This Week's Program: Sara Cole, President & CEO YMCA
Sara Cole, President and CEO of the Duluth YMCA will join Harbortown Rotary tomorrow morning to provide an update on how YMCA is weathering COVID-19 and the efforts it is doing to assist those in need.
Prior to her role in Duluth Sara was the Senior Vice President of Program Development and Innovation at the YMCA of Greater Rochester, where she worked with a team of creative youth and community development change agents to provide a spectrum of high-quality programming to serve thousands of youth and families in the region each day. Cole developed and deployed collaborative strategies which led to increased YMCA capacity and new programming pathways with community agencies, and her grant-writing results led to more than $15 million in funding for program innovation.
I spend a lot of time thinking of family, not just my own or the extended family of Rotary, but also the families we are helping in the communities we serve. In many parts of the world, mothers and children face challenges to survive that most of us will never comprehend. According to the World Health Organization, the risk of a woman in a low-income country dying during pregnancy or childbirth, or from related causes, is about 120 times higher than that of a woman living in a high-income country. It is encouraging that infant mortality rates are declining globally, yet 4 million babies annually still die within the first year of life.
In April, Rotary turns its attention to maternal and child health. And when we think of what we can do to help, we can look to clubs like the Rotaract Club of Calabar South-CB, Nigeria, for inspiration. It teamed up with the Rotaract Club of Canaan City (CB) in a program focused on educating mothers on best practices to prevent infant mortality and promote postnatal health for themselves and their babies. In Bangladesh, the Rotary Club of Dhaka North provides free surgeries and medicine to pregnant women who cannot afford the hospital costs associated with giving birth. I encourage you and your club to go to ideas.rotary.org to find projects like these that are helping to save mothers and children.
We also have witnessed how millions of people — families and entire communities — have been ripped away from their homes because of conflict, poverty, and disasters during the past decade. But Rotary has not stood idly by during the global refugee crisis.
During Rotary Day at the United Nations last November, we honored a Rotary Peace Fellow and five Rotarians who are taking action to help refugee communities. Among them was Ilge Karancak-Splane of the Rotary Club of Monterey Cannery Row, California. After visiting several tent camps in Turkey, she led a Rotary project that collected 1,000 pairs of children's shoes and socks for families in the camps and, later, led a global grant project to help educate refugee children. In March, Gay and I had the privilege of visiting a tent camp in Torbalı and seeing firsthand the good work that Rotarians from Turkey and California were accomplishing with Syrian refugees.
The challenges faced by mothers, their children, and refugee communities around the world are daunting. But when we remember our greatest strength — how Rotary Connects the World — we can begin to find solutions. Through our creativity, our resources, our dedication, and our networks, Rotary can and will open opportunities to face these challenges.
Rotary International President, Mark Daniel Maloney
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The Harbortown Cash Raffle drawing has been rescheduled to take place on the evening of the President's Dinner.
The event is currently scheduled for Wednesday, June 17, 2020 at Ridgeview Country Club. Please stay tuned for additional details.
Important: In order to limit 1:1 contact, please continue to hold onto your ticket stubs and raffle money and they will be collected at a later date. Please do not stop by Greg's office to drop items off.
Feel free to contact Greg Goldman at ggoldman@ksgcpa.com if you have other questions.
We know that disasters can devastate a community, leaving people in urgent need of medical care, housing, and other necessities. Unlike most natural disasters, the COVID-19 pandemic is having a global impact that affects all of us. Rotarians like you are people of action even in a time of crisis, and Rotary is uniquely prepared to help communities around the world.
Clubs and districts can apply for Rotary disaster response grants to support COVID-19 relief efforts. These grants can be used to provide supplies and medical care and to support rebuilding efforts.
The Rotary Foundation Trustees recently approved placing $1 million in our Disaster Response Fund to make these grants immediately available for applications related to COVID-19. To make sure these grants can remain available, we’re asking for personal contributions to the Disaster Response Fund. Your contribution will support grants that help Rotarians care for and protect people in their local communities and around the world. Make a gift to the Disaster Response Fund now.
Thank you for your dedication and service on behalf of Rotary.
Sincerely, Gary C.K. Huang Chair, The Rotary Foundation 2019-20
During this time of confinement, I am sure that everyone is drinking more coffee than normal.
Well the good news is we have LOTS of Rotary Blend coffee left to sell.
Some more good news is that Jerry has most of it stored at London Road Rental Center, 1710 London Rd. More good news yet, we are open.
If you want coffee or need more coffee, you can get it anytime between 7:30-5 M-F and Saturday 7:30-12. Just email Jerry (jerry@londonroadrental.com) or Jan (admin@harbortownrotary.org) so that we bill you for it.
For news, announcements, event promotion social media, media releases and more, please contact Charity Johnson (csjohnson@starbasemn.org or 218-788-7288).
IMPORTANT UPDATE: 1.5.2021
Chloe Strand joined the Marketing/PR committee last fall and is taking on many duties related to Facebook posts, Member Spotlights and more. When communicating PR details, please copy both Charity (csjohnson@starbasemn.org) and Chloe (Chloe.Strand@hdchrc.org) on relevant information.
For Scuttlebutt: If you are hosting the program speaker, please copy Charity on the speaker's name, organization and email. If you are the chair of a Harbortown Committee, please update Charity and Chloe on relevant information regarding grants and awards, meetings or news. Charity will use this information to create more dynamic and engaging content to share with potential club members and on social media.
It is our goal to continue to share the good work that Harbortown Rotary is doing in our community, so your help and support is greatly appreciated!
