Prayer. “O Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!” (Psalm 8.1)
We stand in Awe of your majesty and might, of your unconditional love and endless grace. As your earthly servants, we turn to you in you in prayer to give thanks and to seek your blessing. In our world-wide Rotarian fellowship, many forms of religion are represented, but we acknowledge one God. We invoke your blessings on us now as we gather in the spirit of compassion to pursue or mission of helpfulness.
Thank you for the food prepared for us and for the fellowship which binds us together in doing your will in the world. Amen
Club Announcements:
1.Rotary Club of North Jackson Dictionary Delivery Schedule. Please volunteer as your schedule permits.
Monday October 28, 2019, 1:00 PM, Boyd Elementary School, 4531 Broadmeadow Drive @ Northside Dr., 10 club members needed.
Tuesday, October 29, 2019, 10:00 AM, McLeod Elementary School, 1616 Sandlewood Place (Off Westbrook Road). 8 Club members needed.
Tuesday, October 29, 2019, 1:30 PM, Casey Elementary School, 2101 Lake Circle @ Ridgewood Road.6 club members needed.
Wednesday, October 30, 2019, 9:30 AM, Dawson Elementary School, 4215 Sunset Dr. (off of Medgar Evers near I-220. 4 club members needed.
Thursday, October 31, 2019, 8:15 AM, Walton Elementary School, 3200 Bailey Ave. 6 club members needed.
2. Please note that there will not be a regular noon meeting on October 22. Instead, we will meet at 11:30 on Thursday, October 24 at the St. Dominic facility on the I55 North Frontage Road to participate in the Rotary International World Polio Day event. Box lunches will be served. The building is between Lakeland and Eastover Dr. There will be more details later.
3. The Rotary Club of North Jackson Blood Drive will be Tuesday, November 12. Please be alert for details.
Birthdays And Anniversaries
Welcome to Margaret Elizabeth White daughter of Andy and Caroline White,
and grandaughter of Cooper and Frances Morrison, who was born October 8.
Mother and daughter are doing well.
Jamie Grantham of the Medical Marijuana 2020 Campaign spoke to the Rotary Club of North Jackson at the club's October 15, 2019 meeting. She focused her comments on the sponsors and steering committee of the campaign and what the organization deems to be the advantages and controls that will be instituted if the proposition is approved by the voters of Mississippi in the 2020 election.
For example, only marijuana grown and processed in Mississippi could be sold in Mississippi under the law. Also, only licensed medical practitioners; i.e., M. D.s and D. O.s, could certify the need for medical marijuana. Purchasers would be required to have Medical Marijuana identity cards issued by the Mississippi Department of Health to make purchases. If approved, the medical marijuana system would be financed by grower, processor, and user fees although the Mississippi Department of Health would be authorized to borrow $2.5 million from the State Treasury for its initial start-up.
The arguments to approve the proposition are that it should reduce the use of conventional pain control medications, i.e., opioids and that it would be targeted at people suffering from chronic debilitating pain from diseases on a list of qualifying conditions that she included on her slides. That list included cancer, epilepsy, PTSD, etc. She cited studies that show that the use of medical marijuana has fewer side effects than opioids and that states that have approved medical marijuana have a 24.8% lower opioid overdose death rate than states without such laws.
If the proposition is approved, Mississippi would be joining 33 other states that have approved medical marijuana. Grantham urged the club members to support the proposition. We thank her for her presentation and for giving us “food for thought.” She is shown below with club member Larry Anderson who introduced her.
Merrill McKewen, Executive Director of Habitat for Humanity Mississippi Capital Area spoke to the Rotary Club of North Jackson at the Club’s October 8, 2019 meeting. The subject of her talk was Habitat for Humanity Mississippi Capital Area (HFHMCA) and its new Broadmoor Initiative. After over 25 years of primarily building affordable new homes for deserving families in the Jackson Metro Area, HFHMCA has changed its focus to rehabilitating homes in the Broadmoor neighborhood of Jackson. There are several reasons for this change:
Habitat homeowners prefer to purchase homes in the North Jackson area.
The cost of new HFHMCA homes has escalated to the point where many sponsors can’t afford the cost of new homes. McKewen emphasized that the cost of a new home had risen to $120,000.
The Broadmoor neighborhood is a vibrant community of well-built homes that were constructed for returning GIs after World War II and most of the homes are still in good condition for rehabilitation.
The Broadmoor area is close to shopping, schools, thoroughfares, churches, and other amenities.
HFHMCA’s objective is to impact 100 homes in Broadmoor within 5 years.
The original subdivision had 350 lots on 153 acres. The houses and lots were originally sold by lottery in 1948 to returning veterans. Many Jacksonians were raised in the subdivision or purchased their first home there. As they work on rehabbing the homes, it will be like coming home.
We thank McKewen for her presentation and for the work that HFHMCA is doing and has done for the Jackson Metro Area. She is shown following her presentation with Rotarian and HFHMCA board member Collier Graham (left) and North Jackson Club President Greg Campbell.
Adam McWilliams, Weekend Meteorologist for Jackson channel 16, WAPT, spoke to the Rotary Club of North Jackson at the Club’s September 24, 2019, meeting. McWilliams is a native Jacksonian and a graduate of both Hillcrest High School and Mississippi State University (2012). His MSU degree is in Broadcast Journalism. He began broadcast journalism at Hillcrest when he was in the first grade and continued through high school. When he was 16, he was an intern with WAPT’s Chief Meteorologist, David Hartman. Before coming to 16 WAPT, Adam was the weekend meteorologist and reporter for WXVT-TV in Greenville, MS.
