Reporter:  Gail Lyman

 

St. Catherine’s Community Center and on Zoom

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President Mary called the meeting to order, and with unique sound effects we recited the Four-Way Test in unison!  She encouraged us to continue practicing the Four-Way Test in our personal, professional, and Rotarian relationships.

 

Melissa Coville introduced CFCU co-worker Shine Gonzalez, who is interested in joining Rotary.

 

George Gull introduced Pip Kelly, an Airbnb host and friend from Costa Rica where George and Nancy make repeat visits during Thanksgiving breaks.  Pip, originally from Australia, shared about the time she raised money to be a Costa Rican Development Volunteer by shaving her head on 9/11 and how she came full circle by visiting the 9/11 Memorial on this trip to the US.

 

Jean McPheeters introduced Gail Belokur, Interim Chief Operating Officer of the United Way of Tompkins County, who is also interested in joining Rotary.

 

Visiting Rotarian Evan Kurtz (Dryden) introduced himself; he is our Immediate Past District Governor (PDG).

President Mary announced that Rotarian James Brown has retired from his position as President and CEO of the United Way of Tompkins County as of August 5^th!  He had worked for our United Way since 1997.

 

Linda Pasto has launched this year’s Lansing Lunchbox with a District 7170 grant, and ADminders CEO Janet Keefe created tote bags for the students’ use (and donated part of the cost).

 

Geoff Dunn shared news from our District 7170:  Cindy Kain will be stepping down as District Governor Elect (DGE) due to personal reasons, and Wendy Deis has agreed to move up in succession and become DGE this Rotary year.

 

Brad Carruth called for volunteers to help with meeting set up and tear down and distributed clipboards encouraging members to sign up for a few slots.

 

Kelly Buck gave an update on Community Grants:  the deadline for submissions was last Friday (August 5^th).  The committee has 24 viable applications that will be reviewed in the next two weeks; grants will be awarded in September.

 

Erratum:  last week your editor stated that the registrations for the Rotary Road Rally were to be used for the Community Grants; that is not correct; the $1500 raised by the Rotary Road Rally is for the 2023 James L. Gibbs Memorial Scholarship at Ithaca High School.

Mike Brown gave us some real life aviation wisdom by telling this story:

 

During WWII fighter planes would come back from battle with bullet holes.  The Allies initially sought to strengthen the most commonly damaged parts of the planes to increase combat survivability.

 

A mathematician, Abraham Wald, pointed out that perhaps the reason certain areas of the planes weren’t covered in bullet holes was that the planes that were shot in certain critical areas did not return.  This insight led to the armor being re-enforced on the parts of returning planes where there were no bullet holes.  This wisdom was also beneficially applied to the Skyraider during the Korean War.

 

This shows that the reasons why we are missing certain data may be more meaningful than the available data itself.  In questions of aircraft design, don’t only listen to what the evidence says; listen also to what is not being said.

Mary read the August birthdays (that curiously ended on August 15^th) and Rotary anniversaries, and Loralyn Light led us in singing “Happy Birthday.”

“Rotary and the Fight against Polio”

 

Jean McPheeters was scheduled to introduce our guest speaker, Dr. Douglas MacQueen, who was to speak about polio in our state.  Dr. MacQueen was unable to attend due to a family emergency, so Jean gave a brief presentation about Rotary’s involvement with polio.

 

According to the Rotary International website, Rotary has been working on eradicating polio since 1987.  Rotary members “have contributed more than $2.1 billion and countless volunteer hours” to counteract and eradicate polio.

 

On July 21^st local and state health officials announced that the first US case of polio in nearly a decade had been confirmed in an unvaccinated individual in Rockland County, NY.  Health officials purported that this individual must have received the poliovirus infection from someone overseas who had been inoculated with the oral polio vaccine.  (Oral poliovirus vaccine, or OPV, is no longer authorized or administered in the US because of its potential to cause vaccine-derived poliovirus.)

 

Rockland County officials are concerned because it has population areas with low vaccination rates, such as the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community, that put these people at high risk for contracting polio.  Jean McPheeters emphasized, “This does not have to be!  Let’s figure this out quickly.  We can eradicate polio with our efforts.”

 

Rotarian Chuck Bartosch, who has volunteered overseas helping with polio inoculations, explained that the poliovirus often spreads due to contact with infected feces.  The infection can spread from poor hand washing or eating and drinking contaminated food and water.  Chuck emphasized that overseas conditions are much worse than what we realize in terms of sanitation.  But fortunately, no one is opposed to vaccines.  Even though the US stopped using the oral polio vaccine in 2000 and now exclusively uses the inactivated poliovirus vaccine (IPV), other countries continue to prefer using the OPV over the injectable IPV because its ease of use and lower cost.

Evan Kurtz, Immediate PDG of our district, introduced a group discussion theme:  current issues on climate and movement towards sustainability.  Evan stated that Rotary International has created a distinct area of focus to support the environment, along with a new action group that focuses on environmental sustainability.

 

President Mary asked for discussion among table mates by answering the following questions:  What is our place in the world concerning climate change?  What can I or Rotary do as an organization to help combat climate change?  Healthy discussion ensued.

President Mary ended the meeting thanking us for our “patience and forbearance” in having to wait for Dr. Douglas MacQueen’s presentation on polio in New York.

 

Angela Sullivan will lead our meeting next week while President Mary is in Maine.

 

And to keep abreast of our club’s activities, see the Calendar in ClubRunner.

Newsletter Reporter:  Gail Lyman

Photographer:  Mike Brown

Newsletter Editor:  Loralyn Light

Greeter:  John Barradas

 

Set-up/Tear-down:  Brad Carruth, Harlin McEwen, Steve Johnson, Heidi Goldstein, Richard Kops, Dave Martin

Set-up Zoom:  Chuck Bartosch, Mike Brown

Recording Archive:  Paul Martin; click here

Club Service Facilitator:  June Losurdo