About the meeting program: The bell will be rung at 12:15PM to help the staff with food service timing and a final attendance count. Also, a subtle "two minute warning" reminder before the end of the meeting will be signaled to help the program end promptly at 1:30PM.
Herb Mansfield did the honors of introducing guests...and today there were many. Patrick Connelly is a guest of Tom Tarzwell. Student-of-the-Month from South Kingstown High School: Brittany Holland, junior; Peter Holland, parent; Cheryl Holland, parent; Karen Murphy, teacher. Student-of-the-Month from The Prout School: Isabella Bianco, junior; Dawn Bianco, parent; Jeanne Tierney, Dean of Students; Diane Villanri, teacher. Today's guest speaker Amani Matabaro Tom's guests: Amini Matabaro, his wife; and Margaret Johnson, U.S. sponsor/Empower Congo Women. And Shuman Hsia, former Rotarian, was a guest of Pam Ancheta.
No time as today's meeting had only two items on the agenda: Amani Matabaro Tom & student-of-the-month presentations.
Note on Rotary Minute: This agenda item is typically about highlighting a Rotarian-related protocol or commemoration. But club members are encouraged to share an interesting, humorous, or unusual Rotary-anecdote about themselves, or fellow Rotarians. This is more than a "happy buck" mention--you get to be on the agenda and you don't have to prep a 20-minute speaker's presentation. Just let Pam know you want a Rotary Minute story to share.
For the latest concerning club related meetings and events click items on the Upcoming Events section in the right column. Next Meeting: Thursday, April 5th!
Please note: Balloon Fest Meeting on April 10th @ 5:30pm.
Brittany Holland's (junior, South Kingstown High School) nomination as written by health teacher, Karen Murphy: "Brittany is a transfer student from Georgia. From the moment she walked into my health class second quarter, I could tell that Brittany was going to make a difference in South Kingstown. She was very active in the Choose Love Ambassador Program that was held in February. Brittany was among a group of students that presented their ideas to the high school faculty and administration. She continues to plan Choose Love activities for the student body at SKHS and students in the South County region. Most recently, Brittany helped to organize an alternative to the National Walkout that would honor the students from Parkland. She is an assertive individual who stands by the Choose Love concepts of Courage, Forgiveness, Gratitude and Compassion in Action." At the meeting Brittany introduced a video about the "Jesse Lewis Choose Love Movement" she's part of at the high school: see video here.
Isabella Bianco's (junior, The Prout School) nomination as written by Mary Hoyt, Guidance Director: click here.
And both students were inspired by the work that our guest speaker, Amani Matabaro Tom, continues to bravely carry on in the Congo (Democratic Republic of Congo) that the young ladies and their respective school representatives exchanged information with Amani.
Just before today's program started, Mary Roda asked for members to volunteer to help her interview Prout Students next week. Jim Buchanan and Marion Humphrey volunteered. Participant registration forms due date: Friday, April 20. Conference dates: Friday, May 18 - Sunday, May 20. Further details are here.
REMINDER: Community Service with Rotaract
Please volunteer to help with clean-up & repair YMCA's Camp Fuller in Wakefield with the Rotaracters on Saturday, April 7th from 9am-4pm. There will be 2 different 3-hr shifts with a lunch. If you weren't at today's meeting, please contact Beth Leconte <olli_bleconte@uri.edu> to let her know on which shift (1st or 2nd...or both) you can help.
REMINDER: URI/Rotaract Advisory Team - Learn About How to Get Involved
The Rotaract Club needs an engaged and committed Rotary team to serve as Advisers. It is important to work on this transition with Beth Leconte right now to facilitate as smooth a transition as possible. Please contact Beth Leconte <olli_bleconte@uri.edu> to let her know you're interested about being part of the advisory team. So far the team includes Pam Ancheta and Jim Blackerby.
Posted by Elizabeth Candas, Sandy Cutting & Pam Ancheta
Action Kivu & ABFEK (Actions Pour le Bien être de la Femme et de l'Enfant au Kivu): Update
Amani Matabaro Tom, Founder
Rotarian Amani Matabaro of the Democratic Republic of Congo will speak on his current peace efforts in the town of Bukovu. Amani has helped develop a training program for women affected by the ongoing strife in the Congo. The sewing project, the Peace Market and Vocational Center and now a school which is in the works was part of Amani's talk. The work of Amani and ABFEK [Actions for the Well Being of Women and Children in Kivu] "includes numerous projects centered around peace & reconciliation, empowering women and providing education for children victimized as child warriors for most of their lives," wrote our own Dr. Chris Van Hemelrijck. "Amani is also a valued partner with our [Wakefield, RI] club's International Committee.” At the end of the presentation, Amani and his wife Amini were presented by Chris with our club's banner and brand new fishing poles.
[Editor's Note: Pam Ancheta has tried several way of downloading onto the club website Amani's complete power point presentation. She even tried to divide the slides into sections for storage purposes but to no avail. She tried also online services to store the presentation but had technical difficulties with two options she found. If you are interested in getting the power point presentation please email the newsletter editor with your request.]
For more information click on these weblinks:
Action Kivu, a Congolese organization working with Amani's ABFEC foundation