Hans Rosling's 200 Countries, 200 Years, 4 Minutes - The Joy of Stats - ...

This is worth four minutes of your time.
Check it out.

Early-bird pricing for Rotary International Convention almost over!

Be sure to register for the Rotary International Convention in New Orleans, May 22-25.
For most attendees,the base price is $300,if you register by 15 December 2011.
After that, the base price is $340, if you register by 31 March 2012.
To learn more or to begin registering online, copy and paste this link in to your browser:
http://www.rotary.org/en/Members/Events/Convention/Pages/ridefault.aspx
Rotarians in District 7890 will be invited to a special welcoming reception Peter and I are hosting on Saturday, May 21, in New Orleans, 5 to 7 PM at the New Orleans InterContinental. Once you have registered, email me confirmation and you will be added to the guest list.
If you register before the early December deadline, be sure to let me know. Your name will be entered into a special drawing(get your raffle ticket at the reception in New Orleans). To be eligible you must register for the convention by 15 December 2011.

News about New Orleans Convention Plans

Rotary International and The Rotary Foundation have announced a special celebration in anticipation of reaching a significant milestone, the successful achievement of Rotary's US$200 Million Challenge! This grand event, Polio Unmasked, is scheduled for Monday, 23 May 2011 at Mardi Gras World.
More details to follow.
As of August 31st, Rotarians have raised about $135 million toward the goal.
In our district, September is the month to focus on the challenge. Do your part!
In the meantime, be sure to register for the convention.
For most attendees,the base price is $300,if you register by 15 December 2011.
After that, the base price is $340, if you register by 31 March 2012.
To learn more or to begin registering online, copy and paste this link in to your browser:
http://www.rotary.org/en/Members/Events/Convention/Pages/ridefault.aspx
Rotarians in District 7890 will be invited to a special welcoming reception Peter and I are hosting on Saturday, May 21, in New Orleans, 5 to 7 at the New Orleans InterContinental. Once you have registered, send me confirmation and you will be added to the guest list.
If you register before the early December deadline, be sure to let me know. Your name will be entered into a special drawing(get your raffle ticket at the reception in New Orleans). To be eligible you must register for the convention by 15 December 2011.

Applications Being Accepted for GSE Team Leader to Nepal

DGE Prasad Menon and the District 7890 GSE Committee are pleased to announce that we are currently looking for Rotarians who would like to apply for the position of Group Study Exchange Team Leader to Nepal (District 3292). The exchange will take place early next spring (3/12-4/10 in 2011).

The exchange with Nepal will be very rigorous: the terrain, the altitude, the living conditions in Nepal should be considered when discussing the trip with potential Team Leaders.

GSE is a program funded by The Rotary Foundation. It pairs teams from districts around the world for a vocational/cultural visit of four weeks. Teams are comprised of a Rotarian Team Leader and four non-Rotarian Team Members. All travel expenses are paid, and the team will stay with families in the Host District.

Your club may have participated in GSE activities in the past, so you know how much fun this program is for a Host District.

The position of Team Leader is very important. The qualities that we are seeking include a good knowledge of Rotary and our District. The Team Leader must also be able to work well with a group of young people to create a team that can live and work together and be a good representation of the diversity within District 7890.

Applications for this important position will be taken until August 1st. The GSE Committee will meet with each candidate no later than the week of August 9th. The Team Leader Application is available from club presidents and presidents-elect.

Applications should be submitted to:

Alma Kruh

44-217 Avonwood Road

Avon, CT 06001

Applications may also be faxed to 860-398-5136, but the originals must be mailed to the address above.

ShelterBox Responds to Storm in Central America (Guatemala)

International disaster relief charity ShelterBox is responding to a devastating tropical storm, which has ravaged large parts of Central America and forced tens of thousands of people out of their homes.

Tropical Storm Agatha struck Guatemala on Monday dumping more than 3 feet of rain in the mountainous west of the country and in neighboring El Salvador.

The torrential downpours have killed nearly 150 people and left more than 94,000 homeless as the storm buried homes under mud.

