8/14/07

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August 14, 2007   No. 45   Vol. 85

This Week’s Program: John Zucker, Guardian Ad Litem

Mr. Zucker has 40 years experience as a marketing and communications consultant for large and small businesses from Cleveland to Western North Carolina to the Panhandle of Florida. He has been the Community Outreach Coordinator for the Guardian ad Litem program in Florida for a little more than a year. Mr. Zucker also volunteers as a Guardian on two cases. 

A Guardian ad Litem is a volunteer appointed by the court to protect the rights and advocate the best interests of a child involved in a court proceeding primarily as a result of alleged abuse or neglect. The volunteer Guardian ad Litem makes independent recommendations to the court by focusing on the needs of each child and advocates for the best interests of the child they represent. 

Mr. Zucker is an advocate for both the children and the Guardian Ad Litem program. The following facts and figures from Pinellas County alone explain why.  

1.  Currently 2,800 children are under court jurisdiction. Over 1,300 don’t have a Guardian. 

2.  Because of the extreme shortage of Guardians Ad Litem, a triage system must be employed as to which cases are deemed most worthy of having a Guardian represent the best interests of the abused and neglected child.    

3.  Children with a Guardian ad Litem have fewer placements (placements outside the home, foster home, group home). Those with a Guardian averaged 3.9 placements versus 6.6 on average without one. 

4.  Guardians ad Litem help reduce the number of court continuances children experienced and more services are provided to children with Guardian representation than to those without. 

5.  Children who had more placements out of the home had juvenile arrest rates almost double of those who moved fewer than three times.

6.  Guardians ad Litem can play a vital role in assuring children are really safe, even after the courts have acted to protect the child. In 2004 over 200 children in Pinellas were abused after placement with a foster parent or relative. Over 400 were abused or neglected or threatened after the initial report of maltreatment. After court ordered services were terminated, 600 or 8 percent were abused or neglected. 

The direct cost of child abuse and neglect in Pinellas is over $60 million. Indirect costs for special education, mental health care for parents and increased criminality can more than double that figure. 

Today, Mr. Zucker will talk about the program and the urgent need for hundreds of Guardians ad Litem.  

Thanks, Mr. Zucker, for bringing this critical need to our attention.

Last Week’s Program: Don Miller – Climate Change Project

Kiwanian-of-the-Day Dr. Ron O’Neal introduced our guest speaker, Mr. Don Miller, to speak about climate changes as a result of global warming. 

Don Miller is a volunteer presenter with the Climate Project, the mission of which is to educate and challenge citizens and governments into action against the growing crisis of global warming. As a non-profit group, the Climate Project works to bring education, community information, research and citizen action programs to communities across the country. Their first initiative was the training of 1,000 lecturers to present the information delivered in An Inconvenient Truth to audiences across America.
 
A retired high-technology sales and marketing executive, Don’s own concern about climatic changes moved him to assist in efforts to educate citizens about the damage our use of fossil fuels creates and the cost effectiveness in terms of safety and real dollars alternatives to fossil fuels are. 

Don presented slides that reminded us of weather anomalies just this last June and July worldwide. Among other examples, Pakistan experienced the worst flooding in decades and Oklahoma and the Southwest experienced a record number of triple digit temperatures. 

U.S. and global annual temperatures are now approximately 1.0 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than at the start of the 20^th century, and the rate of warming has accelerated over the past 30 years, increasing since the mid-1970s at a rate about three times faster than the century-scale trend. The past nine years have all been among the 25 warmest years on record, a streak which is unprecedented in the historical record. 2006 was the warmest on record. 

A NASA study of Greenland’s ice sheet reveals that it is rapidly thinning. NASA scientists report that the frozen area around Greenland is thinning in some places at a rate of more than three feet per year. Any change is important since a smaller ice sheet results in higher sea levels. Higher sea levels encroach on beaches, decreasing land mass (one slide projected Florida losing almost one third of its coastline by 2050) and combined with warmer temperatures, kill off coral reefs, lower level food chain life forms and increase hurricanes. 

There have always been fluctuations in the earth’s temperature, but with growing populations and the advent of technology in the ‘70s and since that causes greater reliance on fossil fuels and the emission of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, warming trends, higher ocean levels, unusual weather events and the death of coral reefs and the like have spiked dramatically, far beyond normal fluctuations. 

