Huricane Katrina Two years later

Rotarians still helping victims of Hurricane Katrina
By Vanessa N. Glavinskas Rotary International NewsPhotos by Miriam Doan/RI Images
18 May 2007
Almost two years after Hurricane Katrina devastated the U.S. Gulf Coast, Rotarians are still on the scene, helping communities rebuild.
In Long Beach, Mississippi, Rotarians from districts 6440 and 6450 (Illinois) and 6360 (Michigan) are working together with Mississippi Rotary clubs to construct a 30,000-square-foot recreation center that will double as an emergency shelter in the event of another Category 5 storm.
"Today, both District 6440 and 6450 are giving $50,000 each to the project," explained Jack Blane, a member of the Rotary Club of Wheeling, Illinois, and past governor of District 6440, on 16 May. According to Blane, the amount will be matched by Mittal Steel, one of his club’s partner organizations. Other groups have also made contributions, including a $2 million grant from the South Mississippi Planning and Development District.
"It will be a place for first-responders and a place of last resort for those who don’t evacuate in time," says Bob Kranz, of the Rotary clubs of Gulfport and Long Beach, Mississippi, USA. He says he realized that a venue for first-responders was desperately needed when his local police department was destroyed during Katrina.
After the 2005 storm, almost every structure up to a half mile inland from the Mississippi shore was destroyed. Thousands of homes were washed away, and Long Beach lost its recreation center, fire station, two schools, and hundreds of businesses. Because of changes in building codes to make structures more weather resistant, recovery has been extremely slow, nearly eliminating the tax base in many communities.
"You can see in the people who still live there that their spirit is gone," says Brian Andersen, a member of the Rotary Club of Darien, Illinois, and chair of District 6450's fellowships committee. "Rebuilding this recreation center will give them some encouragement that the community is coming back," he adds. "It's a star that people can hang their hat on."
The center, named the Long Beach Senior Recreation Shelter, is scheduled for completion in June 2008 and will house areas for craftmaking and meetings, as well as a cafeteria, basketball courts, and a gym for seniors and local residents alike. It will be a gathering place and emergency refuge for the communities of Gulfport, Long Beach, Pass Christian, and Pineville.
"With the Boomers coming along, there's a need for recreational areas for this age group," explains Kranz. "However, we also expect community youth will use the basketball courts and running track."
"Were it not for the Rotary network, this project would not have worked," adds Blane. "We estimate the project will be worth $6 million, with zero long-term debt when we're done. And there will be a 60-foot Rotary wheel painted in the parking lot."
How you can helpIf you'd like to contribute to this project, contact Rotarian Bob Kranz at leavealegacy@bellsouth.net.

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Garberville Rotary Doles out Achievement Awards.

Garberville Rotary Club President Dennis Abshire steals the show!

Dennis approached the podium with zeal, placed his sparse notes on the desk top, grabed the edges and sprang forth with an oratory that would fill William Jennings Bryant with envy. He waxed and waned eloquent, he stood on his tip-toes, he rocked on his heels, he punctuated his speech with perfectly timed poundings on the podium, he delicately made his more minor points by gently underlining them with the point of his finger. He smiled, grinned and frowned in all the right places. He had the crowd weeping, then he had them laughing, then he had them sitting in stunned silence as he made his salient points.

With the help of his Rotary minions, Dennis proceeded to give away five thousand five hundred dollars to the deserving scholars of South Fork High School, and one award to a Leggett Valley High School student.

We dined on fried chicken and barbecued pork ribs with all the appropriate fixings on the side, and for desert we had strawberry short cake, all prepared by the South Fork High School Culinary Arts Class. Yummmm....

And the award winners are:
Laurel Phelps for the Harrold Murish award. $1,000.00
Jesse Eldridge for the second Harrold Murrish award. $1,000.00
Teresa Ristow for the Roxanne Futrell award. $1,000.00
Michela Hernandez for the David Prinz award. $1,000.00
Rebekah Horvath for the $1,000.00
Bridget Yount from Leggett for the Todd Sveien award. $500.00

Redway Fire Department Barbecue

Thirty-Sixth Annual deep pit barbecue at 155 Empire street behind Shop smart In Redway.

Saturday, May 26, 2007.

The Globe trotting Garberville Rotarian, Chris Brannan will be at the dinner playing with his band, Twango McCallum. He will be playing a variety of music including all of the old barbecue favorites. It's great that Chris could do this for the Redway fire Department. Not only does he make good music, but it gives us an opportunity to tie the Barbecue to the Rotary club, that way the Fire Department can get free add space on the ever popular Garberville Rotary Blog!

The meal will be barbecued pork and beef with the super-secret-sauce, Redway fire department beans, that are kind of like boston beans only with more ingredients and better, salad, bread, coffee, milk, and optional extras like beer, and sodas. Desserts are a home made speciality.

