President Norby Rudel called the meeting to order and shared his thoughts on the current challenges in our community, state, country and the world.
There was also a moment of silence.
Noreen Timoney led us in the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag, with some very inspiring words relevant to our country and the challenges we are currently facing to openly and truthfully address racism in this country and the world.
Visitors and Guests: Kathleen Dunn, a guest of Noreen’s, joined us today. Kathleen is a personal organizer. We would love to hear more about her and what she does to stay organized!
Announcements:
Scott Richey was on one of four zoom meetings/conference calls today. He must be zoomed out!!
Congrats to Cory Gittner for celebrating 20 years in Rotary this month.
Jay and Mara Almeida are celebrating their 28th wedding anniversary.
The District Assembly will be held next week, starting Thursday, June 11. The meeting is free, but you must pre-register at: https://rotary6990.org/dta/
The Rotary International Convention will also be a virtual experience from June 20-26. This also requires advance registration. Great breakout sessions!! Go to https://www.riconvention.org/en/honolulu and submit your email for registration information.
Treasurer Phil Seipp stated that membership renewals are going well. Follow-up inquiries on those that have not paid will be made this week.
Incoming President Robert Bull reported on his incoming board and that they will share their goals and objectives for 2020-21 on June 18 when he is installed.
Diane Landsberg helped a Rotary Exchange Student from Bolivia in need. Carolina expressed that Diane’s assistance was very much appreciated. Phil, Norm and Norby got in on the fun and service when they exchanged banners with her and a RCM pin.
Speaker:
Jonathan Miot is Director and Associate Professor of the Santa Fe College Teaching Zoo in Gainesville, Florida. It is the only college zookeeper training facility in the country that is Accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. It is located on the Santa Fe College campus.
Students in the two-year program receive a BS degree and, interestingly enough, 85% find jobs working with animals within a year of completing their education.
With the zoo’s closure, it has been observed that several types of animals do appear to miss the many zoo visitors that walk by their enclosures in normal times. Primates, cats and birds appear to give greater attention to their keepers than they normally would in regular times. Other animals that tend to be solitary in the wild do not seem to miss visitors as much.
Students work directly with the animals and, since some large cats have been infected with Covid-19 at a New York Zoo, they now wear masks and practice social distancing when possible with their co-workers and the animals.
Bunny Uriarte led everyone in the Four Way Test.
Note: Next week’s speaker is TBM former recipient Emmanual Thomas. He is a researcher at the University of Miami and will speak about the Covid-19 virus and vaccines. Be sure to zoom in!
