May 17, 2023
Reporter: John Vineyard
Wednesday’s meeting:Olexiy Gusev, Past President, Lviv Rotary Club
“An Update on School Bomb Shelter Projects in Lviv, Ukraine”
COLTIVARE and on Zoom
President Mary Kane called the meeting to order and led us in the Four-Way Test.
Mary Kane then introduced our guests:
- Miles McGrath from Jensen Beach, guest of Ravi Walsh
- Alice Kops, guest and wife of Richard Kops
- Dr. William Shang, guest of Richard Kops
- Nora Shang, guest of Richard Kops
- Ingrid Zabel from PRI, guest of Warren Allmon
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
Harlin McEwen gave his Thought for the Day, which was actually two:
- “People change for two main reasons: either their minds have been opened or their hearts have been broken.” ~ Steven Aitchison
- “Don’t wait for things to get better. Life will always be complicated. Learn to be happy right now, otherwise you’ll run out of time.” ~ Unknown
ANNOUNCEMENTS
- Jean McPheeters is collecting items for the Linen Closet the entire month of May; bring your toiletry items to the meeting and deposit into the bins provided
Our Youth Exchange Dinner on May 11th at the Savage Club Hall was a great success. Thanks to Jean McPheeters and Mary Berens and others.- Our 2nd Visitors Day is our next meeting on May 24th. Over 30 guests have been signed up so far.
- Gertrude Noden informed President Mary that the $5,400 Community Foundation Donor Advised Fund grant from this club has been delivered by Words into Deeds to the Lviv, Ukraine Rotary Club.
- Jeremiah Craig said that he would be giving a five-minute talk at next week’s meeting and hoped that we would invite our neighbors and friends.
Frank Towner encouraged us once again to bring others to next week’s Visitors Day meeting!- Climate minute: Warren Allmon solicited opinions from members of the club for that evening’s listening session (5:30-7 PM EDT). He spoke about “climate literacy,” citing a .14-degree Fahrenheit rise in temperature per decade globally since 1880, with the rise more than twice that fast (.32 degrees) since 1981, pointing to dire consequences in coming decades if that continues.
LAST WEEK’S PRESENTATION
Richard Kops introduced our speaker, Dr. William Shang, who is certified by the American College of Pathology and the American College of Sports Medicine. Currently the Laboratory Director of Cornell Health (Cornell’s student health center), his talk was titled “Age Related Muscle Loss: A Kingpin of Chronic Disease.”
Dr. Shang described age related loss of skeletal muscle mass and strength as the driving force for half of chronic diseases, including high blood pressure, high lipids, high glucose, and obesity—and all of these conditions are related and typically the consequence of a lack of physical exercise over time. The overall syndrome is labeled as sarcopenia. An older patient who has not experienced weight gain will still likely have a loss of muscle fibers and a gain of fat cells. Typical symptoms include difficulty climbing stairs and rising from chairs, loss of stamina, and loss of energy. In sarcopenia, the progressive loss of muscle fibers and increase of fat cells is at the heart of the syndrome. Shang stated that combating the condition requires two types of exercising, including a program of aerobic exercise 30 minutes a day and strength training twice a week. He advocated that both aerobic and strength exercise routines should be tailored to the condition of each person and that progressive resistance training should be accomplished in “baby steps.” Sarcopenia is definitely reversible, he argues, and that the cells are basically just waiting for a chance to react to a healthier regimen.
HAPPY DOLLARS
Happy Dollars were offered in support of our Community Grants program:
- Frank Towner: is a guest bartender for the Cayuga Medical Foundation fundraiser
Angela Sullivan: celebrating 12 years as head of the Alcohol & Drug Council of TC and for how long it took to get the Open Access, Detox and Stabilization Center open.- Warren Allmon: fundraiser tonight for the State Theatre, and the Ithaca Ballet, including his daughter Alexandra, will perform a section from Bolero
- Sherry Negrea: for her two daughters. The older daughter just received a Master’s in Social Work from Binghamton University and will be working as an MSW in Binghamton; the younger is graduating next week from Cornell with a BS in Civil Engineering and will join the Navy.
Paul Martin: pleased with the Youth Exchange Dinner; it may be held a couple of times each year! And there are also still openings for outbound counselors for the Youth Exchange Program.- Loretta Goss: has none of the four conditions mentioned by Dr. Shang; she’s 72 and does cardio and strength training five days a week!
- George Gull: some of the houses that he and Nancy were working on in Costa Rica now have potable, clean water in their kitchens—and he now has two matching British-made knees, both working very well so far.
President Mary closed by announcing the agenda for Visitors Day at the next club meeting and invited this week’s guests to return. She reminded those in attendance that Olexiy Gusev from Lviv will be with us via Zoom to report on what’s been achieved there.
THANK YOU ROTARIANS
Newsletter Reporter: John Vineyard
Photographer: Mike Brown
Greeter: Chris Roscoe
Newsletter Editor: Loralyn Light
Setup/Teardown: Brad Carruth, Steve Johnson, Harlin McEwen, Larry Robinson, Ravi Walsh
Audio/Visual Setup: Bez Thomas, Mike Brown
Recording Archive: Paul Martin; click
hereClub Service Facilitator: June Losurdo
