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Los Altos Rotary ClubHome of the Annual Rotary Fine Art ShowDecember 10th 2009 |
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Writer: Marlene Cowna - Photographer: Larry Madsen - Editor: Cindy Luedtke |
This Thursday's Program: Dec 17 2009
Mountain View HS Choral Group Holiday Music ![]() |
Thanks to the many Rotarians who help our meetings flow so smoothly all year.
This week the Greeters were ABBY AHRENS, RON PACKARD, and DAVID CASAS.
Sergeants-at-Arms were STEVE POMEROY and MIKE ABRAMS. Our ace
photographers were LARRY MADSEN and JERRY TOMANEK. After a lengthy Google
search, GEORGE STAFFORD gave us a very practical Thought for the Day: “Turn off
your electronic gadgets’ noise to enjoy the peace and quiet.”
Rudolph the blinkin’ Red -Nosed Reindeer arrived to sing his theme song while
looking a lot like JERRY MOISON.
Guests included Bob Denebeim of East Palo Alto Rotary who announced that this
year’s Group Study Exchangees will come from Brazil. VAL CARPENTER introduced
Karen Greguras of the PARC, Arts and Recreation Commission, STEVE YARBROUGH
introduced Barbara Small, DON HULL introduced Von Packard, JOHN MCDONNELL
introduced ballet teacher Ina Baher, and RICH CASEY introduced Dr. Art Ammann,
President of Global Strategies for HIV Prevention.
After some boisterous fellowship time, President TRACIE reminded us that the
handicapped parking spaces at Garden House are there for our handicapped members
and visitors.
She led off the announcements by recognizing three LARC members
who had just won
LA-LAH Joint Community Volunteer Service Awards:
Health Flash from JOHN CARDOZA: RotaCare will be giving H1N1 (swine) flu shots
to the general public next week from Monday the 14th through Tuesday the 22nd of
December at the RotaCare facility. All Rotarians are invited to
receive the vaccine. There is no cost although any contribution to RotaCare
would be greatly appreciated.
Hours are as follows:
Register early for the June 20-23, 2010 Rotary International Convention in Montréal, Québec, Canada and save big. After the Dec. 15 deadline, fees will rise, then rise again after March 31. You can register online at www.Rotary.org
Other Important Announcements:
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Finemistress, KENDRA collected dollars from:
RICH CASEY introduced today’s program: AIDS in Africa. The tragedy of the 15
million African children orphaned by AIDS was described by three leading
authorities.
Dr. Arthur Ammann, President of Global Strategies for HIV Prevention accepted a
$7,400 check from RICH, President of Los Altos Rotary AIDS Project which was
Global Strategies’ portion of the total $22,500 raised at RAP’s Nov. 11 Child
AIDS Prevention symposium in Palo Alto. Dr. Ammann diagnosed the first case of
pediatric AIDS at UC San Francisco and now leads Global Strategies’ efforts in
Liberia using counseling, treatment, and the medication Nevirapine to halt
mother-to-child transmission of HIV during the birth process. In Africa,
availability of AIDS treatment drugs for children is even slower than for
adults. The best treatment is thus prevention of mother-to-child transmission.
LARC’s Child AIDS Prevention project will continue to raise funds for better
health outcomes in Liberia.
At the two clinics that Dr. Ammann last visited, 560 women were counseled,
including 26 who tested HIV positive, all of whom received anti-retroviral
drugs. ALLART LIGTENBERG was instrumental in getting Tiburon Rotary Club and
Belair School to provide a commercial-sized solar cooker to Liberia.
Liberia is historically linked to America. In the 19th century, many freed
American slaves migrated to settle there. The only female president of an
African country, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia, is scheduled to speak here at
the Celebrity Speakers Forum in April, 2010.
The two speakers today were Ruthann Richter, Director of Media Relations at the
Stanford University School of Medicine and Karen Ande, co-authors of Face to
Face: Children of the AIDS Crisis in Africa showed documentary photos of Kenyan
children struggling, and eventually succeeding, to survive and even get an
education after losing their parents and a series of relatives and foster
parents to AIDS. Ruthann read a poem titled, “The Death Child” which describes
the feelings of an orphan who was wrongly called “a bad omen” because of his
many relatives who died of AIDS. 83% of HIV positive Kenyans do not even know
they are infected, and so the infections continue to circulate.
There are certainly heroes working for the AIDS orphans, people like Natasha
Martin of the Grassroots Alliance for Community Education who has personally
adopted and supports 200 orphans. Richter and Ande’s fundraising photo journal
of personal stories can be purchased online at
www.FaceToFaceInAfrica.com to
benefit grass roots organizations focused on AIDS in Africa. Today, $20 of their
$50 book sales was donated to RAP and their Child AIDS Prevention program.