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ROTARY CLUB OF PLACENCIA NEWS
The Rotary Club of Placencia continues to work towards making the 2009-2010 Rotary year the most successful one yet for our Club with 1 event being held, the completion of an annual project, the completion of the majority of work on a large project, and planning for 4 more events to be held in the coming months.
DICTIONARY DISTRIBUTION
As we have done for the past 5 years, the Rotary Club of Placencia distributed dictionaries to all Standard 3 students in Seine Bight Village, Placencia Village, Independence, and Monkey River. Rotary Club members Carl Laws, Sandra Steele, Maretha McCullock, Sandra Johnson, Lydia Villanueva, Bob Edmonds, Wanda Stakutis, Greg Valiton, Steve Wade, and Harald Wallen, along with Friend of Rotary Annette Vernon, participated in visiting the Standard 3 classrooms in the 4 villages to explain to the students what Rotary is and present them each with a personalized dictionary. As was the case last year, Linda Thornton of Cardelli Shrimp Farm provided the bulk of the funding for this important project. We thank all who participated and wish to extend special thanks to Ms. Thornton for her generous donation and Harald Wallen for the boat transportation to Monkey River (well, thanks for the adventure provided to those attending as well as “Benji” Eiley, Warren Garbutt and Ralph Capeling for providing rescue services). We heard from several older students that they are still using the dictionaries provided to them and hope to continue this project for many years to come.
OPEN HOUSE
On August 29, the Rotary Club of Placencia held its second Open House at Yoli’s. This event is an opportunity for us to make the community aware of what Rotary is all about, what we have accomplished, and what we have planned for the future. The evening was opened by our star “mistress of ceremonies” Maretha McCullock who introduced Lydia Villanueva for a welcome address which was followed by President Harald Wallen giving the history of Rotary International, Bob Edmonds describing the intricacies of the Rotary Foundation and guest speaker Kay Menzies of the Belize City Rotary Club with an inspirational talk on membership in Rotary. A question and answer period followed and, after a thank you from Greg Valiton, refreshments were served and a time for socializing and fellowship ended the evening. We wish to thank Kay Menzies for traveling down to Placencia and inspiring us, Merlene for the delicious snacks, and Yoli for the use of the bar and restaurant. This was our second open house and we intend to make this an annual event so that we can inform the community as to what we are doing in the hope that support will continue to grow and some will be inspired to join us in working for the good of community.
SEINE BIGHT SCHOOL PAINTING
Just days before school started, the Rotary Club of Placencia participated in the painting of the interior of the school in Seine Bight Village. Following a cleanup of classrooms and pressure washing of the walls by teachers, students, and volunteers from Seine Bight Village, Placencia Rotarians joined in for the painting of all of the classroom walls using paint, brushes, and other materials donated by the Rotary Club of Saskatoon Nutana in Canada. The paint was flying around covering, in some cases, more than the walls, but, when all was said and done, all of the classrooms were painted and had a brighter appearance for the student’s return for the new school year. There is still work to be done in the bathroom areas on both floors, but, most of the work was completed and we trust that the students returned to more attractive classrooms. The additional work required at the school is being looked at for potential funding, so, we hope to complete more needed work in the coming year (drinking water fountains have already been funded and will be installed when they are received). We wish to thank the members of our Club (almost all members in the country at the time of the work participated); the students, teachers, and members of the community that participated; Steve Christensen for his support; Mr. Lopez (Principal) for his assistance; and, especially, the Rotary Club of Saskatoon Nutana for their generosity. Without the support we receive from the community and Rotary Clubs from outside our area we could not complete these projects. We encourage members of the community to get involved in these projects and we are always seeking whatever outside support we can get to help make our communities better.
UPCOMING EVENTS
As previously mentioned, the Rotary Club of Placencia has several events in the works for the coming months. The first of these is our annual Flag Raising Ceremony on September 20 which will, once again, feature a performance by Truckee Graphite, music from a DJ throughout the evening, sale of snacks and beverages, and, of course, several guest speakers leading up to the raising of the flag at midnight to celebrate Belize’s independence. Funds raised will be for the Placencia Pre-School. The next event will be a cricket match to be held on Pan American Day at which we will, once again, have a barbeque and beverages for sale to benefit the Peninsula Volunteer Fire Department. This will be flowed by our annual haunted house for Halloween. Work has already started to plan and construct the best one yet, so, we hope that we will have record attendance and be the cause of more than a few screams. The last event being worked on at this time is the planned visit from a group of doctors, dentists and other medical professionals in November. This free clinic will be at the Placencia Community Center and details are being worked out for transportation from Seine Bight and Monkey River to ensure that as many people as possible can take advantage of the services to be offered. As details are finalized, we will make every effort to provide information through LOVEFM, the cable TV public access channel, flyers posted in the Villages, and whatever other means may be available.
In addition to the events described, discussions and planning for new fund raisers are ongoing. The Board of Directors has decided to focus fund raising more on specific needs and work with the organizations involved to do more joint fund raising in this Rotary year. To this end, we will be starting work on the Peninsula Volunteer Fire Department’s Flaming Heart Ball that is usually held in February. Additional events that we will be planning include an auction, based upon the success of the one held earlier this year, and, what we hope will be some new fund raisers. We will do our best to keep you posted on these as details are available.
OUR CLUB
Currently, our Club consists of 18 members united in a desire to give something back through service to the community and the world. There is a lot of work involved, but, the satisfaction of doing for others and the fun we have, whether we are working or at one of our social gatherings, makes the work easier. A Club in a small community such as ours (which includes the entire Peninsula) cannot accomplish anything significant without the support of the community. That support may take the form of financial support, donation of materials, or donation of labor, but, the best support comes from participating in the planning and performance of the tasks required to complete projects. We all receive a great deal of satisfaction from our service and encourage others who wish to help their community to join us. Anyone interested in experiencing this satisfaction is encouraged to join us at one of our meetings (Tuesdays at 12:30 PM at Yoli’s) or visit our web site at www.rotaryclubofplacencia.org.
