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PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE
Aloha my fellow members,
Hope you are well! I am doing great because I survived my quarantine and finally free to leave my apartment! It already feels like an accomplishment! :) But, if I am serious, I think we have a great accomplishment for this week as our Club virtually gathered this past Saturday for our first Strategic Planning session.
I think it went very productive! (Big Mahalo to D5000 Club Trainer Benson & Beth for being great facilitators!) However, there is still lots to do! We had 17 people who attended this virtual session and we were able to have a great discussion and exchange of ideas. Please be on lookout for a separate email with a summary of the session & next step for this important Strategic Planning process. It's not too late to get involved if you haven't yet. Feel free to reach out to me anytime!
Mahalo,
Ary Radnaeva
2020 - 2021 President of the RCHS
UPCOMING MEETING - OCTOBER 15th
As the number of COVID-19 cases in Hawaii is increasing, the RCHS, following City and County of Honolulu mandates and guidelines, is offering only virtual Zoom meetings in October. We are committed to ensuring the health and well-being of our members, guests and the community.
Please join us for our weekly meeting. This meeting will be only on Zoom! Our usual informal happy (half) hour begins at 6:00 pm, and the bell rings at 6:30 pm to formally start the meeting.
Our speaker this week will be will be Jacob DeNeui, a licensed architect, author, and the founder of Jacob Ideas, a leadership development company. His work focuses on helping leaders grow their capacity by expanding their creativity, balance, and intentionality. He and his wife are based out of Montana.
Dial by your location: +1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma).
LAST WEEK'S MEETING -
OCTOBER 1ST
Our speaker last week was Nate Gyotoku, President & Executive Director of Junior Achievement of Hawaii.
Junior Achievement of Hawaii is a 501(c)(3) organization, which focuses on youth development. Junior Achievement is an international organization, a part of which is Junior Achievement USA. Junior Achievement has been in the United States for 100 years.
In Hawaii, it has impacted approximately 257,000 students. It promotes the intersection of youth development, economic development, and educational development. It is a volunteer organization. Volunteers go to schools and teach entrepreneurship, financial literacy, and career readiness, beginning with kindergarten. As students get older, the classes are more focused, and more intense.
Part of the curriculum on personal finance teaches students about debt, credit, budgets, income, and student loans. The classes are all online, using Miscrosoft Teams.
In the 2018-2019 school year, pre-covid, it taught 10,172 students state-wide, and approximately 3,800 students on Oahu. This year, it is not able to reach as many students, as all of its classes and activities are virtual.
Nate explained that the challenge of online learning has created an opportunity. Now, volunteers don't have to travel to classrooms. They can just show up.
He also explained that the founding program of Junior Achievement was its company program. A team of high school students would form a business, research and development a product, produce it, sell it, and at the end, liquidate the business assets. He explained that an essential part of starting a business is understanding how it will end.
Every year our Club provides support to HUGS families. HUGS supports Hawaii's families with a child up to age 21 who has been diagnosed with a life-threatening illness or disease. This holiday shopping event gives an opportunity to HUGS families to shop for personal items at Walmart as these families face financial hardships of caring for a seriously ill child. There will be 3-5 HUGS families in need that are invited by HUGS.
How: For COVID-safety purpose, shopping will be done in 3-5 groups with no more 7 ppl in total, including the family from one household. For each family we need 2 Rotarians to assist with shopping. Everyone must wear masks and maintain social distancing. No lunch will be provided.
Please sign up by emailing to the Project Lead - Community Service Chair, Glen Bailey, at baileyg001@hawaii.rr.com.
UPCOMING COMMUNITY SERVICE PROJECT IN DECEMBER - PLEASE SIGH UP!
The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is NOW! This year, join us as Rotary Gives Thanks by planting 5,000 Hawaiian Native trees to combat climate change!
Our COVID Strategy:
The planting area at Gunstock Ranch is 5 acres! This gives us ample space to socially distance in the vast, open-air area. Furthermore, each tree will be planted in a pre-dug hole that is 10 ft apart from each other! Planting will be coordinated with regards to teams and planting zones. The number of participants in a team will depend on the current guidance by the government (ie. no more than 5 per team). Only one team will be present on each planting zone and will be planting in the same direction as the other teams. This will decrease the likelihood of teams of being in proximity of one another.
