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Well, folks, we have a higher than usual number of confessions this week... Roger Thompson confessed that he was missing his pin. Destiny Mujica confessed that she is also missing her pin. She suspects that she lost it somehow during her presentation at the Mission Trail Rotary Club. Destiny, we're very proud of your work with the Earn-A-Bike program and changing lives of children in our community! Roger Thompson, who always seems to see the funny side of life, shared a humorous story about his 2 day in the hospital for outpatient surgery. There seemed to be some confusion whether he was in ICU or a private room. The nurses were plugging in all kinds of doodads and gadgets into him... Marlene Mattox shared that she traveled to Park City Utah and went snow skiing last week. Allyson Hamlin recently celebrated another birthday so we joined in singing Happy Birthday to her. Allyson shared that she recently was promoted to a new department at Farm Bureau Bank as Director of Sales. Congratulations, Allyson! We wish you much success! Brenda Jackson's youngest grandson is two years old. He has learned two new words: "No!" and "Mine!" Brenda said they recently adopted two puppies from Pets Alive. Joe Montagna recently sold his home and is now "homeless". Ken Ruiz wanted us to know that he is in the market to purchase another car. If someone has one they are interested in selling please contact Ken. Bruce Richter shared an article in the Rotarian Magazine about the Austin Club and is impressed with their wide variety of projects. Our Club has 17 active projects that we support. In weeks to come we will cover some of the projects to learn more about them. Destiny Mujica shared that Hoffman will be having their fourth annual STEAM night - (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art & Math). They're looking for people in the community in these fields to present to the students and share why these fields are so amazing. If you're interested in presenting please let Destiny know. |
Ken Ruiz owns the umbrella for January and February. Ken admitted that he was missing his pin today but since he owns the umbrella he is fine free. He shared with our guests that the umbrella is auctioned off to raise money that goes to the Rotary Foundation to fight polio around the world. The highest bidder wins and has the opportunity to talk. Ken is learning to adapt to San Antonio with traffic and all. Ken shared that a friend of his passed away - her husband was the president of his old Club in Florida.
Our Speaker, Margaret Costantino, is the Executive Director of the Center for Refugee Services which she helped co-found in 2010. She is a lifelong resident of San Antonio. By profession Margaret is a Licensed Professional Counselor and is retired from UTSA. Her former career involved assisting college students with career planning. She also taught for the Department of Counseling for 6 years. Margaret and her husband Joe have been married 49 years and are the parents of 3 adult children and 11 grandchildren all of whom live in San Antonio. Prior to World War II the US accepted refugees due to war. A lot of refugees are single parents who are raising children alone. Resettlement funding goes away in 4 - 6 months. One third of the volunteers at the Center are from refugee communities. Margaret described the struggles that refugees have living here and trying to assimilate to our culture such as learning about credit, insurance coverage, child supervision and child safety. There is a lot of support from refugees who volunteer. Currently they are trying to raise $2,000 a year to pay for translation services. In 2012 the Center awarded 115 scholarships. Since Margaret has been with the Center she has seen students get advanced degrees such as Masters Degrees and degrees in Medicine. "It's all about self sufficiency," she says. The Center has a partnership with medical school psychology students. The process of resettlement is traumatic - refugees are afraid even though they are here legally. Some refugees are survivors of torture. The Nursing School Dental School and Medical Students have formed a Clinic at St. Francis Episcopal Church - it is faculty supervised. This is important because after 4 - 6 months services for the refugees go away including health insurance. The Center's budget is $70,000 per year - all else is donations. Harun Rashid, also with the Center, works with the Burmese community. He has lived here for five years and preparing to get his U.S. citizenship. Pat Tappmeyer, also at the meeting, spoke about being known in Nepal as point of contact for the Center. She organizes pick up of donated furniture, household goods and such to make sure the refugees get what they need. Volunteers are needed due to the overwhelming number of refugees locating here. For more information visit their website .jpg)
The Center for Refugee Services was presented with a check from our Club as well as a customary book that will be donated in honor of our guests to the Locke Hill Elementary School Library. 
special presentation of our donation to for the Locke Hill Elementary School Library. Elizabeth Garza, Librarian was on had to receive this award. 
New Event! Coffee Friday
Park 8:30-Noon