November 11, 2016

2016-17 Rotary Theme

This Friday’s Program:
No meeting on Friday, November 18th (or the following Friday), but please join us this Thursday for A Taste of the Holidays, at the Arcata Community Center!

A Taste of the Holidays
RISE Calendar … “Rotary Involvement Strengthens Everyone
November 17A Taste of the Holidays! Our Fall Favorite Fundraiser returns to help kick off another festive holiday season!
November 18 – No meeting at the Jacoby Storehouse. (A Taste of the Holidays is our alternate meeting date/site.)
November 25 – We are dark (no meeting)
January 21 – Adopt-A-Highway cleanup. Meet at the Coastal Nature Center
February 18 – Charter Night at Baywood! Our annual RCAS birthday party!!
March 11 – The RCAS Spring Fundraiser! Put it on your calendar now (or as soon as you purchase a 2017 calendar)!!
May 12-14 – The District 5130 Conference at the Hyatt Regency Lake Tahoe Resort in Incline Village, Nevada


Sunrise Moments
Kristina McHaney and Els Reuvekamp in Bolivia

  • President Susan gave a quick update on Kristina McHaney, our Outbound Exchange Student in Bolivia. She quoted Kristina, who wrote, “Hello! So I have been in Bolivia for a little over 2 months! So far it’s been a blast. From November 28th to December 8th, I will be traveling with the other exchange students in Bolivia, all around Bolivia. I am very excited!” Susan asked Steve McHaney for more information about his daughter. “I don’t hear from her too often,” Steve said. “She is having a really great time, as far as I can tell.” She is getting along very well with her host family, and she is very active in her school. Kristina’s host family speaks some English, so she doesn’t have to speak Spanish all the time, which Steve said is a mixed blessing. The photo above shows Kristina with her fellow Exchange Student Els Reuvekamp
  • A Taste of the Holidays is this Thursday, so be sure to keep talking up the event, and sell your last few tickets. Please be sure to get your ticket money in at the event, so we can get a sense of our bottom line for the event.
  • We bid a fond farewell to our server Bianca. She thanked us for being so friendly, and she told us that she just has too many things going on in her life right now. We passed the ol’ coffee pot to raise some funds for her to show our appreciation for her service.
  • Jessica McKnight reminded us that “Vocational service is at the heart of Rotary. When [Rotary] was founded, Paul Harris brought together a number of folks from different vocations and occupations.” As our Vocational Service Director, she once again asked us to provide nominations for our Vocational Service Award. This honors someone who is not a Rotarian, but who exemplifies the spirit and values of Rotary in his or her working life. The Committee plans to present at least one and possibly two awards this year. The deadline for nominations is December 9th. Please check your email for more information about the award and the nominating process.
  • The date for our in-meeting Rotary Fitness Challenge has changed – the date is one week later than previously announced. We will test your skills at planking and one-legged squats on December 9th. So you have an extra week to practice (and to recover from Thanksgiving Dinner). The photo below is of Jeff Stebbins showing us how it’s done!Jeff Stebbins Planks

Craft Talk: Emanuel Rose

Emanuel Rose was born in Modesto, California, and he lived there “until I was 18, then I sprinted out of there as fast as possible”. He also said that no matter where he goes, there’s always another person who is from Modesto. Emanuel said that he lived for about five years in Seattle, “in the heyday of the grunge period”.  He also lived in Arizona, Boulder, and other places before settling in Humboldt County.

Emanuel Rose
Emanuel Rose

He grew up in a family of four, with his father Richard, his mother Cathey, and his sister Julia. Richard worked for a company that made large rolls of steel that were later turned into cans for food. He dealt with the metal, ensuring that the precision and quality were maintained – “Tolerances of one-one-thousandth of an inch,” Emanuel told us, “which as a kid, made him a joy to be around.” Cathey worked as a preschool teacher.

In high school, Emanuel earned the Congressional Award for his excellence in all four of the program areas – Voluntary Public Service, Personal Development, Physical Fitness, and Expedition/Exploration. He told us, “I don’t know anyone else who’s gotten one.” After high school, Emanuel attended the University of the Pacific for a brief period; while in Seattle, he studied at the Seattle Massage School. When he came to our community, he attended Humboldt State. Although he noted that he is “still unmatriculated, but I’ve taken a lot of classes!”

Emanuel has wide-ranging experience. He has worked in preschools and summer camps, most notably for Camp Jack Hazard, and he is currently on the organization’s Board of Directors. Emanuel’s business is Strategic eMarketing, and he provides marketing advice to many prominent Humboldt County firms as well as companies outside the area. The company helps businesses navigate the quickly evolving marketing landscape, providing services that include web design, search engine optimization, email marketing, video marketing, and software development. “It’s fun,” he said, “it’s always changing, and it’s super dynamic.”

