Tortolla Projects and St. Thomas 50th

I just spent from 7:15 AM to 8:35 doing the blog, and was downloading my last picture when the power and router went out so here I go again.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Tortola Site visits and off to St Thomas for anniversary

We started the day with a meeting with the Interact Club of Road town. They were a very intelligent group committed to make strides forward. It is an interesting make up of members. They come from a number of different schools and are currently having a membership drive at a few more. They seem very resourceful and I am confident they will have a great year. Their president is Suzette Richardson.

After the Interact meeting I went on the Live Radio show Reach from St. Thomas. I called in on ADG Vances cell phone. I hope all the minutes don’t come through at once. Something tells me that since he heads up cable and Wireless he should be OK.

We joined together in a bus with a cooler and a few bits of nourishment and went to visit the Rotary Projects.

1st stop was to present the Infant Ventilator at the hospital funded by the Rotary club of Tortola and partners. That went well as was capped off by the Doctor that uses it most telling us how it saves lives and how without it many more lives would be lost. A great presentation.

We went to the airport to see two Rotary Signs. One is placed outside and visible to all, and the other is an electronic one inside at customs that shows multiple adds to those that wait to clear customs.

Johnathan and I at the Airport


We went to the Mangrove walk project where Rotarians are completing a elevated walkway through the mangroves for students to use as they learn about the flora and fauna in that environment. A very different and exciting project.

We then traveled across the Island and saw signage of Rotary at work at schools etc and ended up at the centennial viewing station done by the Road Town Club.

After a casual lunch we were off to the Ferry for St. Thomas and the 50th Anniversary celebration. A special thanks to ADG Vance, the Club Presidents, and Monica for the planning. Tortola was a great visit, THANK YOU TORTOLA !!!!!



The rest of these go to the Seargents, there is some fund raising potential in these shots

Janette and her team did a great job. It was very well attended including many out of towners. There were some recognitions and a short presentation by RID Barry and a lot of dancing and good times. A very good Silent Auction as well.

Today we have a joint bruncheon, that a luncheon done at a brunch! A small gathering tonight and on the Club Visit Trail tomorrow, Don has really loaded up the schedule!

Zone Saturday, Sunday and Nassau to St. Thomas

Zone

A great morning of Plenary session Topics including our own Ambassador Missouri Sherman Peter, Membership, The Ladies did a fashion show. Everybody else went off in the afternoon to Golf or participate in Tours or Shopping.

Carla and I and RID Barry Rassin had three meetings back to back. The first meeting was the Haiti Task Force Discussion with the Rotary Foundation representative, Darwin Sampedro, Barry Rassin, Errol Alberga, Nathan Carmack, Barry Rassin, Rupert Ross, Richard Grant, Amos Durosier. We reviewed the discussion paper and have made some modifications which I will put out to the Team as soon as I get caught up.

Meeting 2 was a meeting of District 7020 and 7030 to discuss future synergies such as Leadership Training and PETS. It was very interesting and led to some exploratory ideas which will be discussed by PDG’s and the DGN going forward.

Meeting 3 was a meeting of the Think Caribbean Initiative. We discussed many of the elements such as the Meeting in July, Disaster Relief, The Satellite phones and other things.

From there we went to the room and got dressed up for the Directors banquet. It was a great night, no speeches and great entertainment.

Sunday morning we had an interfaith service and a wrap up of the Zone Institute which ended at 11:00 AM. At 12:00 noon we were with the Zone Executive Committee and did a wrap up of that, cleaning up loose ends and followed that with a “What went well” and What went not so well” session to give ourselves a a bit of a critique.

After that meeting we had a meeting of the 2008 Zone Executive committee and began to plan the 2008 Zone. After a general session of that we adjourned and went to the supply room to select the equipment that needed to be shipped to Nassau for the 2008 Zone.

We followed this with a quiet dinner with Barry and Ester where we just ate quietly and rested, We went back to the hotel for about 9:30 to pack and ready to leave the next day

4:30 AM Sunday morning we were up and out of the hotel to go back to Nassau. The flight was for 8:00 AM and we arrived at the airport at 5:45AM. Good thing, they flight was going to be very late and cause us to miss our connector in Atlanta so they put us on the 6:30 AM. We made it and although we were delayed 2 hours departing Atlanta for Fog, we got home safe late Monday afternoon. Stopped ib at work to catch up and went home and crashed.

Tuesday was a back at work day and at 11:00 AM together with ADG Felix, I met with the Nassau Club Board at Luccianos. Great meeting with a club doing a lot of great things. I counted about 15 major projects in the works. After the meeting we went on to the Assembly which was lightly attended and included a couple of Rotarians from my club. One of them talked most of the way through my presentation. I am not sure if that is a reflection of what I was saying or a reflection of the lack to politeness. I will leave that to that individual to deicide. Everybody else was attentive as far as I could see.

Wednesday was a back to work day with my Rotary Club meeting at 12:30 PM followed by a trip to Atlantis to review the room allocation for the Zone with convention services. The original blocking was VERY short and the entire list had to be redone.

