There will not be a Rotary meeting on Memorial Day. Rather, attend a local service to honor our Veterans.
President
President Elect
Immediate Past President
Executive Secretary
Co-Treasurer
Co-Treasurer
Floundation Chair
Membership
President Elect Nominee
Board of Director to 2021
Board of Director to 2021
Board of Director to 2019
Board of Director to 2019
Board of Director to 2020
Board of Director to 2020
Board of Director to 2020
Many people who try to quit smoking and many youth have turned to electronic cigarettes and Vaping. On Monday Vanessa Kowalski of CFR discussed errors of this innovation. For youth Vaping is a new fad, and for current smokers Vaping is as dangerous as cigarettes. With Vaping one still enhales nicotine, which is generally in greater quanties with Vaping. Cancers in Vapors are seen. Other side effects also follow.
Rotarian Mary Gibb was pictured in the Thursday "Messenger" as her son received the prestigious Terry Griffey award from Saint Edmond High School. The award is in honor of Fort Dodge native Terry Griffey who lost his life while serving in Vietnam. The award was established to honor the top male athlete in the graduating class. Andrew has given many outstanding performances in his four-year high school career. Congratulations to the Gibb family.
Pat Fitzgerald of Valutech Pest Control was the guest of Rotary on Monday and provided an excellent and very interesting discussion on the topic of Bed Bugs. Not only are Bed Bugs now in Fort Dodge, one must also be careful because of current international travel. His comments are summarized as follows:
- Bed Bugs are small, oval, and flat. They are brown to reddish brown in color and have a significant piercing and sucking beak.
- A female can lay 1-5 eggs per day, or 541 over a lifetime. Babies can begin to feed within 3-10 minutes of being hatched.
- Humans are the preferred food. The bugs will feed on pets, but will travel up to 20 feet to find a human. They center on humans through a sensing mechanism that follows carbon dioxide emissions.
- There is no conclusive evidence that Bed Bugs transmit diseases between humans. But, the bites can become infected if scratched with a dirty instrument.
- Bed Bugs are nocturnal and feed only at night. During the day they hide in the most minute of crevices, cracks, etc. Their preferred daytime hiding place is in the seams of mattresses and box springs.
- One needs to be careful in importing into your house used furniture and clothing. Check the cracks of all furniture and wash clothes and place in a dryer with high heat to kill not only the bugs, but their eggs.
- The best method to treat their presence is through chemicals from a professional - over the counter sprays do not work well because the active ingredients are significantly limited as a licensed professional is required to apply the strength needed for a quick kill. Some people like the "heat the house" but Mr Fitzgerald says sprays are better.
Bed Bugs were effectively eliminated from the U.S. but approximately 10-15 years ago they began to reappear along the East Coast and have now spread throughout the U.S. The reason is the limits to active ingredients of household sprays that used to kill them. Since the bugs are hitchhikers they are not affected by the granules and sprays that many use to surround their homes. Apartments, hotels, dorms, are especially susceptible to the pests. ICCC uses a professional contract to check regularly. Dogs are good in finding Bed Bugs, but only as good as the training the dog received. The suggestion - keep diligent and make regular inspections after each visit by somebody from outside the household, or after a trip in which a hotel is used. Unfortunately, anybody is subject to a Bed Bug "catching a ride home" with you. The pests know no social class or structure.
One of the Rotary Foundation's missions is to provide clean water. "Clean water, sanitation and hygiene education are basic necessities for a health environment and a productive life. When people have access to clean water and sanitation, waterborne diseases decrease, children stay healthier and attend school more regularly, and mothers can spend less time carrying water and more time helping their families." The Board of Directors of the Fort Dodge Rotary Club approved a water project earlier this year. This project is to build three wells in India and is a collaboration with a local organization (GAP Ministries), as well as Dream India located in India. We agreed to provide $2500 to match the funds raised by GAP Ministries to make these wells a reality! In all three of these villages, the source of water was approximately a mile away. Village women would make the trip to the creek and carry water back to their village. Of course the water was not sanitary. Thus our club decided that this would be a worthwhile project!
