Dear Rotarians and Friends,

Join us this Week on Zoom

Thursday January 28, 2021 ~ 12:15pm Lunch

Chris Newsom, M.D. and Brad Miller, M.D.:
“What COVID 19 is Teaching Us: Our Planet's Health is Our Health"

When Opportunities Arise, Nevada City Rotary Acts!

In the past couple of weeks, our club has responded to two excellent opportunities to do the work that makes Rotary so great - one opportunity to support our local community and another to support a young girl’s education.

Nevada County Food Bank - 1,800 cans of veggies

In support of our local community, when it became obvious that Nevada County programs to provide essential food supplies to the needy were not able to meet the demand, our Community Services Chair Susie Monary-Wilson reached out to the Nevada County Food Bank to ask how we could help.  She learned that the most effective help would be a food donation in the form of a pallet of canned food.  

She presented the board with her findings and at our monthly board meeting, the decision was made to purchase a pallet of 1,800 cans of vegetables for the Food Bank. 

Canned Food for Hungry and our $1,200 Restaurant Raffle!

In addition to the donation, Susie is coordinating with the Food Bank for our Club to host a drive-through canned food drive.  On Saturday February 13 from 1-3pm, we are planning to collect canned food for the Food Bank and give-away COVID face masks at our favorite location:  Dave’s Auto Repair on Zion Street.  And to cap the event, we will draw our lucky winner for our 2020 Restaurant Raffle!  

Nevada County Food Bank is extremely appreciative of our donation and food drive.  Watch for acknowledgements from the Food Bank and promotions of the food drive and raffle! 

Club to Sponsor Student through Amigos de Guatemala

At our January 14th meeting, we heard a presentation by Jean Herschede and our own Lynda Guthrie, describing the good work being done by Amigos de Guatemala.  A significant part of this work is the sponsorship of young people to fund their middle school and high school education.

The board considered a proposal that our club could sponsor a student, and after approving the proposal, the board asked Lynda to check to see if there were any potential scholarship applicants in need of funding.  The timing of this was perfect, since Amigos de Guatemala was just about to conduct the interviews of prospective scholarship candidates.  Lynda, Chris, and Cathy participated in the virtual interview process last week and helped to choose Wendy, the young girl we will sponsor.

Wendy is 13 years old and hopes to one day be a doctor. She lives with her Mother, Grandfather, Uncle, one sister and two brothers.  The family speaks K'iche, the local dialect.  Spanish is the language used in most elementary schools and Wendy is clearly fluent in both Spanish and K'iche which will serve her well if she succeeds in becoming a doctor.  Her favorite subjects in school are Maths and English so we can hope that she will be fluent in English some day as well!

Like most 13 year olds, she likes to play basketball and listen to music.  In her free time, she makes tortillas, helps around the house, and sometimes earns a little money washing other people's clothes.   She describes herself as being happy, polite and honest.  In the coming weeks, we will meet Wendy through letters.

These are two great examples of how we can stay in action as Rotarians.  The restrictions of the COVID-19 pandemic have not allowed us to conduct many of the programs and fundraisers that we normally would be doing, but we have been resourceful, rising to opportunities as they present themselves.

What COVID 19 is Teaching Us: Our Planet's Health is Our Health by Chris Newsom, MD and Brad Miller, MD.

Join us as our own Dr Chris Newsom joins Dr Brad Miller to talk about the connection between human health and our planet's health, and why urgently tackling the issue of climate change is so important.

Brad Miller is a native Californian who attended U.C. Davis for both his undergraduate (History) and medical degrees, and practiced primary care internal medicine in Grass Valley for many years.  He then became Medical Director of Hospice of the Foothills in 1998-2012,  and finally Attending Physician at UCSF and the Reno VA Hospital until his retirement in 2018.  He has many reasons for concern about the impacts of climate change on our health, including the fact that he is a lover of the natural world;  he is a husband, father and grandfather;  and he is himself a patient with a cardiovascular condition.

Christine Newsom is also a California native, who graduated from U.C. Davis undergraduate (German) and medical school.  After 4 years practice of internal medicine in SF, she and her family moved to Nevada County in 1981, where she continued to practice primary care internal medicine until her retirement in 2011 (except for a four-year hiatus being home with her small children, and seven years at an urgent-care clinic in Auburn).  She has been interested in the interface of social justice issues with medicine and health for many years, since she joined Physicians for Social Responsibility.  Conveying the urgency of climate change as our most important existential and public health threat is now her major focus.

Thursday's program is an opportunity to also experience more of Chris' brilliance and passion!

Nevada City Rotary Restaurant Raffle - Saturday February 13

Canned Food Drive, COVID Mask Give Away and Restaurant Raffle all in one!  Robin is reaching out to Club Members who are holding unsold Raffle tickets.  Please connect with Robin on your intent to sell the tickets you have and to return any you do not think you can sell.  If you want to buy or sell additional raffle tickets, please let her know. Ticket inquiries can be sent to news@ncrotary.org.

We will be drawing these original tickets!  We have all of the drawing stubs for tickets purchased for March 2020 and will be selling the remainder of these same tickets! 

