Announcements

Chico Rotary’s Surf & Turf dinner, which will be lobster and steak, will be on this next Saturday, November 8^th at 5:00 pm.  This year it will be at the Silver Dollar Fairgrounds.  You will need to buy your tickets ahead of time. 

Ric Farley noted that the Durham American Legion Blood Drive for Vitalant will  be at the Veteran’s Memorial Hall, in Durham, on December 14th.

Other Matters

K. R. Robertson, a World War II Marine veteran, was named Veteran of the Year, and was honored at the Parade of Lights in Chico in Mid. October.

Attendance

Members were missing from this meeting.  We need better attendance.  Come to the next meeting as the District Governor well be there.

Recognitions

None tonight.

The Program

Our meeting and program were a visit to the Military Minute museum behind the home of Ric and Rian Farley.  This is a growing museum dedicated to preserving and honoring the artifacts and stories of wartime service. 

The Military Minute was founded to honor and narrate the stories of past and present military members and ensuring that history is preserved, shared, and celebrated.

It is primarily the work of Sean Farley, a third-generation U.S. Army veteran and Iraq War combatant, who now leads a new mission through his nonprofit, The Military Minute.  He has the assistance of his parents.  His mother helps with researching the history involved.

There are many restored military vehicles currently housed on site in two re-purposed workshops.  The spaces contain many of authentic military artifacts, from Civil War-era documents to many uniforms worn by military persons up to the present day.  It also contains and preserves the stories of these military persons.

The photo to the right are of family uniforms, including his and his sister’s

See more uniforms and equipment in the photos below.

Here are ways if you want to learn more about Military Minute

Next Meeting

Our next meeting, on November 11th, will be the visit of the District Governor, at the BCCC. 

There will be a Board Meeting with the District Governor at 5;00 pm, before the meeting.  All may attend.

Crab Feed Planning

There will be a Crab Feed planning meeting at 12:00 noon, at the BCCC on November 20^th for all interested in attending. 

Membership

Bring guests who you think you can interest in becoming a member. We Need More Members! Your dinner and your guest’s dinner will be paid for by the Club.  Also, bring a guest to one of our occasional social gatherings.

President Tom is asking the members to bring in new members this year.

Go to the following Rotary International web site for information on membership development:  https://my.rotary.org/en/learning-reference/learn-topic/membership .  From this website there is access to membership development and other related information.

 

The Rotary Foundation Donations

You can make a difference in this world by helping people in need. Your gift can do some great things, from supplying filters that clean people’s drinking water to empowering local entrepreneurs to grow through business development training.

The Rotary Foundation will use your gift to fund the life-changing work of Rotary members who provide sustainable solutions to their communities’ most pressing needs. But we need help from people like you who will take action and give the gift of Rotary to make these projects possible.

When every Rotarian gives every year, no challenge is too great for us to make a difference. The minimum gift to The Rotary Foundation is $25.00.   An annual $100.00 gift is a sustaining member.  Once your donations accumulate to $1,000 you become a Paul Harris Fellow.

If you have any questions, ask Steve Heithecker.

It is possible to learn more about The Rotary Foundation on the Rotary web site. 

Your gift can be made online or by sending Jessica Thorpe a check made out to The Rotary Foundation to Durham Rotary, P.O. Box 383, Durham, California 95958.

From Rotary International’s News and Features Website

{Note that the proceeding may not be the complete article.  See the complete article on Rotary International’s web page.}

Nore that the photos in the original article have not been reproduced here.

Rotary projects around the globe

November 2025

By Brad Webber

United States

A talent showcase held by the Rotary Club of Carpinteria in California has raised more than $325,000 since 2009. The club has used the funds for service projects, including purchasing about 300 musical instruments for children and awarding around 100 college scholarships. A sellout for the 16th straight year, April’s showcase presented a range of entertainers, including dancers,musicians, storytellers, comedians, and jugglers. “All of our members play a role in one way or another” in organizing the show, says Club President David Powdrell. “‘Find what brings you joy and get involved’ is our motto.” Several participants over the years have gone on to become professional entertainers,including Will Breman, who found success on the television series The Voice, and magician Mark Collier

Canada

When leaders at the Rotary Club of St. Thomas in Ontario noticed a lack of engagement, the club adapted by adjusting its schedule to allow more time for service. The result has been astonishing, with an energized mission and growing interest by prospective members, says Barbara Warnock, immediate past president of the club. “Meeting every week was a deterrent to new members, and we felt that we needed to have more active participation in local projects,” says Warnock. The club now meets the second and fourth Wednesdays of the month, with the other Wednesdays designated for volunteering at two local organizations: Grace Café, a street mission and soup kitchen, and Harvest Hands, which collects and distributes edible foodstuffs that would ordinarily have been discarded. “Our Rotarians have embraced this work to contribute to feeding those in need,” Warnock says.

Scotland

The Rotary Club of Elgin supports numerous initiatives for youth, including a Rotaract club, an Interact club, and several RotaKids clubs, which are a program of Rotary International in Great Britain and Ireland to build citizenship and leadership skills in children under 12. At the Greenwards school, RotaKids clubs are a go-to activity, reports teacher Kirstin Mustard, one of four club leaders. In February, the RotaKids held a rummage sale,collecting about $100 for The Rotary Foundation. In June, they sponsored a walk that raised about $3,200 for Harry’s Hat, a charity for the condition hydrocephalus, a buildup of water in the brain. That organization assisted the family of one of the youths. Stephanie Urchick, 2024-25 RI president, visited that month and was treated to a performance based on a history project. “It was truly inspiring to see the passion, creativity, and compassion shown by the pupils,” she says. “Their community spirit shines through.”

India

The Rotary Club of Coimbatore Cotton City designed a project to raise awareness about the illicit practice of caging and trading wild parakeets. Volunteers meticulously placed nearly a ton of millet grains in a 1,200-square-footartwork depicting the clipping of a parakeet’s wings. “Each grain represents hope,” says Niketu Shah, a club leader who directed the project, part of a larger effort by an animal rescue organization and supported by the state forest department. The artwork was completed in May at a shopping center. Last year, the club helped provide the forest department with an X-ray machine for birds. In captivity, many birds suffer from disease and stress that reduces their lifespan.

Philippines

Many people in the Philippines lack access to affordable dental care. To address the problem, members of the Rotary Club of Bacolod Central launched Project Smile, which provides dental care to teachers at public schools. Rotarians screen recipients and schedule extractions, fillings, and fittings. The club pays the costs not covered through the volunteer care of the Negros Occidental chapter of the Philippine Dental Association and supplemental funding from the local congressional office. Thus far, the project has delivered 55 dental makeovers.“These dedicated heroes often choose to spend their own money to supplement their teaching needs rather than on their personal health and well-being,” says club member Maria “Toks” Lopez.

This story originally appeared in the November 2025 issue of Rotary magazine.

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The Durham Rotary Club site is:  www.durhamrotary.org The Rowel Editor may be contacted at: pbprice1784@gmail.com The deadline for the Rowel 6:30 am on Wednesdays. The Editor's photographs published in the Rowel are available, upon request, in their original file size.  Those published were substantially reduced in file size.