ShelterBox is deploying a US and Canadian-based ShelterBox Response Team (SRT) to Guatemala to assess the need for emergency shelter.

“Nearly 100,000 people have been evacuated from their homes so the need for emergency shelter is clear. Last week’s eruption from the Pacaya volcano is likely to have worsened the effects of the flooding and we are looking to see how we can help those in greatest need,” said operations manager, John Leach.

Last November ShelterBox responded to Hurricane Ida which caused flooding and mudslides that killed at least 150 people as it moved through the region.

Central America is vulnerable to heavy rains due to its mountainous terrain, while poor communications in rural areas complicate rescue efforts.

Individual tax-deductible donations to ShelterBox USA can be made at www.shelterboxusa.org or via text message by sending SHELTER to 20222 for a one-time $10 donation. For information on or to make a contribution by phone, please call 941-907-6036.

Next Big Event -- Installation of Presidents and District Governor -- June 3

Be sure to get your club's registration AND PAYMENT to Eileen Rau no later than this Wednesday, May 26th. Payment to the Riverview must be made a week in advance of the event which occurs Thursday, June 3, 2010.
Seating will be by clubs. It will be great if every club in the district can fill at least one table.

District Assembly this week -- still time to sign up

Upcoming in our district — May 12, District Assembly

Clarion Hotel

1080 Riverdale Street, West Springfield, MA, 01089| Phone: (413) 781-8750    

Interstate 91 North or South: Exit 13B. Take a right at light off ramp.
The hotel is 1/8 mile on the right. 

Interstate 90 East or West: Exit 4. Follow Riverdale Street exit (RT 5 South).
The hotel is 1 and 1/4 miles on the right.

Why should club members attend our district assembly?

The district assembly, held each spring, is an opportunity for Rotarians to increase their Rotary knowledge, develop leadership skills, and meet other Rotarians in the district.

Club leaders receive resources at the district assembly to help them lead and motivate their club members, along with information on their role and responsibilities. They also can meet incoming district leaders, including the district governor, assistant governors, and various committee members. This is why incoming club board members and committee chairs are expected to attend this half-day event.

Attendees use case studies to exchange ideas and brainstorm solutions to common club issues, while also drawing on the expertise of other Rotarians in their district. Sessions dedicated to public speaking, long-range planning, and effective goal setting are among the most popular.

The assemblies also provide Rotarians with information about their district’s goals for the next year, the new RI theme, the Club Leadership Plan, and membership recruitment and retention strategies.

Overall, the district assembly helps all club members get motivated for the upcoming Rotary year while enjoying the fellowship of other Rotarians in their district.

 (Excerpted from RotaryWorld, April 2009 issue, p.3)

Who should go to our district assembly?

At the district assembly, club leaders, including the club president-elect and the incoming

secretary, treasurer, and committee chairs, will discuss their role and responsibilities, work

on annual goals, and develop their working relationship for the coming year.

President

President-elect

Secretary

Treasurer

Incoming-treasurer

Committee Chairs (membership, foundation, community service)

New members who want to find out more about Rotary

$30/person

In East Hartford, the pays for you to attend.

This year’s District Assembly is on Wednesday, May 12^th, 7:30 AM.

Breakfast is included, no lunch.  Contact President-elect to arrange registering.

You can leave in time to attend our club meeting that day.

GSE Team Has Arrived -- Come Meet Them in Saratoga at District Conference

Tamami Seki, Team Leader Yoshiki Sugioka, Nana Matsuoka, Norio Hara, and Mika Furuhashi.  The Team starts its four-week stay in our District with the Watertown (CT) Club.

The entire inbound team plus three members of our outbound team will be in Saratoga for our District Conference.  Still time to sign up.  See you there. 

Conference Package - 1 Person- $540 2 people- $740
Includes registration, Friday lunch and dinner, Saturday breakfast, Sunday breakfast, room Friday & Saturday nights, all taxes, tips, and service charges.  Saturday dinner (optional) is at the Saratoga Springs Racetrack ($45/person). See registration form for complete details. 

