Eureka Rotary Club Meeting October 31, 2016

Matthew Owen presided over the 15th meeting of his Rotary year. Nancy Dean led the flag salute. Dan Heinen gave the invocation. Lunch was either barbequed ribs or Swiss chicken with scalloped potatoes and salad bar. Burt Campton introduced “visiting Rotarian” Lane Strope, who is actually a member of our club but doesn’t attend very often. Pat Folkins introduced our newest Rotarian Keith Snowflamer former Marine and presently acting President of College Of the Redwoods. He said he was happy to be here and mentioned that his wife had married him twice, but that was a story for another time. President Owen showed some videos of an Ivana Trump look-alike. It was a skit from Saturday Night Live. He then mentioned the 538 blog. Nate Silver writes it. It’s a map of the country keeping track of the number of electoral votes for each candidate. Matthew also showed a picture of the 20 bunk beds that he and a crew of volunteers put together for Betty Chin’s homeless center this last weekend. During the Boast Roast and Toast segment Don Leonard boasted of the major family birthday party they had last weekend. His son Jeff took pictures of it. Our speaker was Carlton Nielsen, head of Rotary Youth exchange. There are 22 foreign exchange students in our district including Clairie our student from Italy. Rotary youth exchange in our district was started in 1977 by then District Governor Dave Dillon. The US State Department is the sponsor. It differs from other exchanges in that the students must get a J 1 Visa and must attend School. Funding comes from the District and host families. There is a thorough background check of the students and host families which includes taking pictures of the host’s home to make sure they have indoor plumbing. Nancy Dean is the inbound coordinator for the district. Clark Swan was an outgoing exchange student on 2003 and was sent to Germany. Her experience inspired her to join Interact , Rotaract, and to eventually join our Rotary
Club. During the year the student has the option of going on several trips- to Hawaii, the South West, and to New York. The host family has to pay for this so the students have fun raisers during their year to afford to go. Carlton, who has hosted 10 students himself, encouraged everyone to give it a try. Apparently Dave Dillon hosted 22 students during his 11 years as chairman of the committee.
Exuberantly penned by Hank Ingham