be brand new. For those preferring to make a cash donation, $25 will buy a new pair of shoes and cover distribu-tion costs. All clubs should bring their shoes to the District Conference in Metairie April 19-21. Betty and Mike Gill will personally deliver the shoes to Buckner’s headquarters in Mesquite, Texas. For more information, contact ADG Joyce Shaw at joycemshaw@yahoo.com

District 6840 Cookbook

District 6840 Attendance Report January, 2011

Club Jul 1 Jan 1 Diff Attend

Bayou Territory

Belle Chase 40 40 0 42%

Plaquemines Parish 21 ? ? ?

Westbank/Gretna 75 73 -2 64%

Westwego 22 22 0 58%

Algiers 17 17 17 54%

BayPass Territory   

Bay St Louis 70 70 0 66%

Pass Christian 23 23 0 70%

Picayune 40 41 1 57%

Stennis Space Center 20 18 -2 57%

Beach Territory   

Biloxi 78 78 0 53%

Edgewater 44 45 1 75%

Edgewater Sunrisers 7 ? ? ?

Ocean Springs 74 71 -3 65%

North Bay 10 10 0 85%

East Coast Territory   

Gautier 56 56 0 55%

Lucedale 42 42 0 69%

Moss Point 20 20 0 97%

Pascagoula 134 134 0 40%

Green County 25 25 0 43%

Gulf Territory   

Gulfport 135 134 -1 60%

Gulfport Orange Grove 35 34 -1 77%

Long Beach 13 14 1 85%

Wiggins 26 25 -1 64%

Hancock County 30 30 0 70%

Heartland Territory   

Franklinton 24 24 0 70%

McComb 111 111 0 71%

Summit 12 12 0 86%

Tylertown 25 25 0 63%

Club Jul 1 Jan 1 Diff Attend

Hub Territory   

Hattiesburg 103 102 -1 54%

Hattiesburg Sunrise 32 33 1 70%

Petal 52 52 0 64%

Richton 19 19 0 59%

Orleans Territory   

East New Orleans 14 13 -1 85%

New Orleans 145 ? ? ?

St. Bernard 20 21 1 67%

Riverbend 14 14 0 63%

Lake Territory   

Covington 34 36 2 63%

Northlake/Mandeville 71 71 0 51%

Slidell 57 57 0 55%

Slidell Northshore 49 50 1 42%

Piney Woods Territory

Bogalusa 25 25 0 56%

Columbia 50 48 -2 52%

Poplarville 29 28 -1 61%

Ponchartrain Territory   

Carrollton 30 31 1 52%

Kenner 25 25 0 61%

Metairie 68 69 1 49%

Metairie sunrise 22 21 -1 58%

Tangi Territory   

Amite 28 28 0 78%

Hammond 48 48 0 55%

Kentwood 17 17 0 88%

Ponchatoula 39 ? ? ?

Hammond/Ponchatoula Sunrise 53 53 0 70%

River Territory   

Harahan 16 17 1 59%

Laplace 27 27 0 79%

St. Charles Parish 81 81 0 83%