APRIL 8, 2020

Hello Again, Fellow Rotarians! It’s Easter weekend, even though

Mother Nature seems a bit confused and has put snow on the

ground.

People of faith would ordinarily be spending this weekend

participating in religious traditions, such as attending daily church

services with fellow parishioners or preparing a basket of food to be

blessed and consumed on Easter Day with their families. While it

saddens me to not be able to carry out these traditions in person,

many of us have still been able to worship quietly at home by viewing

live-streamed services, attending drive-in services (yes, it’s a thing!),

or participating in virtual Bible study groups. Some people have plans

ROTARY NOTES

A publication of the Rotary Club of Warren

Rotary Motto

Service Above Self

4-Way Test

Of the things we think, say or do:

Is it the truth?

Is it fair to all

concerned?

Will it build goodwill and

better friendship?

Will it be

beneficial to all concerned?

Avenues of

Service

Club Service

Vocational Service

Community

Service

International Service

Youth Service

An estimated 5.9 million children under the age of 5 years die annually due to malnutrition, inadequate healthcare, & poor sanitation. Rotarians provide education, immunizations, birth kits, & mobile health clinics to help women protect themselves & their children from disease. By expanding access to quality care, mothers & children everywhere can have equal opportunities for a healthy future!

to “share” a meal with family members via Skype. I’ve heard these

adjustments referred to as “creativity of love”.

For those who do not participate in organized religion, or for

Rotarians who merely want to enjoy some light-hearted reading, I want

to share some fun, and perhaps little known, facts about Easter:

*** Eggs are an ancient symbol of fertility, joy, celebration, and new

life.

*** For Christians, the Easter egg is symbolic of the resurrection of

Jesus Christ, and painting them is an especially beloved tradition where

the eggs are dyed red to represent the blood of Christ that was shed on

the cross.

*** There used to be a tradition involving eggs in churches which

resembled the game, “Hot Potato”. The priest would toss a hard-boiled

egg to one of the choir boys. The boys would then toss it among

themselves. When the clock struck 12, whoever was left holding the egg

was the winner and got to eat it.

*** The art of painting eggs, called Pysanka, originated in Ukraine,

with the use of wax to create designs on the eggs and dyes.

*** Egg dyes were once made of onion peels, tree bark, flower petals,

and juices.

*** While dyeing eggs is a favorite tradition, there is great debate

about dyeing chicks. Some hatcheries are vehemently opposed, while

others say that it is not a dangerous practice, as the dye only lasts until

a chick sheds its fluff and grows feathers.

*** Speaking of chicks, Americans buy more than 700 million

marshmallow peeps each year, making this the most popular non-chocolate

treat.

*** In 1953, it took 27 hours to make one marshmallow peep! This

process was sped up to six minutes with the invention of a machine called

The Depositor.

*** Americans also consume greater than 16 million jellybeans at

Eastertime. These are enough beans to circle the globe three times!

They can also fill a plastic egg the size of a nine-story building.

*** However, 70% of Easter candy is, of course, chocolate. $1.9

billion of Easter candy are purchased annually. This makes the Easter

holiday only second to Halloween in candy consumption.

*** 76% of Americans believe that one should eat the ears of a

chocolate Easter Bunny first. 5% eat the feet first, and 4% go for the

tail.

*** The largest chocolate Easter egg was found in Italy in 2011. It

stood 10.39 meters tall and weighed 7,200 kg.

*** In the olden days, pretzels were associated with Easter. The

twists on these salty treats were thought to represent arms crossed in

Areas of

Focus

Promoting

Peace

Fighting Disease

Providing Clean

Water

Saving Mothers & Children

Supporting Education

Growing Local

Economies

Club Officers President Teri Surin

President Elect

Dominic Mararri

Vice-President Christine Cope

Secretary

Judy Masaki

Treasurer Cheryl Oblinger Past President Venita Collins

Board

Members Bill Beinecke Tony Iannucci

Lauren Kramer Ted Stazak

Kim Straniak Lisa Taddei

Julia Wetstein

prayer.

*** The largest Easter Egg Hunt was held in Florida’s Cypress

Gardens Adventure Park in Winter Haven on April 1, 2007. 9,753

children, accompanied by their parents, searched for 501,000 eggs.

*** The White House Easter Egg Roll has been celebrated annually by

Presidents of the United States and their families since 1878, when it

was started by President Rutherford B. Hayes.

