Enjoy playing Texas No Hold'em Poker.....thing you are good.....and would like to support our Rotary club's passions for improving our community? Then you have come to the right place.

Saturday February 23, 2013

When: 4:00 p.m. until you are out (about Midnight for the Winner!)

Where: Fircrest Golf Club, 1500 Regents Boulevard

Cost: $100 Donation (this includes Dinner and your Buy-in) Only $50 for Dinner and Watching - No chips

Who: Only 100 Players Available

Payouts: 1st - $1,000  •  2nd - $600  •  3rd - $400  •  4th - $200  •  5th - $100  

4:00 is the Check-in / Social • 5:00 is the Buffet Dinner of Lasagna, Salad, Garlic Bread Sticks and Dessert

Tickets Must Be Purchased In Advance - Contact Matt Owens at 253-377-0817

This article was published in the UP Patch on line newspaper 12/23/2011

Armed with only a smart phone for navigation and a sleigh full of presents, Santa’s Helpers from Tacoma Narrows Rotary club delivered Christmas wishes to 5 local families last night.  At this time of year, the local Rotary club adopts several families who need a little help making this Christmas special.  It is not the largest project the club does, but it is one of our most important ones.  President Scott Seitz said "The best present I purchased this year was for the seven year old boy that wanted a Hot Wheel set. He is going to love it.”  Mrs. Santa (Eileen Oye) said it best: "On a cold winter night, we are warmed by the opportunity to bring some joy to others for Christmas."

Pictured below from left to right: Rita, Exchange Student from Taiwan, Pat Johnson, President Elect and the Chair of Helping Hands Eileen Oye.

Tacoma Narrows Rotary club is comprised of 44 business men and women making the community and world a better place. Since 1970 the club has raised and invested $755,694 into our community, nation and the world.

It is true, we are not a singing club but being part of the Duck the Halls community event could not be passed up.  This event went so smooth that they were a head of the 'scheduled' times by over a half and hour.......Our ringers were not present.  So the president did what any scared to death person does: grab anyone he knew from the crouwd.  We are the group singing 33 seconds in.

On February 23, 107 years ago, four men met for the first time in a small Chicago office.

Little did they know that from their association an international organization would grow to over 1.2 million members and have clubs in almost every country on the planet.

But that’s exactly what happen: Happy Birthday Rotary.

I am often asked, "What does Rotary do?" My answer has been the same over the past 15 years: we are group of business men and women in the community making our neighborhood, city, state, nation and the world a better place. Basically that’s just a textbook definition. A simple answer to give if we were in line at Safeway. But Rotary is so much more.

The more I hear what Rotarians are doing around the world, the more overwhelmed I get with that question. What do we do? Really?

• We are dedicated to ridding the world of polio and other diseases
• We are determined to build a better future through educating children everywhere
• We are serving our communities with hands-on projects
• We are bringing hope to people in need

How do we do it: Well,.........

Well, we raise $200 million dollars (in five years) to continue fighting polio, give Mosquito nets to prevent malaria in the sub-Saharan Africa, we give free cleft-palette operations in Bangladesh, Philippines, actually around the entire world. Drill a water-well for a village in Niger, provide all third graders in this area with their very own dictionary.

Sorry, sorry: there I go again……..basically the list of what we do goes on for about 107 years.

To paraphrase Mahatma Gandhi: we are the change we want to see in the world. Rotary International sees these six areas of focus for the next 107 years:

The club I belong to? We work very hard to provide hope with all of the money, blood, sweat and tears we use. We are the best Rotary club this side of Chicago.

Ten days before his 21st birthday, David Goldstone lay in a hospital bed near Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, his arms and legs paralyzed by polio, his body gripped by fever and in terrible pain. His hospital admission form read, "Life expectancy: 24 hours."

Six days later, Goldstone emerged from a semicoma and was moved out of isolation into a children's ward; adult polio victims were and still are relatively rare. "You will probably never walk again," the hospital’s chief medical officer told him.

"I will," Goldstone replied.

His story

By Dan Nixon
Rotary International News -- 27 December 2011

That was 55 years ago. Now 76 and a member of the Rotary Club of Crawley, Western Australia, Goldstone recounted his battle with polio at an October meeting of nearly 600 Rotarians gathered in support of polio eradication. He had never shared his story in public because of the emotional trauma it would have caused him. But fellow club member Michael Sheldrick, manager of the Global Poverty Project’s polio eradication campaign, had persuaded him to talk about his experience.

Throughout most of the story, Goldstone referred to himself as "John," a friend, revealing only at the end that the story was about him.

"For days, John's arms and legs were covered with sandbags to stop any deformity from occurring, [then] they were placed in splints," Goldstone told his listeners. "Then, John was placed in a half-body plaster cast to stop his limbs from changing shape, and was administered injections of morphine every four hours to help the pain. After six weeks, he became immune to the morphine and lived with the pain."

John was fortunate to receive physical therapy, Goldstone said. First, he learned to bend a knuckle, then to regain use of his left hand, to bend an arm, and to feed himself. Several weeks later, he sat in a wheelchair. From there, he learned to walk all over again, "just like a baby."

"Near the entrance to the ward were three iron lungs, always occupied with children," Goldstone continued. "John still has nightmares of the ghostly sound of the bellows pumping air. Whenever the level of sound changed, he knew another child had passed away."

Goldstone finished by saying, "There is no friend John. This is my story, and I do not want one more person in this world to suffer as I have suffered." He said that Rotary must keep the promise it made to the world's children 25 years ago to eradicate polio.

Pennies for Polio

For many years, Goldstone has worked extensively with children crippled by polio, inspiring them with the simple message: “If I can do it, you can do it.” And for 10 years, he chaired the polio eradication committee of District 9450 (now 9455). A signature accomplishment was the Pennies for Polio project, which he initiated in 1999. A partnership with the Perth Mint, the effort made available as collector's items 100,000 Australian pennies produced before 1964. Sales of the near-mint-condition coins raised more than A$84,000 for PolioPlus.

Goldstone now has postpolio syndrome, enduring fatigue, muscle and joint pain, and respiratory problems. Yet he continues to help young people with disabilities and disadvantaged youth by generating support for projects like CanTeen, Camp for Kids, Teen Challenge, and the St. John of God Horizon Program for the homeless. All told, he has raised $11 million for charity.

Goldstone has also been a leader in expanding the Crawley club, which now has a membership of more than 100, with an average age of 42 and with several corporate members. Recently, the club raised $20,000 for PolioPlus through an online petition drive in support of polio eradication, sponsored by Australian Rotarians and the Global Poverty Project. The club contributed $1 for each supporter's signature.

"If I have helped save a life or made someone's dream of a better life come true, then that is why I am proud to be called a Rotarian," Goldstone says.

Our club has enjoyed great growth in membership this year.  Two of our newest Rotarians are Grant Blinn and Wade Stewart. Grant is a Prosecuting Attorney with Pierce County Prosecuting Attorney's Office and Wade is the Owner of Stewart & Son Computer Services.  Welcome to our club, gentleman.