Registration Form
Deadline extended for registration. Call Registrar immediately if you are interested.  See registration form

NEED COMMENTS / FEEDBACK

I feel like Sisyphus
Only comment so far is from my husband/partner.
What's going on with the rest of you Rotarians!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ShelterBox Responds to Earthquake in Western China

Fifth earthquake and tenth disaster which ShelterBox has responded to this year

International disaster relief charity ShelterBox is responding to a magnitude 6.9 earthquake that has rocked Western China.

A series of aftershocks collapsed houses, schools and offices in the ethnic Tibetan county of Yushu, leaving survivors without shelter in freezing conditions.

The charity will be working to assess the areas of greatest need and has already mobilized one of its China based ShelterBox Response Team (SRT) members.

Lasse Petersen, ShelterBox General Manager, said: "The local officials are already saying the biggest problem they're facing is lack of tents. The situation of several villages higher up in the mountains is still unknown, and roads and communications have been cut. Reports suggest there's widespread destruction and we are liaising with our personnel in China to assess the need."

The quake, which struck at 7:49 PM ET (0749 local time) on Tuesday, April 13, was centred 150 miles north of Qamdo in Tibet and 235 miles south of the mining town of Golmud in Qinghai, and had a depth of 6.2 miles according to the United States Geological Service.
ShelterBox previously responded to a magnitude 7.9 quake in May 2008 in neighbouring Sichuan province. At that time ShelterBox provided emergency shelter for and estimated 45,000 people after the earthquake devastated a huge area of South Western China and left millions homeless. 
Veronica Brandon Miller, executive director of ShelterBox USA said that this marks the fifth earthquake and tenth disaster which ShelterBox has responded to this year.

"Having provided shelter for upwards of 150,000 disaster survivors since January of this year already," said Miller, "ShelterBox continues to respond quickly to ensure the survivors can have adequate shelter in the critical days after a disaster."

Individual tax-deductible donations to ShelterBox USA can be made at www.shelterboxusa.org or via text message by sending SHELTER to 20222 for a one-time $10 donation

ShelterBox makes the difference in Uganda

At around 6pm local time on Monday, March 1, a torrent of mud and huge boulders hurtled down the slopes of Mount Elgon, an extinct volcano in the Bududa district of eastern Uganda.

The mudslides wiped out an entire village including a health centre and a church where people had gathered to pray. Children sheltering in a village shop from the heavy rain were all killed when a river of thick mud buried the building.

ShelterBox Response Team (SRT) members Stuart Oates (UK) and Laura Dale (UK) were sent to the disaster hit region and distributed aid for up to 2,000 people.

Standing on the site of the mudslides it was difficult to take in the scale of the disaster. A few mud-beaten shacks were perched lopsided on the edge of the slopes having narrowly missed the avalanche of mud which swept away neighbouring houses.

Metal rods from a hospital bed poked out from underneath a boulder. Household rubble and pieces of clothing were littered about the muddy slope - including a child’s red shoe.

The bright morning sunshine lit up the horrors of the last few weeks as villagers from neighbouring mountain communities helped the army dig for bodies using hoes and spades. Unable to get heavy machinery up the mountain - it is an hour and a half walk and a 15 minute drive from the nearest road passable by truck - soldiers hike up the mountain everyday burdened by the task of searching for buried villagers.

So far 97 bodies have been recovered from the mud with up to 400 people feared missing. One man from the village, his eyes sunken and his hands clasped in prayer, had lost every member of his family and not one body had been found. Another mudslide victim was unidentifiable so villagers buried him near where he was found.

Up to 5,000 people have been displaced with roughly 3,500 based at an internally displaced person’s camp some distance from the mudslides at Bulucheke. More than 1,800 of them are children.

Despite the lingering danger of more heavy rain and mudslides, some villagers chose to stay on the mountain, reluctant to leave their animals or their land.

I had less than 24 hours to finish work, research the mudslides in Uganda and do some last minute kit shopping before the deployment. I tipped everything out over the living room floor and started to pack, remembering things that had come in useful during training like Gaffa tape, which we used to bind Marie’s feet when she had crippling blisters!

