Biddeford and Saco Rotary - Newsletter

Have an announcement? Send your Rotary news to Helene.plourde@kennebunksavings.com. Notices received by noon on Monday will be included in the TACK for that week.

WEEK IN REVIEW

February 24, 2010

Notes by Heather MacLean -

The day was super rainy and the room was full of happy Rotarians. Helene had the club sing the national anthem. Laurie Jo led the club in the four-way test. Phil Denison said a prayer. President Steve invited everyone to enjoy a delicious buffet.

Hydie Knuckles has been chosen to represent Maine in the Mrs. United States pageant. The following Rotarians have generously donated or pledged to help her attend nationals: Jim Clingensmith, Joe Moreshead, Leon Tranchemontagne, Winter Cherry Farm, Saco and Biddeford Savings, and Steve Morin. If you would like to sponsor Mrs. Maine, please contact Hydie at 571-4654 or Heather at info@wintercherryfarm.com.

Phil Denison gave the Foundation Minute and noted that Dr. Charles Erickson traveled from Nebraska to Zambia in order to provide medical care for residents of an orphanage there. He was sponsored by Rotary clubs in both nations, and performed hemoglobin determination on 30 orphans and performed nutritional counseling and worked on battling malaria, a national problem. When asked how much to give to the Rotary Foundation, Erickson says: Every Rotarian, every year.

Phil also announced that the club would donate $1,000 from the World Service budget for the Selamta Project.

President Steve asked that all Rotarians fill out the forms for attendance for the Biddeford, England Rotary Club visit. Organizers need to know how many people will be at the events.

He also announced that the Rotary Leadership Institute will be held March 6 at York Community College from 7:30 AM until 3:30 PM. The Club usually pays associated fees.

He also said that the Read Across America Day will be held March 2, 2010. The program involves Rotarians reading to school children. Anyone interested in working with the project should contact Steve.

Frank and Earl gave an update on the Auction. All sponsorship boards have been sold and the phones are in and will be tested soon. Sign-up sheets will be out soon for jobs on event day. Our club hit our target numbers, they said. Everyone waited until the last minute, but it worked out because everyone came through.

Bill Kany, the father, announced that Mary’s Walk is Sunday, March 14. He encouraged all to participate and said 2,600 walked or ran last year.

Jake is still collecting money for the fruit sale and said about 90 percent of the funds have been collected. The club is on pace to do about $3,600. If you have not given your money to Jake, please do so immediately.

The next Rotary board meeting is March 2 at 7:45 AM at the Community Center. Everyone is invited to attend.

Diane from the Captain’s Galley said there are new chefs and asked for menu suggestions. Please submit ideas to President Steve via e-mail.

Chuck said the 90^th anniversary meeting will be held after the March 3 lunch meeting.

Jackson won the 50/50 Raffle.

Sergeant at arms Karen asked for Happy Dollars and Joe said he was happy to be there with his fellow Rotarians. Bill Kany said his daughter is doing well on the TA ski team. Earl was happy that Thornton and Biddeford both won the quarter finals in hockey. Both are moving on to the semi-finals. Denis and Jim were both late and paid fines.

Karen handed out old photos of Rotarians. It was determined that both Joe and Bill Kany, the son, have aged extremely well and should form a cute table of their own.

Josh introduced the speaker, Marisa Stam from the Selamta Project. The Vermont-based organization helps orphans in Ethiopia. Stam said that about 1.4 million children in Ethiopia have been orphaned because of the AIDS pandemic and that number will rise 43 percent this year.

Selamta, which means “be at peace,” received non-profit status in 2005 and has been working in Ethiopia since 2006, she said. The organizations has a family-based model for orphans that can be used anywhere in the world that there is a need. The founders believe that children should be raised in families rather than orphanages, she explained.

Selamta operates a center in Ethiopia that serves as a “starting point for re-integrating orphans into a caring extended family and for creating new families out of whole cloth.” Street children are stabilized at the center; and assessed medically, physically and educationally. The organization looks for family members of the orphans and tries to locate siblings because children are often scattered, though it is illegal in that country to knowingly separate siblings.

The foundation’s focus is to put up to 8 orphaned children of mixed ages and genders into a “family ” with a woman who serves as the mother. The mother raises the children as though they were her own. At this time, eight families are established and two additional families will be added by June, Stam said.

The children go to private school because public school is not as rigorous in Ethiopia. It costs $12 a month for children to attend private school. All kids are sponsored through fund-raising in the U.S.

The kids in the program do well in the family model, which Selamta prefers to the group home model. Many of the children are in a soccer league and do extremely well, she said, noting that the kids do well in school and in extracurricular activities.

Stam said she went to Kenya recently to represent Selamta in a conference there. She found that her organization is progressive and an excellent model for other organizations.

During the question-and-answer period, President Steve asked who chooses the “mothers” in the program. Stam replied that the women are chosen by Ethiopian staff in Ethiopia. There is a screening process, she said, and heavy training. The object is to teach the women that this is not a job they can walk away from, but a way of life that they choose. The choice in mothers, she noted, has worked extraordinarily well to date.

Another question concerned how the women are helped when they first become a “mother” to eight children. Stam said the mothers have a paid “auntie” who helps, because the women have to do everything by hand including laundry. If a woman is sick, she added, an auntie is brought in to help.

Bill Kany asked why there are mothers but no “fathers.” Stam replied that gender roles are complicated in Ethiopia. Many of the women who are mothers are widowed or abused and abandoned. The ideal family structure would be to have a mother and a father, but in that society the women are more available to act as mothers, she explained. If a woman were to fall in love and get married, she said, the family would then have a “father.”

Anyone wishing to know more about the foundation can visit www.selamta.org.

Thank you Heather for taking notes.

Don't forget to reply to the 90th Anniversary Celebration events form. We need to have an idea of how many people will be attending.

Lobster Bake on the 18th in late afternoon; Evening dinner meeting on the 19th; and on the 20th an all-day bus trip to the mountains or coast!

Please join us for fun, food, and fellowship.

Helene, Ye Editor