Newsletter - Archive  Feb 25, 2010

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Editarian: Jerry Allen                                                                        

Club Photographer : Brad Mikel   Flower Power Group Photo-Joe Linhoff

Next Week

March 3, 2010

Thomas Strawser

Integrity for Happiness, Peace of Mind, and Great Relationships

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Rick Richard will be honoring new and additional Paul Harris Fellows next week and asks the awardees to make a special effort to attend the March 3 meeting.

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This Week

February 24, 2010

India Water Projects

Irv Buck, a retired career Air Force officer and member of the Parker Rotary Club, described two Rotary water projects in the Maharashtra State in India.  Irv has made 5 trips to the villages involved.  The villages are 115 KM north of Mumbai and are the poorest of the poor.  They were hunter gathers until recently when their area was denuded by clear cutting the forests.

The area experiences monsoons from June to September and then have no rain at all for the rest of the year.

One method for supplying water year around is water shed management.  Bundt's (water diverting drop structures) are used to bring water to ponding areas where the water soaks in raising the ground water 12-15 feet.

Another method is drilling borewells up to 100 metres deep.  Manual hand operated pumps with a large mechanical advantage are used to raise the water to the surface.

The project the Aurora Club is participating in is still on the drawing board.  It is in Kegva, a village of 1900 people, about 250-300 households. It is proposed to be $58,000.  Our club has pitched in $1,000.  Other clubs and RI have completed their commitments and are waiting for Coca Cola to complete the funding.

The original consultations are with the male elders.  As the training proceeds,  the audience becomes all female.

In addition to collaborating with village elders to find what they want and getting buy-in, education showing how to plant trees and other crops are necessary to create a sustainable micro eco-system.

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It is important to focus on the benefits of clean water:

Quelling childhood diseases.

Freeing women of the long trek carrying water everyday raises the standard of living as people can engage in more profitable activities.

Self-sustaining food production.

Improved nutrition.

Flower Power

Ev, Debbie, Jack, and friends picking and packing at The Colorado Garden and Home Show Sunday February 21.  8000 plants and flowers were pulled from displays, packed 8 to a box and loaded in semi- trailers to be distributed to retirement and nursing homes the next morning.

Aurora Rotarians participating were:

                         Susan Perkins                                            Jeff Apitz

                         Debbie and Jack Lynch                           Ron Miller

                         Wendy DeBell                                             Joe Linhoff

                         Doug Anthony                                            Ida Asp

                         Jerry Beabout      

Steve Brunston displaying one of the carnations that Marci distributed to Flower Power volunteers.  Flowers were distributed to Dayton Place and Cherry Creek Nursing Home.

The delivery teams were:

                              Paul Suss                                           Lynette Woodbury

                              Stephen Brunston                           Val Cunningham

                              Barbara Douglas                              Marci Sis

                              Deb Neeley                                        Jerry Beabout

                              Skip Schlenk                                     Debbie Lynch

Ida Asp updated her activies while Doug Anthony looks on. Ida is now participating in tennis, though so far it has just been shoveling snow off of the courts. Last weekend she participated in a skating weekend with the other district exchange students.  Ida's dad has decided to rent a Jeep for their southwest trip.

Patrick Lovett shared more health tips with regard to Heart Healthy Month.

Research has shown that a person's waist to hip ratio is a more accurate measure of risk of heart attack than Body Mass Index.  A ratio over .85 for women or .9 for men is subject for concern.  A wag in the audience said "all I need are bigger hips".

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Other Notes

Tom Nicholas will be attending PETS (President-Elect Training) Feb 27-8.

Central Interact will display picture boards in support of the Second Wind Fund whose purpose is to quell teen suicides.

The Rotary Club of Aurora gratefully acknowledges the sponsors who support our website Please click on the Sponsors name to visit their website and see what services and specials they offer. Aurora Chamber of Commerce Body Beautiful Collision Repair Dave Williams & Associates LLC Doug Evans Agency State Farm Insurance Edward Jones Ev Sequeira Wagner Law Office Craig Wagner YMCA of The Rockies Please click here to find out more about these sponsors.