*** The first story of a rabbit hiding eggs in a garden, later named

the Easter Bunny, was published in 1680.

*** Donning new clothes on Easter Day used to be associated with

having good luck for the rest of the year. This eventually led to the

modern day Easter Parade and the wearing of Easter Bonnets. (I fondly

remember wearing a pretty, new dress with a bonnet and patent leather

shoes to sunrise services on Easter morning as a little girl!)

No matter how you decide to spend Easter, I hope this Holiday

weekend brings you a quiet sense of peace and hope.

ROTARY INTERNATIONAL NEWS – Please visit the rotary.org

COVID-19 response page for ongoing updates.

Rotary Club

Foundation

Board

President

Chris Shape

Vice-President Cindy Matheson

Secretary

Judy Masaki

Treasurer Cheryl Oblinger

Christine Cope

Jim Ditch Ken LaPolla Teri Surin

Contact us

at: Rotary Club of

Warren P.O. Box 68 Warren, OH

44482

Our Website: Warrenrotary.org

If you have

any

questions or

suggestions

about our

newsletter,

or if you

would like to

become a

sponsor,

please

contact:

Judy Masaki

WEEKLY ANNOUNCEMENTS

CALL FOR NOMINATIONS: Two individuals will be chosen to receive

special awards at the end of this Rotary year. The Lester R. Stauffer

Community Award is named for long-time Rotarian and Past District

Governor, Les Stauffer. This award recognizes a non-Rotarian for his or

her outstanding volunteer service rendered to the community, not

vocational success or prominence. The Distinguished Rotarian Award was

established in 1998 to recognize Rotarians who practice the object of

Rotary and who exemplify Rotary ideals in their everyday lives.

Recipients of this award are active within the club as well as leaders in

their community. They typically inspire leadership, provide inspiration,

and cannot be actively serving on the Board of Directors. Please email

Judy Masaki (jmasaki1962@gmail.com) no later than April 13th to

nominate individuals for these awards, including your rationale as to why

your nominee should be considered. The Board of Directors will vote on

recipients at their April meeting.

THE ROTARY DISASTER RESPONSE FUND has been established to help

districts around the world respond to disasters including COVID-19. The

fund accepts online contributions at:

https://my.rotary.org/en/disaster-response-fund

JOIN US on Wednesday, April 15th at Noon for a Rotary Club of Warren

virtual meeting via Zoom! You can sign in at:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/456270522?pwd=

Lz15ZGpTc0dYYjNJTkJOMHlkMm5TQT09

The meeting ID is: 456 270 522, and the password is: 327603.

President Teri Surin will also send out sign-in instructions via email.

THE ROTARY CLUB OF WARREN BOARD OF DIRECTORS will meet via

Zoom immediately following our Club meeting on Wednesday, April 15th.

See sign-in instructions above.

DIAPER DRIVE: Distribution of diapers and wipes is needed for families

of young children in our community. You can help by donating funds on

Facebook at:

https://www.facebook.com/

WomenUnitedTrumbullCounty/

photos/a.348712355772542/561441824499593/?

type=3&theater

OR use this link to go directly to the donation form:

https://igfn.us/f/28n2/n

Anyone can also text 3601 to 41444. 100% of the funds will be used

to purchase diapers and wipes for families in Trumbull County.

MOBILE MEALS: Due to COVID-19, people in our community need food!

If you would like to make a donation or volunteer as a driver, contact

Kim Kim Straniak.

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At our last meeting, service projects were discussed, and the

following proposal was put together by Teri Surin and Patti Augustine.

The Rotary Club of Warren Foundation has agreed to assist in funding

the project, with matching funds being sought from The Community

Foundation’s COVID-19 Response Fund. Rotary volunteers are needed to

assist in delivering meals to nurses, doctors, and other front line workers

at St. Joe’s and Trumbull Memorial Hospitals. If you are willing to help

out, please contact President Teri Surin as soon as possible.

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SERVICE PROJECT

Patti Augustine has spoken to both Trumbull Memorial Hospital

and St. Joe’s Hospital and BOTH hospitals would love to have

meals delivered to their staff.

Both hospitals would get approx. 20 meals for nurses/doctors in

various departments (so approx. 40 meals total per day). The

times they would be able to receive the meals would be at

11:30am or 6-6:30pm. It was also suggested by the hospitals to

provide snack bars, if possible.

