Desert Doves

Welcome to 2012, and another year of RPCV community here in Southern AZ!

Our January general meeting will be Saturday, the 21st at Pam and Phil Lopes’ (1421 N Camino de Juan) with a potluck that starts at 6pm, general meeting beginning at 7pm.

We will be holding our strategic planning committee before the general meeting at 4pm at Pam and Phil’s.  This meeting will help interested members shape 2012 with recommendations to the officers.

Want to be more involved than just giving your opinion? Then be an officer!  We’ll be holding elections with many positions opening up for the year - positions will be announced through email.

Looking forward to a bright and fabulous next year!

Nancy Meister sends words of her fabulous adventures in DC! (Click for full pictures)

Nancy with the Peruvian flag

Southern AZ volunteers at Giffords and Grijalva’s office during advocacy days

Peruvian volunteers with Alejandro Toledo

Check out upcoming announcements and happenings with the Doves!

doves-newsletter-oct-11.pdf

Update on Latrine Project in Burkina Fasso  latrine-1.jpg, latrine-2.jpg (or click on the pictures to see full size)

On Saturday, August 27th the Returned Peace Corps Volunteer community packed 55,000lbs of food into 2,100 boxes!

The Community Food Bank in Tucson is working toward meeting the community’s vast food needs.  Find out more at http://communityfoodbank.com/

The Skin Cancer Institute is gearing up for our Melanoma Walk 2011 to be held on Saturday, October 1^st at the Cancer Center at UMC North and we need help. If you are available to help that day, please let me know as soon as possible!! I need people to help with raffles and food, people to help park cars and direct participants on the walk route, people to help set up and take down, etc. I also have a need for people to help the day before the event to assist with loading supplies and picking up items around town. This is such an important event for the community as it raises awareness of melanoma and raises money for research and patient support.  Please check out our website with all the event details: www.fightmelanomatoday.org

Email Denise at DSpartonos@azcc.arizona.edu

On Oct. 21 & 22 Saguaro National Park is partnering with National Geographic for the 2011 BioBlitz. The BioBlitz is an effort to identify and inventory every living thing in the park in a 24 hour period. We currently have over 100 scientists registered to lead field survey teams and expect thousands of visitors to the education and outreach events. For more information go to:http://www.nps.gov/sagu/bioblitz-2011.htm

We need a lot of volunteers for the event. For now, I’m looking for a headcount of who would be interested in volunteering and whether they want a base camp job (interfacing with the public) or field job (interfacing with nature). We can nail down specific roles as the event gets closer. RSVP to Adam Springer at Adam_Springer@nps.gov

This year the 3^rd Refugee Health Fair will take place from 9-2 on Saturday, October 29.

The planning committee is hoping to recruit volunteers for different aspects of the planning and logistics of the health fair, and I promised to reach out to the GHA and PHSA. The Health Fair is run by a dynamic team at the Martha Cooper Branch Library, of Pima County Public Libraries, in collaboration with members of the Refugee Primary Care Work Group, which I convene every month or so at Martha Cooper to address refugee primary care access and delivery in Tucson, particularly health information resources, orientation for providers regarding refugee resettlement and health care access issues, and navigating the health care system.

The Martha Cooper library just won the ULC Innovation Award for this health fair. Please check it out at the following link! http://www.library.pima.gov/about/news/?id=3491
Email Jean at jmcc@email.arizona.edujmcc@email.arizona.edu

This just in from the PCV in Senegal whose Partnership Project we partially funded…

Dear Desert Doves RPCV’s of Southern Arizona,

I am writing to say a very grateful thank you for donating towards my Peace Corps maternity project! Because of you and many others, I currently have in my possession almost 2 MILLION dollars…well, CFA (west african francs)…about $4,000! Just enough to build a sustainable maternity ward at my village’s Health Post, and provide a much needed service to hundreds of women in the area. I was thrilled to have raised all the money in less than 2 months, meaning that this very Thursday my work partner and I are going to buy building materials to start the building process!

I am very excited to finally start this project that I came into my village a year and half ago knowing was a need and great potential work project for my time here. I feel strongly about the importance of maternal health and education as a path towards a better quality of life for Senegal, and I imagine I will leave my time here feeling accomplished even if this were all that I had done. We are also on our way to structuring and implementing a sustainable nutrition program for mothers and their children.

Thank you again for your donation, my village and I are immensely appreciative of everyone that helped us reach this long held goal. I hope to have completed the building within the next two months (God willing), and will make sure to write up a report, with pictures, to be posted on the Peace Corps Senegal website.

Ajaraama no feewi, as we say in Pulaar. Thank you very much!!

Sarah

Environmental/Health Education
Peace Corps Senegal, 2010-2012

doves-newsletter-aug-11.pdf

Our next general meeting will be Thursday, September 8th at 6pm at Pam and Phil Lopes’ house (1421 N. Camino de Juan) - Bring a friend and a dish to share!

Chris Kraft has generously invited the Doves up to his place on Mt. Lemmon for a hike, cook out, and sleep over on Saturday, August 13.  Please see the newsletter for Chris’s address to get more details.

We’re finishing out 2011 strong with a commitment to service.  We’ll be partnering with the Peace Corps Fellows to carry out a number of projects.  The first is at the Community Food Bank on August 27th. Email us to get on the evite list.

Meeting Day Survey

At the meeting, we discussed the possibility of attempting to have a non-Saturday meeting every other meeting (so 3 out of the 6 meetings a year).  This is in response to some people who have weekend plans and can’t always make weekend evening meetings.  We want to know when would work best for you, so please fill out this 2 question survey with when we should meet in September and in general, what day of the week rocks your boat the most.  We want to meet earlier than planned (originally we were going to meet on 9/17/11) so that we can properly plan for Tucson Meet Yourself.  http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/CP62DNN

Doves - get ready for some great opportunities to get involved in helping the community for the rest of 2011!  If you’d like to be involved and don’t want to wait for the evite, please send us an email at rpcvtucson@gmail.com

Desert Doves Outreach Opportunities Fall 2011

August 27th:  Community Food Bank- packing food boxes

September 24th:  Refugee Arts & Crafts Day- Oasis Apartments, in conjunction with the IRC

October 14-16th:  Tucson Meet Yourself- group meeting in early September to discuss details

October 16th:  AIDSWalk

October 29th:  Primavera Men’s Shelter Lunch- food preparation for 35-40 men

November TBA:  Humane Borders Trash Cleanup- either on Tohono O’odham Nation or in Nogales
All events are scheduled for Saturday mornings between 8:30-9am and 12pm.

Evites and email reminders will be sent out one month prior to each event and again a week before to help organization efforts run smoothly.