Over to Carla!

Thursday and we’re on the move again! As usual we had to fight the traffic to the airport for our flight to Miami to connect to St. Thomas. Barry met us in the airport and traveled with us to USVI. Dick sat next to a Rotarian from Barbados/South of France who seemed to know almost everyone we did in the islands, including the Bahamas. They talked the whole way with the possibilities of future projects flying!!

We were met at the St. Thomas airport by a whole contingent led by AG Don. Rum punches, balloons, gift bags and rushed out the door to catch the ferry to Tortola which we made by the skin of our teeth. What a beautiful trip over. We sat on the top deck and took in the sights, sun and breeze. After being in a hotel at Zone for week it was a real treat.

ADG Don passing his garbage over to a fellow Rotarian so he would have enough room in his vehicle for the bags. Rotarians are VERY considerate!

Carla waiting at St. Thomas Port for the boat over to Tortola

The Adventurer took us across from St. Thomas to Tortola. Below is the sun setting as we arrive

Here is the shortened version of the welcome committee P. Roy, P. Mary, ADG Vance

We were met at the dock in Tortola by another huge group led by AG Vance with flowers, gift bags and rushed out to change and get to the Governor’s home for a reception in 25 minutes. The Governor hosted us and the two local clubs to a reception and then we went to dinner at the Sugar Mill which was fantastic. Dick was dressed to the hilt with bow tie, chain of office, green jacket etc: everyone else was in short sleeves. Miscommunication somewhere along the line. Got back to the hotel around midnight, crashed for a few hours and were ready for day 2.






At the Governors reception for us



Ajit and Carla at dinner. Ajit is one of the most informed people I have ever had the pleasure to meet. Not a Rotarian but more Rotarian at heart than most. He supports everything we do!




At the Sugar Mill for dinner



Bomba Shack, The place to go






Board of the Rotary Club of Road Town and the Rotaract Club sponsored by the Tortola club. What an amazing group!!!







Visit with the Governor at his office.

We met with Premier O'Neal and talked about Rotary. he is a Rotarian with the Tortola Club.

Assembly of Rotary Club of Road Town and Tortolla.

Friday we met with a great, dynamic Rotaract group. Definitely future Rotarians! Second stop was the board meeting of the Road Town club, then on to the Governor’s for the official visit-tie, chain of office etc. Lunch was a joint meeting of the two clubs, Road Town and Tortola where the Tortola club presented $90,000.00 in checks to various groups from Tortola. Then off to the Premier’s for an official visit-tie, chain of office etc. Very interesting point there. Since the Tortola Club was formed EVERY First Minister or now called Premier has been an active member of the Rotary Club of Tortola. A huge boost to Public Image here. Last stop was the board meeting of the Tortola Club. What dynamic Rotarians we have in Tortola, there’s just too many projects to list. We’ve asked both boards to advise Karen of their activities.
Recieving Babnner from Monica of Tortola Rotary Club!

Back to out hotel. We were going to do dinner with President’s Roy and Mary, but were late from the Board meeting and very far behind on meeting notes and Blog entries so we took the night off to do that. Tomorrow we start with Interact at 8:00 AM followed by project visits for both Clubs, a call in to the St. Thomas Radio Show and off by Ferry to St. Thomas at 2:00 PM. We have the St. Thomas 50th tomorrow night. I am not putting very many pictures in this one because it takes to much time to load them.

Have a great Day

Back in Nassau

Hello everyone.

We are back in Nassau after a long day of travel yesterday. (Fog at Atlanta Airport), and doing laundry and getting ready to leave early Thursday AM for the US VI and BVI. We will be there for 12 days. I will give you some detail of the last couple of days and some pictures tonight when I get home.

I am off to the Nassasu Club Board Visit and then the Club Luncheon today so I am a little short on time.

Zone Friday and Class Dinner

Classmates Bill Woulfin of D-6900 and Tim and Barb Schuler of 6950.

Arnaldo from Puerto Rico, D-7000 singing and Mary of D-7770

Tim Mannix singing for us.

Classmates PC Wu of 6940 and Judi, Carla, Sharon and Denny Kurir and somebody standing.

Classmate Jim Pierce and wife Suki.

Gary Israel singing for change, check out his belt!!!!

Carla and I with Rotary International President Elect DK Lee.

Another great day at Zone. I did a presentation at the Foundation / Think Caribbean Session this morning. What I wanted to achieve was to provide a perspective of what it was REALLY like in Haiti and how we needed the amazing amount of Humanitarian Aid, but how it needed to be achieved within the parameters of the TRF. That means using the Task Force as it was intended. I was followed by Dr. Greene who works with the Christen Haitian American Partnership (CHAP), who followed up with a confirmation of the message. Great comments after the session.

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We had a Think Caribbean Meeting today to discuss how that is moving forward and arrange a meeting tomorrow to discuss it.

