Marhaba

Rotary Club of Beirut Cosmopolitan Monthly Publication — June 2016 — Page X

Club Charter Date

June 22, 1995

Club Number

30893

District

2452 Rotary Int’l

___________________________________

RI President

Ravi Ravindran

RC Sri Lanka

District Governor

Mustafa Nasreddine

RC Amman

Deputy Governor

Kamal Katra

Assistant Governor

Rami Majzoub

___________________________________

RCBC Officers

2015—2016

President

Marie (Mimi) Hamam

President Elect

Joe Boulos

Vice President

Lina Shair

Secretary

Amal Talhouk

Treasurer

Jean Paul Moubarak

__________________________________________

Directors

Tony Asfour

George Beyrouti

Nora Haddad

Adib Mounla

Rabab Safieddine

__________________________________________

RCBC Website

www.rcbclebanon.org

RCBC Facebook Page

www.facebook.com/

beirutcosmopolitan

RCBC meets Tuesdays at the Phoenicia Hotel, Ain-Mreisseh, Beirut

Business Meetings at 7:00 PM — Dinner Meetings at 8:30 PM

Marhaba Editor: Kamal N. Saad -- e-mail: knsaadrcbc@gmail.com

We welcome your comments and suggestions.

1

Tuesday, June 7, 2016 -- Business Meeting, at the Phoenicia Hotel Guest speaker Ms. Randa Farah — Topic: “I have my Lebanon and you have yours”

Ms. Randa Farah (see photo RHS) is

the co-founder of the Lebanese NGO

Lebtivity; HR Manager, Beirut Digital

District; an Instructor and Freelance

Trainer. Introduced by RT Jean Paul

Moubarak (see photo LHS), our

speaker bubbled with enthusiasm

over the 100 options to choose from

for her talk. Having offered to share

ten Commandments, she ended up serving a few more:

1. Niche yourself;

2. Be an inverse paranoid;

3. Reduce / Reuse / Recycle;

4. You cannot do it all by yourself;

5. Do not take yourself too seriously;

6. Learn to take criticism and rejection;

7. Learn from failure and strive for growth;

8. Believe in yourself and your idea (I CAN);

9. Do what you love doing -- money will follow;

10. Give more than you receive -- share your blessings;

11. You will always miss 100% of the steps you do not take;

12. Love every day – happy is he who never ceases to be amazed

From L to R above, RT Kamal Saad,

Marhaba Editor 2015/2016; RT Karin

Saab, RCBC Board member 2016/2017;

RT Walter Day, Marhaba Editor

2016/2017.

From L to R above , RCBC PP George Beyrouti, PE Joe Boulos, P Mimi Hamam, guest Ms. Regina Lattouf, RCBC RT JP Moubarak and our speaker.

Marhaba

Rotary Club of Beirut Cosmopolitan Monthly Publication — June 2016 — Page X 2

Tuesday, June 14, 2016 -- RCBC Iftar, Phoenicia Hotel

Photos from RCBC Board Meeting of June 14, 2016

From L to R above PP Habib Bassoul, RT Rabab Safieddine, PP Karim Naamani, PP Tony Asfour, PP

Edouard Rassie, PE/PP Joe Boulos, RT Nora Haddad, RT Karin Saab, RT Adib Mounla, RT J-P Moubarak

Above PP/PE Joe Boulos & spouse Below RT Rana Salhab & nephew

* Rotary International Award to RCBC *

RCBC received The Rotary International Significant Achievement Award for the “Spectra Optia Cell Separators System for the Children Cancer Center of Lebanon” project. On June 19, 2016, our District 2452 DG Mustafa Nasereddin thus notified RCBC P Mimi Hamam:

“On February 26, PP George Beyrouti applied on behalf of RCBC for this award following my call to the clubs in the District to apply. Your project was selected by my special committee from more than 20 other proposed projects to be nominated to RI. The project nomination was approved by RI and the award was made accordingly”.

Photos

from

RCBC

Iftar

June 14

2016

Above PP Karim Naamani & spouse Below PP Lina Shair (RHS) & daughter

Marhaba

Rotary Club of Beirut Cosmopolitan Monthly Publication — June 2016 — Page X

Many Happy Birthday Returns to

PP George Beyrouti : June 13 -- PP John Edde: June 14 -- P Mimi Hamam : June 04

Ghaleb Mahmasani: June 28

3

Saturday, May 28, 2016 — RCBC Brainstorming Session at Al Bustan Hotel, Beit-Meri

Above: RCBC participants in the brainstorming session. Below: Wishing PP Tony Asfour Happy Birthday; plus guest spouses Eva Saad and RT Rimane Jabre.

plus in turn PP Habib Bassoul, PN Rabab Safieddine, PP Tony Asfour and PP Karim Naamani.

L to R above PE & PP Joe Boulos, P Mimi Hamam and PP Lina Shair presenting their views/plans ,

Marhaba

Rotary Club of Beirut Cosmopolitan Monthly Publication — June 2016 — Page X 4

Tuesday, June 23, 2016 -- RCBC Iftar for Children, KidsMondo, Biel, Beirut

RCBC hosted 96 orphans between eight and 12 years old to an Iftar at KidzMondo, Beirut, from 16:00 hrs to 20:45 hrs on June 23, 2016. Of the children, 71 were from the Orphan Welfare Society in Sidon and 25 girls were from the Sadr Foundation in Tyre.