What: Each person will plant 10 trees. These trees will never be cut down or sold for profit.
How: Holes are pre-dug! Training, equipment, parking, and directions will be provided.
Please sign up by emailing to our Club's President and Tree Planting Ambassador Ary at radnaeva.aryuna@gmail.com& let her know about the shift preference and number of people in your group.
MEMBER SPOTLIGHT
Rich Zegar writes:
I was born in Newark New Jersey in, what my daughter sometimes reminds me, the first half of the last century. I had 3 older sisters and an older brother only 2 of which have survived. My Dad died a few days before my 8th birthday so I was raised by 3 older sisters, mother and grandmother. I attended a Catholic Grammar school, was an Altar boy and like most young Catholic boys contemplated the priesthood. Luckily my Mother remarried when I was 14 and we moved to East Orange New Jersey to live in my step-fathers home and attend East Orange HS a typical bi racial American HS where I had many “adventures” having been a Catholic School boy raised by a house full of females but I survived.
My step dad was a Plumber and thought it proper that I learn the business. He bought me a union card
(remember I said New Jersey) so he could charge union wages to jobs I was on. Our primary money maker was actually sewer cleaning a la Roto Rooter. I wasn’t paid a salary but my Step dad promised my mother that when the time came he’d put me through college. I worked as a plumber and sewer cleaner after school and on weekends till I was 18 and dreaming about being an oceanographer. Two best places to go I thought were U of H to which my Dad said fat chance or the University of Miami Fl where I was accepted. One great thing about U of M was that Lee was attending from her home in Colombia S.A. This was ‘66 &’67 and I was rather disgusted with all the protestors and draft dodgers, wasn’t studying very hard and so instead of wasting my Dad’s money I decided to quit college and join the USMC and support the war effort. Instead of going back to school in fall ’68 I went to Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Islands South Carolina, my intention being to become a Marine Rifleman and go to Viet Nam which was raging at the time. I figured I need to have someone to be the beneficiary of the military life insurance (SGLI) so I asked Lee to marry me before I went to “BOOT CAMP” and she said yes.
While I didn’t finish college at that time I had far more schooling than 99% of the member of my platoon, at the time a HS Diploma wasn’t required for the military and I was an avid reader, therefore aced virtually any classification test I ever took. The Drill Instructor wanted me to apply to Officers School but I refused….till Lee became pregnant while I was home on leave after boot camp and I saw a pay roster. By that time I was a Lance Corporal making $49 every two weeks, I saw the pay roster and my Lieutenant was paid $179 for that same period. Considering there was a baby on the way I swallowed my objections and because all my test scores were top of the class and the Marine Corps needed fresh 2nd Lts. for Viet Nam they waived the need for a College Degree and I was commissioned in early ’69, and went to Officers School (OCS). At the end of OCS and other basic training, they asked if any of us wanted to Fly, I said I didn’t have a degree, they said ,”Monkeys can be taught to Fly” so in late ’69 I received my basic wings. I went to advanced training in the A-6 Intruder. While I wanted to go for various reasons I was never posted to Viet Nam, Lee was thrilled but I was not.
Over my Marine Corps Career I was overseas about 6 years, the best time being 3 years posted to a NATO Command AFNORTH, Oslo Norway with Lee and the kids along, by this time we had Kathy and Patty. I served many billets and duty stations flying the A-6 Intruder in between staff and command positions. Ultimately serving as the Commanding Officer of an Engineering Squadron in the Gulf war, Desert Shield and Desert Storm in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.
After 23 years 10 month and 4 days in the Marines and not getting any younger I jumped at an offer made by a Marine Buddy who had retired earlier and gone “home“ to Seattle. He introduced me to the owner of Pacific Building Corporation a Seattle Corp which built and operated Airport Industrial Park, a large (1.2M sq ft) commercial project immediately Mauka of Honolulu International Airport. I took the position of General Manager and we moved to Hawaii in 1992. I handled leasing as well as construction of large office/warehouse facilities for UPS, Lockheed Martin and Hawaiian Airlines to name just a few. I was the construction manager for Jim and Beth Hoban’s office at the site as well as Jane Ferreira’s.
