This week's guest speaker was District Governor Marion Cheney, who is focusing on mental health and international relief to Ukraine.
Through a chance encounter with a Rotarian from Warsaw, Poland, District Governor Marion Cheney and this Rotarian from Poland have raised over 2.4M to help children in Ukraine with safe houses and more immediate needs like flashlights, generators, blankets and medicine and have self-funded six trip to distribute items and to help Ukrainian children with counseling and mental health care. Over 20 applications from District 7780 have come in for the next outreach trip this spring.
At the District Level, Marion is working to help de-stigmatize the conversation around mental health with a non-clinical approach, working with schools, EMT's, and the general public to get people feeling comfortable talking about their struggles—this is world peace on a local level, Marion said. She invited us to a District-Wide Peace Conference on Feb. 17th at Noble High School from 2-3:30, tickets are $20 and the event will feature choral groups singing songs of peace. The Event will be filmed and edited and a copy sent to The Istanbul Peace Center. Marion also presented our Polio Plus Chair Christ Angelos with a Certificate of Recognition for our Club's support of End Polio Now.
We were joined by newest applicant Jessica Shea, a Guest of Keri Walker's, Anca Potvin, who has expressed interest in joining as well. Assistant District Governor Dennis Robillard joined us as well as incoming Assistant District Governor for 2024, Joanne Landry. Dennis asked for help at the local level with Crutches 4 Africa, with collecting mobility items. Over 200K units have been shipped to third world countries.