April 4, 2018
Announcements
Pres. Andy: The Board approved the budget for 2018-2019 last week as reflected in Tom B's email to the club. It's time to take a vote: approved with 16 votes ... Andy will be meeting with the president and vice-presidents of UNH and town administrator Selig in the next few days and will report on UNH's support of the July 4th Celebration at our next meeting ... Marina's Miles is right around the corner on Apr 14th. He'll post an email to all who signed up to do the water station regarding the time and location this year. We'll also have a table again at the high school.
Tom B: The car pool will pull out from Town Hall at 7:15 AM for the District Assembly in York this Saturday.
Will: A link will be sent out today to the list of businesses which constitute the pool of sponsors for the fireworks. Please look the list over to identify sponsors with whom you have a connection and feel comfortable contacting. When you've settled on those you will contact, enter your name in the 2018 column. But please first check to make sure that another member hasn't already chosen those businesses you've identified.
Program
Kurt Webber is President of the Patriot Resilient Leader Institute. A Gilford Rotarian, he shared with us the mission and operations of this four-year old non-profit.
Currently, there are 224,000 Gulf War veterans and 308,000 Vietnam veterans living in New England. PTSD or depression affects 85,000 of them or 15%. Almost 20% are unemployed.
The Institute operates Camp Resilience in the lakes region to help disabled veterans recover their physical, mental and emotional well being. At the camp, sports and adventure activities are interspersed with peer counseling and sessions to teach life skills like resume writing, interviewing, mindful eating, and the like. Volunteers from organizations like Northeast Passage help with the outdoor activities, while counselors from its partner organizations help facilitate the peer-to-peer counseling.
Camp Resilience presents 3-4 day retreats for groups of 6-12 veterans who have been referred by partner organizations such as the VA Veteran Centers and vetted by its staff psychologist. To-date, 284 veterans have participated in 31 sessions. Currently, 12 retreats are scheduled per year, but fundraising hopefully will support a move to 40 retreats by 2022.
Most of the veterans hail from MA and NH, but all New England states are represented. There is no cost to the veterans.
The Institute was recognized this year by the New Hampshire chapter of the Military Officers Association of America for its effective service to our wounded warriors. For more information, see http://www.prli.us
Breakfast and Prayer
Apr 11 Steve
Apr 18 Russ
Apr 25 Heather
May 2 Jud
Megabucks: $378
Editor: Ric
