Prayer. Almighty God, as we pause at the onset of this meeting, help us to realize the significance of these brief moments as a preface to our time together. Such are the demands upon us in life and work and such are are the blessings in both, that we need and appreciate this planned opportunity to reverently give thanks and to reiterate our need for fresh inspiration and renewed strength.
Accept our gratitude for food and all other gifts lavished upon us. Amen.
Club Announcements
Birthdays and Anniversaries
Birthdays
Anna Powers April 5
Anniversaries
Dorsey & Susan Carson April 7
Membership Anniversaries
Dorsey Carson 4 years, April 9
This week’s Rotary Foundation Thought is the April 2018 message from Rotary International's 2017-2018 President Ian H. S. Risley.
At the 1990 Rotary International Convention in Portland, Oregon, then President-elect Paulo Costa told the gathered Rotarians, "The hour has come for Rotary to raise its voice, to claim its leadership, and to rouse all Rotarians to an honorable crusade to protect our natural resources." He declared a Rotary initiative to "Preserve Planet Earth," asking Rotarians to make environmental issues part of their service agenda: to plant trees, to work to keep our air and water clean, and to protect the planet for future generations.
President Costa asked that one tree be planted for each of the 1.1 million members that Rotary had at the time. We Rotarians, as is our wont, did better, planting nearly 35 million trees by the end of the Rotary year. Many of those trees are likely still flourishing today, absorbing carbon from the environment, releasing oxygen, cooling the air, improving soil quality, providing habitat and food for birds, animals, and insects, and yielding a host of other benefits. Unfortunately, while those trees have kept on doing good for the environment, Rotary as a whole has not carried its environmental commitment forward.
That is why, at the start of this year, I followed Paulo Costa's example and asked Rotary to plant at least one tree for every Rotary member. My goal was to achieve a good beyond the considerable benefits that those 1.2 million (or more!) trees would themselves bring. It is my hope that by planting trees, Rotarians will renew their interest in, and attention to, an issue that we must put back on the Rotary agenda: the state of our planet.
Environmental issues are deeply entwined in every one of our areas of focus and cannot be dismissed as not Rotary's concern. Pollution is affecting health across the globe: More than 80 percent of people in urban areas breathe unsafe air, a number that rises to 98 percent in low- and middle-income countries. If current trends continue, by 2050 the oceans are expected to contain more plastics by weight than fish. And rising temperatures are well-documented: Global annual average temperatures increased by about 2 degrees F (1.1 degrees C) from 1880 through 2015. That this change was caused by humans is not a subject of scientific debate, nor is the likelihood of vast economic and human disruption if the trend continues unchecked. The need for action is greater than ever – and so is our ability to have a real impact.
As past UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon put it, "There can be no Plan B, because there is no Planet B." Our planet belongs to all of us, and to our children, and to their children. It is for all of us to protect, and for all of us in Rotary to make a difference.
Billy Brumfield House. The Rotary Club of North Jackson is serving supper once a month at The Billy Brumfield House, a Stewpot Community Services ministry. Our club serves on the 1st Tuesday of each month. Interested members need to meet @ Baker Donelson located at the corner of Eastover Drive and the I-55 North Frontage Road @ 5:15 PM and then travel together to Billy Brumfield. Also, if you are interested in sponsoring a month, the est. cost is $180 for the food. Mike Dawkins is project chair and can be reached @ 601-351-2428 or mdawkins@bakerdonelson.com.
Between the Lions. Please remember to sign up for Between the Lions. During the school year, we read weekly to pre-Kindergarteners at William Walton Elementary School on Bailey Ave. It is a wonderful experience! The children are truly information sponges and very willing learners. Contact Jenny Price (662) 213-1294 for more information. We have resumed reading and are really enjoying it.
Member Care Committeereminder: for anyone who needs assistance getting to a meeting, please call Luther Munford at (601) 985-4418.
Thinking of Proposing a New Member?
First, discuss with Classification Committee (Paul Miller or Julian Carroll). They will provide a member- ship application, check classification availability and discuss occupational qualifications.
Rotary Membership Occupational Qualifications Applicant should be one of the following:
A corporate officer
A Professional (Attorney, CPA, Physician. Engineer, Architect, etc) A Proprietor
An Agent of a reputable company
A Manager or Supervisor of a department or section of a business
Rotarians, don't forget to like the club's Facebook page to stay up to date on the latest happenings. Search us out at Rotary Club of North Jackson or click the link:
Water is building friendships, changing lives in Sri Lanka
Villagers in Vanni Pallugollewa, Sri Lanka, welcome the visiting Rotary members.
By Katie Conlon, Ph.D.student at Portland State University in Portland, Oregon, USA
Winding along the bumpy backroads of Sri Lanka and through intermittent rice fields and jungle, our group took hours of navigation skills to find the last village. But as we turned a corner, we got a first glimpse of the village’s welcoming committee, a 50-deep motorcycle “motorcade” assembled to escort us to the Nawa Teldeniya Water Project.
A dancer at the welcoming celebration.
It was a very impressive entourage for the village to drum up. The bus and motorcycle cavalcade rode with us for the remaining kilometers to the village, and our procession grew as villagers came out of their homes and fields. By the time we reached the entrance of Nawa Teldeniya, the entire village had assembled.
The motorcade passed over the role of leading the procession to the village’s traditional Kandyan dance troupe. Rows of young children dressed in immaculate white temple attire gifted us with flowers and kowtows. The dancers wore colorful, traditional costumes adorned with silver chest pieces and headpieces that glistened in the sun as they whirled, drummed, and danced their way backwards into the heart of the village. This was a magnificent welcome for a newly formed friendship and international partnership involving a Rotary global grant project.
