Thanks to Michael Cottam and Realty Remotely for sponsoring one of the cases of fine wine we’ll be giving away–in addition to the 100 bottle Instant Wine Cellar–in this year’s Wine Raffle!

Click here to buy your Wine Raffle tickets.

Thanks to Brian Shawver and Security Pros for sponsoring one of the cases of fine wine we’ll be giving away–in addition to the 100 bottle Instant Wine Cellar–in this year’s Wine Raffle!

Click here to buy your Wine Raffle tickets.

It’s time once again for our annual J.D. Davis Memorial Wine Raffle!

Tickets are just $5, and each year, one lucky winner takes home 100 bottles of exceptional wine! All bottles are bought and donated by members of the Greater Bend Rotary Club, and our members’ businesses sponsor another 6 to 8 cases of wine for some great 2nd prizes. All proceeds go to fund the projects and charities our club supports in the community. Our only real costs are the credit card fees the bank charges us when you buy tickets, which means nearly all of the ticket sales go to charity.

A big “thank you” to Chris Dittman, Annika Rau, and Mark Knowles of Bend digital marketing agency Smartz for creating our new Wine Raffle website.

Click here to visit the Bend Wine Raffle website and buy tickets, and good luck!

A letter from Dennis Evans, who runs SLT Scholars:

“Dear family, friends and sponsors,

Schools in San Lucas have restarted – sort of.

The secondary schools will be working “hybrid”. For example, in one school a third of the students will attend classes in school every third day, and spend the other two days studying at home. There are just ten or twelve students in each classroom on any one day, well spaced out. The kids are so happy to see their friends again!

With ten students spaced out in a classroom there will be very little to distract them. A wonderful opportunity for teachers!

Of course, while students are keeping “social distance” in school, in the street before or after classes, they tend to huddle more! At least they are wearing masks. As they enter school they have their temperature checked and disinfect their hands with alcohol gel.

People were so, so thankful for the corn, and individual help we were able to give them, during the second part of 2020. The nutrition emergency has now abated. Very many people lost the full time jobs because of COVID, but as harvest season came, temporary jobs became available. The price of corn has dropped, and those who grow their beans or corn are glad of the harvest. I hope that in a few months time many will recover their full time jobs.

We have a small number of students studying in College.

One of them, Luis, was sponsored through junior high and high school, and his sponsor promised to help him in college. He graduated from high school in second place out of fifty students, but his sponsor was no longer able to help him. He worked laboring in a factory for two years, until a benefactor came who offered us college scholarships!

Luis has just finished his degree courses with an 85% average, and is going on for his Master’s degree. Almost unheard of for a Mayan from San Lucas, and only possible thanks to the generosity of his sponsors.

Also thanks to SLTS benefactors, the IMED junior high has bought the land beside the school, and will start building extra classrooms this year.

In spite of the Pandemic, the loss of jobs, the months of hardship trying to feed the family, parents want their children to carry on with their education. Very few students have dropped out. Parents – especially mothers – are doing all they can to ensure their kids continue in school.

We have sponsored more new students than ever, to try and ensure that good students get that chance. Now all we have to do is find sponsorships for them (unsubtle hint!)

Thank you to all who have sent in their sponsorship money. In these difficult times, if you’d rather send it to us in a month or two, that’s fine, but it helps to know it will be coming.

Normally in January various groups visit San Lucas. That’s not going to happen this year, but I would be happy to speak to a group on zoom, if they wished.

From a sunny, peaceful San Lucas, all best wishes

Dennis”

On Tuesday, January 5, 2021, our lunch program will be our annual New Year’s Toasts, led by Neil Bryant. If you’d like to give a toast during the meeting, please sign up here:

This meeting will be all-virtual. Join the Zoom Meeting here: https://zoom.us/j/99237149705

You can also call in to the meeting at (669) 900-9128 and enter meeting ID: 992 3714 9705.

We will record the presentation for others who aren’t able to attend at noon.

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On Tuesday, December 22, 2020, we won’t be having a lunch meeting. Instead, please join us from 4:30 to 6:00PM for our Holiday Happy Hour – Ugly Christmas Sweater Edition! Michael Cottam has agreed to donate a bottle of Christmas cheer (of your choice) to the person wearing the most awesome holiday garb. So don that appalling Christmas sweater your spouse can’t believe you actually bought, or your Santa hat that dances and sings, or your stunning Grinch Christmas tie, and see you all on the 22nd!

P.S. here’s a link for anyone who feels currently unprepared for this debacle.

This meeting will be all-virtual. Join the Zoom Meeting here: https://zoom.us/j/98978618685

You can also call in to the meeting at (669) 900-9128 and enter meeting ID: 989 7861 8685 (but then how would we all see your sweater?).

We will record the presentation for others to laugh at later.

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Our club + our Rotary district came up with $4000 to buy Thanksgiving dinners for needy families through Walmart and The Giving Plate. This donation bought over 600 turkeys, plus the fixings!

We received these letters of thanks from the students our club is sponsoring in San Lucas Toliman, Guatemala. The student’s letters are on the left; for your convenience, we have a translation of the letter to the right of each.

Join us this Thursday for in-person Happy Hour at Crux Fermentation Project!

Get directions to Crux (50 SW Division Street, Bend, OR 97702).

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Rotary District 5300 annually puts on a district-wide peace conference in which we invite Rotarians from our surrounding districts to participate. This year our 31st Annual Peace Conference will occur on Saturday, October 24, 2020, and because it will be held virtually we have expanded our outreach to Rotarians in Zones 26 and 27 and offer it free of charge.

We invite you to participate; and we request that in your communications with your district Rotarians, you help us get the word out to those interested in learning about and promoting peace. This year’s apt theme is:

PEACE out of CHAOS – a Pandemic

We have a number of illustrious speakers including immediate past Rotary International President, Mark Daniel Maloney.

To Register: www.district5300.org/peace-conference/