Prayer. O God, we acknowledge that even as you inhabit the heavens with power and glory, you also abide with us in compassionate fellowship. We welcome your presence with us at these tables. Having gathered here as Rotarians, we are mindful of our commitment to the cause of serving others above ourselves.
Accept now our gratitude as we partake of that which has been provided to sustain our bodies in order that our minds and wills may be dedicated to worthy and productive endeavors in our community and the world. We lift our prayer to you with humility and appreciation. Amen
Club Announcements:
1. Proposed New Member Announcement. David Barrett has been proposed for membership in the Rotary Club of North Jackson by Dr. Tommy James and is sponsored by Past President Don Roberts. David is an Account Executive with EffecTV, a Comcast company. He attended Jackson Academy and the University of Mississippi where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree.
David is married. He and his wife, Annie Laurie, have two children and live in Northeast Jackson. He will be loaned the classification Telecommunication - Advertising after his membership is approved by the Board. This is the 2nd publication of this proposed new member announcement.
2. The Rotary Club of North Jackson elected Officers and Directors for the 2020-2021 Rotary year at its December 17 meeting. Those elected are as follow:
President - Lee Carney Vice President/President-Elect - Suman Das
Secretary - Uriel Pineda
Treasurer - Larry Anderson
Directors:
Chris Brantley Lori Greer
Matt Monsour
Bill Osborne
Jenny Price
The Directors' portfolios will be determined later.
We congratulate all of the new Officers and Directors and look forward to their leadership.
Dr. James L. Warnock, a Cardiologist at Mississippi Baptist Health Systems in Jackson, spoke to the Rotary Club of North Jackson at the club’s January 7, 2020, meeting. Dr. Warnock received his undergraduate education at Mississippi State University, his medical degree at the University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC), completed his internship at the Naval Medical Center/Bethesda, Bethesda, MD, and his residency and fellowship at UMMC. In his talk, Dr. Warnock discussed the causes and prevention of heart disease. He cited 7 steps to prevent heart disease; namely,
Control your blood pressure. High blood pressure is a major risk factor for heart disease. It is important to get your blood pressure checked regularly - at least once a year for most adults, and more often if you have high blood pressure. Take steps, including lifestyle changes, to prevent or control high blood pressure.
Keep your cholesterol and triglyceride levels under control. High levels of cholesterol can clog your arteries and raise your risk of coronary artery disease and heart attack. Lifestyle changes and medicines (if needed) can lower your cholesterol. Triglycerides are another type of fat in the blood. High levels of triglycerides may also raise the risk of coronary artery disease, especially in women.
Stay at a healthy weight. Being overweight or having obesity can increase your risk of heart disease. This is mostly because they are linked to other heart disease risk factors, including high blood cholesterol and triglyceride levels, high blood pressure, and diabetes. Controlling your weight can lower these risks.
Eat a healthy diet. Try to limit saturated fats, foods high in sodium, and added sugars. Eat plenty of fresh fruit, vegetables, and whole grains. The DASH diet (dietary approach to stop hypertension) an example of an eating plan that can help you to lower your blood pressure and cholesterol, two things that can lower your risk of heart disease. He also cited the Mediterranean diet which has similar properties as the DASH diet.
Get regular exercise. Exercise has many benefits, including strengthening your heart and improving your circulation. It can also help you maintain a healthy weight and lower cholesterol and blood pressure. All of these can lower your risk of heart disease.
Limit alcohol. Drinking too much alcohol can raise your blood pressure. It also adds extra calories, which may cause weight gain. Both of those raise your risk of heart disease. Men should have no more than two alcoholic drinks per day, and women should not have more than one.
Don't smoke. Cigarette smoking raises your blood pressure and puts you at higher risk for heart attack and stroke. If you do not smoke, do not start. If you do smoke, quitting will lower your risk of heart disease. You can talk with your health care provider for help in finding the best way for you to quit.
We thank Dr. Warnock for his presentation and his work helping Mississippians maintain their health. He (center) is shown in the following photo with club Vice President Lee Carney and Club member Larry Anderson (right) who introduced him.
Four members of the Rotary Club of North Jackson served dinner at the Gateway Rescue Mission in Jackson on New Year’s Eve, Dec. 31, 2019. They served about 50 people a dinner of chicken nuggets, macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes, clementines, bread, and cupcakes. Shown in the following photo are (from the left) Neelam Goel, Bill Osborne, Club President Greg Campbell, and Club Treasurer Uriel Pineda. We thank them for putting service above self into action. Happy New Year to all!
Shad White, Mississippi State Auditor, spoke to the Rotary Club of North Jackson at the Club’s December 17 meeting. He is a native of Sandersville in Jones County, Mississippi. He attended Sandersville public schools and Northeast Jones County High School. He is a graduate of the University of Mississippi, St. John’s College of Oxford University in the United Kingdom, and Harvard Law School. He attended Oxford as Rhodes Scholar.
White was appointed State Auditor by Governor Phil Bryant in July 2018 and re-elected in November 2019. He described his job as protecting the money of Mississippi taxpayers. He cited several examples of where the State Auditor’s office has found and reported fraud. One example was when procurement officers at Coahoma Community College misused college credit cards to make nearly $1 million in fraudulent purchases. Those people are under inditement and awaiting trial.
We thank White for his presentation and for his service to the Mississippi taxpayers. He (right ) shown in the following photo with Rotarian and former law partner Luther Munford(left) and Club President Greg Campbell (center).
This week’s Rotary Foundation Thought is about Protecting the Value of Rotary Volunteering
A special report prepared for Rotary International by the Johns Hopkins Center for Civil Society Studies estimated the value of Rotary member volunteer hours at $850 million a year.
A report by Johns Hopkins University prepared for Rotary International estimated that Rotary members provide about 47 million hours of volunteer effort a year at an estimated value of $850 million. That Rotary members log a lot of volunteer hours should come as no surprise to anyone familiar with the organization. But a new report just released by Johns Hopkins University provides a powerful look at the impact of all those volunteer hours.
The special report prepared for Rotary International by the Johns Hopkins Center for Civil Society Studies found that Rotary members had volunteered a total of 5.8 million hours within a four-week survey period. Extrapolating those results over an entire year, the report gave a conservative estimate of nearly 47 million hours of volunteer effort generated by Rotary members in a typical year.
The report then analyzed the economic impact of all those hours and estimated the value conservatively at $850 million a year, if communities had to pay for the services that Rotary volunteers provide.
Rotary, with the help of Johns Hopkins University, is the first global service organization to conduct an empirical analysis of its volunteer’s impact using an internationally sanctioned definition of volunteer work.
The authors of the report noted in their conclusion that at each stop, the analysis had chosen the most conservative estimates.
“The lesson from this report is clear: volunteer service is not only a feel-good calling – it may provide one of the more powerful, and one of the more fulfilling, avenues through which to reach the ambitious United Nations Sustainable Development Goals,” said Lester M. Salamon, director of the Johns Hopkins University Center for Civil Studies.
Rotary CEO and General Secretary John Hewko said “this is just the beginning of using the most innovative tools of measurement to capture and enhance our impact. As we better understand the vast contributions of volunteer work, we can mobilize this remarkable, but often undervalued, a resource to better the world and thrive in the years to come.”
$ 850 million dollars it would cost communities if they had to pay for the services Rotary volunteers provide.
47 million of volunteer hours generated by Rotary members in a typical year.
