August 8, 2008

News from the Villages

Experiences in Panama

Rotary Interact Students strike a pose following their presentation about their trip to Panama to the San Jose East Evergreen Rotary Club at the weekly luncheon meeting at the San Jose Country Club on Tuesday, July 29. Pictured with Lee Forte, Past President (center) and Adrian Diaz (far right) are (left to right) Charleen Nguyen (Mission San Jose High School Interact Club), Mahita Penke (Mission San Jose High School Interact Club) and Stephanie Bui (Independence High School Interact Club). Forte and his wife, Mary, (not pictured) accompanied the students to Panama.

The enthusiastic Rotary Interact students traveled to Panama on July 13 and spent a week “lending their helping hands” refurbishing a day care center in Panama City, improving a school in an outlying mountainous Panama area and visiting and taking stuffed animals to young patients in Hospital Del Nino in Panama City. (“Lend a Helping Hand” is a Rotary motto.)

“It was a wonderful experience. I’m not the same person that I was before I had this wonderful experience in Panama,“ said Stephanie Bui, student. The $20,000 needed to finance the trip to Panama was raised by the high school Rotary Interact Clubs in the Rotary District 5170 by volunteer fund-raising activities. Rotary Interact is a service organization for young people, ages 14-18, sponsored by Rotary Clubs in 163 countries in the world.

More information is available at: www.rotarysjee.org. (Photo/Caption by Thom Harney.)

Report from Rotary International convention held in Los Angeles

Sara Calkins and Nick Leon are all smiles after sharing their convention attendance experiences with their San Jose East/Evergreen Rotary Club at the weekly luncheon meeting at the San Jose Country Club on Tuesday, July 22. Calkins and her husband, Greg (not pictured) and Leon attended the 99th Rotary International Convention, along with 18,000 Rotarians from all over the world. The four-day convention took place at the Los Angeles Convention Center in June. The lively event featured speeches by world and Rotary leaders, spectacular entertainment, and unparalleled opportunities to experience the true breadth of Rotary’s international fellowship. More information is available at: www.rotarysjee.org. (Photo/Caption by Thom Harney.)