Don emphasized that the Climate Project is not about “saving the earth. The earth will be fine; it’s humankind that will suffer.” He also assured us that addressing changes in the earth’s climate has nothing to do with political affiliations, religion or philosophy; it is a movement in the direction of correcting some of our misuse of resources, ensuring safety and reducing costs to businesses and individuals. Implementing “green” alternatives in buildings, business practices and in our homes is actually much less expensive than the alternative.

While businesses are the worst offenders in terms of increasing carbon dioxide levels, we can also make a significant difference by doing the following:

• Replacing one regular light bulb with a compact fluorescent light bulb will save 150 pounds of carbon dioxide a year. 

• Walk, bike, carpool or take mass transit more often.  You’ll save one pound of carbon dioxide for every mile you don’t drive! 

• You can save 2.400 pounds of carbon dioxide per year by recycling just half of your household waste.

• Keeping your tires inflated properly can improve gas mileage by more than 3%. Every gallon of gasoline saved keeps 20 pounds of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere! 

• It takes a lot of energy to heat water.  Use less hot water by installing a low flow showerhead (350 pounds of CO2 saved per year) and washing your clothes in cold or warm water (500 pounds saved per year).

• Use products with less packaging. You can save 1,200 pounds of carbon dioxide if you cut down your garbage by 10%. 

• Moving your thermostat just 2 degrees in winter and up 2 degrees in summer you could save about 2,000 pounds of carbon dioxide a year with this simple adjustment. 

• A single tree will absorb one ton of carbon dioxide over its lifetime. 

• Simply turning off your television, DVD player, stereo, and computer when you’re not using them will save you thousands of pounds of carbon dioxide a year. 

Finally, spread the word!

Members Honored at District Council Meeting

Charles Stuart announced the names of our fellow Kiwanians who were recognized for their member recruitment efforts with a “Ruby K” award. Our new member go-getters are John Biesinger, Weyman Willingham, Cathy Swanson, Charles Stuart, Bruce McKelvey, Bob Byelick, J. C. Russell, Harvey Ford, Dave Feaster , Scott Boyle and Al Karnavicius. 

Guests and Visitors

Last Tuesday we had 53 members and five visitors in attendance. In addition to our speaker, Don Miller, Harry Eisenaugle introduced us to Brett Jahn from Bay Cities Bank, who has just joined us as a member! Guest no more, Brett! You’re in with the in crowd. Welcome to our Club. Tom Nelson introduced us to his daughter, Taylor Nelson, whom we hope we’ll join us when she’s older. Ron O’Neill brought friend, Ron Dobbs, Dan Stone introduced us to Albert Fen and President Mitch introduced us to Dara Lauria. Welcome, all! Join us again. 

What’s Happening? 

New Membership Brochure Available

When you bring a guest or talk to friends and colleagues about Kiwanis, hand them a brochure with an application right in it! See Charles Stuart or anyone on the Membership Committee to get brochures to accompany your Kiwanis “elevator speech.” 

We Want YOU

…to sign in when you attend our Tuesday luncheons.  Our tracking system is useless if only some members check in. If you don’t see Trent Shadwick and the sign-in sheet at the lobby table, please look for him in the dining room and let him know you’re there. 

"What dreadful hot weather we have! 
It keeps me in a continual state of inelegance."
-   Jane Austen  

TODAY’S QUIZ:

1. What group of children are the fastest growing homeless population?
2. What was the name of Dustin Hoffman’s character in The Graduate?
3. What is the tallest building in the world?
4. Can bats walk?

LAST WEEK’S QUIZ:

1. In an article published in the November 17, 2005 issue of Nature, the World Health Organization warned that global climate change already contributes to 150,000 deaths and five million illnesses each year, and this figure is expected to double by 2030.
2. Shark babies are called “pups.”
3. "Second string," meaning "replacement or backup," comes from the middle ages. An archer always carried a second string in case the one on his bow broke.
4.  Titanic, in nominal dollars (that is, updated for inflation, etc.), is the biggest money-maker of all time. 

PRAYER OF THE DAY  (Prayer for Children) 

Blessed God, you have created life to begin with childhood, a time of innocence, laughter, and exploration. Bless, we beseech you, the children of this world. Grant unto them the nurture they need for strong physical growth, keen minds, balanced emotions, and a holy spiritual life. Send unto them teachers to inspire an inquiring and discerning heart, to enable curiosity toward their surroundings, and a knowledge of this global village. Bless them with love, hope, and vision, and keep them ever in your unfailing compassion and protection. Amen.
 

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