The gift of clean water, a basic human right, sparked this joy and enthusiasm on the part of the villagers. For centuries, rice farming in the north-central provinces of Sri Lanka has depended on man-made reservoirs that collect and store water during the rainy seasons. In recent decades, chronic kidney disease is linked to agricultural fertilizers and pesticides that pollute the reservoirs, irrigation canals, and groundwater. This groundwater,in turn,fills the community wells that supply drinking water. Hundreds die every year from this disease.
The pollution is irreversible. The only way to remove the dissolved heavy metal ions responsible for the disease is through the process of reverse osmosis. Through a global grant from The Rotary Foundation awarded to the Rotary Club of Colombo, Sri Lanka and eight Rotary clubs from District 6600 in Ohio, reverse-osmosis plants have been built and are now providing clean water in seven rice-farming Sri Lankan villages affected by chronic kidney disease. Each water plant serves 1,400 people. And there is sufficient funding to build five more such plants in the next several months; bringing the grant tally eventually to 13 centers.
Over the course of two weeks in January, the delegation of nine Rotarians from Ohio and eight from Colombo formed a core group, and numerous Colombo and North Central Province Rotarians joined for various stages of the water filtration center tour to see the fruition of the past year’s work and officially commemorate the completed centers.
Visiting Rotarians, including District Governor Deb Cheney (far right), raise a toast to clean drinking water.
Committed to the motto “service above self,” these Rotary clubs have partnered to address the crucial overlapping problems of access to clean drinking water and preventing chronic kidney disease, both of which create an unbearable situation for livelihoods and health in the north-centralprovince villages in Sri Lanka.
Back in the village, the revelry of the day continues, and smiles and warmth radiate from everyone present. After being entertained by dance and song, the ribbon-cutting ceremony to officially open the water filtration center begins. The commencement plaque reveals the names of the national and international Rotary groups who partnered for this project. Commemorative photos are snapped. The reverse osmosis machine is fired up and water is poured for a round of cheers. Nothing tastes sweeter than the first sip of clean water after decades of drinking polluted water. For Rotarians and villagers alike, this day of clean drinking water is a day that will not be forgotten.
About the author: Katie Conlon has a masters in International Peace Studies and is active in sustainability, social justice, and climate issues. She has first-hand experience in sustainability and climate issues in Bhutan, Vietnam, Trinidad, and Hawaii, and is presently studying in Sri Lanka while pursuing a Ph.D.at Portland State University, Portland, Oregon. She accompanied the visiting Rotarians on their visit to the water filtration centers.
Mina Torgerson, Director of Sales, and Katie DeMetz, Sales & Marketing Associate, of Visit Ridgeland, spoke to the Rotary Club of North Jackson at the club’s March 27, 2018, meeting. The subject of their talk was Ridgeland as a tourist destination, its features, attractions, accommodations, and dining establishments.
Ms. DeMetz (second from the left) and Ms. Torgerson (second from the right) are shown in the accompanying photo with Matt Monsour (left) who introduced them and club president Witt Ruffin (right) following the presentation. We thank them for their presentation and for the work they are dong on behalf of Ridgeland.
The Rotary Club of North Jackson recognized Officer Jeremy Jefferson as Pct. 4’s officer of the Quarter for the first quarter of 2018. He was recognized for his diligence and persistence in apprehending a criminal. He (center) is shown here with club Past President Edley Jones (left) and James McCowan (right), former Commander of Pct. 4.
We congratulate Officer Jefferson for his recognition and thank him for his service to the citizens of Jackson.
Michelle Baker, the Festival Coordinator for the Crossroads Film Society, spoke to the Rotary Club of North Jackson at the Club’s March 20, 2018, meeting. Her subject was the society’s 19th festival, which will be held April 12-14 2018 at Malco’s Grandview Theater in Madison, MS. She discussed the type of films that will beshown as well as more detailed descriptions of some of them. She (center) is shown during her presentation and following it in the accompanying photos with Matt Monsour (left) who introduced her and Club Vice President Anna Powers (right).
We thank Ms. Baker for her presentation and wish her success with the film festival.
District 6820 PDG, Amanda Fontaine, spoke to the Rotary Club of North Jackson at the club’s March 13, 2018, meeting. The topic of her speech was Rotary Membership. Quoting a past RI president, Ms. Fontaine said that the main reason that many people have not joined Rotary is that they have never been asked to join. In conjunction with her attendance at the meeting, club members were asked to sit with people that they do not know at the meeting. She then asked the membership to determine the most interesting fact about the members that no one else knew at their tables and for a representative of the table to report that fact to the membership. Some very interesting facts were presented. Tom Turner said that he had served in both World War II and the Korean conflict. The first time in the U.S. Army Medical Corps and the second in the U.S. Navy Medical Corps.
PDG Fontaine is shown during her talk in the accompanying photo.
North Jackson Rotarians Tom Turner and Brad Benton were recognized as Paul Harris Fellows at the Rotary Club of North Jackson’s March 13, 2018, meeting. Dr. Turner was recognized as a multiple Paul Harris Fellow and awarded a Paul Harris pin with a sapphire. As part of their recognition, the two awardees received a glass of dry sherry in keeping with the club's recently established tradition.
The accompanying photo shows district 6820 PDG Amanda Fontaine (left), Club Director Suman Das. (2nd from left) and club President Witt Ruffin (right) presenting the awards to Messrs. Benton (2nd from right) & Turner (3rd from right). Congratulation to both Tom & Brad!
