Today's Events:

President Linda Kaplan presiding

ROTARY THEME 2006-07

    President Linda opened the meeting with a reminder of next Monday’s Board Meeting – same time; same location – and asked for reports on the Club’s various programs and projects.

    Cathy Miller thanked the many members who participated in the Rebuilding Together project painting a house in Coconut Grove from green to yellow.

    Diana Phillips reported to the membership of the survey done at the Crafts Festival and the request for a food booth that serves Thai food. She is seeking a volunteer to locate someone for next year’s events. If you can help, contact Diana at: 305-235-1192

    Foundation Chair Donna Gaines reminded the membership that $700.00 is still available for matching funds for contributions to The Rotary Foundation. The Club will match up to $100.00 per contributor. Remember, $1,000.00 makes you a Paul Harris Fellow and committing periodic payments of just $100 makes you a Paul Harris Sustaining Member. With matching funds, you just get there faster.  

We welcome all of our Visitors:

 

Matching Grants – Donna Gaines, Chair

We have $1,000 set aside for RI foundation

Give $100 and the club will match $100 towards
your Paul Harris Fellowship

Art Festival SPONSORS determine its success

May 22nd is the next ArtFest Committee meeting Bob Straile’s home

GET OUT AND HELP OUR COMMUNITY
 
Hands on Miami Projects : Helping Young Mothers

http://www.handsonmiami.org/

Saturday, May 5, 2007 ~ 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.

Coral Gables Cycling Celebration
Attendance in activities related to the Cycling to Serve Fellowship constitutes a make-up attendance for our club’s weekly meetings.

BICYCLING THROUGH THE GABLES

OPEN TO THE COMMUNITY

Sunday, May 6 @ 11:00 am – 2:00 pm

BICYCLING THROUGH THE COUNTY

For ROTARIANS:
Meet to cycle @ 7:30am EVERY Saturday
@ Patricia’s (5911 Maynada, Coral Gables)

Check out Patricia’s website: www.watch-inc.org

To become a cycling fellowship member:
Go to www.cyclingtoserveuscanada.com

2007 RI Convention in Salt Lake City, Utah

98th Rotary International Annual Convention

17-20 June 2007

$$$ PRINTER CARTRIDGES FUNDRAISER $$$
 

Accepting empty inkjet cartridges

Bring them to the meetings or take a postage-paid plastic envelop home – ask Mike Mills

Attendance credit for a 30-minute interactive club Web site activity. This offers an alternative to making up a meeting at another club. To earn an attendance credit, Rotarians usually log on to the site, read up on a range of subjects, post comments, and submit a form to the club secretary.

For make-ups anywhere around the world when traveling internationally:

http://rotary.org/support/clubs/index.html

NOTIFY DOREEN REITNAUER, SECRETARY, OF ALL MAKE-UPS:

dhiker217@aol.com

Mark Your Calendars
Tuesday, May 22, 2007		Art Show Meeting @ 5:30 / Bob Straile’sHome
June 17 - 20, 2007		RI Conference - Salt Lake City
Tuesday, June 26, 2007		Art Show Meeting @ 5:30 / Bob Straile’sHome
Tuesday, July 24, 2007		Art Show Meeting @ 5:30 / Bob Straile’sHome
Tuesday, August 28, 2007		RI Presidential Conference 2007-2008 RI President Wilfred “Wilf” Wilkinson visits District 6990 @ The Westin Hotel - Fort Lauderdale $115 registration
Tuesday, August 24 & 25, 2007		Art Show Meeting @ 5:30 / Bob Straile’sHome
Tuesday, September 25, 2007		Art Show Meeting @ 5:30 / Bob Straile’sHome
Thursday - Monday November 15-19, 200707		District Conference aboard the Carnival Imagination phone Carnival at 866-721-3225 and give them booking #4NX070 to register for your cabin now!!
Meeting Functionaries
Invocation:	Ed Fischer
Pledge:	Marty Rosen
Guests:	Hampton Booker
Happy $$:	Mike Newman
Door Prize:	None
$$$ Prize:$229 (K OF ©)	Mike Mills
Four-Way Test	Diana Phillips
It's Your Turn
May 8, 2007	Door Prize: Susanne Fontana Dessert: Mike Newman
May 15, 2007	Door Prize: Ann Fisher Dessert: Mike Mills
May 22, 2007	Door Prize: Ed Fischer Dessert: Cathy Miller
May 29, 2007	Door Prize: Fabio Fernandez Dessert: Dan McCrea
June 5, 2007	Door Prize: Horace Feliu Dessert: Asaad Masoud
June 12, 2007	Door Prize: Bill Enright Dessert: Maxene Graham
Future Speakers:
May 8, 2007	Cheryl Little – Are They Welcome?
May 15, 2007	Anthony Atwood – Time to Remember
May 22, 2007	Daniel Nguano – Coming to America
May 29, 2007	Ray Stewart – Let There Be Light

Today’s Speaker

    In her usual eloquent style, Program Chair Maxene Graham introduced Michael Amador-Gil, Emergency Management Coordinator for Miami-Dade County’s Office of Emergency Management (OEM) and Homeland Security. A firefighter with Miami-Dade Fire Rescue, Michael spoke of the broad arena of OEM’s responsibility.

