MEETING OF APRIL 24, 2003 By Dick Blanding
Dick Blanding, EditorSongmaster Alan Lambert adroitly averted embarrassment today, (having arrived completely songless), with the brilliant idea of singing our good old standby, SMILE. Lots of new Rotarians seemed to notice the joy on the faces of the old timers, and began picking up the words themselves, thus beginning a whole new cycle.
Tracie Murray delivered the moving and memorable admonition of years ago, by JFK: “Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, to assure the survival and the success of liberty.”
Visiting Rotarian Charles Kendrick, from England, says he’s going to take back a T-shirt about California that says, “Been there, done that, bought the raincoat.” (A somewhat embarrassed California Sun reappeared in full force by the meeting’s end.)
Meg Solera announced the big LAHS Interact Club car wash, going on this Sunday, April 27th, from noon till 4 p.m. It’s at the McDonalds parking lot on El Monte, near El Camino. Bring your muddy car and $7!
Ellen and Joe got everyone’s attention, as they appeared sans ukuleles in their authentic Hawaiian costumes, right down to the coconut shells. It was to remind us all of the big auction next week, with a condo in the islands as one of the items. Proceeds go to the fight against polio campaign, which now stands at over $36,000.
President-elect Al is looking for help to set up early, around ten a.m. next week, for our big outdoor fish fry luncheon at Shoup Park. Give Al a call if you can come early and help.
Check your calendar to see if you’re free to help sell Chef Chu’s famous chicken salad in our booth at the LAVA art and wine fair on July 12th.
Steve Shepherd announced that the Community Services Agency is having its eighth annual golf tournament at Shoreline Golf Links on Friday, May 30, and applications are available from Steve or the Bank of Los Altos. He also said that the annual golf and barbeque event still has room for anyone who wants to go to the barbeque at Steve Anderson's home, starting at 6:30 p.m.
Our speaker today was Judge Len Edwards of the Superior Court, Santa Clara County. He is Supervising Judge of the Child Protection Court. He was a co-founder of Child Advocates locally, and a number of related professional organizations. He is the first California judge to hold the position of President of the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges.
Judge Edwards presented an update on the world of abused and neglected kids. He recently swore in at the 1000th child advocate here last year. The local group, which includes several members of LARC, is the largest one of its kind in the country. He spoke of over a million abandoned kids in Brazil, and his efforts to stimulate foster homes for them; by promoting the concept that “Kids need families, not institutions.” His efforts have produced results in recent years. Three months ago folks in Sao Paulo started the first child advocate program in South America, and volunteers from the community are beginning to speak out on the need. They also created the first foster care program in South America, and churches and politicians are beginning to join in the effort.
Here in our county, roughly a thousand kids a year enter the care system. The typical mother is a 23-year-old Latina addicted to methamphetamines for eight years, with two kids by different fathers, one of which is in jail. Judge Edwards now has a drug assessor in the courtroom, and the mother is told that she can regain custody of her children in as little as two months, if she has cleaned up from drug use. He said 75% of families involved are on drugs.
He described a program provided by a private company named EMQ, which is called “wraparound service.” The company was hired to take on the ten worst cases of incorrigible kids in the county. Incredibly, their technique produced a 95% success rate in rehabilitating these toughest kids. The idea is to keep the kids in the community (versus institutionalizing them), but with lots and lots of supervision, perhaps even an adult watching their every move at school, and to offer a lot of interface time with concerned adults. They’ve found that once the kid has related to one adult that he feels he can trust, everything changes for the better.
Right now, about 2700 kids are in care in our county. By contrast, Los Angeles, with five times our population, has ten times that number, and Sacramento has twice the number with a lower population. San Francisco is by far the worst in this area.
The good news is that Judge Edwards, the care system, and the many volunteers involved, are currently succeeding in reuniting more than half of the kids involved with their families, and another 25% go to live with relatives, mostly grandparents.
Give Bud or Anne Oliver a call if you’d like to join them in helping this wonderful Child Advocate program work.
Message from Bud Oliver: During Judge Leonard Edwards talk he extended an invitation to visit his court. This would be a real learning experience and I encourage you to consider this invitation.
It could be challenging and time consuming finding out when Judge Edwards is in town, his court schedule, location of the court room, finding parking, getting through security, finding his court, etc. I would be willing to organize a group to visit his court and make the arrangements. If we have more than 4 or 5 people, which is probably the max for one visit, we could schedule another visit.
If you are interested please call or email me. Suggest putting 'Judge Edwards' or 'Rotary' in the subject category because we are getting so much junk mail that we often delete if we are not sure who it is from.
Another option. If you have interest in visiting the Children's Shelter and/or Child Advocate office on the same day, this could be arranged too. Let me know.
Looking forward to hearing from you.
Bud OliverPrograms and Events
May
May 1: Rotary Salmon Picnic, Garden House Picnic Grove, Grill. Program topic: Fish Stories and Live Auction.
May 8: Partners for a New Generations, Appreciation Luncheon
May 9: Golf Tournament, 10:00 AM at Shoreline Golf Links, Mountain View
May 15: Cheryl Houts, Community Librarian, Los Altos Library - Topic: "The Los Altos Library in 2003 and Beyond"
May 17 and 18: Rotary Fine Art Show
May 22: George Koo, Director of Chinese Services Group, Deloitte & Touche - Topic: " Economic Integration of Greater China and Implications for California".
May 29: Scholarship Awards ProgramOTHER ROTARY CLUB MEETING PLACES
MONDAY
Palo Alto: Rickey's Hyatt House, 12:15 p.m.
TUESDAY
Los Altos Sunset: The Echo Restaurant, Los Altos, 7:15 p.m.
Sunnyvale: Ramada Inn, 12:15 p.m.
Mountain View: Adobe House, Moffett & Central, Mountain View, 12:15 p.m.
WEDNESDAY
Menlo Park: Menlo Park Recreation Center, Menlo Park, noon.
Woodside/Portola: Woodside Village Church, Woodside, 7:30 a.m.
Sunnyvale Sunrise: Wild Woodys Grill, Sunken Gardens Golf Course, 7 a.m.
Cupertino: Quinlan Community Center, 12:15 p.m.
East Palo Alto Bayshore: Starbucks, Home Depot EXPO Shopping Center, East Palo Alto, 12:15 p.m.
THURSDAY
Yosemite: The Ahwahnee Hotel, Noon
FRIDAY
Palo Alto University: Sheraton, El Camino, Palo Alto, 7:30 a.m.
Lake Tahoe: Harvey's Hotel, 12:15 p.m.
"Information in this newsletter is intended for the exclusive use of the members of the Rotary Club of Los Altos to facilitate the work of the club and to promote club fellowship. It is not to be used for any commercial or outside, unrelated, non-profit purposes. No publication of material in this newsletter should occur without the express permission of the club President or the Editor of the Rotator."Copyright 2003 The Los Altos Rotary Club
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