Youth Services
Another fun meeting with lots of our activities symbolizing our support for the Community. We had two visitors both looking us over with the possibility of joining.
Pete Walker returned from a 3 week visit to the UK, Spain and Portugal. He had a birthday while abroad. Welcome back Pete.
Kris introduced Misty Alarcon who introduced our 4 Students of the Month for the past two months. They are Lindsey Ridgway, Emily Bartlett, Cierra Lee and Tyler Nielsen. Great young folks.
David Cesio announsed that we had a good turnout for the Salt Mine Food Distribution. Click for Salt Mine Pictures. He is exploring how we might plant trees for every member in accordance with the RI President Ian Riseley's plea to do so.
Dan auctioned off a PINK T-shirt publicizing the recent District Conference. There was some initial reluctance until our own Stan Nader opined that "Real Men Wear Pink" and won the bidding !! Way to go, Stan.Claire announced that we should all take note that Dan's Kickout will be on Thursday, June 28th at Turkey Creek. All members and spouses/significant others are invited, $30 each, sign up to come.
Dan reminded all that next week is the 5th Thursday, so we will be DARK at noon and the evening Social will be that evening, 5:30PM, at Dan and Sharon's house and will be a Hawaiian Luau. Let Dan and Sharon know if you have not signed up so they can plan.
Our speaker was Kris Wyatt providing an overview of Youth Services for our Club. We have so many busy activities related to youth in our community that Kris was barely able to cover half of the activities.
- Our Interact/Key Club at Lincoln HS was established in 1994 and is the 2nd largest in the District at 130. They have booked over 900 hours of Community Service, fund raised to buy half a Shelter Box and the Club will fund the other half. (it was noted that Shelter Box has been nominated for a Noble Peace Prize.)
- RYLA is Rotary Youth Leadership Awakening, the camp for High School Juniors about to be Seniors. It is a tremendous learning experience for the students with experiential exercises that challenge kids to overcome whatever holds them back. Most every RYLA student says it was "life altering".
- Book Buddies is our Literacy program where we bond with 3rd graders who are struggling with reading. Studies indicate that those who can't read well going into the 4th grade get left behind in higher grades. This program is designed to help those with reading difficulties and has resulted in much progress for the kids and a side benefit of giving kids the gratification of having an adult who cares over the entire school year. Creekside Oaks, our school, achieved the highest scores overall in the District, a great honor.
- Books for Bikes is another Literacy program to encourage Elementary students all of whom have reading goals. If they achieve those goals, they are entered into a drawing for a bike or a scooter. The award assemblies are wonderful times where the kids get so excited to hear the winner.
- We award several Scholarships to both High School grads and on-going College students. One of the Scholarships was established by deceased member Alan Bradford as an Endowment managed by our Foundation. He created this fund to encourage students to pursue careers in Engineering or Construction Management. One of the awardees, Cutter Morebeck, was our guest, and gave a short talk about his travels to Latin and South America prior to returning to his studies. He is ready to do great work in his profession and as Kris said, he's ready to help save the world and we are helping make that happen.
