Weekly Meeting News - 24 Sep 12

      Monday evening's guests included September Student of the Month Emily Dobson and her Mom; Westerly High School Principal Stephen Ruscito; Bob Aneyci, a RICAN volunteer and guest of Steve Salerno; Paul Grube, grandson and guest of Joe Potter; and Guest Speakers Dr. Herster Barres and Scott Keller.

                                            Members present     15                          Honorary Members present  2                           Members absent  8  

            Reminder

     1 October  -  Board meeting at Venice at 4:00pm.   Dinner meeting will be at The Calabrese Club at 28 Pleasant Street, 5 - 7 pm, $10.00 per person  -  celebrating the Columbus Day Parade 2012 Grand Marshalls Doug and Jean Rayner.  Pres. Cal said that a roundtable will be present at Venice for guests.

     8 October  -  NO meeting  -  Holiday              7 October, 1:00 pm    The Columbus Day Parade

           Foundation Moment 

     How Africa Can Feed Itself and the World (from the September, 2012 issue of The Rotarian)  -  "Agriculture is the fundamental humanitarian challenge of our time.  The urgency was highlighted throughout 2011 as food aid was rushed into Kenya and other countries in East Africa to counter yet another drought and famine.  Food aid is vital in saving lives.  But only agricultural development  -  increased access to the seeds, soil nutrients, financing, and expertise common everywhere else  -  can prevent the next famine."

     "This principal is at the center of the U.S. government's Feed the Future initiative and the efforts of big donors like the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Howard G. Buffett Foundation.  The Rotary Foundation is helping small farmers for the long term, through a new focus on sustainable economic development and projects that deliver wells and irrigation systems."         

     Smallholder farmers know "that increasing their agricultural productivity with new farming methods is their only chance of escaping the hunger season, and of improving the health and education of their children.  They want to advance from farming to live, to farming to make a living."

           September Student of the Month

     Principal Steven Ruscito introduced the September student  -  Emily Dobson  -  calling her a true student leader - setting the bar high for students to follow.  She has already garnered over 200 hours of community service working on projects like the YMCA's basketball camp and hosting bible camp here in Westerly and Arizona.  She is Captain of the WHS girls' volleyball team and plays on the WHS girls' basketball team.  Emily said that she is very happy that Principal Ruscito has started a Special Needs basketball program and hopes to help with this program.

           Program  -  Reforest the Trees, Inc.  -  Dr. Herster Barres and his nephew, Scott Keller 

     Reforest the Trees, Inc. is a "nonprofit organization dedicated to sustainable development and the mitigation of global warming through carbon sequestration in tropical farm forests."    RTT reforests tropical pastures with tree speciies that grow quickly, form straight trees, and produce valuable lumber.  And, these managed forests, located in Costa Rica, are designed to be profitable for farmers and highly effective at sequestering CO2 emissions.

    "An applied research program demonstrating climate change mitigation through sustainable farm forestry"  -  participating schools can watch the forest change the environment from pasture to mature trees.  A participating school will learn about climate change and the role of tropical forests.  A forest is dedicated to the participating school, identified by signage and managed by RTT staff.  A CO2 emissions inventory is done by the students under RTT guidance, progress followup with email and photo reports to the class to watch the forest habitat grow, including wildlife, continued participation in research to develop a better forest.

     Dr. Kerster said that there are 18 schools participating in this program with over 70 sponsors.  He brought some seedlings of the Klinkii tree.

     The goal is to teach children how to calculate emissions and to find ways to help the environment through growth of trees to store carbon for 100 years or more.  To learn more about this program, go to www.reforestthetropics.org.

     Club Past President Dr. Dan Alvino has proposed that we join in this effort for the benefit of the Westerly Middle School and has the approval of both WMS Principal Paula Fusco and Westerly Schools Superintendent and Rotarian Dr. Roy Seitsinger.  We are applying for a Disrict Simplified Grant to help in this effort and Dr. Alvino announced Monday evening that Edgar Morales has applied for a Walmart grant for this project.

   Dr. Barres, Pres. Cal and Scott Keller

 A carbon offset forest managed by RTT, the forest contains a variety of carefully selected tree species  -  pictured above

   A Klinkii seedling  -  from Costa Rica to Westerly, RI