Save Quepos Library

A fellow Dixie Sunrise Rotarian, Lynn Spafford, has joined a noble cause benefiting the children of Costa Rica.

The children who attend the Inmacalada School rely upon the Quepos Public Library, which is in dire need of funds to remain open. The 28th of August is the event (in Costa Rica) to raise funds for the public library. Local business leaders, Rotarians and others, are joining with Lynn to support the same. Please contact Lynn on how you can support the library.

Do you have "Wilson" in your life?

Today was the all-time 701st and the 8th meeting of the 2010-2011 year of the Rotary Club of Dixie Sunrise.

Special thanks to Lance, Herb, and Paul who opened our meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance, 4-Way Test, and Blessing.

Our presenter today was Geoff Steurer, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, who enlightened us with information regarding how important our level of attachment is in our most important relationships.

Geoff utilized the example of a well known movie called "Castaway" wherein Tom Hanks plays the role of a busy executive who, due to a plane crash (FedEx cargo plane) over the ocean, becomes the sole survivor on a remote island. Out of the isolation and lack of companionship he seeks out and creates a deep rooted meaningful relationship with "Wilson" a volleyball that washes ashore the island. Geoff compared the emotional connection Tom Hanks' character

developed with "Wilson" to today's trying economic and stressful times noting how important it is for us to have healthy relationships in any survival situation.

About Geoff Steurer:

For over ten years, Geoff has been helping couples and individuals improve their most important relationships. "It has been deeply rewarding to watch clients move out of patterns that have held them and their loved ones back from experiencing their full relationship potential."

Geoff completed a masters degree in marriage and family therapy at Auburn University in Auburn, Alabama. Also holding a bachelors degree from Brigham Young University in communications studies. Following his graduate work, he worked in community behavioral health where he gained experience working with a wide-range of mental health concerns affecting individuals, couples, and families. This experience helped him discover his strong interest in working with couples, especially couples affected by pornography addiction, affairs, and other betrayals. This led to his association with the LifeSTAR network and subsequent move to St. George, UT in 2006 where he opened up a private practice and LifeSTAR of St. George.

Geoff continues to seek advanced training in both pornography/sexual addiction treatment as well as Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy (EFT). His focus in both couples work as well as the group work in the LifeSTAR program is helping individuals and couples heal the patterns of attachment in their relationships.

You can follow Geoff on twitter at: @geoffsteurer

Join us next week as we will hear from Carol Washburn of Utah State University Extension, speaking on USU's Extension services in Washington County.

Yours in Rotary,

-Mark

Summer of Service

On Thursday, August 12th, the Rotary Club of Dixie Sunrise heard from the Youth Volunteer Corps and their advisor Kayla Shenfeld who is a Vista Summer Associated.

These young people are participants in the Summer of Service program which is 100 hours of service in 100 days. Their project was “Reduce Reuse Recycle.” They tackled 2 big elements of the project this summer, Green Mapping of which local businesses recycle and public relations/publicity. Working in conjunction with Plan 94.1 radio they recorded Save Our Planet public service announcements addressing various aspects of recycling. They recorded a terrific video on the subject which can be viewed on You Tube under Vista Volunteers St. George. And, they put together a most informative Power Point Presentation which they had the opportunity to show to service clubs such as ours.

Just a few of the facts the group presented to us:
“Binnies” are large yellow receptacles for recycled material and can be spotted all over town.
You can recycle plastics numbers 1 though 7.
You can recycle paper, copper, aluminum and tin.
You can recycle red, blue, brown, green and clear glass. Please be kind and rinse/wash containers before putting in local binnies.

And, some rather sobering facts:
Every household discards 5.2 lbs of trash per day or 1,892 lbs per year (that is the weight of a killer whale.)
Landfills grow by 6 inches EVERY DAY!
The cost of what we throw away each year would buy 80 MILLION Wii game systems!

Definitely food for thought. Good for the Summer of Service youth to attempt to make a difference on our planet.

In addition to our program Lynn Spafford and Paul Gooch presented a service opportunity to the Club: Saving the Quepos-Manuel Antonia Library in Costa Rica. The Board met after the meeting to discuss contributing to this project and more information will be given at the next meeting. Check out Lynn’s BLOG for more details.

Next week: Geoff Steurer on the toll the current economy is taking on relationships.

See you then! Marla, subbing for Mark