I became a SRT member in November and Uganda was my first deployment. With SRT trainer David Eby’s (US) mantra ringing in my head - eat when you can, sleep when you can and manage your down time - I began the journey to Entebbe airport, Uganda, with fellow response team member Stuart Oates from Cornwall, UK.

Stepping out into 30 degree sunshine we were met by Fred Kusolo Walimbwa - the programme manager for the Child Development Fund in Mbale, who had got in touch with ShelterBox and asked for their help. After 32 hours of travelling - sometimes on the wrong side of the road through Kampala’s grid-locked traffic - we found a place to stay and got some rest.

The following morning we headed for the camp. Local women, some already very traumatised, told us they didn’t have enough aid and their children were getting sick. The Uganda Red Cross Society had been working very hard at the camp but the reality was they hadn’t dealt with a disaster on this kind of scale before.

After our assessment and discussions with other NGOs also providing aid, we called ShelterBox HQ with our ‘wish list’. Days of battling with bureaucracy and red tape followed, underlining the importance of sending out SRTs with the aid; without them it just wouldn’t get there. Luckily Uganda Red Cross agreed to act as a consignee for the aid and the secretary general wrote us a letter to hurry along the progress of the aid through customs.

200 ShelterBoxes, hundreds of hoes, stoves and other tools and 12 Classrooms in Box along arrived at Entebbe Airport a week after our first visit to the camp. We had to overcome huge challenges to get the boxes through customs and transported to the camp but with help from the Red Cross and our Ugandan driver, Hassan, we organised transport to the camp, eager to begin distribution.

Heavy rain had turned the camp into a mud-pit and the population had increased putting more strain on the already inadequate resources. The Red Cross had put together a list of the most affected households - women with four or five children under the age of five and families with expectant mothers - ready for distribution.

We began training camp volunteers how to put up the tents, use the stoves and other equipment. Green domes started to pop up all over the camp as our efforts finally began to pay off.

Families were allocated a tent and immediately set about making it a home, digging the land at the front and putting stones down to create a patio. Stoves were burning out the front of the tents and the camp suddenly had something it had been lacking - a sense of community.

Seeing families move into ShelterBox tents filled me with a pride I’ve not felt before. Not of personal achievement or altruistic gain, but of being part of a charity where the difference they make is tangible. Many of the families had lost loved ones and some of them had lost their homes and belongings.

In these desperate times, it felt good to be able to do something, however small, to help.

Watching the villagers carefully disturb the rubble which lay under the surface of the mud, the reality of the situation began to sink in. Underneath my feet, below this river of mud, there were potentially hundreds of villagers - mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters and children - who literally drowned on their own land.

It was an emotional experience and one which I find difficult to explain - the photographs fail to capture the scale of the disaster and fall woefully short of expressing the pain and suffering of the villagers who have lost everything.

But the experience did bring home the importance of responding to disasters and the work that ShelterBox does.

As we left for the safety of our own homes we were informed that a new 5km crack had appeared in Mount Elgon in the Munafwa district prompting fears of yet more mudslides in this beautiful African country.

http://shelterboxusa.org/news.php?id=298

Aid for Mexico -- 7.2 magnitude earthquake struck Baja April 4

Emergency shelter for up to 2,600 people is being sent to Mexico after an earthquake rocked the country last week.

A 7.2 magnitude earthquake struck the Baja California region on Sunday, April 4. An estimated 25,000 people have been affected by the earthquake with the worse damage in rural areas south of Mexicali.

More than 5,000 families have reported that their homes have been either complete destroyed or severely damaged. ShelterBox Response Team (SRT) members John Mackie of Florida, and Jennifer Kormendy of British Columbia, arrived in Mexicali on Saturday, April 10 and will soon receive the first consignment of ShelterBox tents.

“The need is great,” said Mackie. “The devastated region is quite large and unlike Haiti’s earthquake, the loss of homes is not centred around a city but is found in little villages miles apart from each other.”

Mackie has said that tremors are happening daily and the people are fearful to go indoors.  He has also said that flooding has been an issue due to the fissures in the ground opening up miniature geysers of water which cause additional damage to the homes of the region.

