Meeting December 17, 2015

Posted by Jeff Hata

Joe Strohman led us in the Flag Salute.

President Bruce presented Rene, Ericka and Edi with Christmas Tips for last year.

Guests and visiting Rotarians. Juan Mendoza introduced his brother Cesar who is visiting for the holidays from Mexico.

President Bruce let us know that the raffle and Inspirational Message were going to be done by Kathy McGee, but Kathy was stuck on the road due to a road closure.

Tim Hughes gave our joke of the week followed by President Bruce who gave our Inspirational Message in place of Kathy.

Dates to remember: December 30th, RI President K.R. Ravindran will be in the area for a cocktail reception and dinner. January 1st, make sure you are by your television set and watching the Rose Parade. In particular, be on the lookout for the Rotary float.

If you know someone who can be nominated for a Rotary Peace Fellowship, please let President Bruce know. We would like to have a nominee sponsored by the club this year.

Each year, Rotary selects up to 100 individuals from around the world to receive fully funded academic fellowships at one of our peace centers. These fellowships cover tuition and fees, room and board, round-trip transportation, and all internship and field-study expenses. In just over a decade, the Rotary Peace Centers have trained more than 900 fellows for careers in peace building. Many of them go on to serve as leaders in national governments, NGOs, the military, law enforcement, and international organizations like the United Nations and World Bank.

Two types of peace fellowships are available.

MASTER'S DEGREE

We offer master’s degree fellowships at premier universities in fields related to peace and conflict prevention and resolution. Programs last 15 to 24 months and require a practical internship of two to three months during the academic break. Each year, we award up to 50 master’s degree fellowships at these institutions:

Duke University and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA (fact sheet)
International Christian University, Japan (fact sheet)
University of Bradford, England (fact sheet)
University of Queensland, Australia (fact sheet)
Uppsala University, Sweden (fact sheet)

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT CERTIFICATE

For experienced professionals working in peace-related fields who want to enhance their professional skills, we offer a three-month program in peace and conflict prevention and resolution at Chulalongkorn University in Thailand (fact sheet). This program incorporates two to three weeks of field study. We award up to 50 certificates each year.

Rich Stewart and Vance Thompson thanked everyone for their help setting up and breaking down at the Christmas Party. The party was a great success and the play afterwards was very good.

Rafa Canton spoke briefly about why people freak out this time of the year!

Todd Juvonen let us know about our new invoice through email system. Attached to your invoice email is a pdf of your actual statement.

Bill Spellman asked for volunteers for Mock Interviews at Buena High School Career Center on January 7th at 7:00 am. Husam Hishmeh, Joe Strohman and Alison Thompson volunteered.

President Bruce asked for volunteers to help move the pallets left over from Poinsettia Delivery day. Husam Hishmeh was trying to locate a person to haul them away.

Midge Stork conducted the raffle and the winner was Carol Marquez-Olson.