Waterloo Rotary Reporter (Sep 07, 2018)

OFF SITE MEETING SEPT 10

We will NOT meet at the Sullivan Brothers Convention Center Monday - our talents will be called to the old Food Bank location to help tie a ribbon on this year's shoebox project. Steve Thorpe reports volunteers have done amazing work the last several days and the project is on track to ship on time. A big final push from our club is scheduled for Monday beginning at 10am. Jimmy Johns will be delivered about noon (for those that RSVP'd with Mark earlier this week) and Rotarians are encouraged to come see the final stages of the packing process.

Directions to the 11th St. warehouse for the September 10th meeting:

20 Under 40

We are proud that two of our own Rotarians have been named to the 20 under 40 this year!
Congrats, Heather Labonte and Megan Kugler!

MISSING SHOEBOXES

This is an ALL-POINTS-BULLETIN: our shoebox commander is searching for shoeboxes that were checked out by Rotarians in our club but HAVE NOT BEEN RETURNED. Every shoebox is paired with an individual student in Nicaragua so if you are holding onto a shoebox, that child will be empty-handed when our team arrives to distribute in November. It is IMPERATIVE that you return the shoeboxes you checked out - preferably filled with all the age and gender-appropriate items on the list. Bring your shoeboxes to Monday's meeting as the trucks will be loaded and depart next week!

Buenos Dias, Anahi Rojas

Posted by Bonnie Smith-Davis

Part 1:

With a heart as courageous as her love of life, Anahi is our new Downtown Rotary Club’s Exchange student from Paraguay.

She sat quietly beside me with her host mom Mary Donegan-Ritter and their family dog Sawyer on their beautiful outside porch. The rest of the family wasn’t home yet including host sister Alayna, a junior, out for cross country at West. Her host dad Curt wasn’t home yet either.

With a beautiful smile, Anahi focused right on me and answered questions clearly and completely as much as possible. Her caring host mom watched her carefully, listening and helping her only as needed as Anahi constructed her phrases and searched for ways to express deep feelings important to her.

“I am so grateful for my Rotary and for my host family,” Anahi expressed to me. It was clearly on her heart and written on her face. Anahi, 16, is making adjustments to get used to the new routine. Her school in in her home town Coronel Oviedo (population 117,000) starts at 7:30 and goes until 12:30 from February through December and not every class meets every day. Here, every class meets daily for the most part. Her native language is Spanish. She’s taking required courses here in Math, American Government and others. She will be a senior when she returns home. “It’s so big!” she says about West. Her own school, one of several in her home city, has only 800 students total, compared to West which has almost double that. Perhaps that is one reason why students here may seem a bit harder to get to know as least for now.

Anahi looks forward to meeting other Rotarians and learning more about life...sharing culture , meeting people and seeing the landscape of the USA and in particular the Cedar Valley... learning as much as possible. She has already travelled to Florida in US as well as to Brazil, Argentina and Bahamas. Anahi loves the dance...especially the ballet continues as an integral part of her life. She works out and has a love of music including American teen music. She plans to perform a traditional Paraguayan dance for Rotary members and brought a special dress with her to do so.

In Part 2: Anahi compares cultural landscapes, her family and what surprises her so far about life here.