Adults meals are $12.00. Other discounts may apply.

Service from 12:00 noon sharp, until seven sharp.

Game over!

Game over!
Greg Pfau announced that the Garberville Rotary Club netted a cool nine thousand dollars for their efforts at The First Annual Rotary Club Golf Classic.

The Margaritas were cool, the weather was cool, the golfers were cool. The balloon was hot while it lasted, but the wind made flying to treacherous and it had to be stowed.

The big "Low Score" was Jim Truit, Bruce Collins, Jim Michaels, and Greg Pfau. Greg said that if I listed the winners that I should put his name last, because he was embarrassed by winning his own event. He said that he had to play "his best" because he didn't want to let his team down! I did notice that he had an awfully big grin on his face, and that he did offer to "store" the trophy!

Fun was had by all, and the contestants were pleasantly surprised by the free drinks at several of the sponsors tee-offs. There were many prizes that given away in the drawing after the game.

Strangely, no one took the Ford Mustang or the Yamaha Rhino home for making a "Hole in One".... That was the whole purpose of the event. Oh well, maybe next year. Also, Greg says next year he may add a one million dollar "Fifty Foot Putt".

Golf Classic work day

President Dennis Abshire leading the charge. His Motto: "We fear no weed. Damn the crabgrass, Full speed ahead".











Thus began the work party Thursday afternoon at the Benbow Golf Course.


About a dozen enthusiastic workers showed up to trim and polish the course for Saturdays big event.
Dennis' enthusiasm quickly waned after about four hours of trimming weeds. His "work party" turned into a "work partly", and he mentioned something about some things he had to do at home. I suspect it had something to do with lemonade and a lawn chair.
The golf course sounded like a swarm of honey bees collecting nectar, and it smelled like new cut hay drying in the sun.

This is a photo of our Garberville Golf Classic chairman Greg Pfau doing his part to "make pretty".

"look, I told you that I'm not ever going to look at the Blog Site no matter whether you put my picture in it or not!'

So if you see Greg, tell him how good he looks, and tell him what a good job he is doing for our project!

Rotaplast in Guatemala 2006

Hi Everybody,

I though I would write a few words about my recent trip to Guatemala…..It was nothing short of a life altering event.

As many of you know, I was selected to work with a Rotary surgical team that was traveling to Guatemala City to perform cleft lip and palate operations for the disadvantaged poor and Indian populations in the area. Some of these families had to walk for many hours just to get to a bus that they may have had to ride for a day or so just to get in to the city.

Our group consisted of 25 people. 16 were surgeons, doctors, nurses and anesthesiologists. Nine of us were Rotary volunteers. Our jobs were translators, medical records, sterilization, photography….mine was quartermaster. I was in charge getting our two tons of supplies and equipment down there and keep everybody supplied with whatever they needed. I sure learned a lot about specialized medical equipment and supplies when later during the first week we ran low on a few critical items and I was sent to comb the labyrinth which is Guatemala City. Everyone on the team was incredible. Wonderful people who worked amazing hours….no complaints, just a “Let’s get as many done safely and professionally as we can while we are here” attitude.

A typical day…..Up at 5:30…..the bus leaves for the hospital at 6:15. If there was no traffic…we could get to the military hospital by 6:35. There was only no traffic during weekends and holidays….the rest of the time, traffic was a zoo where lanes were “merely a suggestion” and thousands of buses belched out a phenomenal amount of think black exhaust with every acceleration. Super polluted downtown and we choked through the haze and confusion. Normally we would roll in around 7:15. I would unlock all of the various doors and make sure all of the operating and recovery rooms were supplied. Then it was time to bring up the first two sets of three children. It was almost comical sometimes because we would have two or three surgery schedule revisions by 8:00am due to some people not showing up the night before, or they might have a fever….or the worst….the children had eaten within the 8 hour window. After the first three were taken in to surgery, I would guide the trembling or teary eyed mothers to the waiting room. Usually after an hour or so…the first kids were coming out of the operating rooms. Since the nurses were so busy collecting all of their vital signs and getting the reports from the doctors/anesthesiologists…we were asked to hold all of the children from about four months up to 7 or 8 years old.

That was a magical time….because you knew what they looked like when they went into surgery, (some of these poor children had such unbelievably deformed mouths and noses, I could not imagine how they would ever be put back together…..plus as cruel as kids can be….some had never played with other children due to the constant ridicule and physical abuse.) When they came out….it was just amazing! The gifted surgeons had worked wonders. Most would wake up gently and not have a clue what was in store for them when they were going to look in the mirror for the first time. Other woke up as if just ejected from hell. So we would continue calming them until they settled down enough for their worried and anxious mothers to be led into the room. Some mothers burst into tears, others were weak in the knees, and still others were in shock. Mom would gently be placed in a chair, and then I would carefully place their child in their arms. More often than not, as I turned away to greet the next mom or child, I too was in tears.

