Weekly Bulletin for March 4-10, 2011
Upcoming Luncheon Speakers and Events
March 10: Ronnie Daniel, The Living Planet Aquarium.
March 17: Mr. Kun-Yu "Dean" Chen, visiting scholar from Taiwan.
March 24: Representative Dean Sanpei -- Impressions of a first term legislator.
March 31: Jane Carlile -- The Circles Initiative.
Report of the Rotary luncheon meeting held Thursday, March 3, 2011
The meeting was conducted by President Steve Tolley. Ron Roberts played dinner music and accompanied the Anthem which was lead by Jill Moon. Stan Miller offered an invocation.
March birthdays were celebrated for: Andy Anderson, Frank Gardner, Mike Jacobsen, Vic Ludlow, Steve Smith and Gary Wiest.
President Steve Tolley announced a new drive to invite all Provo Rotarians to become Paul Harris Fellows. Currently there are a dozen or so, mostly new members, who have not yet reached this designation. Using matching funds made available in part by a grant from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, those not currently PHF may do so by contributing only $250 to the Rotary Foundation of Rotary International which will be matched to a total of $1,000.
The St. George Rotary Club is sponsoring a humanitarian trip to Guatemala in May. There are a few spaces available for anyone who may wish to go.
President Steve Tolley announced a drive to collect paper-back books for distribution to those in need. March is literacy awareness month. Please bring used soft-bound books to the regular Rotary luncheon meeting on March 17.
Greg Hudnall served as sergeant asking trivia about the homeless population in our area. He was joined by Andy Anderson in auctioning a hand-made quilt donated by Tamara Tolley which was purchased for $100 by David Rogers.
Craig Carlile introduced today's speaker, Brent Crane, an interesting and articulate spokesman for Provo's Food and Care Coalition, who spoke about his organization's mission to feed and house the homeless and provide medical and dental services. He recommended three movies: The Soloist starring Robert Downey Jr.; A Beautiful Mind, and Pursuit of Happyness starring Will and Jaden Smith. Among the points he made are:
50% of Utah Valley's homeless are mentally challenged.
Everyone seemingly recognizes the need for homeless shelters, but nobody wants it next door.
Provo's Food and Care coalition operates a lovely new 36,000 square foot facility (built entirely with privately donated funds) with six employees and more than 50,000 volunteer hours donated each year. The facility feeds 100,000 free meals per year with one full-time cook.
More than 3,200 independent requests for housing were received in 2010.
The LDS Church recently donated $341,000 to complete and furnish the 38 private housing rooms in the facility.
They can't choose their clients, but they can choose how to treat them.
Local dentists, chiropractors, Utah Valley Hospital, Utah Valley radiology, and others donate services weekly to treat the homeless.
There are four critical needs:
- People are needed to open doors to potential donors.
- An additional $250,000 is needed to finish the housing units.
- They are in need of six sets of washers and dryers.
- They are registered at Bed, Bath and Beyond for items needed to operate the facilities.
Learn more by clicking on: foodandcare.org
