ANNOUNCEMENTS AND REMINDERS
Our community grants application has now been posted. It can be downloaded from this website. The deadline for submission is October 1st and the awards ceremony will be December 5th.
The debunking of the president is rescheduled for Thursday August 29th at Santa Cruz Yacht Club at 5:30. We will be dark for the regular meeting that day.
We have scheduled Monday Sept 16th 4:00 at Aptos Seascape to assemble kits for Rising International. These are “safety bracelets” in Rotary colors with information on human trafficking.
Sunday September 15th is the summer fun party at Keith’s at 2:00. To RSVP, sign up at a meeting.
Dagmar announced Sept 21st will be our next beach clean-up at Rio del Mar beach. We did a great job last time picking up 25 libs of trash which included a large amount of microplastics.
Michele talked about the ‘Sleeves Up’ Rotary sponsored blood drive campaign. Look at your e-mail for more information.
Our speaker today was Adam Peterson from Team Rubicon which provides disaster relief both here in the U.S. and around the world. It has over 800 veteran volunteers.
Team Rubicon was founded in 2010 in response to the Haiti earthquakes. There are 130 employees, but there are 100,000 members across 10 geographical regions. They try to be the first there and the last to leave when an emergency situation occurs. They help people clear away debris after a hurricane, fire, flood or other disaster.
He shared with us many stories of how the organization assists survivors. They also do actual rescues. They have been in Puerto Rico recently helping to rebuild houses. They also do chainsaw operations, including in the recently devastated area of Paradise after their major fire. They work closely with FEMA to assess damage and decide where to go.
He said it is a wonderful experience for the volunteers and they always need more. For more information go to teamrubicconusa.org.