RadioRotary

Cindy Fung, a member of the Vassar Rotaract club and co-founders of the Vassar Haiti Project, Lila and Andrew Meade, discuss how promoting Haiti’s varied and unique art forms has improved Haitian lives (Rotaract is a college service club sponsored by Rotary). Andrew Meade, Vassar’s Director of International Services, and his wife Lila, lived in Haiti at different times when young and are familiar with its problems. The Vassar Haiti Project (VHP) works with the Poughkeepsie-Arlington Rotary Club to implement the projects they have developed to solve some of these problems. The VHP has raised funds for a health clinic, a school, and clean water projects in rural mountain areas. VHP plans additional clean water projects in the future. The project’s members emphasize the Haitian people’s strong spirit of optimism in spite of recent devastation and hardships.

wo past Rotary 7210 District Governors, Tam Mustapha (1999-2000), IMRF President, and Knut Johnsen (2003-2004), discuss their involvement in the International Relief Medical Foundation (IMRF), founded by Dr. Hrusi Parida from Rotary District 7210’s Middletown Club. The IMRF, a nonprofit, nonpolitical organization collects surplus medical supplies and equipment for distribution to poor areas in need in developing countries around the world and in the United States. Perfectly sound equipment, gently used but slightly outdated, is tested by IMRF and shipped. Rotarians in recipient countries receive each shipment and assure effective distribution. No medications are exported, but almost all other medical supplies, even Band Aides, are welcome. Listeners were encouraged to ask their doctors and dentists about discarded equipment that could be donated. Each area around the country houses the donated equipment until it is ready for shipping. In the Hudson Valley, Guardian Storage volunteers i

A good example of how a Rotary club works on the local level can be found in this Club Close-up interview featuring the Red Hook Rotary Club, which emphasizes two of its many local projects. Niki Weaver, Past President, describes her Therapy Dogs project, including the training required and the dogs’ successes, especially with stroke victims. Red Hook Rotarians, including Dave Wright and Bruce Martin, also describe the club’s yearly signature project, the Apple Blossom Festival. The Festival, this year held on May 11, is a strong community event involving a multitude of activities, such as food booths, craft vendors, live entertainment, a petting zoo, and church-run flea markets. Red Hook Interact (the high school service club sponsored by Red Hook Rotary) also describes its fundraiser, which will bring clean water wells to Africa.

District Governor Elect Drew Kessler (North Rockland Rotary) describes his vision for Rotary District 7210 during his tenure as District Governor (July 1, 2013 – June 30, 2014). His emphasis will be on integrating Rotary into 21st century life. Mr. Kessler describes what he calls the “trilogy of life”: family, work, and service. Bringing the family into service events to help the younger generation recognize the rewards of service is one important way to accomplish this integration. DGE Drew Kessler also describes creative ways that many Rotary clubs can meet more conveniently for its members: cocktail clubs that would meet after a business day, early morning breakfast clubs, meetings centered solely around a service project, and eClubs for members around the world. Mr. Kessler ended his interview with heartfelt words to explain why folks should join Rotary.

Rotary 7210 District Governor Bill Bassett (Wallkill East Rotary Club) introduces one of Rotary International’s major focus initiatives: improving literacy around the world. He provides important statistics about the high rate of functional illiteracy in the U.S. and therefore the need for all forms of literacy programs such as World Book Night and tutoring services. Margie Menard, Director of Kingston Library, and Cassandra Beam, CEO of the Ulster Literacy Association, both Kingston Rotary Club members, discuss the multitude of reasons for current illiteracy in the U.S. They facilitate tutoring programs and the yearly international project called World Book Night held on April 23 (Shakespeare’s birth and death date). During World Book Night some 80,000 volunteers around the world give millions of books to folks who find it difficult to gain access to books, with 25,000 distributed in the U.S. alone. This person-to-person approach has made for the yearly success of this initiative.

District Governor Bonnie Sirower (Rotary District 7490 in New Jersey) describes the lasting effects of Hurricane Sandy, one of the worst tropical cyclones in the history of New Jersey and New York. Many still do not have power or heat and are living in tents. Access to power, phones, roads, and other transportation was often lost. Businesses and homes have been destroyed. Ms. Sirower became the “command center” after gaining access to electric power, and when word went out, Rotary clubs and organizations from the U.S. and all over the world (including Australia, Russian, and Turkey) responded with donations. The website established by District 7490 identified what was most needed. Rotary District 7210 in thr Hudson Valley supplying the most vital initial donations: nearly 30 generators for use in New Jersey and on Long Island. Warehouses collected food and building materials, which ten were sent in convoys of trucks traveling from places such as Vancouver and Florida.

Laurie Rich, Esq., Foundation Director of Spectrum Services Foundation, discusses the autism spectrum and the schools in the Hudson Valley that provide education and special help for children on the spectrum. The autism spectrum spans disorders ranging from profoundly autistic who often cannot speak to Asperger’s Syndrome, with those in the latter category often particularly skilled in science and the arts. The schools involved encompass 14 counties in 55 school districts, with students referred by local public schools. Students enrolled in the program work on social skills to assure that their talents can easily be absorbed into the work force. Early intervention is more likely to promote greater improvement.

