On our Rotary District 5190 Facebook group, PDG Stacy Graham reminded us that Every minute of Every Day Rotary: feeds someone, houses someone, vaccinates someone, comforts someone, provides clean water to someone.  Often, we forget about all of our impact throughout the world. 

We are so fortunate to live in the Sierra Nevada Foothills where clean water flows. At our lunch meeting on August 8, it was great to hear from our global scholar, Wrenn Cleary, about her graduate work at Oxford University where she pursued her Master of Science in Water Science, Policy and Management. 

Oxford University has 25+ Rotary Global Scholars each year. Wrenn is in center.

Before leaving for Oxford, Wrenn was a Sierra Nevada Americorp Partnership (SNAP) specialist working with the South Yuba River Citizens League (SYRCL) as their river monitoring coordinator. Wrenn collected data for her thesis in the Aoos River Basin in Greece. The University of Ioannina provided her with lab space, a computer, software, and technical expertise about the area. She is now in the process of finishing her data analysis and writing. Then she will return to Greece to continue her work on a Fullbright Scholarship. It is indeed our privilege to be a part of supporting Wrenn’s education through a Rotary Global Scholarship. She is grateful to Rotary for the opportunity.

Community, our beautiful community, has been very much on my mind this past week. On Tuesday, I had the opportunity to greet a group of teachers from all over the United States who had come to gather at the National Exchange Hotel to hone their skill in teaching Spanish. It was so fun to give them some brochures from the Chamber of Commerce, raffle off a local gift basket, and tell them stories about our town. On Wednesday I went to the fair and had a chance to see the students with their animals and greet friends old and new.

Rotary International has designated the week of September 8–14 as “Community Week” where we are encouraged to partner with other service clubs on a particular project. With that in mind, we have an opportunity to join our friends from Kiwanis on Tuesday, September 10 from noon until 2:00 PM at Interfaith Food Ministries to pack 6,000 meals. I’m going to volunteer. They have a full crew, but if you would like to be on a “backup” list, please sign up or let me know.

Mark your calendars for some exciting things coming up. On Sunday, August 18 we will have Patio Patter beginning at 5:30pm  on Judy’s beautiful patio. You will get an email with her address separately. On Saturday, September 21 we will have our Lithium-ion battery recycling from 10am – 2pm at the Rood Center. On Sunday, October 20 from 12:30 – 4:30pm we will have our inaugural “Paws and a Cause” FUNdraiser for our community dogs and their humans. This is an all-hands-on-deck event. And, this week Paula Gleicher will share her craft talk with us at our social at Round Table Pizza. See you there!

Many thanks to those of you who volunteered at National Night Out on August 6. Here are some fun, colorful photos!