May 14, 2007 Spokesman

Posted by Jerry Campo

The meeting began at 6:30 with President Steve Brown presiding. Alan Barer led the flag salute. Our guests were Cameron Kee, owner of Six Tables restaurant in Kirkland, Susan Allsop (sp) and Graham Clark of John L. Scott realty, Judie and Steve Finney, guests of our speaker Natalie Hansen, Sue Sturgell (we're guessing she was husband Tom Sturgell's guest), and Tom Sherrard. Visiting Rotarians were Don Dutton of the Kirkland Downtown club and Terry Cole of the Redmond Rousers club.

Announcements:

1) We still have Rotary Vests ($30) and Shirts ($28) available. They will be out at next week's meeting. Get'em while they're hot!

2) April 11^th Board Meeting minutes are available; you can request them from President Steve via email.

3) District Assembly is this Saturday; contact Rachel Knight if you are interested in attending.

4) We received two Thank Yous- one for our donation to the LW Future Business Leaders of America, the other from Fabiola, our Best Student of the Month.

5) On a sad note, President Steve received Michelle Neal's letter of resignation. We wish Michelle the best and hopefully she'll return at some point.

6) President Steve visited Chuck Morgan and reported he is doing well. Sounds like he may be able to return home in a couple of weeks. Keep up the progress, Chuck.

7) Bob Webb brought us up to speed on the Duck Dash doins. Signups will be out at every meeting. Rachel Knight and Brett Johnson made some color inserts; we now have two large posters for easels which we can use at sales sites. The Wednesday Market will be starting at noon, for those of you planning to sell there.

8) Al Hoviland made one more announcement (sort of) about the Golf Tournament, June 11^th at Mt. Si Golf Course. Show up by 10:00 to be part of the pretournament contests. You can pay by check at the next meeting. We'll have further information for the dinner only folks.

Classification Talk:

Rachel Knight introduced Sara LaLande. Sara filled us in on her education, BellevueHigh School, BellevueCommunity College and the University of Washington. She earned an MBA in Financial Management. Sara currently works with UBS. She joined Rotary to be with a group that has the same ethical ideals as her own. This officially moved Sara from a red to a blue badge. Congratulations Sara!

Felicity Burdick introduced our Speaker for the evening, Natalie Hansen of South Africa. Natalie is the Founding Trustee and Projects Manager for Thembalethu, the AIDS and Education Trust.

The NomathamsanqaTownship is in Addo, SA next to the AddoElephantNational Park in the Eastern Cape. Employment in the area is dependant on the citrus fruit industry, which is seasonal and results in an impoverished area. HIV/AIDS is particularly prevalent, especially with young kids being particularly at risk.

The trust was formed to provide home based care for indigent AIDS sufferers, education amongst the youth for AIDS prevention and provision of nutrition and equipment for 4 area Pre-Schools.

In South Africa, 11% of the population is HIV positive, the second highest incidence after India. Over 1.8 million people have died due to AIDS in South Africa. Less than 1/3 of the infected population receives the necessary ARV (antiretrovirals). In Nomathamsanqa, 35% of the population is HIV positive; unofficially the number may be 50%.

The needs now are many. An Education and Resource Centre for AIDS Prevention, a 4X4 Vehicle for transportation, and a Community Centre for Aids. We can direct our efforts to the Thembalethu Trust, which can be reached through the website, www.thembalethutrust.org .

Natalie, thank you for your great presentation and your great efforts to undertake such a daunting task. We applaud your efforts and wish you the best!

I can't remember who didn't win the honeypot, and President Steve left us with another of his goofy quips. Who bought him that book anyway!

Your faithful scribe,

Jerry Campo