Help our new Interact Club collect coats for the needy! Bring coats to Rotary or City Academy before Nov. 23

Rotary Club of Millcreek’s newly forming Interact Club at City Academy (a charter high school in Salt Lake City) would love your help in collecting coats for the Community Coat Exchange they have been helping promote that takes place the day after Thanksgiving.

City Academy has been a community partner/drop of center with the Community Coat Exchange since 2006. The Community Coat Exchange is an annual event since 2005, founded and organized by Blue Sky Institute, a local grassroots non-profit organization. Patterned after a similar event in Rhode Island, the Coat Exchange is a collection and distribution of winter coats and other clothing items. The Coat Exchange is organized for the purpose of promoting reducing, reusing as well as giving to those in need. The event is held between 10 AM and 2PM the day after Thanksgiving at Library Plaza in downtown Salt Lake City.

Coats can be dropped off at City Academy, 555 East 200 South, anytime through November 23rd or at Library Plaza the day of the event.  City Academy Interact Club would also be happy to coordinate a donation pick up at a designated RC meeting before Thanksgiving.

The idea is for people to bring donations to a Rotary Club meeting or to any of the drop off centers before Thanksgiving, or to the event itself.  At the event, no questions are asked: If you need a coat, come get one. If you want to exchange a coat, bring the coat you want to donate and take one in exchange. If you have a donation of coats, we know people who can use them. All sizes are needed and accepted from infants to adults.

Leftover coats are donated to the Crossroads Urban Center Thrift Store, a project of the Crossroads Urban Center which advocates for low income and homeless people. The Crossroads Urban Center Thrift Store gives clothes away to poor people and also sells clothes and other goods in its retail shop to the general public to help fund the Crossroads Urban Center programs.

The Service Committee/Interact Club at City Academy, a student led committee, organizes the collection of coats within the school community. Last year the students of this committee collected over 300 coats and winter clothing items - the largest collection of any of the community partners. Students also volunteered their time the day of the event, helping to transport the coats to the event, and working at the event itself.

Green Tomato Salsa (for canning)

We had such a great time yesterday working at the New Roots Garden - and had a bountiful harvest of green tomatoes!

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour

Yield: 8 pints

http://www.food.com/recipe/green-un-ripe-tomato-salsa-for-canning-393491

Ingredients:

5 lbs green tomatoes, chopped small (as you prefer for salsa)
6 yellow onions, chopped (4 cups)
3 jalapenos chopped, with seeds (1/2 cup)
4 large red bell peppers, chopped (2 cups)
6 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup fresh cilantro, chopped (or to taste)
1 cup lime juice
1/2 cup vinegar
1 Tablespoon salt
1/2 Tablespoon cumin
1 Tablespoon dried oregano
2 teaspoons pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne (optional, to taste)
1-2 teaspoon sugar

Directions:

1. Combine everything into a large pot, mixing well. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to simmer, and cook for 30-40 minutes, stirring occasionally.
2. To continue canning, bring salsa to a boil.
3. Ladle salsa into hot sterile jars, leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Wipe lids and jar edges clean before finger tightening lids and placing them into a boiling canning pot.
4. Process (boil) jars for 15 minutes.
5. Remove carefully and let sit for 24 hours. Check lids for seal and refrigerate any unsealed jars.

NOTE: If you don't want to can the salsa you can reduce the vinegar by 1/2 and refrigerate it for up to one week!

Benefit Plan Mgt is Christine Casper's field & we are happy to have her as a member of RC Millcreek!

Christine Casper is senior vice president, Benefit Plan Services for Fidelity Personal and Workplace Investing (PWI), a division of Fidelity Investments, a leading provider of investment management, retirement planning, portfolio guidance, brokerage, benefits outsourcing and other financial products and services to more than 20 million individuals, institutions and financial intermediaries. Fidelity Benefit Plan Services provides comprehensive health and welfare and defined benefit (pension) services.

