27 July Program
ORC’s Triumphant Return To Camp Seafarer
Ahoy Rotarians and their Partners!
It’s not summer without a visit to Camp Seafarer. For a few hours on 23 June 2008 Rotarians and their partners savored the Seafarer Experience. ..high energy, fun, and great camaraderie between campers and Clubbers during a riotous dinner. Bottom line ORC wanted more and we were not shy in asking. So Seafarer graciously extended an invitation for 2009. Thanks, Seafarer for the hospitality.
The Seafarer/Seagull website is just as dynamic as the staff and campers. It’s always interesting to read.
A notable fund-raising program is the Seafarer “Run a Kid to Camp” program initiated in the summer of 2000 when three members of the leadership staff approached the team of directors with an idea to raise money for scholarships. All three of them had run a marathon and had successfully raised money for some very worthy organizations. Their idea was to use the marathon/fundraising template as an opportunity to bring more children to camp. Because of their belief in the power of the camp experience, since that time, over 200 young women (and some men) have trained and run either a marathon or half marathon and raised $150,000. The endowment now provides “camperships” to daughters of single parents, making camp possible to someone who otherwise could not afford it.
Summer Reading Suggestion…
The Dangerous World of Butterflies: The Startling Subculture of Criminals, Collectors, and Conservationists, by Peter Laufer, hardcover, 288 pages, The Lyons Press, list price: $24.95
You are reclining in a comfy chaise lounge under some shade tree, sipping lemonade (or your favorite brewski.) This is a perfect setting for reading The Dangerous World of Butterflies. While you are observing some lovely little butterfly, think about how this evanescent creature became…
Imagine this process: After increasing her body weight 27 times and dangling upside down from a leaf, the fattened caterpillar swaddles herself in silk. Every cell in her body spontaneously liquefies like melting ice cream. Then, through a two-week process little understood by scientists, the insect soup is reconstituted into the resplendent, winged icon of flawless aerodynamic design: the butterfly.
But it’s the dangerous circumstances that await this newly metamorphosed insect that captures writer Peter Laufer’s attention. Females can be trapped by males waiting for them to burst out of the cocoon. They may be flash-frozen before the first sip of nectar by butterfly poachers who sell their flashy appendages en mass to collectors, artists, and entomologists. While butterflies could seem too whimsical a subject for a long-time war reporter, Laufer’s adventurous chapter on tracking down Yoshi Kojima, the world’s most notorious butterfly smuggler, will make you reconsider. Then there is the unfortunate clash between the Bush administration and butterfly conservationists. Or the crunch of butterfly pupae tacos at a Mexican ritual. In this absorbing and far-reaching chronicle, Laufer applies his insatiable journalistic appetite to exploring the crossroads where humans and butterflies meet. (From NPR’s Stranger than Fiction: Summer Science Books)
From Towndock.net…
Brian Herrington, Jim Copland and George Beckwith were the winning crew for Tarpon 09. For Beckwith, it was his fourth win… and a fine way to celebrate his 39th birthday
At Sunday afternoon’s awards ceremony, where he has taken the top honor 4 times, Beckwith announced that this was his last Tarpon Tournament and that he would work with the Rotary to publicize next year’s event and attract more competitors.
Sounds like a good deal. ORC looks forward to working with George Beckwith on Tarpon ’10. Thanks to all who made Tarpon ‘09 such a success.