Assistant Governor Skip Rottkamp (Rotary District 7210) from Fishkill Rotary discusses project Operation Warm. Mr. Rottkamp, an educator, observed children get off school buses during winter months in T-shirts and spring jackets because they had nothing else to wear. Realizing the need, Mr. Rottkamp organized 17 clubs in Rotary District 7210 to join the nationwide program Operation Warm. Rotarians work with school nurses in the Hudson Valley to select children in need. Then they distribute new winter coats to those children through elementary schools and other local agencies. Ever since the project began a few years ago, the need has increased. Some of the effective results are improved attendance, which can lead to better grades.

Nanuet Rotarians Kevin Muir (owner of Nanuet Collision Center whose slogan is “The Collision Physicians”) and Donna Lennane (club President) discuss Recycled Rides, a national program that repairs and donates recycled vehicles to those in need (i.e., disabled veterans). Recipients are identified through a collaboration with local charitable agencies to help people get on with their life. Cars are donated by insurance companies, body shops, or individuals, and after much work by professional volunteers (up to a year, in some cases), they are absolutely good as new. The program is supported by volunteer labor and donations (i.e., paint companies and parts companies) and funding by service organizations such as Nanuet Rotary. President Lennane describes her club’s strong support of Recycled Rides as well as other humanitarian projects that save and repair lives.

Executive Director for Columbia County Habitat for Humanity, Brenda Adams, discusses Habitat, the international nonprofit organization that provides affordable housing for families while producing income for communities. Ms. Adams describes the extensive selective process for a family to receive a home. A family of four having a maximum income of $40,000 must show over several interviews their ability to assume the challenges of home ownership; their willingness to take various courses such as budgeting; and a donation of 300 hours of work on their home prior to moving in. Ms. Adams also discusses “passive houses” with energy-efficiency elements that don’t rely on air-furnaces or air conditioners to heat and cool a home. Ms. Adams points out that volunteers for Habitat, like Rotarians, enjoy the fellowship and work that so clearly improves lives.

Here is an interview with poet and retired opera singer Roger Roloff that will surprise those who “don’t like” poetry. Mr. Roloff, who has just published his fifth book of poetry, thoroughly entertains his audience, showing how poetry, like music, enhances our life. Reciting a few samples from his own poems, which make us laugh at ourselves, he gives some easy advice about how we can better understand poetry, and he encourages people to try writing poems themselves. Roger Roloff, famous baritone on the world’s opera and concert stages for 21 years but always a poet, retired with his wife Barbara in 1996 to the rural life in the Hudson Valley to continue writing poetry full time.

Journalist and author Anthony Musso discusses his fourth published book, which is filled with detailed research that will motivate people to seek more information about local structures that they pass every day without realizing their historical significance. Featuring 55 sites, and not necessarily buildings, the book details not only the history but the stories, many of them personal to past owners, behind the sites. Facts abound in the interview. For example, the Borden Factory in Wassaic supplied the army with milk for the entire Revolutionary War, and Matthew Vassar made his money in a company brewing beer before founding Vassar College. Most sites are free and make for wonderful visits with the family.

Dr. Felicia LeClere, a Principal Research Scientist with the National Opinion Research Center (NORC), describes her work. NORC is a nonprofit research organization that collects data and does analysis of America’s attitudes toward social and health issues; it does not do political polling. The survey results are distributed to the parts of the federal government, such as Congress or the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, that need such information to make informed decisions and to better serve the public interest. Each question posed to the public gives people the opportunity to respond negatively or positively. The intention is to improve public policy in fields such as health, education, economics, crime, justice, energy, security, and the environment.

Carl Rotans, Senior Instructor of Puppies behind Bars, teaches inmates to train service dogs. These unique dogs greatly assist the disabled, especially veterans, in a multitude of ways: taking dishes from the table, dialing 911 if necessary, turning lights on or off. The dogs are trained to respond to more than 90 commands. In this heavily monitored program, inmates are prescreened, go through a long and intensive selective process, and if selected, live day and night with their 8-week-old puppy as it grows and learns for the next two years. The process not only results in trained animals that improve the lives of their disabled owners, but also helps the prisoners learn disciple and other skills that will be helpful when they return to life outside the prison walls. Parting is “bittersweet,” with many inmates opting for a new puppy when the first training period ends.

Mario Johnson, Program Coordinator for Poughkeepsie’s Nubian Directions II YouthBuild/AmeriCorps, describes how dedicated young adults collected nearly 2,000 new and slightly used shoes, sneakers, and boots in one month for victims of Hurricane Sandy, with shipments going to Long Island and New Jersey. Organized in partnership with LaGrange Sunrise Rotary and the Freedom Plains Presbyterian Church of Lagrangeville, the project was affiliated with the charitable organization called Soles4Souls and was a successful response to National Make a Difference Day. Participants of Nubian Directions II, ages 16-24, are also members of Rotaract. Mr. Johnson shares many heartwarming stories of success, including his own. Learn More: