Rotateller Rotary Club of Owego, NY
Tuesday, July 25, 2006 Gary Williams, Editor

GUESTS:

• Katherine English, guest of her mother/employer
• Wendy and Kendra Lounsberry (We certainly had a lot of attractive guests today)
• Cris and Carol Lauback, Caitlin’s parents

MUSIC:

Carolyn and Orv led us in “Smile” (It is interesting that this song was recorded in 2003 and the album has great reviews. I don’t see it mentioned anywhere that the song was written in 1919.)

FINES:

Ed fined everyone $1

• Who didn’t have their Rotary pin on
• Who did not spend time cleaning up after the flood

Al Bingley asked the person who selected the now carpet to contribute $1

Al Sunderwirth thanked people for signing up to help with Bike Tioga

Relay-for-Life: Harry walked from midnight to 2:00 AM by himself.

Congratulations to Lois Bingley on becoming a US citizen

Highlights of the Owego Rotary July 2006 board meeting, July 20, 2006

June attendance: 70%; 21 with 100% attendance. Total - 58 members at the end of June.

Maria Dixson accepted the position of vice-president, and Karla Johnson has been named new board member to take Maria’s place for term 2006-2008.

Approved 5 scholarships at $85 each to fund Waterman’s Conservation Summer Camp.

Ransom Park Pumpkin Festival 9/30/06: no decision but any activity should involve the two Interact Clubs.

A letter of resignation was received from Bob Korba, who will be away for eight months of each year in retirement. With regret, Bob’s resignation was accepted. A letter accepting his resignation with regret, thanking him for his service and with an offer for a letter of referral to another Rotary Club will be sent.

Support for local flooding disaster victims –

• A. Financial: $100 was contributed to the local relief effort in the form of gloves and masks purchased by Owego Rotary and given to the Red Cross. This will be taken care of by Terry.

• B. Physical: 1) physical assistance might not be needed yet by our own members. They will let us know when they are ready for help. 2) Waterman Center will require help at the Brick Pond and at Hiawatha Island. Merlin will work out the dates. 3) We will look at United Way, working through Tioga Opportunities, to get help out. It was pointed out that many non-profits have lost much of their major fund-raising opportunities because of flooding and will not have a way to replace the money, so needs will be compounded this year.

Jan presented the Balance Sheet as of June 30, 2006, showing approximately $12,000 in the treasury. Scholarships @$1000 each were paid to Carolyn Orth and Jennifer Brink. Jan will give an accounting of the amount raised for donations to help soldiers in Iraq and Mike Wold will be asked to buy the goods and see they are shipped to soldiers in Iraq.

Youth Services reports that the first host families are arranged for the two students arriving in August. Other families are still being sought. Membership – the Thursday morning group will become the Membership Committee. One meeting per month will address membership strategies and concerns.

District Governor Mark Kriebel will visit Owego Rotary Tuesday, October 3, 2006.

CLUB ANNIVERSARIES:

June:

July:

RAFFLE:

Hal reminded everyone to sell and that he had more tickets when you need them

INCOMING STUDENTS

• Suzanne Schagen lands at Binghamton on August 22 at 6:48 PM
• Kora Mrilalini Siddhartha lands at Binghamton on August 14 at 7:16 PM
• Caitlin just told us how important it is to be greeted when you first arrive.

PROGRAM:

Laura introduced Caitlin Lauback who made one of the best presentation we have heard from a returning student. She spend her year in Brazil – three hours north of Sao Paulo.

She told us about leaving and the travel. On her third day in the country, she addressed her host club in Portuguese after her host family helped her with a translation

At the end of her first week, she was in school at a private, Catholic school. Caitlin said that most children attend private schools. It was difficult to make friends at school at first. Part of this was the age difference. Part of it is that there are few school activities to be with the students. There is much less hanging around. The students all go home for lunch. They did get together for barbeques in the country. Coke is the beverage of choice.

Her first host family was very busy and didn’t have that much time to spend with her.

Her second family was large and she really became involved. She was there over the summer vacation, so she went with them to the beach. They celebrated Christmas there and they had a stocking for her. It is common to go to the beach for New Years. There are fireworks on the beach. You make a wish to for good luck, you then jump 7 waves. You wear white for peace and gold for prosperity. You also hold dollars for luck.

In her third family, she had two siblings who went to New Zealand as exchange students.

She went to four conferences while she was in Brazil. San Paulo is one of the world’s largest cities. She got to visit Bueno Aires and was pleased that she could understand Spanish from her knowledge of Portuguese.

She went to the Iguassu Falls on the border of Argentina and Brazil.

She talked about the best time and age to be an exchange student and shared that it would be difficult to go back to high school after this growth experience.

Steve asked her about the attitude towards the US and she shared that it covered the spectrum. She was asked about Bush and she tactfully ducked political questions. The American students were careful not to flaunt the flag as students from some other countries did.

She loves the Portuguese language

I was sorry that I had to duck out early.

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