“‘ShelterBox tents will allow the survivors to gather their families and remaining possessions and stay close to their homes until they are able to rebuild,” said Kormendy. “The tents will likely be used for up to a year as many do not possess the resources to rebuild immediately. “

The team has been working closely with locals to work through logistics.  Mackie described the locals as truly amazing people.

“The Mexican people are so supportive of our efforts,” said Mackie, “We have people who have organized volunteers to train the locals how to set up the tents and civil organizations ready to help us transport the boxes from the airport to the most needy.”

Veronica Brandon Miller, executive director of the ShelterBox USA, said that this is the fourth earthquake and ninth disaster that ShelterBox has responded to since January having provided shelter for upwards of 150,000 people.

“It is amazing that even though we have responded to the Chile and Haiti earthquakes, ShelterBox continues to get the job done,” said Miller.  “We are saving lives, one box at a time.”

Individual tax-deductible donations to ShelterBox USA can be made at www.shelterboxusa.org or via text message by sending SHELTER to 20222 for a one-time $10 donation.

ShelterBox News

The Biggest Deployment of ShelterBoxes in Four Years Saving Lives One Box at a Time Emergency disaster relief and shelter provision for more than 100,000 people deployed in earthquake-struck Haiti. Shelter for 50,000 more on the way.   Saving lives….one box at a time.

See a brief video about shelterbox, copy line below and paste in your browser:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s19-2PJWqqU

Three months after one of the worst disasters ever witnessed, over 100,000 Haitian earthquake survivors are rebuilding their lives in ShelterBox tents.

The international disaster relief charity has now delivered over 13,000 ShelterBoxes to families who lost everything in the 7.3-magnitude quake. Each box contains a disaster relief tent to house a family of up to 10, water purification, a cook stove, blankets, a tool set among other items.

As the world marks the three-month anniversary of the disaster that struck on January 12, ShelterBox is sending another 5,000 boxes of aid this month - enough for an additional 50,000 people - with thousands more ShelterBoxes due to arrive in Haiti's capital, Port-au-Prince, during the coming months.

  

ShelterBox began its response to the Haiti earthquake just 12 minutes after the quake struck on January 12, by mobilizing a ShelterBox Response Team to Port au Prince. The next day, the first ShelterBoxes left the charity's HQ in the UK bound for Haiti.

The first boxes arrived five days after the earthquake and were used to set up emergency field hospitals, immediately saving lives by providing vital shelter to patients who had nowhere to go. Hundreds more boxes followed and ShelterBox camps were set up in suburbs of Port au Prince including Delmas, where families with newborn babies and pregnant women were prioritized for emergency shelter.

A total of 13,000 ShelterBoxes have now been distributed in Haiti with thousands more to come, making it ShelterBox's largest deployment since the Indian Ocean Tsunami. All aid has been delivered by volunteer ShelterBox Response Team (SRT) members from across the globe who have carried out extensive training with ShelterBox. More than 30 SRT members, including 12 US SRT, have now been deployed in Haiti as well as Santo Domingo and Miami coordinating logistics for Haitian aid.

Having just returned from Haiti, Philadelphia Businessman and Response Team Member Bill Decker, is proud of the ongoing efforts and successes of ShelterBox to provide shelter for Haiti.

"I'm proud of the efforts of all of the dedicated people in Haiti," said Decker, "especially my ShelterBox colleagues who have provided enough shelter and warmth for over 130,000 of those displaced. That's about 13% of the total displaced by the quake."

Partnerships forged with organizations on the ground in Haiti such as French aid agency ACTED, the French Red Cross, the IOM, local Rotarians, the Dutch military and the US military allowed SRT members to distribute boxes effectively and securely, ensuring aid has been delivered to people most in need.

"While there are still mountains of rubble and ongoing medical crises," said Decker, "we're seeing aggressive efforts by NGOs and the Haitian people to clear away debris and actually begin to rebuild. Our ShelterBox tents will continue to be a key part of that rebuilding effort."

Across the globe, people have been supporting ShelterBox on unprecedented levels and volunteers at ShelterBox HQ have been packing more boxes, in the shortest space of time, than they ever have before.