I met with our District foundation Chair to discuss the issue of Matching Grants, District Simplified Grants, and the Haiti Task Force. We have a meeting tomorrow at 2:00 PM to go over the Task Force with RI, TRF and others including Barry Rassin and if they can make it, Jose Antonio Salazar-Cruz, a Foundation trustee, and John Smarge. We are reviewing the paper that I presented on the Haiti Task Force and hoping to adopt it and to have buy in at TRF level.

We finished the evening with a class dinner. I included a few pictures which best describe the evening.

DG Dick

DG Traning at Zone

Me getting the chance to place the Bahamian Flag for the Zone opening!!!!

"Nothing like a Dame" skit done by our class Zone 33 & 34 DG's 2007-2008, posted on U-TUBE

RID Barry in his Junkanoo stuff. You will notice it moves with the rythem. He can see forward!

The WHOLE room got in a Conga Line. It was unbelievable. It went on for at least half an hour!

Its not all hard work.

Here are the topics we covered today among current DG's and very well seasoned PDG's. Great to compare notes and ideas that are working, and some that are not.

Whats happening in the World of Rotary by PRID Ken Morgan?

Whats working in my District and whats not by classmates?

The Rotary Foundation.

Council on Legislation by Tom Payne

Our Leadership Luncheon

Practice of DG and DG partner presentation

Membership

I was called out to practice the Bahamian Flag presentation for tonight

What it takes to have a great District Conference.

Awards and Citations

Carla spent the day with my classmates spouses and discussion leaders and shared what our District was like and shared some of the info and pictures on the Blog. They are begining to undersatnd the diversity of our District and how great Rotary is in it!

From that we went to a reception, at which Carla and I were hosting. What an honour to do so with all the PDG's Dg's DGE' and DGN's from out Zone.

We then had a great night of FUN and Rotary Fellowship.

Presentation of Flags

Presentation of DG's and Spouses

We did out skit from the Institute. I think it is still on U-Tube

and then a Junkanoo Rush by a Junkanoo Group sponsored by the Bahamas Ministry of Tourism. What an amazing event. EVERYBODY was up dancing etc!!!!

See you tomorrow.

DG Dick

Zone Institute Dinner Wednesday

A few of my classmates, DG Jim Norton and his wife Candy front left, behind is Barb and DG Tim Schuler, and Past RI Director Barry, Carla, me and PRID's wife.

DGE Rupert and wife Cheryl

DGN Errol and Leonie and my classmate Dick Hyer and Marsha.

RI Director Barry Rassin and Esther, our hosts

I would like to tell you we were hard at work all day, but that was not the case. We had the chance to meet old friends and share Rotary as President Wilf has asked. This evening we had the opportunity to be involved in an Executive Committee Reception with RID Barry and many other PRID's as well as Foundation Trustees and Rotarians from every level in every District. What makes me most proud is every ones interest in District 7020. We are well known and respected in the Rotary World. Thank you 7020 Rotarians.

We had a Reception of DGn's, spouses, DGe's and Spouses and Dg's and Spouses along with all PDG's present and their spouses. What a great collection of Rotarian's. I included a couple of pictures of that. Carla and I truly enjoyed the friendship of our classmates who have made our Rotary year such a wonderful experience.

After dinner, our class practiced out Rotary International Assembly SKIT which was pictured on U-Tube and apparently still is. Our Zones, 33 and 34 put on a Skit "Aint Nothing Like Dame". It was a hit and we were asked to do it again tomorrow night. After we do it I will let you know how it went.

great Day, Great Evening and now time for a rest. We meet with the Executive Committee again tomorrow at 7:00 AM.

Good Night

DG Dick

We are at Zone

From our room balcony!

For those of you that travel a lot I am sure you understand that its not what it used to be. Our flight from Atlanta to Myrtle Beach was to depart at 12:15 PM on Monday. After many announcements and comments about a small maintenance item being repaired we were told we could board the plane at 2:40 PM. We got on board and waited for a while before heading out towards the runway. Part way there they stopped and seemed to just run the engines. This was followed by an announcement that we would be going back to the gate because the small maintenance item was still a maintenance item.

The pilot had a sense of humor saying that he would be better to fix it on the ground than to try to fix it in the air. They disembarked us and we waited in silence. the then told us they would get a back up plane and we would soon be off. They did not say where the plane would come from and from the time it took it may well have been one of the ones stored in the Arizona Desert. Any way at 6:30 we began reboarding and were on our way.

Myrtle Beach is a great place, reminds me a little of New Smyrna or Daytona Beach. We are checked in and did a little shopping yesterday for stuff more available in America, such as travel size shaving creams etc.

We attended our first Executive Board meeting of the Zone Planning Committee at 7:00 AM this morning to begin to get a feel for what goes on. Next year I am the Facilities and Arrangements Chair for the Zone in Nassau Bahamas. It looks like they have set the bar very high, but Carla and I are very excited.

Today the District Governor Elects begin their training, joined by District Governor Nominees this evening at a reception. Tomorrow there are 3 separate sessions, one for the DG's, one for the DGE's and One for the DGN's. Each of these are accompanied by a session for the spouses.

I'll keep you posted on what happens and send some pictures that I get today.

DG Dick and Carla