In this role, Christine is responsible for providing site leadership for Fidelity’s Albuquerque Region.  Her teams provide ongoing operational support and client service to workplace clients.   Other responsibilities include representing the Fidelity Albuquerque Region in the marketplace and to prospects and clients.

Christine has an extensive background in managing and leading teams in the HR, Payroll and Benefits arena. Prior to joining Fidelity in December of 2007, she was division vice president of Project and System Management for ADP, one of the largest providers of transaction processing and information based business solutions.  During her 18 years with ADP, Ms. Casper’s responsibilities included leadership roles in Operations, Implementation and Client Services and Sales and Account Management. 

Christine holds a masters degree in public health/health services administration from the University of Utah and a bachelor of science degree in education from Utah State University.

Halloween Party

You are invited to the Millcreek Rotary Club Halloween Party!

Thursday, October 27 at 6:15 pm

Annie is bringing the chili and we are responsible for bringing the fun! (Annie is bringing the fun too!)

Check out the Evite for more details and to RSVP!

http://new.evite.com/?utm_source=gmail&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=invite_details&eml=g_inv#view_invite:eid=01F1AAQZXGK5ZYSKYEPA7BOCYE4O4Y&gid=01F1MDVWTUTCHIKLIEPA7BOSFWNJVY

We officially have enough members to charter! Woo hoo! Minutes of October 13, 2011 meeting

Vice President Laurie Pisani did a great job presiding over our meeting - Thanks Laurie!

We are official! We have enough Charter members to file with Rotary International - thank you all! Judy Zone will be filing the paperwork with Rotary International by October 25, 2011.

COMMUNITY SERVICE
Miriam Kramer presented more information on the Bhutanese Refugee Community and how we can assist the refugees as a group. In her research she has found that the refugees would like one hour a week of English - coversation, not lessons. Simply someone to talk to and learn by example. They would also like someone to help them navigate the grocery store and learn how to shop. (Multiple brands for the same item can be confusing and overwhelming.) The idea of going grocery shopping followed by a cooking class was posed as a possible activity. According to Miriam, Nepalese food is amazing.

Miriam also pointed out that it can be dis-empowering to the refugee community to always be on the receiving end, it is empowering for them to give back. We can help with that by building relationships, not just throwing money. The Hser Ner Moo Center at Parc Apartments is an existing resident community of refugees that Miriam is working with to ascertain how we can be of assistance to them.

OUR NEXT COMMUNITY SERVICE ACTIVITY IS...
New Roots Garden, Sat. October 22, Noon - 2:00 (or later). 3100 S. Redwood Rd. We will be helping winterize the garden. Gloves and shovels are provided. Bring your kids too!

GUEST
Our special guest was Beverly Christy - she is the Assistant District Governor and will be our liason. Bev currently oversees 5 clubs, including our sponsor club, Sugarhouse. Her wealth of experience as a Rotarian is a valuable assest and she is excited to be a part of our chartering!

Bev provided a brief overview of the Rotary and District Rotary organization. Susan Marks suggested a possible "new member packet" to help new members understand the structure. Ladd Tanner mentioned that the Park City club had a semi-annual "fireside" for new members.

Dr. Marlin Clark - Assistant Vice President for Student Life and Dean of Students at Salt Lake Community College, was also in attendance as Beverly's guest. Dr. Clark is currently not associated with a Rotary Club - we have extended an invitation for him to join as a charter member of the Rotary Club of Millcreek.

SOCIAL
Annie Nielsen announced that the Halloween Social is scheduled for Tuesday, October 25th at Eggs in the City! Masks are requested and costumes are encouraged, but not required. Additional details will be sent out by Annie as they are available.

The Chartering Dinner could also serve as our holiday party. This dinner is more formal and includes inviting the district leadership. Ladd requested that we don't forget the Happy Hour portion of the party!

NEXT MEETING
The next meeting is November 3rd. The location may change due to holiday meeting requirements of Loggia. Please be sure to watch your emails, Facebook, and this blog for any changes.

