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Weʻre Back In-Person!

After two years of Zoom meetings, the Rotary Club of South Hilo is finally meeting in-person. Last month, we had a couple of well attended meetings at the Fairway Grill but starting April 12th, we will return to home at the Hilo Hawaiian Hotel. Our club will now meet on the 2nd and 4th Tuesdays of the month at the Hilo Hawaiian. We will also be adding a "pau hana social" once a month as well. Our current plan is to work with other Rotary Clubs in East Hawaiʻi to perform joint service projects for our community. Benson Medina is now interim club president, with the departure of current club president, Keith Greer, who accepted a position at the University of New Mexico. President-Elect Cat Rehberg is getting geared up to take over starting on July 1 when the new Rotary year begins. Our long time friend and wife of John FitzGerald, Karen Fitzgerald will be inducted as a new member to our club on April 26th. Hope everyone will be able to attend!

Delta Drives RCSH Back Online

With active COVID cases nearing 1000 in Hawaii County, club President Keith Greer ordered the remaining meetings for August to be carried out online via Zoom. It was no accident that our guest speaker last Tuesday was RCSH member Elena Cabatu, chief spokesman for Hilo Medical Center, gave us a grim overview of the stark rise in COVID cases during the last 4-6 weeks. Since the arrival of the Delta variant, County COVID cases have gone from 0-1000 in just a matter of weeks. Our fundraiser, Holo Holo Hilo, has been postponed until later this year.

Club President Keith Greer welcomed Elena Catabu and Arthur Sampaga, both members of our club and both employees of Hilo Medical Center. Elena was our guest speaker for the day.

Past President Benson Medina and Club President Keith Greer gave Peter Boucher his Paul Harris +6 pin during Tuesday's meeting

Past President Pat Aiona Jr. and President Elect Cat Rehberg enjoy a laugh at Tuesday's meeting.

Another good showing online for Tuesday's meeting.

Michael Hauben, Past President Rosemary Linden, Peter Boucher and Pat Aiona, Jr.

Hybrid Meetings A Success!

Since our first in-person/hybrid meeting on July 6, attendance has been steadily growing both in person and online. Yesterday's meeting featuring United States Coast Guardsman Peter Wilson, was attended by sixteen of our members in person and six more online. As our club continues to rebuild from a year where COVID-19 shut down most of our activities, it's been really encouraging to see people participating again.

Among the attendees yesterday was Karen FitzGerald, the wife of our late member John FitzGerald. She came to let us know that she will be having a Celebration of Life for John on Saturday, August 28th. John was one of our most active members and his ranch in Hakalau was the site of many Rotary functions. More details on this function will follow.

Join us next week when our own Elena Cabatu will be our speaker and will give us an update on COVID-19 and the new Delta variant.

Speaker Peter Wilson, his wife Megan, daughter Pohai, son Gunnar, Marissa Guerra, Zeda Medina and Karen FitzGerald after the meeting.

Legacy Member Valta Cook with Past President Rosemary Linden and guest Michael Hauben

South Hilo members Keith Marrack, Doug Adams and Tom English join our meeting online.

Club Secretary Tracy Klask and Past-President Tom Yeh

Past President and Zoom Master Benson Medina trying to keep all the technical pieces of a hybrid meeting moving.

East Hawaii Rotary Clubs Welcome New Presidents

The Rotary Club of South Hilo and the Rotary Club of Pahoa Sunset welcomed new presidents in the first joint inauguration ceremony for both clubs. Because of the COVID pandemic, Rotary club meetings were moved online in April 2020. Assistant Governor, Doug Adams (and RCSH member) did the honors of inaugurating RCSH incoming president Keith Greer and incoming Pahoa club president, Kirk Bailey.

Pahoa Club Members (from Left to Right), Past President Ron Cutler, President Susie Osborne, Glen Calvert, incoming President Kirk Bailey, Fran Calvert and Libby Oshiyama.

Doug Adams, Zeda Medina, Zoe Medina, Mistress of Ceremonies Marissa Guerra and incoming President Keith Greer start the celebration. President Keith outlined his goals for the coming year including a return to community service and in-person meetings (starting July 6th) at the Coconut Grill Restaurant. The event was first Rotary event that many of our members had attended in over a year including:

Past President Keith and Sally Marrack

Pat Aiona Sr and wife, Annette

The Bouchers: Olivia, Claudia and Peter

Guest of honor, Karen FitzGerald and son, Kimo with wife Megan. The program included a special tribute to Karen's late husband, John, a long-time member of the Rotary Club of South Hilo.

Past President Rosemary Linden and guest Michael Hauben

Past President Randy Kurohara, Kimberly Kobayashi and daughter, Dani

Past President Brenda Ho and Debbie Ono

Past President Tom Yeh and Rotary Service Award winner, Charlene Iboshi

Membership Chair Lani Weigert and Joe Capellas

Our new President-Elect, Cat Rehberg and our Sargent-At-Arms and Social Media chair, Marissa Guerra

Our Club Secretary, Tracy Klask

Club Treasurer Zeda Medina and Board Member Margaret Stanley

Zeda and Past President Benson Medina Incoming President and Assistant Governor Doug Adams

Inauguration Event for Keith Greer June 15

Great News! With pandemic restrictions easing and with the approval of the County Civil Defense and the Mayor's Office, we have been approved to open up our inaugural event for President-Elect Keith Greer up to 50 people. This means that we can now bring spouses, friends, invite officers from other clubs, etc. The event will now take place at Nani Mau Gardens on Tuesday, June 15 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.

We have a bountiful prime rib buffet planned and a really exciting program (with our lovely Marissa Guerra as the MC) that will include special awards, a tribute to John Fitzgerald, a preview of one of our big service projects, a presentation by Cat Rehberg on our newly designed Hilo Huli, plans to re-start our Satellite Club, the induction of our new president Keith (including his vision for the next year) and even some door prizes for some of the lucky attendees!

The festivities start at 5:30 with a no-host bar and pupus. The dinner and program will start a few minutes after 6 and we should all be heading home by 7:30. Cost per person is $40 and can be paid in advance by Venmo (email me and I'll walk you through it) or you can pay by check at the door.

What we need at this point is a head count as soon possible. I know a lot of you have already RSVP'ed but if you could indulge us one more time and let us know if you plan to bring your spouse, partner, family, children, neighbors, grandchildren, etc. To RSVP, please reply to this email.

This will be a great opportunity for us to come back together again (in-person) after a year of being locked down! Hope to see you there!

Welcome to the Rotary Club of South Hilo

Service Above Self

We meet In Person

Tuesdays at 12:00 PM

Hilo Hawaiian Hotel

71 Banyan Drive
Hilo, HI 96720
United States of America

Phone:

(808) 286-6559

Email:

RotarySouthHilo@gmail.com

We meet the 2nd and 4th Tuesdays of the month at Noon at the Hilo Hawaiian Hotel

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