For the first time this year, there were no Reported Wild or Vaccine Induced Polio cases as well as no Polio-positive Polio Virus environmental samples detected this week.
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Welcome to our club!
In celebration of the International Day of Peace, President Kelsey shares this article by David Wick, President, Rotary E-Club of World Peace:
"As members of the Rotary E-Club of World Peace, we will be joining other members and people around the world in participating in the United Nations International Day of Peace on 21 September. It is fitting for us to do so and follow Rotary International President Shekhar Mehta in focusing on “Girls Empowerment and Peace” as a strategy to achieve our common goal. It’s also fitting because several of our members have been promoters of a Peace Day from the very beginning.
In the early 1960s, Avon Mattison (a member of our club) began conducting informal “peace councils” that would gather international students together from many nations in Washington D.C. These became so popular that students would bring along ambassadors from their countries, and eventually the U.S. State Department wanted to attend. One of the common purposes of these monthly peace councils was to work toward the establishment of a worldwide day of peace.
Rotary and Peace Day
Avon continued to push the idea through colleagues at the UN and diplomatic services. And as is fitting of such an important initiative, pressure for the idea also came from different people in many different parts of the world.
The realization of their dream came about in 1981, when the UN General Assembly passed a unanimous resolution establishing The International Day of Peace (Peace Day) to commemorate and strengthen the ideals of peace both within and among all nations and peoples. Avon, Joanie Ciardelli, Marilyn King, and I (all Rotary E-Club of World Peace members) have been a part of Pathways to Peace, working with the UN since the 1980s to increase awareness of and participation in Peace Day.
We organized the first large scale civil society Peace Day celebration on 18 September 1984 in San Francisco, the birthplace of the UN. This groundbreaking event also engaged citizens in 70 nations around the world, who joined the citizens of San Francisco in observing Peace Day in their own unique ways.
As a co-creator with a front row seat from the beginning, I have seen firsthand how Peace Day touches hearts, stirs imaginations, and guides actions. The growing event now inspires people of all ages and occupations. Its importance is in advancing a continual message of peace and concern for one another, communicated in ever-changing and creative ways.
Building peace, one project at a time
I feel honored to be a Rotary member and support the evolution of Peace Day. It is meant to be a time to “take stock” in and assess how we are doing in our peacebuilding initiatives as well as make plans for more impactful actions during the following year. I believe this underscores the reality that all of Rotary’s actions and initiative can be highlighted and celebrated in light of the global effort to create a more peaceful world.
As People of Action there are many ways we can make Peace Day a meaningful experience in our personal lives and at every level of Rotary. This year’s International Day of Peace theme, “Recovering better for a sustainable and equitable world” asks us to support healing from the COVID-19 pandemic. We are asked to “think creatively and collectively about how to help everyone recover better, how to build resilience, and how to transform our world into one that is more equal, more just, equitable, inclusive, sustainable, and healthier.”
Taking Action
Here are some examples of things we can do:
- Minute of Silence – Individuals, communities, families, and workplaces observe this global minute every day at noon in time zones across the world. Pause at noon each day to take a deep breath, meditate on, pray for, and envision peace. This “peace wave” is traveling around the world each day as a shared act of peacebuilding that all can participate in.
- “May Peace Prevail On Earth“– Include this universal statement at the beginning and end of your club meeting, event, or gathering. Add it to your voice messages.
- Gather around one of the thousands of Peace Poles that have been established in communities around the world or plant one yourself.
- Support President Shekhar Mehta’s presidential initiative of Empowering Girls and consider attending one of the presidential conferences.
- Develop a service project to protect the environment against climate change.
- Engage youth in peace-building activities.
- Participate in an intercultural and interfaith dialogue or workshops on the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
- Explore Peace Breathing, meditation, and prayer events.
- Organize an art event that highlights peace.
What action will you take?
Contact me If you’d like more information about ways you can observe International Day of Peace."
"Once you learn to read, you will be forever free."
~ Frederick Douglass
More than 775 million people over the age of 15 are illiterate. That’s 17 percent of the world’s adult population.
A goal of The Rotary Foundation is to strengthen the capacity of communities to support basic education and literacy, reduce gender disparity in education, and increase adult literacy. We support education for all children, and literacy for children and adults.
The Rotary Club of Ames is proud to support literacy and education opportunities in our community. We are a lead sponsor of Raising Readers in Story County, providing books books to children at their well-baby check ups, and have sponsored several Rotary Global Scholars who have pursued continued education around the world.
