ROTARY DISTRICT 5150 (the Counties of San Francisco, Marin, & San Mateo) is tasked each year with finding qualified applicants for Rotary Peace Center Fellowships. Will you and your club join the effort to find the persons we need?

 

The number of emails that crowd our inboxes is sometimes overwhelming. And the inevitable result is that many people ignore most of them, running the risk of missing important information. The Rotary Club of Tiburon-Belvedere decided to do something about it by collecting all the Rotary announcements and putting them in a weekly email, giving members a chance to stay informed by reading just one message from Rotary on the same day each week.

The United Nations Association of Santa Barbara and Tri-Counties Chapter has awarded the 2022 Peace Prize to ShelterBox USA in acknowledgment of its humanitarian work conducted in the world’s most extreme conflict and disaster zones. The award, presented annually, honors an organization that advances the causes of peace, human rights, and humanitarian aid globally.

 

ShelterBox accepted the honor with profound gratitude and great humility on October 24, which is United Nations Day. In an October 29 letter to ShelterBox supporters, the organization's President Kerry Murray wrote, "It is an award that speaks to our highest aspirations of a world with peace and stability."

Does the thought of swirl, sniff, sip and spit excite you? If so, you’re probably a wine connoisseur and will be pleased to learn that District 5150’s Wine Appreciation Fellowship is back. Past District Governors, Jeri Fujimoto, Riki Intner and Brian McLeran are spearheading its revival and planning four gatherings over the next year for like-minded Rotarians to focus on specific wines, discuss their characteristics and quality, and learn about different varietals and wine-producing regions.

Human trafficking is a cruel crime—one that exploits vulnerable people for profit without any concern for their humanity. It’s the second largest criminal activity in the world, with only illegal drugs exceeding it, and it’s growing. The United Nations’ International Labor Organization estimates that 27.6 million people are subject to forced labor, and 3.3 million of them are children. It might be forced work, which is essentially modern-day slavery, or sexual exploitation, and it’s everywhere: in our own communities as well as countries that are far away. The ILO reports that more than half of all cases are in wealthier countries and calls for an international effort to address and solve the problem. Rotarians can help by learning how to recognize human trafficking, finding ways to prevent it and aiding its victims.

 

To give people a greater understanding of the issue and ways to combat it, Rotary Zones 26 and 27, which are comprised of 30 districts in the western United States and British Columbia, Canada, are hosting a joint virtual and in-person People of Action Summit on human trafficking at San Diego’s Liberty Conference Center on Sat., Oct. 1. It will give participants the opportunity to learn from experts and develop action plans and playbooks for their clubs, providing them with strategies for protecting their families and communities from this heinous crime.