Tornado Relief Needed!! THANKS for your Great Response!! Last Tuesday our state suffered loss of life and property damage from the tornadoes. There are needs for the families that are affected in our district particularly in Sharp County and Van Buren County. Many people have already started to help. Kathy Blackman, the District 6150 Disaster Coordinator has been in touch with The Quad Cities Rotary Club and The Rotary Club of Heber Springs for direction regarding relief efforts. Kathy Blackmon 870.935.6731 kblackman@sbrmc.orgbr The following opportunities have been identified: Sharp County The main need is money. Funds can be sent to Quad Cities Rotary in care of Linda Hall, Club President. Linda Hall P.O. Box 146 Ash Flat, AR 72513 870.994.3040 (w) 870.994.2134 (h) 870.994.3041 (f)

Now available! All of the documents from the Rotary Relief Workshop in Nashville, TN, USA are available in the DOWNLOADS section.

The 23 wildfires during the last days of October 2007 touched all seven Rotary districts (5240, 5260, 5280, 5300, 5320, 5330, 5340) in Southern California (go to: www.rotaryzone2324.org/map.html and click on a District number to go to the District’s website). In just 10 days, some 515,000 acres were burned, more than 2,000 homes and nearly 1,000 other structures were destroyed. Visit www.fire.ca.gov/index.php for photos and further official reports on the fires. The two Rotary Districts that sustained the most severe damage from the fires are D5330 and D5340. DG Mark Howison, D5330, recently wrote to say: “As hard as it is to believe, out of over 500 homes destroyed or damaged by the fires in our District, only two Rotarians lost homes. This does not

North American Rotary Disaster Relief Workshop Second North American Rotary Emergency Disaster Initiative Workshop December 14-15, 2007 Nashville, Tennessee

“Jerry” Fortino of the Algiers Rotary Club and Governor of Rotary District 6840 gives Anna Swanier the key to her new home. In the background is the beautiful home built by the Menonites with supplies and material provided by Rotary. Anna Swanier has lived her entire life in Pass Christian and owned her own home which was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina in August 2005. All she had left in the World was the land her home once stood on. She had no means to repay any loans that were available so she was left with her land and no home. The Greatest of Partnerships between the Bi-National Menonites of the U.S.A. and Canada and Rotary literally gave Anna a brand new home built on the

Rotary Zones 33 and 34 established the Florida Tornado Fund 2007 (Tornado Fund), a donor advised fund within The Rotary Foundation of Rotary International, to streamline the flow of contributions from Rotarians looking to assist victims of the devastating February 2007 tornado which affected four counties in Florida, USA. The Tornado Fund directors, including RI Director Barry Rassin, will work with local Rotary clubs and districts, as well as emergency relief agencies, to meet the most pressing needs of people in affected areas. The directors will make grant recommendations after consulting with the District Governors of the affected area or their designees. Funds remaining following the initial emergency relief effort will be used for projects providing longer-term support and development. How can you contribute?

The thirtieth project that the The Rotary Foundation Katrina Relief Fund approved for allocation was a grant for $100,000 of matching funds for the Boys and Girls Club of SouthEast Louisiana through the Rotary Clubs of Slidell. The Rotary Rebuilds Slidell provided Project and Budget Management for the rebuild. Many volunteers helped with the project: Slidell Boys and Girls Club volunteers and Boy Scouts removed the debris from the building and gutted out all the sheetrock 12 students from Princeton University gave up their Spring Break to tear out 8,000 square feet of old, buckeled flooring and cleaned the restrooms. FEMA cut down damaged trees and remove the stumps and debris. Chris Gene (a local contractor) donated the fill dirt and blading. The City of

FINAL REPORT TO DONORS — January 2008 This report attempts to outline major funds received into Rotarian hands in support of those affected by the hurricanes along the Gulf Coast of the United States. This is the tenth and final report to be compiled. All funds contributed into the DAF have now been expended. The DAF expenditures have been brought current but the remaining funds are reflected as of June 2007. Almost 19 ½ million dollars has been received with 12 million dollars expended. A brief summary is as follows: 1) TRF DAF total receipts—$1,990,253 total expended- $1,990,253 2) District 6200 total receipts- 1,900,487 total expended 1,800,774 3) District 6840/6820 receipts- 968,000 total expended 912,000 4) Shelter Box 1,200,000 1,200,000 5) The Rotary Foundation matching

NORTH AMERICAN ROTARY DISASTER WORKSHOP PREPAREDNESS – RESPONSE – REBUILDING NEW ORLEANS, LA JANUARY 11-13, 2007 ROTARY INTERNATIONAL PRESIDENT BILL BOYD SESSIONS GEARED TO PREPARING YOUR DISTRICT BUS TRIPS TO DISASTER AREA AND PROJECT SITES SESSIONS ON ROTARY’S ROLE IN DISASTER RESPONSE SESSIONS ON ROTARY’S ROLE IN REBUILDING Click here for the Registration Form Registration: PDF Frank Bradshaw pacboss@bellsouth.net Hotels: Astor Crowne Plaza 502-962-0500 Holiday Inn Express (1 block away) 888-538-5667 All Files from this Conference are available in the Downloads section!

WE WILL RISE AGAIN The official silk-screen ‘WE WILL RISE AGAIN’ NEW ORLEANS 2005 is now available for purchase and all profits will go for Hurricane Repair projects. The official Website for this silk-screen is: www.helpneworleansrotary.com George Rodrique presents a silkscreen benefiting the victims of Hurricane Katrina. “Those of us from South Louisiana grew up with the aftermaths of hurricanes Audrey, Betsy, Camille…and now Katrina. As with times before, “we will rise again.” Tears and rising water threaten to drown us. But don’t be deceived. The land may be under water, but the spirit of New Orleans and the culure of Louisiana hold their heads high. We Will Rise Again shows the American flag covered with water. The blue dog is partly submerged, and its