This would go on until someone said…”these are the last three of the day!” It always surprised me to look up and see the clock saying that it was 8 or 9 in the evening. Never had I worked so long or hard and had no idea that time was passing. I never even felt tired until the bus ride back to the hotel. The actual surgeries that I was able to observe first hand were truly works of art.

(On the first day we were told to expect 175 families for the 110 possible slots. There were 243 families all with hope in their eyes. We were met by an Army General who ran the hospital, the wife of the Defense Minister, a slew of TV and newspaper reporters…..and of course the huge presence of the 243 families. The first day was clinic, or a screening of all the children there to determine; who could be operated on….who was too sick or weak for surgery, who might need only some dentistry, or who would be referred to the next mission in the Fall. This was a very long day that was finally finished about 10:00pm that night.)

Two other memorable events….on one of the Sundays, the local Rotarians, (who were just wonderful and very generous.), took us on a day trip to Antigua, a beautiful city in the mountains. Great historical architecture, ruins, art galleries, nice restaurants and plenty of children selling their handcrafted items in very comical ways. They did not know much English, but the words they did know were priceless…. (One girl who could not have been more that six worked on me for about a half an hour in Spanish to buy a necklace….and finally out of nowhere she said, “Look, business is business”…it was so funny that I caved in and bought it.)

The other was my last day….I had just gotten back to the hospital from the airport where I was obtaining everybody’s’ boarding pass for the flight out the next day…..when the head matriarch of the Guatemalan Rotarians came up and said…”You’re a pilot right? Do you want to go on a helicopter ride to look at Mayan ruins, beautiful lakes and volcanoes?” Yeah baby!!!! That was great. The scenery was spectacular, the pilot-ex military, and a real pro that did not shy away from extreme maneuvers and I was already on cloud nine when he asked…”I hear you fly….do you want to take it for a while?” “I’m in heaven”, I thought…It was soooo much fun and a day I’ll never forget.

Yes, I know, I said a few words…but I have really only scratched to surface of an incredible experience. I hope I have not bored you in telling the tale…..Oh, one last thing for all you tailgators out there….During the closing ceremonies, the General of the hospital was awarding certificates of appreciation, as is often the case…The whole party exploded in laughter when my name was announced as “DR. Christopher Lange Brannan”…..with a “diploma” to prove it.

Love,

Chris

Theresa Whitchurch, interesting young lady.

Photo and story from Times-Standard:
Fortuna Sunrise RotaryFortuna Sunrise Rotary awarded scholarships to three Fortuna Union High School students at its annual awards dinner last week at the River Lodge. Pictured, from left, are students Rachel Olkin, Theresa Whitchurch and Ryan Houtby with Fortuna Sunrise Rotary President Jon Sapper. Olkin is the senior class president and co-president of Interact, Rotary's high school program; Whitchurch is the senior class valedictorian and co-president of Interact. Both received a $1,000 Paul Harris Academic Scholarship.

Garberville Rotary Club's Program 5-8-07 was Theresa Whitchurch. She delivered a program on what an Interact Club does. She is also a Varsity Cheerleader, and plays the trombone. She has succeeded in in everything she does. Her Parents and Fortuna must be extremely proud of her!

Hospital funding tax passes!

According to Southern Humboldt Health Care District board member Steve Bowen, the Hospital funding tax passed by a margin greater than 73%. The issue required a 66% margin to pass.

In keeping with Rotary's policy of non-involvement in politics. Please ignore this announcement.

ROTARY GOLF CLASSIC, MAY 12 2007

Lest you forget where we live! These photos were taken on the way to the Garberville Rotary Club Golf Classic. The top one is Bear Butte.


The next photo is Tooby Flat, now the Garberville Community Park. Photo taken from Benbow Hill.


The fabulous Benbow Inn, one of the premier hotels in Humboldt county. We are very lucky to have it located in Garberville!


A view of Benbow Valley from Benbow Hill.


Another photo of Tooby Flat.

All photo's were taken with a Motorola RAZR mobile phone, e-mailed to my mail account, and transferred to this blog-site for your enjoyment. I don't claim to be a photographer, but how can you miss with country like we have around here!

All of the Golf teams are full, and all of the holes are sponsored. All that is left to do is have fun. All drinks and food during the games are free. The contestants will have a chance to win a brand new Ford Mustang from Harper Motors and a brand new Rhino from Dazey's Motor Sports. There are too many prizes to mention, but all of the contestants should leave knowing that they had a good time. We are already looking forward to next year, where we will be adding a One Million Dollar Putt.

The food and drinks at the Benbow Inn reception following the golf games will be at the contestants expense. But by then the contestants shouldn't care. Did I mention that Blue Star Gas will be providing Hot Air Balloon rides during the day?

May the 4th Be With You!