President Christy Manning and Art Harrington pictured with our speaker, Ron Williams. Ron Williams, who hosts our Interact Crutches 4 Africa collection site for nortthern AZ at his Ponderosa Mini-Storage, and who has twice served as an Adult Advisor to our Interact Ambassadors to Mexico team. described for our club his experiences with ALEM, the incredible group of wheelchair-bound wheelchair mechanic, based in Cuernavaca, Mexico. Our Rotary club has had close ties ton this project for a number of years. While we did not create it, recognizing its success in its service of repairing and rebuilding the cheelchairs of thousands of Mexico's disabled poor, when the opportunity was presented in 2019 to expand the program by creating an extension "Jazz My Chair" unit in the Mexico City area, uniting the efforts of multiple clubs and districts, and utilizing a Rotary Foundation Global Grant, our club stepped up and volunteered to serve as the Internatuonal Partner for that grant. Ron shared with us the need to replace the worn-out specially-equipped van, which has been used since the beginning by the ALEM technicians to repair wheelchairs in the towns and villages of 6 states in central Mexico. The anticipated cost to replace it with another used vehicle, which will be in more serviceable condition is $60,000. A committed supporter of the program in Pennsylvania has offered to fund half of that cost, if other supporting clubs and individuals who believe in what ALEM has been accomplishing, will contribute the remaining $30,000. So far $10,000 has been raised toward that goal, with $20,000 still needed. Ron appealed to our clubs and our members to help meet this need, Ron told us that both he and John Stewart have led the way with their personal contributions. This has become a major feature of Rotary's Brand: We are People of Action, who know how to get things done — and we persist until we get it done. As the result, Rotary has become the world's most respected "Can Do" service organization, and other organizations and governmental entities are eager to partner with us to solve problemds and meet needs. We don't try to do it all, but Rotary leads the way in geting it done! COMMUNITY SERVICE Marsha Teller is looking for volunteers to help with the Flags Installation for the Healing Fields. The service project will be in Prescott Valley on Friday, September 6th at 6:45 a.m. Let Marsha know if you would like to be a part of Sunup Rotary's team that will be helping with this project YOUTH SERVICE OUR INTERACT AMBASSADORS TO KENYA ARE BACK! Interact District Governor Anise Carroll Covarrubias and her team of Interact Ambassadors to Kenya ariving back in Phoenix on Sunday afternoon. After it took them 45 minutes to clear Customs at Sky Harbor, the team emerged wearing their Shukas — a colorful part of the traditional dress of the Maasai Tribe in Kenya. And they brought back a Shuka which they presented to Art. A few of the disabled poor in Kenya, to whom our Interact Ambassadors were able to give the priceless Gift of Mobility. INTERNATIONAL SERVICE EXPANDING OUR JAZZ MY CHAIR PROJECT TO MEXICO CITY Erik Friend said it best in his post about the launching of our expanded Jazz My Chair Project in the Mexico City area: "This has been a process long in the making - and it is historic. ALEM has been on the road with the Jazz my Chair program for 12 years, traveling from coast to coast in central Mexico. We have repaired somewhere around 25,000 wheelchairs. All this has been done by our single team of 10 people with disabilities. Today, a small group of people with disabilities in Mexico City responded to our call, and they are opening a shop in Ciudad Neza, sometimes referred to as the largest slum in the world. Román, Pedro & Mario, Sinoe & Emmanuel will also be accompanying us on Jazz my Chair clinics across Mexico City and will eventual take over that region themselves. You will get to know them; they are dedicated, enthusiastic and very skilled. Thank you Rotary 4185-4170-5495-7450, Hope Haven West and all our supporters at Wellspring Karitas Foundation." Erik presents to Perdo Enrique Gomez his diploma for the completion of his technical training, as well as the training he received in customer service, basic administration and human relatiuons. Pedro will be one of the partners in the Mexico City Branch of ALEM. Erik expects to hold a formal inauguration of the space in Mexico City in early September. When I got to work this morning, my boss stormed up to me and said, “You missed work yesterday, didn’t you? I said, “No, not particularly.” __ I got a job at a paperless office. Everything was great until I needed to use the bathroom! __ Pregnant with my third child, I was stricken with a bout of morning sickness and lay down on the living-room couch to rest. Just then one of the workmen who was doing repairs in my house walked by and gave me a curious look.
"Taking a little break," I explained. "I'm in my first trimester."
"Really?" he said. "What's your major?" __ Although he was a qualified meteorologist, Hopkins ran up a terrible record of forecasting the weather for the TV news program.
He became something of a local joke when a newspaper began keeping a record of his predictions and showed that he'd been wrong almost three hundred times in a single year. That kind of notoriety was enough to get him fired.
He moved to another part of the country and applied for a similar job. One blank on the job application called for the reason for leaving his previous position.
Hopkins wrote, "The climate didn't agree with me."
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