We all know our club has been hit hard by the pandemic and not meeting in person. We have not had many opportunities for Paul Lasley and the Brag Bucket. We don’t know what the upcoming months will be, but we do know this; we have a great opportunity to fund one of our service projects.
Our club will be selling 26” Balsam wreaths —handmade from Northern Minnesota. The word is they will stay green until February if you leave them out that long. The price is $30 per wreath with $13 going directly to benefit our annual Holiday Basket program. This program provides personal hygiene items to those in need. These items (body wash and shampoo, laundry detergent, deodorant, personal hygiene items) are not covered by SNAP or similar assistance programs.
The Rotary Club of Ames Holiday Baskets support these members organizations:
- Boys and Girls Club of Story County
- ChildServe
- Friendship Ark
- Mainstream Living
- The Bridge Home
- The Salvation Army
- YSS
The wreaths will be delivered to Ames by November 20th. That is a Saturday and no home football game.…it is the Saturday before Thanksgiving. A perfect time for you to give a wreath to your kids, guests who share a meal with, your mailman, UPS driver, Amazon Prime and the list goes on.
Help Brighten the Holiday season! Order Forms are available now. Contact Jeanne Rogert (jmrogert@msn.com) or Karin Sevde (info@rotaryclubofames.org) for details.
The Rotary Club of Ames is pleased to welcome Friendship Ark, Inc. as a Corporate Member. The Corporate Membership program allows an organization to become a member of the Rotary Club of Ames, while designating up to four individuals to participate and enjoy the benefits of active membership.
Jennifer Ellis introduced her Friendship Ark team: Beth Lucht, Recruiter/scheduler; Diane Bjorklund, Accountant; and Natalie Seilbold, Community Relations Specialist.
Welcome to the Club!
We would like to welcome Kate Reynolds to the Club! Kate is the Ames Area Director for ChildServe. Welcome Kate!
Please welcome Brad Steward to the Club! Brad is a Finance and Budget Specialist for Iowa State University. Welcome Brad!
We believe that exemplifying and embracing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) should be a part of everything we do.
At Rotary, we understand that cultivating a diverse, equitable, and inclusive culture is essential to realizing our vision of a world where people unite and take action to create lasting change.
We value diversity and celebrate the contributions of people of all backgrounds, across age, ethnicity, race, color, disability, learning style, religion, faith, socioeconomic status, culture, marital status, languages spoken, sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity as well as differences in ideas, thoughts, values, and beliefs.
Recognizing that individuals from certain groups have historically experienced barriers to membership, participation, and leadership, we commit to advancing equity in all aspects of Rotary, including in our community partnerships, so that each person has the necessary access to resources, opportunities, networks, and support to thrive.
We believe that all people hold visible and invisible qualities that inherently make them unique, and we strive to create an inclusive culture where each person knows they are valued and belong.
In line with our value of integrity, we are committed to being honest and transparent about where we are in our DEI journey as an organization, and to continuing to learn and do better.
This Rotary year, we have made some significant changes to our meeting and membership structure. We have adjusted our in - person club luncheon schedule to twice a month. The club luncheons will be a hybrid meeting for those who cannot attend. The other two Mondays of the the month are virtual meetings only. We will offer the opportunity for a fellowship meeting for those who would like to meet together in a small group and watch the virtual club meeting together. For those months where there is a fifth Monday, we will host a Day of Service in the Ames community.
We now offer several membership levels which will meet with your situation and schedule:
Young Professional (<40 years of age)
Individual
Household (2 persons in the same house)
Corporate (up to 4 members from the same company or organization)
Virtual Only
Intrigued? Learn more by emailing info@rotaryclubofames.org.
Save the Date!
7th Annual Partners Meeting
Water Systems in Tanzania
Rotary Foundation World Fund Global Grants
Tuesday, November 16, 2021, at 10 a.m. (CST)
Host Rotary Clubs
The Rotary Club of Same, Host Sponsor, Tanzania
The Rotary Club of Ames, International Sponsor, Iowa, USA
How we’ve grown
In 2014, for our first project, there were 12 Rotary Partner Clubs from 4 Districts. In 2021, as we complete our 4th Water and Sanitation Project in Mhezi II, we are 16 Rotary Partner Clubs from 8 Rotary Districts, spanning 4 nations, plus 10 Partners who are not Rotarian.