The President and Royal Patron of ShelterBox, Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Cornwall Camila, visited the charity's HQ in Cornwall, England last month to thank staff and volunteers for their relief efforts in Haiti.

ShelterBox Founder and CEO Tom Henderson said, "With tens of thousands of families still living without adequate shelter in heavy rains and the hurricane season soon approaching, the need for emergency shelter is still great and we won't rest until this need is met."

For more on ShelterBox USA visit www.shelterboxusa.org

[To view a recent video of Wayne Robinson on the ground in Haiti, copy and paste this URL into your browser --
http://video.foxnews.com/v/3969588/shelter-boxes-distributed-in-haiti/?playlist_id=87249
PLEASE BE PATIENT. It takes a couple of minutes to download.]

Still time to register for District Conference -- Fun & Fellowship in Saratoga!

Conference Package - 1 Person- $540 2 people- $740
Includes registration, Friday lunch and dinner, Saturday breakfast, Sunday breakfast, room Friday & Saturday nights, all taxes, tips, and service charges.  Saturday dinner (optional) is at the Saratoga Springs Racetrack ($45/person). See registration form for complete details.   

Registration Form
Call Registration Chair ASAP if you would like to go.

Saddle Up For Saratoga
Find out how you can help support the conference

ShelterBox in Peru

Click this link to see a first-hand account of a ShelterBox team member delivering disaster relief in Peru.

Long-term Recovery Relief for Chile

The Rotary Foundation  (TRF) Chairman Estess has asked Rotary International Director and Treasurer, Michael Colasurdo, to advise all Rotarians in Zone 32 of the action taken in concurrence with President Kenny in the aftermath of the earthquake in Chile.

The Rotary Foundation is establishing an account to receive contributions from Rotarians and the general public for longer-term disaster recovery efforts in Chile.  Contributions to this account will not receive PHF recognition credit.  Funds contributed to this account will be utilized in Rotary Foundation projects to address infrastructure needs in Chile.  Districts may donate District Designated Funds (DDF) to this account.

Rotarians wanting to contribute to this account should direct their contributions through the normal means by which they make other contributions.

Information regarding the account will be posted on the RI website as soon as possible.

What's up in District 7890 this weekend

Head to the Convention Center in Hartford, March 5, 6, 7,  our district SHINES.
Exhibit the brainchild of Suffield Club, manned/womanned by volunteers from many clubs, thanks to AGs Pam Lupoli and Eileen Rau.
More news about PETS after this weekend.
ROTARY ROCKS1111111

Relief for Haiti

For those of you who keep telling me you cannot see any evidence of ShelterBox in Haiti
If you go to the East Hartford club's website, www.easthartfordrotary.org, look on left side of the homepage, and under club links, scroll down to rotary on youtube, click link to see Mark Pearson of ShelterBox in Haiti.

The Rotary International youtube videos change fairly frequently; so, please do this at your earliest convenience, assuming you are interested.

Another lively Rotary week.  In our district, pre-PETS was on Thursday, February 11th.  A very successful meeting thanks to persistence of incoming governor, Prasad Menon.  Registration for NEPETS10 opened that afternoon, and that's when all the "fun" began for me as Registration Chair.
As of today, we have 441 Rotarians signed up for this event, 75% of our target, with two weeks to go.

Hope all is well in your Rotary whirled.

Gearing up for PETS (the Presidents-elect Training Seminar)

All presidents and presidents-elect have been invited to this Thursday's Pre-PETS  (an introduction to  the Presidents-elect Training Seminar) and the mid-year Presidents Meeting!
This is an exciting time in the district, an opportunity for the current presidents and their successors to meet with club leaders from all around District 7890.
As District Governor-nominee, I am involved only to support both Governor Herb and incoming Governor Prasad.  Among other duties, I serve as Registration Chair for the Northeast Multidistrict PETS Committee in mid-March.  This is no small task as there are over 500 attendees plus many senior leaders from around the Rotary world to inspire and train incoming presidents for Rotary year 2010-2011.
If you are a club president-elect, your invitation should reach you via email about 5 PM on Thursday, February 11th.  All meals, plenary sessions and breakout sessions for presidents-elect will occur at the Radisson, while most sessions for Assistant Governors will occur at the Courtyard Marriott.
Watch for the invitation from PETS Chair Steve Silverman, open it, and register ASAP for the best chance to room at the Radisson Hotel, one of the two hotels housing attendees at this event.  Another way to increase your chances of being assigned to the Radisson, as well as to save some money, is to opt to room with another president-elect.
See you Thursday at the Clarion in West Springfield, then on to PETS, March 11, 12 and 13 in Nashua, New Hampshire.

