Rotary Bulletin for May 20, 2014
Rotary Bulleting for May 20, 2014
Rotary Bulletin for May 20, 2014
Last Week’s Program: Our program was provided by our exchange student Alejandra Wurtz Santos. His home is in Xicotepec, Mexico with his mother and two siblings.
Members of our club first met Ale many years ago during the annual spring work trip. Ale’s father was a long time Rotarian and was very active in the Rotary projects. He died four years ago but Ale and his family remains involved.
Ale mentioned that it was a large adjustment coming from his high school in Xicotepec which has approximately 200 students in a class Valley where he has nearly 600 students in his class.
During his time in Iowa, Ale has had a tremendous number of opportunities and experiences. While in school, he participated in many typical school related activities including participating in fall and spring plays, speech contest, attending football games, homecoming and prom, all while maintaining the connections to other exchange students through the Rotary district meetings.
Outside activities included working at our club’s farmers market orange juice stand, a trip to the Iowa State Fair (food on a stick anyone?), trips to Chicago, Las Vegas, Florida and also a hunting trip to North Dakota.
Ale has participated in various holidays while in the states including Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Eve with friends and family from Rotary Club and school. He also had his first experiences with ice skating and snow.
He plans to attend college in his native state of Puebla, Mexico. He is undecided on a major although it was suggested by Tom Narak and Chris Nelson that Ale has a future as a diplomat.
When asked to identify some things that he missed or that were different from his home, he mentioned the absence of public transportation here in the states and also the difference in the food. Although he has yet to find anything in the U.S. that he did not like, he misses “real tacos”.
Tom reminded us that the club provides a financial support for the host families and Tom Narak and Chris Nelson both spoke glowingly of their experiences as host families throughout the years.
At the conclusion of the meeting, Ale received a significant honor in recognition of all that he has done to foster international understanding – he was made a Paul Harris Fellow. Official records will have to be researched, but unofficially I can comfortably say that this is a first for our club and it could not have been given to a more worthy person. Congratulations to Ale and thank you for spending this time with us.
Also, thanks to Tom and Carol Narak for being such a wonderful host family and all the members of the club for their support during the year.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Harold Hulleman reported on a recent bike giveaway. Also he could use some more bikes and some help working on the bikes.
Farmers Market Orange Juice Stand: While it was a cool day on Saturday, steady were reported throughout the morning. We need some help filling shifts on the next couple of Saturdays. Please check the Rotary Google calendar for details.
Member Naura Godar had a baby son, Franklin Joseph. Congratulations to all! We will be looking forward to a visit from Naura and Franklin in the coming weeks.
President Tom mentioned a Des Moines Register article earlier today reporting that he downtown Des Moines club was one of the first clubs to welcome female members in the late 1980s. Owen Newlin was the president of the downtown club at that time. As many of you know, Owen is a frequent visitor to our club. Congratulations to the downtown club and thanks to Owen for your leadership.
President Tom reminded us that there is a city wide Rotary meeting on June 20th. It will be a breakfast meeting at the Olmstead Center on the Drake campus. This meeting will take the place of our regular meeting that week.
It was also announced that the groundbreaking took place for the Rotary Park on the Riverwalk on May 15th.
Chris Nelson reported that in order to have an exchange student next year, we still need to have a host family or families.
Pat Grodt reported that greeters are needed for the following weeks: May 27th, June 10th, June 17th and June 24th. Please contact Pat for more details.
Three Minute Speaker/Sergeant at Arms:
Al Cross, native of Mt. Ayr, Iowa went to business college where he learned to be an accountant. Over the years, he has also been an entrepreneur and has been an investment advisor for the last 15 or 20 years. As hobbies, Al enjoys woodworking and is a fan of softball and hockey. Al has a daughter and two grandchildren who live in Decorah. (Note: Al is a past president of our club, and serves as the website manager.)
As bit on trivia of Al’s life that you may not know, as a young man in Mt. Ayr, he occasionally served as the announcer at the Ringgold County Speedway. As a treat, Al favored us with a call from the racetrack. (Was it real, or memorex? Only Al knows)