The January 14, 2020 meeting included a Rotary Foundation drawing, the surprise appearance of returning world traveler Club Prez Jane Purcell , a Blue Badge presentation, calistentics with "My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean," a special guest from Hanover, New Hampshire, and a program about tackling the homeless problem in our community. Whew! Click on the Recap headline above to see all the details.
At the January 14, 2020 meeting two Sam's Club cards were donated as prizes for winners of the Rotary Foundation drawing--but with a catch. Christi Moore and Vicki Anderson had to correctly answer trivia questions about the Foundation, which they did! Polly Christian won the $148 Foundation contribution credit!
Presiding Past President Michael Ridgeway presented Vickie Anderson with her Blue Badge. Yay Vickie!
Jeremy Lambeth, an information manager at Dartmouth University, visited our club, sharing news about and a club banner from his home club in Hanover, New Hampshire. Jeremy is accepting a job at OU in international education and will be moving his family to our community in the coming months. Welcome Jeremy!
Katie Kimberling brought us another club banner, this one from San Miguel Allende, Mexico from her recent trip.
Our presenters were introduced by Linda Price who as the city of Norman's revitalization manager started the homeless initiative before retiring. She brought Michelle Evans over from the city Finance Dept to help coordinate community efforts to address homelessness. Michelle spoke along with Rayna Cumbie, a clinical director at Transition House, one of the 40+ partners that along with the city of Norman address issues contributing to homelessness in Cleveland County. The partners meet weekly as a Coordinated Case Management group. Also, in attendance was Norman Police Officer Paul Evans who along with Lt. Cary Bryant of the NPD are very involved in helping the community deal with homelessness, including the planning and execution of the annual 24-hour count of the homeless in Cleveland County. The next count is on January 23, and Michelle encouraged volunteers to contact her if they want to help. The count report will be submitted to HUD in order to qualify the community for future government funding. Michelle said the logs show that over a year as many as 600+ individuals are homeless in the county, and that the 24-hour count will likely record around 225 in unsheltered environments.
(L to R) Rayna Cumbie, Michelle Evans, Linda Price, and Officer Paul Evans.
Homelessness is often associated with mental health issues, substance abuse, and unaffordable housing, so all of those factors need to be addressed as part of a Continuum of Care (COC). One of the programs the group sponsors are identification expos so the homeless have IDs needed to get assistance, shelter and employment. The last expo is the same day as the 24-hour count, Jan 23, because funding has run out. More funds are needed to keep the program going.