McWilliams talk was entitled “Are Hurricanes Getting Worse.” He quickly proved that question to be false by showing a record of hurricanes over the past 80 years. He did say that with the oceans becoming warmer, hurricanes are accompanied by greater rainfall due to the ability of warmer air being able to hold more moisture and to discharge greater amounts as rain.
McWilliams said that our ability to forecast the paths of hurricanes has improved greatly in the last 10-15 years and that as a result of better warnings are available. He also cited lessons that could be learned from Hurricane Katrina in 2005: Prepare early, prepare often. Other things that he said that exacerbate our ability to prepare for a hurricane are that most people have discontinued their telephone landlines and many people do not have transistor radios. His point was that cell phones will likely not be operating during and after hurricanes because of infrastructure damage, but that a battery-operated transistor radio can help you get warnings and post-storm information.
We thank Adam for his presentation and for his service to our community. He (center) is shown below with Rotarians Matt Monsour (left) who introduced him and Jeff Adcock
Dr. Somprasong Songcharoen, MD, of the Premier Plastic Surgery Center in Madison and Jackson, made a donation to Rotary’s Polio Plus program at the Rotary Club of North Jackson’s September 24, 2019 meeting. Dr. Songcharoen is a native of Thailand where he received his undergraduate and medical education. He interned at Grace Hospital in Detroit Michigan and completed a surgical residency at the University of Maryland in Baltimore followed by a fellowship in Hand Surgery at Grace Hospital. He completed his Residency in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson.
Dr.Songcharoen (left) is shown below presenting his donation to Club Member and Past District Governor Jim Stanley
We thank him for his generous donation to Polio Plus.
Polio Plus is a global program of Rotary International. Since 1985, Rotary International and its partners have donated in excess of $1 Billion for the eradication of Polio. As a result, the number of global polio cases has decreased from 350,000 annually to 30. Polio has been eradicated from all countries except Pakistan and Afganistan.
Creating a family-friendly vibe with your Rotary club
The Bonfa family at a club-sponsored food drive to benefit families in South Orange County, California, USA. By Anabella Bonfa, Rotary Club of Irvine, California, USA, with Anthony Bonfa.
My husband and I and our teenage son Anthony all volunteer at 30 or more projects every year. We consider ourselves a Rotary family. All three of us are hands-on because we come from a smart club that engaged our son in Rotary projects at a young age.
We all enjoy Rotary because it gives us a joint activity where we can spend time together with mutual friends, contribute our individual talents, and create a better world. My club went out of their way to include Anthony from day one. This is how he explains it:
“My first experience with Irvine Rotary was when I was 9. My mom had just joined the club and she started taking me to every volunteer project with her. I didn’t know what to do to help at first. Don Kennedy was the president of the club that first year and he changed everything for me by putting me to work. “I remember being at a local food drive where we were collecting food donations outside a grocery store. Don reached into his pocket, pulled out $40 and told me to go shop in the store for “food samples” to put on our display table. hat same day, Don told me I was old enough to count all the money and checks, about $400 worth and I became his official accountant. I had a great time shopping and counting money as you can see in the photo (right).
A younger Anthony Bonfa
counts money for a food
drive.
“At the local dental clinic, Don asked me to put together a “play area” with toys so that kids waiting hours to get dental work could play while they were waiting. I brought my collection of Hot Wheels, Legos, and Beyblades and set up a coloring area.
“All year long Don made me his “special helper.” I’ve helped every year since. Now that I’m 16, I have volunteered at more than 70 projects and experienced all kinds of things I wouldn’t have seen otherwise. I’ve built houses in one day for families sleeping on floors in Mexico, helped people see for the first time with free glasses, and even cooked waffles for the Marines. Rotary has grown my understanding of my own community and others abroad.
“This year, I chaired my first Rotary project, running the same food drive where I volunteered with Don the first time. We lost Don to cancer a couple of years ago, but he taught me well and I think chairing the food drive honors his memory.”
Engaging kids doesn’t just mean putting them to work. Cisca, another club member, donated points to make Anthony a Paul Harris Fellow. Other members arranged to have District Governor Kevin come present him with his Paul Harris pin and honor his volunteer service. Bret taught him how to keep score at a baseball game. Other district governors have given him the opportunity to practice his public speaking skills at district conferences. He appreciates his Rotary mentors and friends and considers many to be his “extended family.”
Anthony’s Rotary opportunitieshave changed his life. When he was 12 and in heavy competition to join his school’s robotics team he was chosen as the captain to manage the team because he was the only kid who 1) had public speaking experience 2) had regularly worked with a team of volunteers and 3) understood how to manage money in a project.
In high school, he has been a multiple recipient of the Prudential “Spirit of Community Service” award which will bode well in future college applications.
Anthony’s presence at service events encourages other parents to join our club and gives us a “family-friendly” vibe. We also regularly invite local high school students and Rotaract members at the University of California, Irvine, to our service projects and we go to their projects to support them in return.
We, as a club, honor our youth and we believe if your club does too, you will attract younger Rotarians and build the next generation of Rotary leaders who will continue your club’s work for many years to come.
Making Rotary family-friendly is one of Rotary President Mark Daniel Maloney’s priorities. Learn how you can make your club more family-friendly.
This Week's Rotary Foundation Thought is about Polio Plus.
Plan to attend the Polio Plus meeting on Thursday, October 24 at the St. Dominic Toluse Building on the I55 north frontage road on the East Side of I55 between Lakeland Drive and Eastover Drive. You will find out how the Polio Plus campaign is progressing and how near we are to eliminating polio globally.