Recap from the Jan. 9, 2023 Meeting.
 
Meeting Run by: Vice President- Mark Roberts
 
Invocation: Frank Iliff
 
 
Online Participation: We continue to offer a hybrid meeting each week. Members are invited to attend via zoom or watch the recorded presentation anytime. Thank you, Jessica Wittman, Jim Stein, Melanie Alexander, Bath Donald, and Dawn Sturm-Dodds, for joining us online for today’s meeting.
 
Happy News/Announcements:  All Happy News funds go towards our scholarship awards.
Naomi DeWinter- Thank you, Mark Roberts, for facilitating today’s meeting. Thank you, Carolyn Levin, for serving on the RAGAS grant committee to combat Human Trafficking. City and State Proclamations were signed acknowledging Human Trafficking Awareness and Prevention Month. And it is terrific to have Marv Krieger here with us today. Lindsey Phillips- January is National Mentoring Month raising awareness about the importance mentoring plays in children’s lives. Big Brothers, Big Sisters needs to recruit 5 more volunteers this month to secure federal program funding. Whom do you know that would make a great mentor?
 
Club News:
  • We have two board positions available. Please see Naomi for more information.
  • Wednesday, January 11- Wear Blue Day to bring awareness to the fight against Human Trafficking. Wear Blue and share your pictures on social media.  
  • IBAT- Businesses Against Human Trafficking- https://ibat.iowa.gov/ibat-businesses/ Thank you to the businesses that have committed to “Learn Something and Do Something” to help combat human trafficking.
  • We are looking for individuals interested in learning more about the Rotary Exchange program.  
  • Follow the Rotary Club of Muscatine’s Facebook page, @MuscatineRotaryClub.
 
Presentation:
Eric Adams- District Conservationist at the Muscatine field office with the Natural Resources Conservation Services. Eric is an Iowa State graduate with a BS in Agricultural Studies. Eric enjoys working on the family farm and arrowhead hunting.
Jessica Yuska- County Executive Director for Scott and Muscatine County Fram Service Agency under the USDA. Jessica is originally from South Minnesota and attended Iowa State University, where she met her husband, Chris. They currently have a home in LeClaire, where they live with their two children.
 
The Muscatine field office works primarily with farmers and landowners to administer cost-share programs to help them address resource concerns.  District Office employees are local, state, and federal employees. Upcoming activities- Scholarships applications for High School Seniors. They are assisting with Tree orders until April. Offering prescribed fire courses in March.
 
Jessica represents the Farm Service Agency, one of the many USDA agencies. Farm Services delivers the Federal Farm Program. The farm bill is set to expire this year. The discussion has started about the next progression of the farm bill. Farm service programs include Farm Loans for purchase or operating expenses and facility loans for crop and grain storage. All Programs follow conservation compliance guidelines. Local offices provide disaster assistance for farm owners and offer recommendations for navigating farm ownership and funding resources.
 
Missed Monday’s Meeting? Use the link below to enjoy the presentation recording.
 
Passcode: Rotary#1
 
Upcoming Meetings: Jan. 16- Rotary and Veteran Support, Jan. 23- Ed Morse Automotive Group
 
Welcome to Week 2 of RI’s Vocational Service Month.
 
After visiting two medical projects in Chennai, India, initiated by PDGs J Sridhar and S Muthupalaniappan, RID 3232, during their terms, TRF trustee chair Ian Riseley exclaimed, “What a wonderful, fabulous day it has been. All these medical facilities were made possible with the generosity of Rotarians who chose The Rotary Foundation to donate and do good in the world through our global grants.”
 
Launching the 82nd Orange Vision Centre at Vinayagapuram, a northern suburb of Chennai, on the premises of M N Eye ­Hospitals, Riseley noted that RID 3232 had availed/applied for 16 Global Grants worth $3.4 million in partnership with five other RI districts to set up 200 vision centers. “Project Orange is definitely a scalable, long-term sustainable initiative that will last for decades,” noted Riseley.  In the last year, the project team has seen ‘impactful results’ as the newly opened centers were now running operational profits, had turned self-sustainable, and each HVC (hybrid vision center) served around 60,000 people in the nearby areas, he said.
 
At present 36 clubs across seven RI districts and 10 foreign clubs and districts are involved in Project Orange which has an ambitious target of opening at least 1,000 HVCs in the next few years across India. While RC Chennai Towers has invested $10,000 at the new center, RC Chennai Capital has invested $50,000 for a cluster of 25 HVCs with PDG Muthu and spouse Kamala giving a Term Gift of $30,000 for this cluster being implemented with a GG worth $381,718. The Global partner is RC Bukit Jalil Kuala Lumpur, RID 3300. Earlier, inaugurating a dialysis center with five machines at the Cancer Detection Centre being run by the RYA Madras Cosmo Foundation, a local NGO, Riseley said as a “tenacious and determined leader”, IPDG Sridhar led from the front to set up 135 dialysis machines across 16 hospitals and medical centers in ­Chennai. “In this new center, small clubs have come together to do a GG project ($58,000) which will immensely benefit the people of Chennai,” he said. Fourteen small clubs led by RC Chennai Mugappair have pooled in $23,000 and PDG Abirami Ramanathan had contributed $36,000 as Term Gift for setting up the new dialysis center. Their Global partner is RC Carlingford, RID 9685, Australia.