Special Thanks to Gift of Life Talent Showcase Volunteers, Performers, Sponsors and Community Supporters

You did it!!! You gave of your heart and, because you did, 20-25 children in the Dominican Republic will have their hearts repaired this November. These children would not have access to the medical care they need to survive were it not for this surgical mission.

It was with great pride that The Rotary Club of The Caldwells presented a check for $30,354 to the International Children’s Heart Foundation (ICHF) as the sole sponsors of this pediatric cardiology and surgical training mission. The ICHF responded immediately, assembling a team of volunteer medical professionals from around the world that will perform the surgeries and train local staff at the Hospital Infantil Universitario so that care can continue to be provided long after they’ve gone home.

The mission is scheduled for November 5-19, 2011. The lead surgeon will be Dr. Rodrigo Soto from Santiago, Chile. Other teams members will be coming from Chile, Sweden and the United Kingdom, as well as from Ohio, Virginia, Illinois, Iowa, North Carolina and California. Initial screening of the patients will be done by local cardiologist and Rotarian, Dr. Juan Ramirez, who will send a list of potential candidates for surgery to ICHF. When the surgical team arrives, Dr. Ramirez will call the patients in to be screened by the ICHF team and surgeries will be scheduled and performed.

By unselfishly giving of yourself, you have truly given these children “The Gift of Life”. We cannot possibly thank you enough for all you have done to make this mission possible.

You can learn more about Gift of Life at www.giftoflifeinternational.org. And, you can learn more about The Rotary Club of the Caldwells at www.caldwellrotary.org and about Rotary International at www.rotary.org. You have an open invitation to be our guest at one of our Tuesday lunch meetings so you can meet our members and see what Rotary is all about. We are always looking for new members who, like you, are committed to “Service Above Self”.

All our best,

The RCC Gift of Life Committee

Penny, June, Christy, Dianne, Tim, Geetha, Scott, Marco and April

Rotary District Governor pays special visit to Caldwell

Rotary Assistant District Governor Hal Mueller, District Governor Jim Allison and Rotary Club of the Caldwells President Jon Wohlgemuth. Photo by Janet Markman.

The Rotary Club of the Caldwells (RCC) held its weekly lunch meeting this past Tuesday, October 18, at the Cloverleaf Restaurant. This was a very special meeting as the newly elected District Governor, for Rotary year 2011-2012, Jim Allison, attended the meeting and presented his agenda as well as the goals he intends to achieve during his tenure. Assistant District Governor Hal Mueller was also present at the meeting.

Under his signature of “Sing Rotary’s Song” he spoke of his priorities to “strengthen our clubs, motivate our members, get more young people involved, build bonds between clubs and the district and help the people we serve to lead happier and healthier lives” And, by the end of his term , he wants all 54 clubs in his district, to be “effective, productive and thriving to better respond to the communities they serve”.

District Governor Allison also talked about the District’s responsibility to help the clubs develop good projects, good programs, good administration and good public relations, all important components of building and growing a successful club.

Jim has been a Rotarian with the Madison, NJ club for close to 16 years and served as its President in 2004-2005, Rotary’s Centennial year. He has been very active during his membership that included the construction of a playground and the development of a senior path and garden project. He is also known for his “attribute” of a great singing voice. He became the song leader of the club on the dayhe joined. At the district level, Jim and his wife, Susan were group leaders for the short term youth exchange trip to Japan in 2002 and Jim served as Assistant District Governor from 2008 to 2010. Jim is a five-time Paul Harris Fellow.

Jim and Susan currently reside in Easton Pennsylvania, moving there in 2007, after living in New Jersey for 34 years. Married for 43 years, Jim and Susan have two sons and are the proud grandparents of a beautiful granddaughter born in 2009!

RCC’s meetings are held each Tuesday at Noon at the Cloverleaf Restaurant on Bloomfield Avenue in Caldwell, NJ. If you would like more information about the club including becoming a member, please visit our website at: www.caldwellrotary.org.

by Dianne Woitkowski

Rotary Club of the Caldwells