We also don’t want to forget about the Cleaning & Environmental

Services staff that are also working very hard to maintain a clean

& sterile environment.

We thought we could start by delivering meals twice a week, say

on Tuesdays & Thursdays. With the hope that we raise enough

money to be able to deliver meals Monday thru Friday or even on

the weekends. ALL meals will need to be individually wrapped!

There are several restaurants we can work with on this, such as

Café 422, Sunrise Inn and West & Main. Again, ALL meals will

need to be individually wrapped (no trays, etc.)! If anyone has

more suggestions regarding restaurants that could help, please

let us know!

from each hospital will bring out a cart and take their food. We

can stagger days between hospitals, depending on how many

drivers we have.

We can also start a GoFundMe account and solicit donations. We

can blast this on social media to get the word out.

STAYING SANE DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

A Rotarian since 2002,

Mary Berge is a frequent

speaker and trainer around the

Rotary world. As a practicing

Clinical Psychologist, she has a

vast knowledge of human

behavior, emotions, and coping

skills, which is why we asked her to

to join us at our most recent

Zoom meeting.

These are unprecedented times. We’ve experienced nothing like the

coronavirus pandemic in our lifetime. We are inundated with news, much of

which is negative and frightening, leading to anxiety, confusion about what

to believe, mental overload, and fatigue (both physical and mental).

Dr. Berge suggested the following strategies to assist us in regaining

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We will need delivery drivers!! So we will ask for volunteers

for this immediately! They would have NO CONTAT with anyone

– they will pick-up & deliver. Someone from each hospital will

bring out a cart and take their food. We can stagger days

between hospitals, depending on how many drivers we have.

We can also start a GoFundMe account and solicit donations. We

can blast this on social media to get the word out.

We can seek individual donations through our membership and

their networks. Perhaps some of us can reach out to

company’s/corporations for a one-time donation as well.

We should also send a press release to the local news stations as

to what we’re doing and get some media attention on this.

Patti also suggested we create a note or sticker with a message

from the Warren Rotary to include with each meal. It should be

something simple like “Thank you for everything you do” or

“Thank you, our heroes”, etc.

a sense of control over our lives:

Limit input. Do not look at media or listen to the news more than two

times per day.

Use thought stopping. We have both positive and negative thoughts.

When you start to hear those negative thoughts rearing their ugly

head, tell yourself, “Stop!”, and replace the negative thought with a

more positive, reality-based thought. The easiest way to do this is to

verbalize a gratitude, or something you are thankful for. Another way

is to smile, which is actually easier to do than to frown! Being grateful

and smiling, or any positive emotion, causes our brain to release

dopamine (the happy chemical).

To prevent boredom, break your routine into two hour chunks. At the

end of two hours spent at any task or work activity, take a much

needed break in another room or go outside and get some fresh air for

10 minutes.

Increase water intake. Drink at least 60 ounces per day!

Exercise.

Get plenty of rest.

Participate in life to the fullest extent possible.

Make lemonade out of lemons. Believe that we can come out of this in

a better place and have a “renaissance of the human spirit”.

Ask yourself, “Am I going to use this crisis for the better or fail to

use it?” Figure out how you can use your extra free time as an

opportunity (i.e. take on-line classes, read, develop a new hobby, etc.)

Do deep breathing exercises. While sitting down, inhale VERY SLOWLY

through your nose, hold it, and then exhale VERY SLOWLY through your

mouth. Repeat this two or three times, and you should immediately

feel the difference in your anxiety level.

Participate in meditation. Put on earbuds, close your eyes, and listen

to a form of bilateral sound therapy. David Grand, PhD has some great

“BioLateral Sound Healing” on YouTube that will calm you in six to eight

minutes.

Talk to a mental health professional if needed. You can Google

“Psychology Today” and punch in your zip code in order to find a

therapist in your area.

For more information, go to www.drberge.com. Remember, any

support is good for our well-being during this unique time!

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HAPPY BUCKS

*** Christine Cope is happy to be able to work from home and not hurry to

take a shower in the morning!

*** Lauren Kramer is enjoying spending extra time with her children.

*** Julia Wetstein praised Teri Surin for doing a great job during this

tough year as Warren Rotary’s President.

*** Venita Collins thanked Teri for hosting our virtual meeting on Zoom.

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THOUGHT FOR THE DAY