Only 100 tickets will be sold for our Winner Takes All Drawing for 12 fabulous local restaurants!

A big Thank You to our 2020 Participating Raffle Restaurants:

 Lefty's Grill  ~ Sopa Thai  ~  New Moon Café
Twelve 28 Kitchen ~ Casa Las Katerinas ~ One11
Three Forks Bakery & Brewing Co. ~ Sergio's Cafe ~  Bistro 221      
Tofanelli's ~ Friar Tuck's   ~ The Ham Stand 

RIPN Jennifer Jones - February 13, 2021

Over the years, Rotary has progressed from an organization that was all male to an inclusive organization that welcomes men and women of all races and nationalities.  And now the Rotary governing body has nominated the first woman as Rotary International President.

Jennifer Jones will be coming to visit (virtually) with our District 5190, giving us an opportunity to find out more about her and to hear her ideas on the future of Rotary.

Grab a cup of your favorite morning beverage and join us for this exciting event with Rotary International's soon to be first woman President! FREE 1- HOUR VIRTUAL event on Saturday February 13.   Please register by clicking below. Click VIDEO to watch a video promotion of the event.

Coming SOON ~ Travel Free 2021 Virtual International Project Fairs

We have the unique opportunity to participate in two virtual Project Fairs. Both FREE Fairs on ZOOM!  A wonderful cultural exchange learning how project fairs work from the comfort of your home and with no travel expenses. 

Register for one or both upcoming Project Fairs:

• Uniendo America, February 18-20, 2021 in Panama City, Panama:   https://projectfair4240-4250.org/register 
   
• Colombia, February 5-12, 2021:   feriadeproyectosrotarycolombia.org 
  Warning:  When you click on this link using the Safari browser, the registration button/link doesn’t show up in the navigation bar at the top of the page.  Try Firefox or another browser.

Please contact Carolyn Feuille if you have questions:  cfeuille@gmail.com

Around our Community

Dr. Scott Kellermann is our newly appointed Nevada County Public Health Officer and will be our guest speaker on February 4, 2021. He will be speaking to the COVID vaccine program and community outreach.  A number of you participated in the Nevada County Flu Clinic last fall.  As the County rolls out the COVID vaccine we can expect similar clinics. Scott has reminded us that to volunteer to support clinics, volunteers need to be registered at https://www.healthcarevolunteers.ca.gov/. 

Our Club has known Dr Kellermann for many years through our partnership with the initial Uganda project to bring clean water and medical care to the Batwa people.

Stay in the Know With Nevada County Vaccine Rollout

If you are wondering about how and when to get your COVID vaccine, Nevada County has provided a way for you to get the latest information sent to you as soon as it is publicized. All that you need to do is send a text to this six character number 898211 and only include the message VACCINEINFO and you will receive information and updates from Nevada County Public Health related to COVID-19 vaccines in Nevada County.

For information on the Tiered Vaccinate Nevada County plan, visit MyNevadaCounty Get Vaccine Information.  Bookmark this page for updates on where we are in our local vaccine rollout. If you have questions about which vaccination tier you fall into, call 211 Connecting Point at 1-833-DIAL211 to speak to a local call center agent, 24/7 in English or Spanish.

AAUW:  Advancing Equity for Women and Girls

The public is invited to join a thought-provoking presentation of a topic that too often goes unspoken. On January 30, 9:30-11:30 AM, visit the Nevadacountymedia.org website, select Watch Now for the live stream of this event. You can also watch live on Comcast channel 11 or Suddenlink Ch 16.

Click the icon for a printable flyer or visit AAUW Events for more details on this important forum.

Your Happy/Sad Shares make a difference!

Thank you Treasurer Tom Ryan for your ongoing diligence with our finances.  And thank you Club members for following the Four Way Test with your pledges to our Club!  If you have questions, Tom R is happy to discuss your statement with you.

Your Happy/Sad shares give us glimpses of what is going on in your life beyond Rotary.  They are special moments together especially since so much of our time is on Zoom.  Your associated "bucks" provide a base for us to continue our special services to our community and beyond.  Thanks for sharing you!

Stay connected and informed

Robin monitors our news@ncrotary.org email. You can direct questions to that email or to me.  As we learn more and to stay in touch, we will send out regular or more frequent Rotarios.

Prez Tom

Upcoming Events - VIA ZOOM

January 28: Lunch Chris Newsom, M.D. and Brad Miller, M.D.: What COVID 19 is Teaching Us: Our Planet's Health is Our Health

February 4: Social  Dr. Scott Kellermann, Nevada County Public Health Officer - Update

February 11: Lunch  Brett McFadden- Update on NUHS during pandemic

Feb 14, 2021:   Watch for details on the 2020 Raffle.

March 4: Social: Tracy Pepper of Color Me Human

March 11: Lunch:  "Days for Girls" with Ramona Delmas of Bishop Sunrise, and Lynda Guthrie/ Carolyn   Feuille

March 18: Social: Mar. 18- Social- Yavuz Atila: Protecting the Environment: Rotary’s New Area of Focus and ESRAG.

Special Dates

Club Leadership