    While most Miamians associate his office with Hurricane relief and preparedness. Michael pointed out that it is really a Disaster Relief and includes all hazards such as biochemical, terrorism, flooding, anthrax, potable water issues and global warming. The OEM maintains ongoing contact with FEMA, the Port of Miami, the FBI, Homeland Security, Florida Power & Light’s Turkey Point nuclear generating facility and other first responders.

    The two greatest threats in a disaster are Mass migration – evacuation – before a disaster hits and panic avoidance afterwards. In the event of a disaster, relocating a population of 2.3 million without clogging roads or other transportation facilities is one challenge along with evacuating the 300,000 residents who live in flood zones.

    The OEM maintains a hot line staffed with a duty officer 24/7. It has also formed a group called Volunteers Organized to Assist in Disasters (VOAD). These are volunteers who assist in relocation.

   The OEM has also established six Neighborhood Care Centers that maintain a registry of elderly, infirm, and electric-dependant people as well as high-rises and nursing homes. If you know of an elderly or electric-dependant person, call a care center and let them know. They also have two Pet Shelters.

   Reminding the members that hurricane season runs from June 1 through November 30. He recommends that every household maintain a Family Emergency Preparedness Kit. The kit should contain at least one gallon of water per person per day for up to two weeks. Additionally, your kit should contain a telephone, canned foods and a manual can-opener.

   If you own a generator, know how to use it safely. Also, have two different escape routes prepared and call 311 to learn the status of the emergency and know where the nearest shelter is as well as shelters that accept pets, if you have them.

   From the recovery efforts following Hurricanes Andrew, Katrina, Wilma and Rita, he cautioned against price gouging and hiring fly-by-night contractors for repairs. He recommended calling the Building Code Compliance Office to verify the legitimacy of a contractor and to call your local police department for price gouging.

   Along with Homeland Security, the OEM is concerned with biological hazards and dirty bombs. With the Port of Miami as one of the busiest on the east coast, the challenge is inspecting the freight that arrives from non-U.S. ports.

Programming Chair Maxene Graham introduced

Eric Powell, Ambassidorial Scholar
 His Fabulous Year, Coming Home,
 and What’s Ahead

Sponsored by District 6990, Eric wants to emphasize in this speech the unique aspects of being a Rotary scholar. So much more is added to the experience since a student is immediately a part of an overseas network of clubs and Rotarians looking out for his well-being. Scholars find a Rotary network of sponsors abroad. This helps to further get them involved in the community with service opportunities.

In the world of academic funding Rotary is the largest funding donor for international scholarships. Rotary is very generous, covering the cost of airfare, tuition, room and board, transportation plus contingency fees and text books.

Eric is Miami born and an only child. His parents bought a yellow lab named Biscuit to keep them company while he was away in Australia. Biscuit uses Kennedy Park and he thanked the club for this weekend’s clean-up.

He’s a graduate of Coral Gables High who went onto FSU to graduate as a Bioscience Major. He transitioned from bioscience to water resource science and followed up with an internship with the EPA in Washington DC working on budgets and finances. In Austrailia his studies emphasized natural resource economics with water mgt on the eastern coast of Australia in Brisbane.

Water is a hot topic in Australia. It is the driest inhabited continent in the world. Uncommon drought in the past few years due to climate changes

Brisbane, Australia

Parallels between Miami and Brisbane, Queensland, Austrailia:
Both have climates warm and subtropical
The state of Queensland has a booming tourist economy
Both have fast growing cities with rapid population booms
Both have huge business development

How we manage water scarcity? Water doesn’t provide benefits to just the private individual – but to entire society and to the ecosystem.

Water is distributed through a monopoly. Governments take the element of competition away.

In Queensland, there have been reforms to their water mgt framework. The question of property rights in times of drought is one issue. Pricing regimens? In the past water has been highly subsidized by the government.

On the eastern seaboard of Australia, drought has created a myriad of restrictions on water. It has devastated agricultural communities. Agriculture makes up 1/3 of GDP. Water issues were a force of political debate during recent elections. Eric watched the constrains on the economy issues penetrate the mindset of the populace.

He participated in service activities such as visiting Glen Innes with its aboriginal population in New South Wales. The harmony between the native and immigrant populations is unusual. Both have been allowed to keep their traditions and culture. Newcomers are respectful. One club’s service project included shipping surplus medical and educational supplies to the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea.

Eric hopes to applying the skills from this past year in South Florida with Everglades restoration. He wishes to figure out ways to balance agricultural industry w/ booming population and is looking for consulting work.