When: We meet Friday mornings from 7:00 AM to 8:00 AM.
Where: We meet at the Mequon Public Market, 6300 W Mequon Rd, Mequon, WI 53092.
Program: This week's program will feature Doug Podzilni - President Hollander Chocolate Company.
The greeter will provide either the thought, a Rotary minute, share a family moment or a cultural tradition ... anything they would like to start off the day positive.
Upcoming "It's your Rotary moment" assignees:
David Petrulis (3/31)
Mika Frank (4/7)
Steve Peterman (4/14)
Brain Monroe (4/21)
Judine Phillips (4/28)
Note: If you are unable to act as "It's your Rotary moment" assignee when scheduled please arrange for your replacement.
Club Assemblies have been scheduled for the following date(s): 4/21, 5/19
Sara Pimprikar has seen her high school friends stressing out during exams or over important papers or projects. She’s occasionally felt that way herself. “If I see one of my classmates is troubled, I try to talk with them,” says the 17-year-old, who is a member of Interact Club of Wisdom High International School, Nashik, India. “Sometimes all they need is a listener, but sometimes they need help.”
About 1 in 7 people from ages 10 to 19 experience mental health conditions, and depression, anxiety, and behavioral disorders are among the leading causes of illness and disability for that age group, according to the World Health Organization.
Pimprikar’s mother, Aabha, is a member of the Rotary Club of Nasik Grapecity and the founding president of District 3030’s Action Group on Mental Health Initiatives. When Pimprikar overheard her mother talking about the group, “it plucked a string with me,” she says. She volunteered to create Instagram video clip reels for the group and began writing for Mind Matters, the group’s monthly newsletter. “Mental health is a stigmatized issue,” she says. “As a society, it is our responsibility to talk about it more openly.”
Pimprikar’s work on mental health and her involvement in her Interact club led to her selection by the Rotary Action Group on Mental Health Initiatives to speak at Rotary Day with UNICEF in March 2022 on a panel devoted to mental health and positive well-being. The session was moderated by Zeinab Hijazi, UNICEF senior mental health technical adviser.
“It is absolutely OK if you are facing issues related to mental health,” says Pimprikar. “The only thing you need to understand is there is treatment available. You can always reach out. You don’t have to go through it alone.”
There are times when events in the world leave you speechless. As I watched the news from Turkey and Syria following the devastating earthquakes there, I found myself in disbelief and despair as, day after day, the number of casualties and missing grew. I have friends who live very close to the epicenter, and I have not heard from them. I hold out hope that I will.
My friendships go back decades to when we were teenagers, living in Paris, and our parents were working in France as expatriates. After our parents decided to return to our countries of origin, we stayed in contact loosely through phone and mail.
Through these infrequent contacts, we discovered we still had a common interest in our business pursuits. In Serbia, we use leftover organic agricultural produce and convert it into energy. In their countries, they grow plantations of almonds and other nuts whose shells have a high caloric value. Their fruit factories represent potential organic waste for converting.
During business trips that also served as reunions, I had the opportunity to stay with families in Malatya, Adıyaman and Gaziantep. In 2018, I lived in their houses and learned about their traditions. My hosts held fruit from their plantations and proudly gave me more than I could carry. Those same friendly hands prepared and shared food. We ate lunch on the floor, as is the custom in these remote areas, but we had a roof over our heads. I am filled with anxiety wondering if those roofs are still there. I want to believe that the generously sharing hands are still OK, even if the roofs are gone.
Since 2010, about 800 schools have been equipped with more than 24,000 portable microscopes through the Microscopes in Schools project. The Rotary Club of Freshwater Bay started the project. But for many years it became the intense focus of Diane Collins, charter president, and her husband, Kenneth, a past Rotary International director and Foundation trustee who died in August.
Besides sacrificing garage space for storage and a distribution operation, the couple promoted the microscopes, enlisted Rotary club sponsors, kept records, and carried out the more mundane tasks. The project has multiplied in a big way. “It currently allows in excess of 280,000 students annually, in all states of Australia as well as many countries in Asia and the Pacific, to develop a love of science,” Collins notes.
Presenter: Thomas McDonald, Senior Economist, U.S. Department of Labor - Bureau of Labor Statistics,
Chicago
Thomas McDonald is a Senior Economist in the Economic Analysis and Information Department within the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). He received a B.A. in Economics from the University of Detroit and has been employed by the Bureau for 33 years, the last 16 in his current position. Thomas provides background, analysis, and training on BLS data products. He regularly speaks to media, researchers, professional organizations, think tanks, and all levels of government. Before BLS, Thomas worked as a Congressional Investigator for the General Accountability Office (GAO) and a Contract Specialist for the Air National Guard.