Emanuel and President Susan have been together for 15 years, and together, they are owned by Texas, their second springer spaniel. Texas came to them via Don Banducci’s family, and Emanuel described him as being “a very good-looking dog, and he’s  very, very energetic, and he’s self-directed – which is code for ‘untrainable’, I think.” Emanuel enjoys fishing and backpacking, among other outdoor sports “when I’m not behind a computer”. He is also a member of the Humboldt 79 Masonic Lodge, where he provides additional service to our community.

Special Guest from the World Community

Zebu
Zebu Jilani

We were honored last Friday to welcome Zebu Jilani, from Pakistan’s Swat Valley. “Princess Zebu” is the granddaughter of the last ruling leader of Swat, and she is the founder, Chair, and President of the Swat Relief Initiative. We have been supporting her organization for several years, most recently helping with clean water projects in the area. She was joined by Rabia O’Loren, who first brought the area to our Club’s attention when she was our Featured Speaker in 2011.

“I just want to thank all of you for your support,” Zebu said. She noted how much help Rabia has been as well. She also carried thanks from the people of Baligram, who are “very excited to have access to clean water and are very grateful for your help”.

Honoring Those Who Served

Our Club has not met on Veterans Day for a long time, and we took the opportunity last Friday to honor Sunrisers who served our country as members of the Armed Forces, and we heard from Kimberly Hall, who runs VETS – the Veterans Enrollment and Transition Services program at Humboldt State University, and Nancy Kelly, an intern with VETS who is also the mother of a veteran.

Sunriser Cam Appleton recognized two Sunrisers who are veterans – Tom Tellez and Nick Torres. Tom served in the US Army Airborne Infantry in Panama from 1977 through 1980. Nick’s service was more recent. From 2001-2006, he was in the Marines with the 2nd Amphibian Battalion, 2nd Marine Division. He was stationed in North Carolina, Iraq, and Afghanistan. We greatly appreciate their service.

Nick Torres, Tom Tellez, Kim Hall, and Nancy Utley
Nick Torres, Tom Tellez, Kim Hall, and Nancy Utley

Nancy started the program by defining what a veteran is. She or he is a person who served (either in active duty or as a Reserve) in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, or National Guard. This individual may or may not have experienced combat, and may be either male or female. Veterans are a diverse group in many ways, including sexual orientation and their cultural and socio-political backgrounds. They are generally highly trained and educated, and often have skills in cutting edge technology, languages, social science, hard science, medicine, and other areas. In addition, their skills have been applied in real world situations. Most veterans are goal-oriented, with skills in leadership and problem solving. The VETS Program is available to veterans to assist in their transition into civilian life, including academia.

Kim talked about the core values that are common to some of the service branches. For example, she noted that the core values identified with veterans who served in the Army include loyalty, a sense of duty, respect, selfless service, honor, integrity, and personal courage. Air Force vets generally share the following values: integrity, service before self, and excellence in all they do. Navy veterans value honor, respect, and devotion to duty. Among the core values identified by Marine veterans are honor, courage, and commitment. Veterans from the other services shared similar values.

This fall, there are 198 veterans enrolled at Humboldt State – 31 female and 167 male. Including these vets, there are a total of 654 students with military affiliations (such as military dependents). The average veteran is about seven years older than non-veteran students. There is also a higher incidence of first generation college students among veterans than in the general student population, and veterans also tend to hold a higher GPA than their counterparts.

Kim noted that the transition from a structured life in the service to a less structured environment can be hard for a veteran. She noted that there are other differences that can make the return to civilian life difficult. In the service, there is a lot of cohesion with fellow soldiers or sailors; some veterans tend to withdraw from others. And while serving, it is generally understood who is in control, which may lead to a feeling that there is a lack of control back home. The tactical awareness that is fostered, especially in combat situations, can turn into hypervigilance in civilian life. All these factors may create a sense of isolation on the part of the veteran.

In addition, the veteran may be dealing with wounds both visible and those that less easily perceived. Nancy said that many combat veterans suffer from impaired vision or hearing loss. Others are dealing with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PSTD) or Military Sexual Trauma (MST). Reintegration into civilian society may take a lifetime for some veterans. Another source of anxiety for veterans is that they have moved from a situation of guaranteed employment to an uncertain job future. Nancy noted that PSTD is perhaps sensationalized in the mass media, but it is a real issue for veterans who cope with it.

Our speakers agreed that we should create “safe spaces” to support veterans. We should respect their environments by respecting their physical boundaries, and by maintaining a modulated emotional climate. Conversations and other communications should be appropriate and respectful. We should acknowledge the skills that the veterans learned during their military service, and honor the relationships they developed during that time. In this way, we can foster a bicultural civilian/soldier identity for veterans.

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