March 25, 2010 Naples Sunset Rotary Meeting

The March 25, 2010 Naples Sunset Rotary Meeting was our annual fund raise raffle event along with a guest speaker. Member Adoni Kokkinos introduced Paul Brigham, Stores Manager for the local St. Vincent de Paul Society, Naples District Council. The St. Vincent de Paul Society was founded in Paris, France, in 1833 by Frederick Ozanam, a 20 year-old university student. He and several of his friends were challenged to live the faith they professed. Under the patronage of St. Vincent de Paul, they began visiting the poor and needy and caring for their needs. In 1845 the Society spread to the New World. Today, Vincentians serve in 142 countries. The St. Vincent de Paul Society Naples District Council, Inc. is a Catholic lay organization whose members join together to grow spiritually by providing person-to-person service to the needy and suffering. They embrace all works of charity and justice, and make no distinction in those served because in them they see the face of Christ. The Society serves everyone, regardless of creed, opinion, color or origin. Their activities include Meals on Wheels, Scholarships, Personal Assistance, and Thrift Stores. Additional Information is available by clicking here.


After the presentation our annual raffle took place thus setting the stage for a successful budget for our upcoming Rotary year charity activities of 2010-2011.

Message from President Elect Carl Thome

The 2010-2011 PETS Seminar in Orlando is now history. We had 450 President Elects from Florida and the Grand Bahamas attending. There was a major emphasis on TRF, Members Retention and Polio Plus. Speaking of Polio Plus, as most of you know, Rotary received a 355 million dollar grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Rotary in return needed to raise 200 million dollars by June of 2012. Rotary is already at the 138 million dollar mark and we are well ahead of schedule. Last week alone over 70 million children in Africa were given the vaccine ..... quite an undertaking! A website of interest is http://www.blogger.com/www.polioeradication.org. This website updates on a weekly basis the cases of polio reported by country. Polio can only be considered eradicated if no cases have been reported 3 years from the very last reported case.

John Smarge of the Rotary Club of Naples was a keynote speaker at Florida Rotary PETS 2010 and discussed his favorite topic .... Membership and Retention. John is also Rotary International Director Elect. He is the first from our District 6960 and we are all quite proud of him. I have had the privilege of knowing John when first he arrived in Naples and have all the confidence that he will represent our District 6960 well. Speaking of District 6960 our current President will be Assistant Governor TRF Area 2 for the 2010-2011 year and we congratulate Marcus on his past two years as President of Naples Sunset Rotary and is continued involvement in Rotary district administration.

Naples Sunset Rotary Club will be facing some new challenges this upcoming new Rotary Year but I feel that we, as a club working together, will face these issues well and will become a stronger club for it.

Building Communities Bridging Continents

This is our Theme for the 2010-2011 Rotary year. Roy Klinginsmith, a 50 year Rotarian and incoming 2010-2011 Rotary International President felt that most themes spoke only to Rotarians. Roy wanted to develop a theme that would also tell non-Rotarians something about what Rotary does and to carry over Rotarians at the same time the importance of what we do.

March 18, 2010 Naples Sunset Rotary Meeting

The March 18, 2010 Naples Sunset Rotary meeting featured the Collier County Tax Collector Larry H. Ray. Larry was introduced by Naples Sunset Rotary member George Leamon. In January of 2007, Larry joined the staff of the Collier County Tax Collector as the Compliance Officer. In this role, he is responsible for insuring that the various departments and the 12 satellite offices of the Tax Collector operate in accordance with accepted accounting procedures and conform to the provisions outlined in the Florida Statutes. Since joining the Tax Collector's staff, Larry has been instrumental design, construction, and opening of a new satellite office in North Naples that provides all tax collector functions to include the issuance of driver’s licenses. This office, a joint venture with the Clerk of Courts and the Collier County Sheriff's Office, features the latest in technology and is designed to serve as the prototype for future expansion as the county grows. Larry was elected by the citizens of Collier County to be their Tax Collector in November of 2008. Larry is active in the Naples community having served on the boards of Junior Achievement of Southwest Florida and the Health Planning Council of Southwest Florida. Additionally, he has been a member of the Collier County Privatization Committee and the Collier County Transportation Citizens Advisory Committee. Larry is graduate of Leadership Collier, and is currently enrolled in the Leadership Institute Executive Management Program at Hodges University. He is a past president of the Naples North Rotary Club. Larry excellent presentation was well received and many questions were asked by the members of Naples Sunset Rotary Club.

The Naples Sunset Rotary Club meeting adjourned and the Naples Sunset Rotary Club Board began its meeting to discuss our next week's Annual Raffle status as well as routine administrative information. The board meeting was presided by President Zillman and was adjourned at 8:50pm.

March 11, 2010 Naples Sunset Rotary Meeting

The March 11, 2010 Naples Sunset Rotary meeting featured Eileen Wesley, SART Coordinator for Project Help. Naples Sunset Rotarian Adoni Kokkinos introduced Eileen to the Club. Eileen stated that Project Help, Inc., established in 1983, acts with dignity and compassion to ease the pain of those affected by rape, domestic violence, and crime and loss of a loved one. Their trained counselors are freely avaiable 24/7. Project Help, Inc. offers the following freely available services to our community: a) Rape crisis and Sexual Violence Program, b) Sexual Violence Forensic Medical Exam Program, c) Crime Victim/Homicide Survivors Program, d) Survivors of Suicide Program, e) Community Crisis Debriefing, f) Sudden Death Notification, g) Court Advocacy, h) Sudden Death Grief Crisis Resource, i) Support Groups, j) Individual Counseling, k) Family Counseling, and l) HIV Testing. Project Help's Rape Crisis and Suicide Hotline have been serving the community 24/7 for over 25 years. Naples Sunset Rotary members enjoyed her presentation very much and a number of questions were asked. For additional information on Project Help, Inc. click here.

March 4, 2010 Naples Sunset Rotary Meeting

The March 4, 2010 Naples Sunset Rotary meeting was called to order at 6:45pm at the Collier Athletic Club by President Zillman. After dinner Rotary member Adoni Kokkinos introduced the speaker Vann R. Ellison, President/CEO of St. Matthew's House and Immokalee Freindship House. Vann discussed their mission to provide food for the hungery, housing for the homeless and an opportunity to change lives in a spiritual environment that is both compassionate and disciplined. 2000 people find shelter each year at St. Matthew's House and Immokalee Friendship House main emergency facilites, where they offer 174 beds. Residents are required to get a job, stay sober, submit to random drug testing to confirm submission to the program, case management, daily meeting attendance, do daily chores, and pay program fees associated with their stay. Their Old Firehouse Feeding Ministry provides over 160,000 prepared meals annually to homeless and working poor of our community, serving 2000 meals a day, seven days a week, which equals to over two million meals served since 1988. Their Food Pantry provides over 14,000 packages of food annually to the working poor, disabled and seniors. Their transitional housing called Wolfe Apartments offer 46 transitional, affordable housing units in Golden Gate, provide a drug and alcohol free community with counseling and structure. Fourteen of the units are designated for permanently disabled individuals. They also have three thrift stores and offer SMH Catering to our community. Additional information is available by clicking here. Vann answered a number of questions presented by Rotary members and his presentation was very well received.