The View – 10/2/14

Next Week: Our regular meeting on October 9 will be an EVENING MEETING, 7:00 p.m. at the Hill House.  “Significant” appetizers, beer and wine will be served, and the agenda includes fundraising and the future of our Rotary Park.

Prez John Cottle opened with the Pledge of Allegiance, and John Porter led a rousing rendition of God Bless America.

Thought for the Day: “Knowledge speaks, and wisdom listens.” -Jimi Hendrix

Our guests today were: Ruth Sparks and Annie Liner.

Guest Ruth Sparks.

Happy Dollars:
John C. – happy that his oldest son is moving into his own apartment!!
Liliana – happy it’s such a gorgeous day. Truly! 70 degrees and sunny… perfect!
Joe – just happy to be here.
Travis – happy Giants won last night!
Tom – happy to be anywhere!
Gary – sad that A’s didn’t make it…

Announcements:

• Monday night, October 6, is the candidates’ forum for Board of Directors for our Healthcare District at Cotton Auditorium, 6:00 p.m.
• Monday, Oct 6, the regular Board meeting is at the Mendocino Hotel at noon.
• Thursday, Oct 9, is our club’s first evening meeting at 7pm at the Hill House, in place of our regular meeting.
• Nov. 8 is the Rotary Foundation Dinner South, at the Santa Rosa Hilton. Buy your raffle tickets!!
• Our club’s Adopt-A-Highway project has been approved! Our zone is from Big River to the junction of Lansing/Hwy 1 (two miles). John and John are going to the training, and will report back to us.

Sunshine Report:
Wilma is hoping to get out of the ICU today, says she’s feeling better, and in true Wilma-fashion, reports the bright side: she has a great view of the City from her hospital bed…  We miss you Wilma!!

Today’s Program:

Harold Hauck introduces today’s guest speaker, Annie Liner.

Harold introduced his lovely wife, Annie Liner, Executive Director of the Mendocino Children’s Fund (MCF), and also serving on the Senior Center Board and the County’s Child Abuse Prevention Council (CCAPC).

Today’s speaker, Annie Liner.

Annie acknowledged that child abuse is hard to think about and hard to talk about. But we all have a responsibility in this area. Her recent epiphany was that the issue of abuse is the same, whether it is with children, elders, animals, or families. We have to look at this from a systemic perspective. If it occurs in one area of a family, it probably occurs in other areas.

Child abuse used to be considered a parental right, including withholding food, water, isolation, and hitting. Adults who were abused as kids have higher rates of chronic illness, road rage, unemployment, car accidents, etc. Ten factors have been identified as predictors of abuse. But how do people replace the abusive behaviors that they learned in childhood? They need to be replaced with better communication strategies.

Mendocino County has a rate of child abuse twice as high as the state average. Financial stress and rural isolation contribute to the problem.

CCAPC meets quarterly. Annie has been working to get representation at the meetings from all area agencies. Policy changes are needed to support people in learning behavior change. CPS works closely with Annie through the MCF, and hopefully also will through CCAPC. The focus needs to be on the prevention side of the equation. They are working on a poster project to put posters up in all public restrooms, with questions to identify signs of abuse of all sorts, and phone numbers to call.

Annie calls on Rotarians to serve as possible mentors for people who are on the edge… They need people who are willing to check in with a family once a week to see how they’re doing, to offer a ride to the store, to watch a child for an hour or two… We need to be more connected to one another to protect kids and build community. There is a read-aloud program that needs volunteers.

When you use your life experience to help contribute to the well-being of others, you heal yourself. This is why 12-step programs, bereavement groups, wounded warrior groups, and others work so well.

Mendocino Children’s Fund provides support for kids to grow their resiliency: opportunities to participate in sports, camps, after-school programs, and more. Rotary can invest in children earlier in their lives, when it has the greatest impact on their lives. Children’s self-image is pretty well developed by age of 10 — it is vital to have an impact before this age.

If we make this a safer community for children, it will also become a safer community for elders, animals, and everything else.

Annie Liner encourages all Rotarians to share one MCF brochure with someone in the community.

Raffle Winners: Jerry and Kira… no one drew the joker…

“Leave the world a better place than you found it.” -Prez John