Rotary Leadership Institute on youtube

Copy and paste the url here below into your browser for a good overview of the Rotary Leadership Institute.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okvXmwiOkCc

If you have never attended a session of the Rotary Leadership Institute(RLI), consider signing up for one this spring.
For more information as well as a schedule of sessions in our area, go to
http://www.rlinea.com/

Update from Haiti; biggest deployment in four years

The Biggest Deployment of ShelterBoxes in Four Years, Saving Lives One Box at a Time -- Emergency shelter for more than 20,000 people is now in Port au Prince and surrounding areas with small camps in Delmas, Petion-Ville, Carrefour and Leogane. More ShelterBoxes containing disaster relief tents and other life-saving
supplies are being sent to the Haiti in the next few days from Miami, Curucao and France with enough for an another 11,000 people.

“Nearly 100 tons of additional aid is being flown to Haiti this week as thousands of people who lost their homes in the devastating earthquake are being given the chance to start rebuilding their lives in ShelterBox tents” said Veronica Brandon Miller, Executive Director of ShelterBox USA.

“The need in Haiti is massive. Our team in Port au Prince is working with Dutch marines to ensure the safe and effective delivery of disaster relief tents and hundreds of these are already being used in four different locations,” John Leach, Head of Operations for ShelterBox. “Distribution of aid by our highly-trained ShelterBox Response Team members is underway but the need for emergency shelter
is still desperate.”

A number of ShelterBoxes have also been used at an orphanage and at two hospitals in Port au Prince where tents are being erected to help save lives.

Speaking from Bernard Mews Hospital in Freres, a suburb of Port au Prince, ShelterBox Response Team member Wayne Robinson (volunteer from Tennessee ) said, “Right outside the hospital there have been hundreds of people who have been laying in the sidewalks, on the streets and in blankets right on the ground in unbelievable conditions. They are bleeding, they have missing limbs and there are even women giving birth. We felt this was a good use of the initial boxes that we had here on the ground and we’ll be bringing more here and using them as a transitional point to get people out of the elements while they are waiting for treatment at the hospital.”

Public donations are vital to ShelterBox’s continuing work around the world. To make a donation go to www.shelterboxusa.org to donate online and get the latest updates on the charity’s response to the Haiti earthquake.

Governor-elect Prasad Menon planning for 2010-2011

The International Assembly, final training for all incoming district governors, has ended. Now, the DGEs are armed with their theme for 2010-2011 -- important as it helps the district and our clubs establish goals for the year.
Go to www.rotary.org to find out more about the theme, incoming Rotary International President Ray Klingensmith's goals, articulated in the theme, the Presidential Citation brochure, and many of the emphases at the International Assembly.
If you are a current club president or a president-elect, be sure you are signed up for pre-PETS, morning of Thursday, February 11th. There, you will find out more about the upcoming year and be inspired by Past Rotary International Vice-president, Mike McGovern, to achieve this year's goals and work on next year.

Update from Haiti; witness to Boxing Day says, "worse than the tsunami."

ShelterBoxes are being packed around the clock. Hundreds of ShelterBoxes that were dispatched from the prepositioned stock in Curacao on Wednesday are due to touch down in Haiti late this afternoon, Haitian time. More ShelterBoxes are set to arrive in Port au Prince, Haiti later this week.

Since ShelterBox is the largest Rotary Club project in world – local Rotarians in Haiti have played a vital part in obtaining clearance for ShelterBox to land and get the life saving aid into the country.