This meeting is also the Board meeting - all committee chairs will be reporting on their plans and ideas for the next year. Everyone is invited!

Our last official meeting for 2011 will be November 10, 2011.

Bhutan's Dragon King gets married!

Another link - this time about the Dragon King marrying his commoner bride. Great article with a lot of history surrounding this special ceremony.

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/44885097?gt1=43001

Bhutanese Refugee Journey

As seen on our Facebook page - some information on the Bhutanese Refugees and their journey to the United States. Very enlightening!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9Mhb6DBo2c

And the winner is... Meeting Minutes October 6, 2011

It's official, the Rotary Club of Millcreek has elected the following as Club Officers!


President - Megan Dunn

Vice President - Laurie Summers-Pisani

Treasurer - Ken Klingler

Secretary - Loralee Barlow

Sergeant-at-Arms - John Zone


The newly elected officers are excited to be a part of this amazing group and are eager to work with the previously elected committee chairs!

International Service - Peter Ingle
Community Service - Miriam Kramer
Vocational Service - Laura Rogers
Youth Service - Ladd Tanner
Social Chair - Annie Nielsen

Judy Zone reminded us that in order to be "freaking official" we need to have at least 25 members fill out the Charter Member Form and pay $15. Please take a minute to do it now if you have not already done so.

A warm welcome was extended to our guest Patrice Arent, from the Salt Lake City Rotary International Club.

Peter Ingle and Miriam Klingler presented a discussion of International and Community Service project concepts. Work is currently being done with refugee communities in South Salt Lake, specifically the Hser Nay Moo Center, which needs support. Not all support needs to be financial, a lot can be "sweat equity", working with the adults in the refugee community and building relationships. One idea was to have the refugees teach us, such as cooking, rather than us teaching them.

Other concepts presented for consideration included:
- setting of a monthly goal of service hours for the entire club
- allotting time during meetings to share individual service experiences - this could be a good way to drive the direction of the club, by sharing each other's interests and projects
- specify ONE targeted group project, but not minimize the service options
- include Rotaract and Interact

It was voted to follow up on the Burmese project.

Next week we are hosting Assistant District Governor Beverly Christy to our meeting - she is our liason between the Governor and our club. We look forward to hearing her experience with Rotary International.

Our next meeting is Thursday, October 13th, 5:15, at Loggia.

Annie Nielsen is planning a great party for Halloween, you don't want to miss out on the details!

Susan Marks, Human Resources consultant & University of Michigan fan extraordinaire, to join Rotary Club of Millcreek

Susan Marks is a Senior Consultant at Waldron Human Resources since 2005, heading the Salt Lake City, Utah office. She manages all corporate and individual client relationships and programs in the organization development, leadership coaching and career transition coaching practice areas. Susan is especially passionate about helping companies and individuals achieve their business, career and/or education goals.

Previously, Susan was a director and Vice President in the financial services industry with two major banks (now Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase), and most recently at American Express. She led the program management group that acquired, enhanced and deployed technical solutions for driving product sales through its global distribution network. Susan was also Vice President, Implementation Consulting at Contrado Partners, a startup technology company where she lead bank partner sales and client installations.

Susan has an M.A., in Education - Counseling/ Organizational Behavior from the University of Michigan where she also has a B.G.S. in Liberal Arts.

Some of her achievements include:

•Founder and Member, Board of Advisors, Women Leaders Utah

•Member, Wasatch Employer Network

•District Trainer, Rotary District 5420 (Utah)

•Rotarian of the Year, Rotary Club of Sugar House

Susan is a University of Michigan football fan extraordinaire. She loves to prepare and eat the wonderful summer bounty from Salt Lake City’s award winning farmer’s market, especially salads and dressings. Susan is also an active Rotarian. She uses her technical and project management skills to launch new websites, run statewide leadership training webinars, and increase Rotary membership and fundraising results. She loves to hike and power walk the steep Utah foothills and national parks. We are delighted that she will be a charter member of the Rotary Club of Millcreek!