The assignment for the Who Am I includes providing the positive thought at the beginning of the meeting and introducing guests and visiting Rotarians during the meeting.
The member assigned to Rotary Minute/ Cheer for Rotary is the assigned Greeter for that day and also is tasked with selling opportunity drawing tickets.
Former RB Sunrise Rotary member, Arlene Cawthorne, presented an interesting talk entitled "Normai and Not-Normal Aging" Arlene has become a certified care manager for elderly patients. To receive this certification, she was required to learn about the problems that occur to seniors. Part of that education was learning to recognize normal and abnormal conditions.
She began by informing us that our brains are very elastic. Our brains are capable of learning new information throughout our lives barring injury. The fact that we might take a little more time to learn something new is not proof that we cannor learn. It is actually "proof" that we already know a lot. Arlene related the results of a study that tested the ability of young persons and older persons to solve problems. The older peoplle were able to solve problems more quickly in this study because they had life experience to assist them in solving the problem.
Arlene also described why it is that elderly people fall more readily than younger people. This has to do with the field of vision. As we age, our field of view becomes restricted and we lose over time the ability to use our peripheral vision. Certain diseases such as heart disease and dementia in all of its forms, affect peripheral vision so that seniors afflicted with these diseases also encounter problems with falling because they don't see obstructions and their balance is affected.
Arlene's talk was very helpful in understanding the problems that we already encounter with older family members and friends and also help us relate to these issues that we ourselves may encounter in the future.
Invisible Threat
The documentary video Invisible Threat, which was produced by students at Carlsbad High School is featured in a 2 page story beginning on page 16 of the August issue of the Rotarian Magazine. The article tells the story about the steps that occurred and the obstacles that these students encountered in producing this award winning documentary. i recommend this article, especially when we consider that anti-vaccination activists are mounting a campaign to an initiative measure on the next election ballot to rescind the recently passed California law that mandates that all children entering school be vaccinations. The documentary is a powerful tool that has been recommended numerous health organizations and now editions in Spanish and French are being planned. Rotarians can be proud of the fact that this documentary was produced by a grant from several clubs in District 5340. The public education value of this documentary shows that Rotary is truly a Gift to the World.
Our president, Alison Farrin. was featured in a nearly half page article that appeared the latest issue of the RB News Journal. The article included a large amount of information about our club and our activities. Alison was quoted extensively and her comments are ones that most of us would echo as far as our own experience in concerned.
I will copy the article to a page on our website in order to archive it, since these news stories often cannot easily be accessed beyond a certain date.
Also included wih this story in the newspaper were pictures and text announcing our two newest members, Lee Haney and Bret Geernaert.
As I look ahead, I can see that in September, a critical time for our club to be getting ready for our Rancho BEERnardo funddraiser, I will be away from San Diego for three weeks beginning on September 2. For that reason, I would like to have someone in the club volunteer to publish the SunRiser during that time.
Because ClubRunner 3.0 allows for creating bulletins and website pages in advance, I can creat the bulletins and have most of the format available so that only the stories that change from week to week need to be added. Most of you already know how to write an email and attach a file or photo. Producing the content of the website and/or the bulletin stories is much the same. I can create a written guide so that you will know the way to format the information. If you can help by temporarily helping the club, call me at 858-354-8448 or email me at: jdunny1@me.com
Our website and our club newsletter are both avenues for communication to members (and in the case of the website, with the outside world.) As the editor, I need your input. I need news about what is happening in the Avenues of Service. Our club has not utilized the capabilities of ClubRunner when it comes to putting up information on the Committee pages, for example. This hurts our club in several ways First of all, our club member don't have a place to look for information that will help in recruitment of new members.
Secondly, by not maintaining information on committee pages, we fail to have a written history about our club's activities. It has seemed that for most Rotary clubs, once a project or event is over, we consider it done and move on. Later we often have to scratch our heads when we need to generate a list of accomplishments during a Rotary year. Writing was invented, after all, to allow humans to record history.
Thirdly, by not having adequate information on our website, we deprive potential members of the information they are seeking to know whether our club is a "good" fit for them and their interest in serving our community.
To be perfectly frank, I need your help. I can't know everything that is happening. If I don't know it, I certainly can't publicize it. If you can supply the information, I can write and post the information. Too often, information isn't shared because the information seems rather important. Remember that just because you know something, it doesn't mean that everyone else know it. Most of the time, you are probably one of the few people that may be aware of a piece of information. Share it. I have never had too much information.
We have a great club and we do a lot. We just need to share information more.
Date Joined Rotary is the most recent occasion of joining our club or changing status from active to honorary. It does not include any time as a previous member of the club or membership in another Rotary club is our district or anywhere else in the world
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