St. Thomas and St. John Club and project visits

Here is a web site from ADG Don with more pictures!

http://picasaweb.google.com/rotaryvi

We had a Bruncheon as I mentioned on Sunday. A great event attended equally by Rotarians and Interactors. Barry told the story about how he joined Rotary, and it was inspiring to all. In his presentation he shared examples about how Rotary gets things done and the benefit it can be to an individual. I was then asked to say a few words. I thought the fewer the better given Barry’s fantastic presentation

I thought it would be appropriate to speak to the Interact members and did that. My message was that we should leave the world a little better than we found it. Although success was clearly the priority of all the young people it was natural was we get older to begin to try to think about our legacy and in so doing it was more about how significant we had been in the world moreso than how successful. I used a concept I learned at Zone that states that a few will remember what you have earned in your life but many will remember what you have given.

We spent a couple of hours thereafter having a few beers at Coral World and enjoying Rotary Fellowship.

Sunday evening we had dinner at Diana and Rogers place. It was a great night of fellowship. PDG JV and his wife Susan, were still in town along with Barry so they were there along with ADG Don and Susan who took us there and P Jannette. Thanks Roger and Diana!

Monday morning at 6:30 AM ADG Don picked us up to go to our meeting in St. John. We arrived there for a 7:30 Board meeting. President Joan and team met us and after a very enjoyable and interesting meeting we were off to the site visit. We went to VEIRS, and environmental research facility and had a tour of the site and saw the Solar Panel power supply provided by the Rotary club.

The trip was exciting! We got to see the beauty of St. John and experience the narrow and VERY hilly roads coupled with a small mechanical issue or two with the vehicle. We had to get out and walk for a short stretch. It was a very enjoyable and memorable trip. We did get to the beach as well. We were running a little late for the return Water Taxi, so Joan drove us to a piece of property beside the Hotel and we walked along the beach to the Water taxi which saved us time. Don considers that our Beach Recreation for the trip!

Back in St. Thomas we went to work in a serious way. We met with the Charlotte Amalie board over lunch and then went on to visit a few projects. PDG Mulo was at the Board meeting. That was very nice.

The first project was the Schulterbrand Home, which is a home for the senior mentally handicapped. The Club helps feed them on weekends and provides visits and special event parties etc.

The second visit was to the main Hospital. The Rotary Clubs of St. Thomas and St. Thomas II along with the Inner Wheel have projects there. The inner wheel does the gift shop where all profits go to the hospital pediatric ward. St. Thomas did a the healing garden and it was beautiful. The Rotary Club of St. Thomas II fitted out the Lobby in the cancer wing. It was beautifully done.

We followed that up with a dinner reception at the Crystal Palace B&B, hosted by Ronnie who is a member of the St. John Club. A great night was had by all. The food was provided by a Rotarian from St. John as well.

We began Tuesday with a 7:15 AM Board meeting with the Rotary Club of St. Thomas Sunrise. A very informed and fun group.

We left the board meeting to visit the family Resource Center where we stocked some new Sunrise Rotary supplier shelves with donated books. The Club is also installing a deck in the back area. The Resource Center deals with women and children abuse counseling and placement. They also provide work at the Safe House. We followed that with a visit to their Montessori School Interact opportunity where we spoke to a potential new Interact group. Very informed, responsible and community minded young people, which in part is a function of the Montessori learning system.

We visited the Nana Baby Home Orphanage. Truly a moving experience meeting the young ones that live there and hearing how and why they are there. What a very special and important project being made possible by the St. Thomas Club.
Carla and Scarlett
We had lunch board meeting with the Rotary Club of St. Thomas at the Grand Cru in the new Port development. After the meeting we went off to the Charlotte Amalier High School where the club has just completed a matching grant to supply the Mechanical Shop with much needed diagnostic tools for the mechanical trade course. The club also fitted out the resource center, which we got to observe on action.

The Rotary Club of St. Thomas East has done some renovation work at the Arboretum, where they planted trees and did some landscaping. The Principle was unable to do the planned visit as there had been a shooting by a student off property at that very time and she was very busy dealing with that. Real Life set in very quickly.

We met with the St. Thomas East board at the Mahogany Run Golf Club. We had a good meeting and after finishing there we rushed off to meet with the Rotaract Club at Rotarian Solomons home. We met with them for an hour and a bit and then returned to the hotel for around 7:30 PM. Don had offered dinner at the Golden Arches, but we declined to get organized for our trip to St. Croix today.