Salem Rotary - The Spoke - Archive (Feb 3, 2009)

*Editor's Note* I had limited notes for this week's meeting. John Neely did ask for a moment of silence for several Rotary Exchange Students in Portland, Oregon. Below is detailed information regarding the incident and how to help the impacted families.

The Rotary Club of Clackamas, Oregon, USA, and Rotary International District 5100 (parts of Oregon and Washington, USA) have established memorial funds after two Rotary Youth Exchange students were killed and five others wounded in a shooting outside an underage nightclub on 24 January in Portland.

The two victims, Ashley Lauren Wilks, 16, of Happy Valley, Oregon, and Martha Paz De Noboa, 17, of Arequipa, Peru, were at the club to celebrate a birthday with nine fellow exchange students when the incident took place. The five injured students have all been released from the hospital.

District 5100 has established a fund to help defray some of the medical and travel costs incurred by the victims, their families, and the host families. Any funds remaining after paying these expenses will continue as the Martha (Tika) Paz De Noboa Memorial Scholarship Fund.

The Clackamas Rotary club has set up a memorial scholarship fund at Clackamas High School, where Wilks was a student. The club's foundation will define the criteria for applications with Wilks' interests and motivation in mind. Wilks, a straight-A student, was hoping to spend her senior year in France or Spain.

Contributions for the District 5100 fund can be sent to the following address:

Portland Rotary Charitable Trust for Youth Exchange
Attn: January 24 Fund
619 SW 11th Avenue, Suite 123
Portland, OR 97205

Contributions to the Ashley Wilks scholarship fund can be sent to the following address:

The Clackamas Rotary Foundation
c/o Thomas Joseph
PO Box 601
Clackamas, OR 97015

The five injured students are:

They include: 18-year-old Ana Zambrano Soledispa, from Ecuador; 18-year-old Gonzalo Vasquez Orozco, from Guatemala; 18-year-old Trista Chang, from Taiwan; 16-year-old Anne Sophie Rialland from France; and 18-year-old Susanna De-Sousa, from Italy.

Susanna was "shot several times" and was initially in critical condition. Her parents immediately flew from Italy to Portland.

Program for the February 3rd Meeting:

It was our club's privilege to host the Literacy Leadership Awards for Collins Middle School Students. Below is picture with all of the award recipients and President Dave.

Pictured Back Row: Maureen Regan, Michelle Aroko, Salem Rotary President
Dave Wescott, Alison Palmer, and Lucia Ozoria.
Front Row: Fallon Burke, Ashley White, Casey Ryan, and Diego Fellows.

Events to be aware of -- Save the Dates

Rotary Auction – March 6^th

District Conference – May 1^st and 2^nd

Upcoming Speakers: 2/10/09 – Adam Knowles, Mediation Program

Please visit the calendar section of our web site

for additional important dates.

And now a few announcements....

Board Meeting – February 17th

Quote of the Week:

“Reading is to the mind is what exercise is to the body.”

~Sir Richard Steele

Stumpers

This week's stumper:

In "Rotary Speak" what does PETS mean?

Last week's stumper:

In "Rotary Speak" what is NID

Answer to last week's stumper:

National Immunization Day

Happy Birthday to: ......

Please email all announcements to be added to the Spoke and/or feedback to salem_rotary@yahoo.com by Noon on Wednesday. Also, feel free to contact any of the committee members listed below.

Committee Chair: Brenda Smith

Editors: Brenda Smith

Photos: John Quinn (Jay Cue), Trip Mason and File

Graphics and Photo Editing: Rich Eisner

Members: Denise Flynn, Jim Haskell and Sandy Heaphy