We Will Make
a Difference for Myanmar Refugees
The Mohawk
Valley has earned a reputation as a welcoming place for
people displaced by oppression, political instability,
or persecution. Democratic protests in Myanmar (the
former Burma) are being put down by an oppressive
government, and many refugees have come to our area.
Utica Rotary's 2007 Make a Difference Day project will
be to collect needed supplies for Myanmarese families
relocating to this area. These items will be collected
at Twin Ponds at each club meeting throughout October -
trash bash, new sponges, paper towels, bathroom/kitchen
cleaner, toilet bowl brushes, dish soap, shower
curtains, light bulbs. Other items needed to furnish a
new living space will also be accepted.
Thanks to
PP Dave Jones and the Urban Concerns Committee for
bringing to us this opportunity to serve.
_________________________________________________
Group Study
Exchange Team Arrives from India
Our district
has welcomed a team of five professionals sponsored by
Rotary District 3200 as part of our 2007-08 Group Study
Exchange. D3200 was formed in 1991-92 and has at present
169 Clubs and a membership strength of 5903 Rotarians.
The Clubs are spread over part of the southern Indian
states of Kerala and Tamilnadu. The larger cities in our
RI District are Coimbatore, Tirupur, Calicut and Cochin.
Team members
are (starting with the photo at the top, then working
down, left to right): Rtn. Na. Mathayan, the
Rotarian team leader, and operator of a computer
education center; Hemamalini Suresh a faculty
member at the PSG Institute of Management in Coimbatore,
Sonika Vikraman, an interior designer, avid
athlete, and proprietor of an interior designing firm
called “Designare”, Mr. Mohanasundaram, manager
of two luxury hotels in Erode, and Vinla Rajagopal,
a lawyer by education, and an educational administrator
by profession, and a native of Kannur.
Jim
Turnbull and our GSE Committee are arranging for the
team's visit to our area beginning October 16. We will
need host families to house team members during their
stay with us, and we welcome ideas for the vocational
days that our committee is setting up for the team.
Please see Jim if you would like to help with this
international Rotary project.