Recently,our Club Coordinator (Foundation Chair Rhonda Fitchett) was updated that the first well is dug and nearing completion!! The local people are actually going to pour the platform for the pump. They have recently had a setback as the entire area was hit with a hurricane. The major cities are without power, water, cell service, etc. They are trying to get these wells dug before the summer drought hits and the creeks dry up. Through use of funding from the Rotary International Foundation this pilot project could be extensively expanded in future years a the target area of India is very poor and many other communities have the same problem of scarcity of sanitary water.
Spring brings the end of most school terms and it is within this season that the Fort Dodge Rotary Club performs its primary goal of service to youth. At this time the Club does the following:
- Hosts the 44th annual Academic Appreciation Dinner to honour the top 10% of the graduating seniors from Saint Edmond High School and Fort Dodge Senior High. That banquet that will be honouring 4 from Saint Edmonds and 25 from Senior High and their parents/significant others. Amy Bruno has coordinated this event for several years and will need volunteers again this year;
- Rotary awards 8 $1,000 scholarships to ICCC based on ability to succeed at the college level and financial need of the student. This year's recipients are: Kaden Smith, Shania Al-Hameed-Foy, Olivia Camamo, Michelle Cook, Aubrey Davis, Trey Kasperbauer, Macey Mason, and Mason O'Brien. The scholarships are chosen by Committee Chair Neil Gadbury and his volunteers from the Club;
- At the respective graduation ceremonies Rotary will present a $2,000 scholarship and souvenir plaque to the top graduating student of Saint Edmond and Senior High. These "best student" awards are chosen by their respective schools.
At the Clear Lake Rotary District 5970 convention recently an update on the status of Polio Eradication was given. So far this year there have been nine reported cases of new "wild polio" in the hill country of Afghanistan and Pakistan. I believe last year the total number was in the low 30s, all in Pakistan/Afghanistan/Nigeria. Further distribution of the vaccine continues, but is made difficult because of the ongoing growth of radicalism in the Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Rotary has assumed a back base support system with local tribal members/leaders doing the immunizations to eliminate any Western influence on the front lines. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is solidly on board with a $2 match for every Rotary raised $1 to be applied to this effort. In addition, UNICEF, UNESCO, and the World Health Organization are also on board and are devising the "End Game" strategy for containment of any random outbreaks. A key problem is that with Polio "out of mind" as an issue in much of the World the effort of childhood immunizations are not always completed due to family preference and an immunized child is subject to the disease if they visit suspect areas for up to three years after the last new case was discovered. It has been estimated that the cost of stability may be as much as that raised to date to eradicate the disease. Good Work Rotarians, and keep up the good work to rid the World of this once dreaded disease.
.jpg?_=636940526886809455)
The following have volunteered to provide the weekly invocation as our meetings start. If you are unable to make your assigned schedule please contact a substitute that will then check-in with the President prior to the meeting. (Also please note that you can call either Don Woodruff or Janet Secor, who have said they can be a fill-in alternate.)
June 3 - Kraig Barber
June 10 - Michael Devine
June 17 - Dave Beekman
June 24 - John Daniel
July 1 - Mel Schroeder
July 8 -
July 15 - Amy Bruno
July 22 -.
July 29 -
August 5 -
August 12 -
August 19 -
August 26 -
.jpg?_=636940526886809455)
Minutes and/or Financial Reports for the 2018-2019 Rotary Year have been posted to the members only section of the Website and are available for viewing by accessing the Members Only Section.
The latest additions are financial records for Month Ending April 30, 2019 and Minutes of the May 13th 2019 Board of Directors meeting.
Kraig Barber passed around a copy of the latest Master Plan for Snell-Crawford Park. The latest version incorporates some of the suggestions by Rotarians of leaving the road into the interior of the Park. Kraig noted that within the near future the Fort Dodge Parks, Forestry, and Recreation Commission will be reviewing this issue. A picture is included for your knowledge.
Rotary is a service organization comprised of community leaders of various professions dedicated to humanitarian causes locally and throughout the world. The club budgets funds annually for a variety of local causes that may be made available for requests made throughout the year for which the Board of Directors may want to support. To make application for funds please use the following application format found over two sections of this applet. When completed please scan your application narrative and send to Fort Dodge Rotary, Box 935, Fort Dodge, Iowa 50501 . The first page of the application appears below and the second is found by clicking on the "read more" applet.
please use
.jpg)