ShelterBox Response Team (SRT) members David Eby (US), Wayne Robinson (US) and Mark Pearson (UK) have been in Port au Prince since Thursday and have been working nonstop assessing the most effective ways to distribute the much needed aid.

[To view a recent video of Wayne Robinson on the ground in Haiti, copy and paste this URL into your browser --
http://video.foxnews.com/v/3969588/shelter-boxes-distributed-in-haiti/?playlist_id=87249
PLEASE BE PATIENT. It takes a couple of minutes to download.]

A second Response Team, consisting of SRT members Mark Dyer (IL) and John Lacquey (FL) are in Miami, coordinating the ShelterBox logistical effort into Haiti from there. They will be joined later today by SRT member Ian Neal (UK) who will be traveling with the ShelterBoxes which are being shipped through Miami.

‘So much destruction’

SRT Mark Pearson, who was one of the first on the ground after the Indian Ocean Tsunami, said: “This is worse than the tsunami. It’s utter chaos at the airport. Buildings have been completely destroyed, the hospital has been destroyed. It’s a full scale emergency, there’s so much destruction.”

For those of you who like youtube videos, here is a short one from shelterboxusa.org
(copy the line below and paste into your browser).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s19-2PJWqqU

Haiti -- can you help?

Emergency disaster relief and shelter provision for more than 19,000 people is en route to earthquake-struck Haiti.  Tens of thousands dead, even more left homeless and scenes of chaos; this is the picture coming out of the Caribbean island of Haiti.

If you want to help, first go to  www.shelterboxusa.org  and www.shelterbox.org  find out for yourself, what is being done and what you can do.

In District 7890, a fund has been established to support sending both medical supplies and shelter -- the most immediate needs.  Ask your club president for details.

First Full Week of 2010

Rang out the old year, hopefully with some end-of-year contributions to our Rotary Foundation, and now the new is underway.
For those of us in the District Governor "track," governor-elect Prasad Menon, myself, the governor-nominee, and governor-nominee-designee Eileen Rau, the focus was a day in Nashua, NH, where we joined others on the Northeast Multidistrict Presidents-elect Training Seminar (NE PETS) Planning Committee, meeting with leaders around New England who have agreed to help train this year's class of incoming presidents.  For our district, and the other seven districts we join, leadership training is a major task, but something Rotary takes very seriously.
Prasad and his wife, Sree, will be heading to San Diego third week of this month for a final training session for incoming governors before he embarks on training his presidents.  That process begins with pre-PETS the morning of Thursday, February 11th.  Attending is an absolute must for incoming presidents who will meet with Prasad and current presidents who will have their mid-year meeting with Governor Herb.
If you have not registered for this, you can find the form via a link from the district website --
http://www.rotarydistrict7890.org/docs/2010-Pre-Pets-PresMtg.pdf
So, back to the week -- hopefully, yours began with a great club meeting.  Our club welcomed Rotarian Steve Bates, a member of East Hartford and an accountant, to alert us to significant tax changes affecting all of us this year.  Excellent program for a business group.  If you do not do something akin to this, talk to your program chair.  It's not a yawner!
After working on some bylaws proposals with DGE Prasad (you'll hear more about those in the next few months), I prepared for a meeting of the Northeast Link Committee today (Sunday).  Did you know we have a multidistrict group which helps Rotary-Foundation-supported scholars as well as Group Study Exchange (GSE) teams know more about Rotary before they embark on a month or year abroad.  It's a very critical training program, and one which will increase in importance as we adapt to some changes being made over the new few years by The Rotary Foundation.
It is very important if any of you are Foundation alums (former scholars, GSE team members) that you attend these meetings; share your experiences with folks who are heading out in the next few months.
To read more about Northeast Link and the days when you can participate in these events, go to
http://www.northeastlink.org/
If you know you want to attend the meeting for the GSE teams, especially if you are an alum of a team and can share your experiences, please go directly to the online registration
http://www.northeastlink.org/html/nel_rotreg_2.shtml
So, it's been a busy week.  Business, since I am not retired, actually must be tended, but my being self-employed has helped meet the demands of the Rotary world.  A great world!