This year, the Ames Rotary Scholarship Committee awarded scholarships to Arunadee Fernando and Kalista Leners. Both are freshmen at Iowa State University. Congratulations Arunadee and Kalista!
owa Rotary District 6000 Governor, Alka Khanolkar arranged a Zoom training between Iowa and India on July 30th in honor of World Day Against Trafficking in Persons. Alka has made the prevention of human trafficking one of her major goals as our new Rotary Governor.
The two-hour virtual meeting connected Iowans with the Rotary Club of Seven Hills Dharwad, India. Three US presenters spoke about the progress being made to end trafficking in Iowa. The speakers included, Teresa Davidson, Vice-Chair of the Iowa Network Against Human Trafficking (NAHT), Karen Walkowski, President of the Rotary Club to End Human Trafficking, and George Belitsos, Board Chair of the NAHT and vice-chair of the Rotary Action Group Against Trafficking (RAGAS).
A speaker representing India spoke about the growing slavery problem in his country and how the Covid pandemic has resulted in a recent increase in modern slavery. If one includes forced child marriage, the number of enslaved people in India is nearly 18 million. The Zoom screen photo below shows the speaker from India, William Christopher. He serves on the India High Power Committee on Human Trafficking and Bonded Labor.
Alka informed the Seven Hills Dharwad Club that she has formed a District 6000 Prevent Human Trafficking Action Team. This Action Team is providing awareness training for Rotary Clubs and community groups in Iowa.
The Action Team plans to engage Rotary clubs in sponsoring anti-trafficking projects. She and 3 other District 6000 Rotarians are also members of RAGAS and are serving as RAGAS Good Will Ambassadors. The Rotarians in India were encouraged to become members of RAGAS.
Shirlee Reding, NAHT Board Member and Chair of the Central Iowa Service Network Against Trafficking (CISN) made a second virtual presentation on human trafficking to a group of human trafficking professionals from India. These participants were invited to connect with Iowans by the International Visitor Leadership Program of the U.S. Department of State. Janet Norton of the Iowa International Centers was their hostess and program guide while studying in Iowa.
The Department of State outlines the following specific objectives for the project:
- Present innovative strategies for preventing, investigating, and prosecuting trafficking crimes;
- Explore Iowa initiatives to recognize, protect, and assist victims of abuse and trafficking, including social and economic reintegration services;
- Discuss awareness and education efforts and share strategies for international cooperation in combating trafficking in persons.
- Examine efforts to combat trafficking in Iowa, including crimes against women and children, by examining the formulation, administration, and enforcement of policies at the international, national, state, and local levels:
Shirlee shared some major anti-trafficking Iowa projects over the past several years. She told them about our efforts to get Iowa legislation passed that would allow law enforcement to closely monitor the activities of their local massage businesses because of the sex trafficking that occurs in some of them. She also talked about the hotel/motel employee training. Through their discussions, it became apparent neither of these programs is something they are currently doing in India but she sensed both were eye-opening. She further got the impression it was something they intended to bring back to their superiors as something worth pursuing.
After Shirlee’s presentation Chief David Lorenzen spoke about the various anti-trafficking projects at the Iowa Department of Transportation. Chief Lorenzen also presented information and anti-trafficking projects of Truckers Against Trafficking.
To learn more about the Network Against Human Trafficking and Slavery or the Rotary Action Group Against Slavery, please contact:
George P. Belitsos (Dr. George)
YSS Founder and CEO Emeritus
Chair, Iowa Network Against Human Trafficking and Slavery
Vice-Chair, International Board, Rotary Action Group Against Slavery
- On average, each club member volunteers 275 hours annually within the community.
- We have 210 active members.
- That’s 57,750 volunteer hours club members give back to our community.
- At $24.14 per hour, that is an impact of $1,394,085 annually.
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RI President-elect Jennifer Jones announces Rotary’s $97 million pledge for sustainable projects during Global Citizen Live
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BTS’ Jimin donates 100 million Korean won to eradicate polio
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Are you interested in learning more about Rotary or joining our Club? Please send an email to info@rotaryclubofames.org
for information or plan to attend one of our club meetings.
In-Person Hybrid at ISU Alumni Center
Nov 08, 2021 12:00 PM
Jamie Pollard, Athletic Director, NCAA Athletics
Service Above Self
Reiman Ballroom on the 2nd Floor
Ames, IA 50011
United States of America