In 2001 I was sponsored in RCHS by a Dear Friend Hans Kolb. . I became involved with International Services and served as Director for several years before being asked to serve as Foundation Director which I have been for many years. Lee’s started a medical management business which really took off and around 2009 and I decided to retire. Early in 2012 PDG Ayman El Dakhakhni asked me to join the District Foundation Committee as Annual Giving Chair, which I did for 3 years.Laura Steelquist asked me to resume that post in 2019 which I did and am still serving.
I have been Rotarian of the Year 5 times and have been awarded the ” 4 Avenues of Service Award” as well as “The Citation for Meritorious Service” the highest recognition from the Trustees of TRF. I am a 4th level Major Donor as well as a 13th Level White Hat. I have been a Bequestor as well as member of the Paul Harris Society since joining Rotary. As I said, I have a very successful wife who is an Official Honorary Member of the Club and believes in and supports Rotary as well as I do. She just doesn’t like to have to go to meeting!!!
President Ary Radnaeva
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK
“Do what you feel in your heart to be right – for you'll be criticized anyway.”
This 2020 year has been very challenging in many different ways. As many of you know, that we were unable to host our annual club's Fundraiser event in May due to COVID-19 pandemic and we likely won't be able to do any in-person events in the nearest future. However, our club's leadership is optimistic and creative in finding ways to raise funds to support the community projects locally & internationally.
Our goal for this year is to raise minimum of $17,000 and we need everyone's help! Please review below the options how you can help & contribute to the good work we do in our community in Hawai'i & internationally!
WAYS TO CONTRIBUTE & HELP:
1. Donating any valuable items for the online silent auction which will be hosted by our club on 32auctions.com website. Please email to Beth Hoban, the Silent Auction coordinator, a filled out donation form and share a picture of the item. If the donation item needs to be packaged, please contact to Beth by October 10th. We will be collecting donation items for the whole month of October!
The silent auction bidding will be open for everyone from November 16th - 20th. The weblink will be shared in advance.
2. Contributing by writing a check to D5000 Foundation (if you would like a tax credit) for RCHS in support of local and international community projects. Please mail a check to PO Box 4684.
3. Attending the RCHS 25th Anniversary Virtual & Christmas Celebration event on Zoom on Thursday, December 17th. The event will be ticketed and all proceeds will go towards the fundraising goal in support of the community projects. More details and program will be shared soon.
You are welcome and encouraged to support our club in other ways by planning and organizing our fundraising initiatives. Please reach out to President Ary for more details.
ROTARY MOMENT
Adapted from an article in The Rotarian by Vanessa Glavinskas
This week's Rotary Moment is about a scholarship program, funded by a Global Grant, that helps adults who have a low-income job and want to do better and build a career, focusing on the working poor and underemployed. It is a great example of Economic and Community Development (Rotary’s focus this month) in action, in this case in an affluent suburb of Chicago.
There is a hard reality facing many adult students: If they manage to find the time to attend classes, they often can’t afford it.
The idea for the program came from club member Shawn Parker. In 2015, Shawn told the group about an idea she had that she thought could reduce poverty in the area and provide more skilled workers for local employers. It came to her when her son-in-law had a toothache. Her daughter’s husband, she explains, never graduated from high school but had earned a GED certificate. He was working full time for a water filtration company when he developed dental problems that cost several thousand dollars to treat. Parker was shocked to learn that despite working full time, he had no benefits: “He didn’t have dental insurance, so I wrote a check for his dental bill,” she says. “I wrote a second check to help him get his commercial driver’s license [CDL]. He went from making $10 an hour to making $90,000 per year with full benefits driving a truck.”
“He only needed $2,000 to do the CDL course,” she told her fellow club members. “I thought, we have so many people doing minimum-wage jobs right here in our community. What if we gave them $2,000 to get their CDL or an associate degree to become a lab tech or nurse? It’s not very expensive to do. Couldn’t we get people off government assistance just by giving them a career path?”
