[D9640general] [eFlash_Rotary] Digest Number 599

[Garry & Anne Krischock]

Messages In This Digest (2 Messages) 
  1. 1214: Rotarians help Katrina evacuee start a new life From: Sunil K Zachariah 
  2. 1213:  Clarification From: Sunil K Zachariah 
Messages 
  1. 1214: Rotarians help Katrina evacuee start a new life 

  Posted by: "Sunil K Zachariah" sunilkzach at yahoo.co.uk   sunilkzach 
  Mon Sep 4, 2006 6:55 pm (PST) 
  Rotarians help Katrina evacuee start a new life

  By Bettina Kozlowski
  Rotary International News

  Twice, Rotarians have influenced the direction of 28-year-old Brandi 
  Boatner's life. The first time, which was when Boatner was a student 
  at Loyola University New Orleans, a Rotarian gave Boatner her first 
  professional marketing internship. The second time, Rotarians 
  stepped into her life under more dramatic circumstances.

  Flooding caused by Hurricane Katrina shut down Loyola University one 
  semester shy of Boatner's graduation and destroyed her childhood 
  home in New Orleans. "I lost everything," she says. "After that, I 
  was hanging on by a very thin thread." 

  In late September, while living with her family in a cramped Houston 
  hotel room, Boatner discovered an announcement on Loyola's Web site. 
  The University of Dortmund, Germany, was offering full-time tuition, 
  housing, and living expenses to 10 Loyola University students for 
  the upcoming fall semester. Boatner fired off her application by e-
  mail. 

  The exchange program is the brainchild of Walter Gruenzweig, who's 
  the dean of American Cultural Studies at Dortmund. Gruenzweig says 
  he approved Boatner's application almost instantly. "Her enthusiasm, 
  her courage, and her professional experience convinced me right 
  away." Of the 70 applicants, she was the first student chosen and 
  one of two New Orleans residents. 

  Ten days after she was accepted into the program, Boatner was on a 
  plane to Germany to live and study in a country whose language she 
  didn't know, on what was her first trip abroad. Boatner quickly 
  adjusted. She shared a house with a fellow student from home, and 
  most of her classes were taught in English. Boatner soon 
  distinguished herself as a top student. "I knew that my being here 
  was no coincidence," she says. "I felt at home."

  Boatner remembered how, during her internship, Kay Brief, who at the 
  time belonged to the New Orleans Rotary Club, had introduced her to 
  the field of marketing at her PR firm, Brief and Company. For her 
  internship, Boatner promoted Rotary International to the local 
  media, then helped market Hollywood movies in the New Orleans 
  region. "Kay Brief made me the PR professional I am today," says 
  Boatner. 

  Rotarians also helped Boatner at other times, too, such as when she 
  felt lonely in Germany. They invited her to their homes and club 
  meetings to speak about her experiences. She guest-taught English to 
  fourth-grade students of a Rotarian teacher who is a now a close 
  friend. "These people who did not know me, who had never met me, 
  reached out and helped me when my own government let me down," she 
  says. 

  Gruenzweig was amazed at how quickly Rotarians matched government 
  funds and donations from university students to cover all of their 
  guests' expenses. Altogether, a total of ?45,000 (more than 
  US$57,000) was collected for the Katrina students. 

  Boatner tells as many people as possible about the tragedy she lived 
  through. "From the beginning, I really wanted to become the face of 
  Katrina in Germany." In the process, she became a minor media 
  celebrity in Germany. She's been a guest on radio shows and the 
  subject of newspaper articles and a TV documentary. 

  Yet, Katrina left indelible marks on Boatner. When it thunders and 
  rains, she says, she cowers in the bathroom, shivering in fear. She 
  says she hasn't allowed herself to mourn the tragedy that uprooted 
  her life and killed one of her cousins. 

  In July, Boatner headed back to the United States to start her 
  master's degree in integrated marketing at Hawaii Pacific 
  University. She plans to write her thesis about Rotary's worldwide 
  public relations campaign. And the University of Dortmund will 
  establish a permanent exchange program with Loyola University New 
  Orleans, as well as invite Rotarian guest speakers for lectures. 
  Eventually, Boatner would like move back to Dortmund and join a 
  Rotary club there.

  Courtesy:eFlash_Rotary



  2. 1213:  Clarification 
  Posted by: "Sunil K Zachariah" sunilkzach at yahoo.co.uk   sunilkzach 
  Mon Sep 4, 2006 7:00 pm (PST) 
  I recently became aware of the posting listed in the subject of this 
  message that you appear to have made on a Rotary related 
  website/forum.

  I do not know from whom you received this information, but there is 
  a major error in the posting. I would appreciate it if you would 
  send a corrected posting to anyone who has received this. If you 
  have forwarded the basic information on to other people or 
  organization, I would appreciate it if you would send a corrected 
  version with an explanation of the error to them too.

  The correct President of the Rotary Club of Eureka California, who 
  received the Charity and Humanity Award from the Oblast Government 
  of the Tomsk Region of Russia, is James Kim Bauriedel, MD, president 
  of his club, The Rotary Club of Eureka, California, in 2000-2001. 
  He received the award on 1 March 06. During the last 5 years Dr. 
  Bauriedel, with the help of his club and other local clubs of Rotary 
  District 5130 have sent over $500,000 of medical equipment into this 
  area of Siberia. The largest part of this equipment has gone to 
  hospitals in Tomsk. The equipment that has gone to Tomsk includes 
  cardiac pacemakers and other cardiac surgical equipment, 
  laparoscopic surgical equipment, urologic equipment and intensive 
  care monitors equipment. Dr. Bauriedel first came to this area of 
  Russia in 2001 as team leader of a Rotary Group Study Exchange 
  between District 5130 and 5010. He returned with a Rotary 
  Friendship Team in 2004 and spent the winter of 2006 in the area 
  teaching at cancer hospitals.

  If further information is desired, please feel free to contact me.

  James Kim Bauriedel, MD, FACS
  <dylan at humboldt1.com>

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