Posted by Bill Simer on Oct 21, 2019
North Notes
Spokane North Rotary Club Bulletin
October 21, 2019
 
Rotary calendar:           
            Oct. 28: No meeting.
            Nov. 4: Luncheon at Nectar in Kendall Yards, program TBA.
            Nov. 11: No Rotary Connect, Veterans Day Holiday.
 
Briefly:
 
            Holiday thoughts:  While we consider Halloween treats and Thanksgiving meals, keep in mind our Rotary Club’s “$40 for 40” gift program.  Tags for needy kids from Holmes Elementary will be ready for selection at the Nov. 18 luncheon.  Gift returns are due Dec.16.
 
 
           ROTARY SERVES:  Bite to Go several members of Rotary North gathered together Saturday morning to participate in the Bite to Go project which we heard about at a recent meeting.  Here are a few pictures of the group.
                                                                                                                                                        
                                                  
              
 
 
Lunch Meeting Monday 10/21
 
          If you missed our lunch meeting Monday 10/21 you missed a great one.  Sargent at Arms Ron Nobel started the meeting out by reminding us that October is Breast Cancer Awareness month, then he told us his
 
personal story of being diagnosed with breast cancer a few years ago and his experiences of treatment and support from family and friends that helped him through that journey. 
 
          That story including three of his students, a boy and two girls who shaved their heads to show empathy and support. 
 
             Ron reminded us to recommend to loved ones to "get a mammogram every year".
 
Generation Live
         
          Ron's story was a perfect warm up for our speaker, Darrin Duty, the program director of Generation Alive. 

          Generation Alive (GA) was founded by Major League Baseball Player, Jeremy Afflect, in response to an experience he had in the power of showing compassion for others and the difference it made in his life.                                       

          Studies had shown that compassion was an emotion in decline in young people, so Jeremy worked to found an organization to address this by teaching young people the power of service. 
 
          The program is faith based and works to recruit college and high school aged interns to work with elementary students, leading them through a six-step program to study and then act on the needs of their communities.
 
          The students learn about food insecurity or human trafficking and engaging their peers to live the GA mantra "Sympathy + Action = Compassion." 
 
          In the final step of the program they learn to put what they've learned into action by addressing a need that they see in their community. 
 
          One such case was a child who wondered how homeless people fed their dogs and led to a program where they packaged and distributed dog food to homeless people with canine companions. 
 
          GA is in 35 schools in Spokane and 7 in the Bay Area and has packaged over 3.5 million meals through the program. 
 
          A total of over 70,000 students have participated to date, donating over 150,000 hours of service. 
 
          As Darren talked about the program it became clear that the power of service that we as Rotarians value is even greater than we can imagine, and one worth teaching to generations who may not naturally have compassion for others.
 
Bulletin Producers:  Bill Simer and Sandy Fink
 
Pictures:  Sandy Fink and Lenore Romney