The club started a scholarship program in 2016. The Global Grant came about when the club asked a Rotary club in Taiwan whose members had taken part in a 2017 Rotary Friendship Exchange trip to the Chicago area — which included a visit to Rotary International headquarters in Evanston — to serve as the international partner on the grant. Five other clubs in Taiwan provided funds, and six additional Chicago-area clubs signed on to contribute financially or provide mentors for the students.
Since the program began in 2018, 21 adult students have received scholarships covering all their tuition and books through the $80,000 ACE grant.
2020/2021 ROTARY CLUB OF HONOLULU SUNSET COMMUNITY SERVICE PROJECTS/GRANTS
By Glen Bailey, Community Service Chair
NO MATCH PROJECTS - TARGET $4,367 PROPOSED Projects = $4,367
WOMEN IN NEED – Estimated cost $2,000 – Rotarian Project Lead – Glen Bailey
Assist Hawaii Women In Need halfway house homes on Oahu by providing funds to buy items to upgrade living conditions for the occupants. Additionally provide 25 hygiene kits.
SHOPPING WITH FAMILIES – Estimated Cost $1,600 – Rotarian Project Lead – Glen Bailey
Holiday shopping at Walmart with 3 - 5 local needy families (up to 15 persons). The families have a child in the HUGGS program due to a severe medical condition and are very financially strapped due to high medical expenses.
(New Project) ROTC Project at Farrington High School – Estimated cost $767 – Rotarian Project Lead – Jim Hoban
Provide funds to purchase Sports and Training Equipment for the ROTC cadets program at Farrington HS. Additionally the cadets new instructor MS. Ranelle Manaois has offered her cadets to participate in a community service projects with our club.
MATCHING FUNDS PROJECTS - TARGET $13,122 Our Club Funds $6,561 District Matching $ 6,561 – Proposed Projects = $13,122
HAWAII KEIKI – Estimated Cost $2,500 – Rotarian Project Lead – Beth Hoban
Provide Funds to support exam and health rooms at 25 public schools. These schools are staffed by registered nurses who are not given state funding to make the health rooms child friendly.
JEFFERSON SCHOOL – Estimated Cost $2,000 Rotarian Project Lead – Patricia Nevada
Provide funds for 7 laptop computers for students that cannot afford them and other required school teaching equipment and supplies. Project is a combined Youth Services and Vocational initiative. School has requested new laptop computers for home use for children that cannot attend classes.
Purchase vaccines and provide new equipment for the examination room in the H.O.M.E. Project Medical Van that services Oahu Homeless centers. The van is staffed by a group of volunteers mostly from the John Burns School of Medicine. This outreach program brings the medical van to homeless areas on Oahu. (Note - This is a continuation/upgrade of our 2013 project.
ALOHA MEDICAL MISSION DENTAL CLINIC- Estimated Cost $ 2,000 Rotarian Project Lead – Jonathan Okabe
Provide funds to purchase disposable dental supplies that are used daily in direct support of over 800 patients per year.
(New Project) District 5000 Rotary Gives Thanks Tree Planting Day led by Eco Rotary Club of Kakaako. Estimated Cost $1,000 – Rotarian Project Lead – Ary Radnaeva
Provide operating funds to support the District 5000 Tree Planting Project that will be held December 5, 2020 for “Rotary Gives Thanks Day”. We will participate as a club to help plant 5000 trees at Gunstock Ranch located near the Ko’olau Mountains on Oahus North Shore.
(New Project) US VETS Facility at Barbers Point. Estimated Cost $ 2,922 – Rotarian Project Lead – Glen Bailey
Our Club will provide "Welcome Household Gift Sets" and other needed items to newly placed male and female VETS into the main home that houses up to 140 VETS and into the New Tiny Homes being built on the property by the State of Hawaii. 10 of the 35 new Tiny Homes are designated for use by US VETS. There are about 50 new US VETS per year that enter into the program as new residents. This new project re-energizes our past involvement with support to the US VETS.
