Meeting of the Rotary Club of Eureka December 8, 2015

The Pledge of allegiance was led by Jay Bahner and Steve Justus gave the invocation. Steve encouraged us to remember Wayne Wilson in our prayers as he is recovering from a lengthy surgery.

Steve Justus

Visiting Rotarian
Virginia Galloway from Dallas, Georgia (she says it’s a much different city from the Texas version).

Guests of Rotarians
Paula Patton brought her husband Rick; Tom Schallert, his wife, Tess. Neil Carnam brought Cedar Ruben; Scott Hammond was a guest of Greg Williston, and Jay Hockaday brought his wife Lisa.

Our exchange student from Belgium, Lisa Pireau, has been up and down the length of our state, having recently traveled to San Diego and back.

Keith Crossley introduced Paula Patton who became a Paul Harris Fellow and received the customary recognition and standing ovation.

Gregg, Keith, and Paula

Greg Sparks, new Eureka City Manager, joined our club and received his Red Badge and other tokens.

Gregg and Greg

Robert Morse drew a lucky ticket and won a bottle of wine. Dennis Hunter got a lucky ticket, but no wine (sorry Dennis).

lucky winner

Program
Diane Mettam reported on ShelterBox, which provides long-term tent structures,

Diane Mettam

stoves, lamps, tools, water filtration, and other basic necessities for those who have lost their homes due to natural and man-made disasters around the world. Contents of each tent are tailored to the area where they will be sent. The $1,000 price covers the cost of contents, training and shipping to groups or families. These shelters have been sent to every continent except Antarctica. Diane said they are able send out these boxes because of many generous donors including Rotary Clubs. As Rotary International’s first Project Partner, Rotarians are also instrumental in cutting through local red tape. Many of the Response Team members, who deliver and deploy the boxes following disasters, are also Rotarians. Notable deployments include: The Indian Ocean Tsunami of 2004, Haiti earthquake of 2010, and the Northeastern US Hurricane Sandy in 2012. Current deployments include the Syrian crisis and other Middle Eastern countries like Kurdistan, Lebanon and Iraq as well as the ongoing typhoons in the Philippines last year.

Tom Schallert

Our second guest speaker, also from our own Eureka Club, was Tom Schallert. Tom presented us with an update from his program titled: Toward Improved Blood Safety and Availability in Nigeria. Tom began by thanking Past President Steve Justus for helping get him involved in making blood safer in Nigeria. In Nigeria the median age is 19, with average life expectancy around 47 years. Tom showed many pictures of different projects in Nigeria including one that funded Malaria prevention, a huge problem in Africa. In addition, we saw a Rotary donor refrigerator, and battery backup for emergency power for a hospital.. Tom said that blood testing in Africa is pretty good in spite of the fact that they have little equipment. Tom showed pictures of Be Redeemed, a 2000,000 member church where they receive support and help. When the pastor was asked why it’s so big, he responded, “It’s the sermons.” Tom added that blood projects need tribal leader support, and our stereotype of uneducated Africans was shattered when Tom mentioned that one of the tribal leaders pictured had a Harvard MBA.

Rotary gets a check.

Tom listed some of the problems: for example, the plasma is not always stored well; blood donations are often wasted and stored poorly or labeled inappropriately; overall, the demand for blood is three times greater than the supply in Nigeria. Blood scarcity seems to be largely a communication problem. Other obstacles include Islamist Radicals like Boko Haram teaching that Western education is a sin. They also have problems with security and cultural corruption. However, much medical equipment including a Bloodmobile is being sent to Nigeria, and our local blood bank and our club's support for the program is being used as a model for some Rotary international training programs.

Speaker Tom gave kudos to John Gierek and Kim Bauriedel YRWBGIH (Your reward will be great in heaven) for their tireless efforts to support this project.

Finally, the little girl who survived because she was able to have a blood transfusion makes it all worth it. Tom will donate to The Rotary Foundation in advance of the date of his daughter’s new child (his grandchild). He gave money instead of blood. Dr. Kim Bauriedel also spoke with other District 5130 Clubs and between them and our club, donated $2800 dollars to our blood project.


Respectfully submitted,


Dan Price