LaDonna Wicklund, a member of the IC Noon Rotary, was the speaker. She discussed the National Alliance on Mental Illness of Johnson Co (NAMIJC).
Visiting Rotarians and Guests
LaDonna Wicklund-- IC Noon; Speaker
Announcements
The Club officially welcomed Jenny Seylar as a new member. Her sponsor is Nancy Pacha who said she was introduced to our club through the West Interact activities of her son, Ethan. Jenny is in her second career as a minister. In her previous life she was a teacher.
Get your reservations in now and pay the minimum donation amount of $25 per person for the Polio Awareness Social to be held Wednesday, Oct 24, 6-7:30 pm at the Midwestone Bank building across from the old Post Office and the Court House. Ann Romanowski is fixing most of the appetizers. Let Ann know if you can help with set up or take down. BYOB.
The Nov 2 bike ride event will also help to support the Polio Plus campaign. Contact Vernette Knapp to sign up either for over the road biking or for stationary biking to support the polio eradication effort.
AM Rotary Board will meet 6:45 am at the Waterfront Hy-Vee Club Room. All members are welcome to attend.
Tom Narak will be our speaker on October 23 and will meet with our Board the night before.
We have three members who are presently in Xicotepec planning for the next March work week: Jim Peterson, Nenu Piragine, and Pat Schnack.
Phil Peterson reported that the grants committee had $6500 to work with for the fall selection of projects to support and decided to award grants to Meals on Wheels, the School Nutrition Program of the Coralville Food Bank, and the Inside Out Reentry Community. The grants will be affirmed by the Board this Thursday.
Karin Franklin and Dick Huber said that the trailer for the Bikes project has been delivered.
Happy Bucks: Tom Novak has been cleaning out old stuff from his house in preparation for a move to a new condo and found his old immunization record. "Tommy" received 5 doses of polio vaccine, among other things. The Hoovers recently celebrated a family wedding in Sanibel, FL. Hazel Seaba commented on the great time the can sorting folks had. It did take 1.5 hours and that extra time is attributable to Casey's absence. Jenny Seylar recently got back from 9 days in England. Nancy Pacha encouraged folks to sign up to volunteer for 1 day a week as a tutor or youth mentor for one of the at risk kids in the 5th Ward Saints North program. Brian Adamec was happy that his daughter has gotten a one year "externship" at the UI in Audiology for next year. Ann Romanowski's son got engaged this last weekend. John Ockenfels commented that Deb was home tending a sick horse and Kirsten was in South Carolina taking training in spotting bank fraud. Mark Patton spent a fun 10 days in Cape Cod.
Speaker
LaDonna Wicklund was the guest speaker representing the National Alliance on Mental Illness of Johnson County (NAMIJC).
The mission of NAMI is to improve the lives of people affected by mental illness. That turns out to be a large part of the population as one in five adults will experience some form of mental illness in their lifetimes and one in twenty-five will experience a very serious mental illness. Mental illness can occur at any time. One-half of all chronic mental illness shows up by the age of 14. Most families are impacted by at least one family member with a mental illness.
NAMI tries to counteract the feelings of hopelessness, fear, dread and loss of control by providing information, support and hope through classes, support groups, and advocates who lobby for better mental health laws.
All NAMI services are at no cost to the client. There are family, client and general public educational and support services available. There is a drop in center called R Place at 10 E Benton St for those who suffer from mental illness. In Our Own Voice is a theater group that presents programs on the experiences of the mentally ill. There are trainings for providers as well as those with mental illness and their families.
Programs are funded through the NAMI walk held each April at Terry Trueblood Park. Grants and support through other organizations also help fund activities.