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President's Message
Privet from Russia! I am spending this weekend at Lake Baikal, the deepest freshwater lake. It is beautiful, peaceful and relaxing here.Wish everyone to have a great week. Stay safe & healthy! See you on Thursday night!
Mahalo,
Ary Radnaeva
2020 - 2021 President of the RCHS
UPCOMING MEETING - September 24 - ZOOM ONLY!
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 September. We are committed to ensuring the health and well-being of our members, guests and the community.
Please join us for our weekly meeting on September 24th. 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 will be Mike Davis. World traveler. Bachelors in Biology. Sailor. A Board Member of Kokua Market, I-group Coordinator for Mankind Project and core member in PermablitzHI. Self - Employed with Edible Landscapes and More.
To join the meeting via Zoom, please follow this link:
Dial by your location: +1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma).
Last Week's MEETING - September 17th
Our speaker last week was Nainoa Mau, the Executive Director of Friends of the Library of Hawai’i (FLH). Mau has held that position for six years and was the FLH Program Director for four years prior to taking that position.
He told us of the current activities of the FLH, which have changed because of the current pandemic. In the past, FLH has raised money to support the public library system through a golf tournament and book sales. It also sells art and music. It receives 750,000 donations each year. It sells what it can.
In 2020, its annual sale, scheduled for June, did not happen. Through the help of volunteers, it got an online bookstore up and running. It is selling books online now.While in the past it focused on event fundraising, its fundraising efforts are now year-round.
He explained some of the activities of FLH. It re-donates some things to other nonprofits like hospitals. It ships books to elsewhere, like Micronesia. It also now provides books for teachers to help build classroom libraries. Now, in addition, it encourages teachers to give books to students, rather than just lending them. It has joined forces with Dolly Parton's Imagination Library, which supports early childhood literacy by providing a book each month from newborn to age 5 to communities in need. It ships books directly to homes, making it a great program for during a pandemic. FLH is also helping with the digital divide, by helping the libraries provide wifi in their parking lots and providing computer time to those who need it. It is planning to upgrade all of the libraries' devices.
He also explained that FLH is buying a warehouse building, in Iwilei next to Costco. It needs the space to house the books and the many volunteers.
Finally, he asked us to pitch in and help if the public library is important to us. Donate time, donate books, donate money. Buy books.
It is an honour (“sorry”, Canadian spelling) to be asked to write a few words about myself for our Rotary Club. I was recruited into our awesome RC right out of my condo hot-tub by a skimpily-clad Jane “JB” Brown and her husband Leroy sometime in 2017. I was reluctant at first to join because I knew I could not commit the kind of time that I would like to. However, JB told us (“us” means me and Dr. Clare Schnurr, my wife, who will also be a member spotlight in this column in a few weeks) not to worry about time commitments and join the club. Clare and I are so happy that we did now!
I work at the Shriners Hospital here in Honolulu where I am a simple pediatric orthopedic and spinal surgeon. I am board certified in orthopaedic surgery in Canada and the United States and also in East Africa. At Shriners I am the director of the Complex Spine clinic and I am the Chair of the Shriners Research and Education Committees. I am also an associate professor of surgery at JABSOM where I help train future orthopaedic surgeons from both the University of Hawaii and the Tripler Army Medical Center surgeon training programs. It is truly an honour and privilege to train such smart and talented young people. The more I work with these accomplished young doctors the more I wonder how the heck they ever let me into medical school in the first place!
My surgical subspecialty interest is in pediatric spine problems and I have written several scientific papers for peer reviewed journals as well as chapters for medical textbooks. I recently edited the pediatric section for a major orthopaedic textbook, Evidence Based Orthopaedics, Second Edition. I am a frequent speaker at local, regional, national and international medical meetings, usually on spinal surgery or global surgery. I am lucky through my travels to be involved in a number of on-going surgical research studies all over the World.
One reason I was recruited from Ottawa to Shriners Honolulu was because of my previous 2 decades of work and research in developing countries. I have been an expert consultant with the World Health Organization (WHO), where I have helped to better measure the burden of surgical problems in low and middle income countries (LMIC). I have also been lucky enough to work with a number other NGO’s, in Nepal, Bhutan, Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia, Canada’s Arctic (Nunavut) and Haiti. I was excited to come to Hawaii in order to work throughout the Pacific Basin, including Fiji, Tonga, American Samoa, Samoa, the Marshall Islands, Kiribati and throughout Micronesia: Kosrae, Palau, Chuuk, Pohnpei and Yap. Rotarians will be interested to know that many orthopedic projects around the World are orthopedic related because of our polio work!
I was born near Toronto, Ontario, Canada. I trained in Canada as a physician and orthopaedic surgeon at the University of Calgary, McMaster University and Harvard University in Boston.
My favourite country to visit is Bhutan but I believe that the best country in the world is Canada for its tolerance, freedom, stability and a fair social safety network, especially its universal health care system. I believe Canada is the most successful liberal democracy in the World, but hey, I’m biased.
Since I moved to Hawaii, Clare and I have taken up SCUBA diving, and since I go all over the Pacific (before COVID19 and hopefully after) I have been able to dive in many cool places. I love shooting hand guns (Sig Sauer P229 is my personal favourite) but I firmly believe there is no place for assault rifles, hand guns or silencers except with the police, military or at a gun club. My favourite drink is single malt whiskey (Cragganmore or Balvenie) and I am lucky to be married to the most beautiful woman in the World, Dr. Clare Schnurr. Clare and I have 3 awesome kids living in Canada, Sonja and our twins Anna and Nick. Go Buffalo Bills!! Please note that I would not have written such a wordy Spotlight for you if only the last guy hadn’t “Hammed” his one up so much! He’s so accomplished !!!;))
COMMUNITY SERVICE PROJECT
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). To give you an idea of the planting zones, please see the sample below. 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.
If you are interested or have questions, please reach out to our Club's President and Tree Planting Ambassador Ary by emailing to radnaeva.aryuna@gmail.com.
ROTARY MOMENT
What's up with Rotaract?
The 2019 Council on Legislation amended the constitutional documents of Rotary International to elevate Rotaract clubs to a membership type in Rotary.
To begin the process of implementing this change (which, in effect, will eventually eliminate the distinction between Rotaract clubs and Rotary clubs), several changes took place on July 1, 2020. Among other things, Rotaract clubs will now be able to establish a new club with or without a sponsor. Rotaract clubs may sponsor new Rotaract clubs. The upper age limit for Rotaract membership has been lifted. Membership is now open to all adults at least 18 years old.
Starting next year, Rotaract clubs will pay dues to Rotary International. Beginning July 1, 2022, Rotaract clubs will be allowed to be either international or host sponsors of global grants, if they have previously partnered with a Rotary club on a global grant.
Rotary Club of Honolulu Sunset Weekly newsletter
Executive Director of Friends of the Library of Hawai’i (FLH). Mau has held that position for six years and was the FLH Program Director for four years prior to taking that position.