The Iftar was a Burger King meal. Kidzmondo offered the children upon their departure a small notebook as a gift and RCBC offered them a surprise dessert bag containing fruit juice, chocolates, biscuits and other sweets for their long journey back home.

The event was organized by RT Rabab Safieddine, RCBC 2016/2017 Services Project Committee Chair and RT Nabil Challah. It was attended by PP Habib Bassoul, RT Walter Day, PP Habib Saba, PP Lina Shair, and Club Secretary Amal Talhouk. They were ably assisted by RCBC Executive Assistant Rania Sou-bra who also took pictures. A number of RCBC members made financial donations.

Above L to R are four Tyre girls surrounding RCBC Exec. Asst. Rania Soubra; then girls and boys from Sidon; Below L to R are RCBC PP Habib Saba, RT Nabil Challah, and PP Lina Shair;

PP Lina again, three orphan girls, RT Rabab Safieddine; PP Habib Bassoul & RT Challah again.

Rotary Acronyms for Non-Rotarians

RI: Rotary International TRF: The Rotary Foundation

RC: Rotary Club RCBC: Rotary Club of Beirut Cosmopolitan RT: Rotarian

P: President - IP: Incoming President - VP: Vice President - PE: President Elect - PP: Past President

Marhaba

Rotary Club of Beirut Cosmopolitan Monthly Publication — June 2016 — Page X

Tuesday, June 28, 2016 -- Business Meeting, Hotel Phoenicia Topic: New Rotary Year 2016/2017 Installation Ceremony

5

Rotary Acronyms for Non-Rotarians

RI: Rotary International TRF: The Rotary Foundation

RC: Rotary Club RCBC: Rotary Club of Beirut Cosmopolitan RT: Rotarian

P: President - IP: Incoming President - VP: Vice President - PE: President Elect - PP: Past President

Outgoing P Mimi Hamam said “A sincere heartfelt thank you to all. Thank you for your support and encouragement while I was serving our esteemed club . Thank you all for your contributions to the activities, be it service projects, administration, Marhaba newsletter, RCBC @20 brochure, fundraising events , fellowship events, etc…, etc… You have all worked tirelessly to achieve our goals and make RCBC what it is now. I wish P Joe Boulos all the joy and pleasure I had working with you".

P Joe Boulos also presented the RCBC Board for 2016/2017: Joe Boulos, Incoming President Rabab Safieddine, PN and Service Committee Chair Mimi Hamam, IPP and Fundraising Committee Chair Edouard Rassie, Vice-President Nora Haddad, Secretary Adib Mounla, The RF Committee Chair Habib Bassoul, Administration Committee Chair Mounir Jabre, Program Committee Chair Karin Saab, Sergeant-at-Arms Other Officers — non-Board: Nadim Hissen, Treasurer Karim Naamani, Membership Committee Chair Lina Shair & Michel Mansour, Public Image Committee Co-Chairs __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Moreover, RCBC demonstrated its theatrical skills in a skit in which a panel of judges (see photo RHS) consisting of PP Habib Saba, President Nominee Rabab Safieddine, and PP Lina Shair sought to determine whether PP Mimi (see photo LHS) was innocent or guilty of a variety of trumped-up charges brought against her.

Incoming P Joe Boulos related how, to him, Rotary can be summarized in all of two words: Service and Fellowship. Service is provided by people who are professionally strong and who can and are willing to help. Fellowship brings people together who want to work together – Rotary does not impose this upon them. This is why our motto for 2016/2017 is “Service Through Fellowship — Back to Basics”.

He believes RCBC is a demonstrably very strong club that has earned respect and awards at the country, District and International levels. RCBC will turn 21 years old in 2016/2017 and our theme for the new Rotary year is “Forever 21 — Dynamism of the Young Adult Guided by the Experience of the Mature Adult”

Marhaba

Rotary Club of Beirut Cosmopolitan Monthly Publication — June 2016 — Page X

Tuesday, June 28, 2016 -- Business Meeting, Hotel Phoenicia

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RCBC Rotaract Club 2016/2017 Installation Ceremony

L to R in photo are: Outgoing President Fouad Boulos Incoming President Meghrie Kalaydjian Vice-President Samer Jabre Club Secretary Rita Moukarzel Treasurer Peter Rassie

Georgia Rotary Student Program (GRSP) 2016/2017 Outgoing Scholars

Lea Mia (see photo LHS) is the third sister of the Asfour family to be awarded a GRSP scholarship. She has already been introduced to her host family whom she finds “very nice”. Her sisters have been bombarding her with stories ever since they came back and she is very excited to become part of the GRSP. She will attend Columbus State University. Jad Tabet (see photo RHS) will attend Georgia State University. He is already part of a Facebook Group there and looks forward to something he knows will be life-changing and hopes will be great fun.

For Raphaele Akhras (see photo LHS) GRSP was a once in a lifetime opportunity and a life-changing experience that she is grateful for to Rotary.

It was an opportunity to meet new people from various countries and different ethnicities. .

It was an opportunity to learn about herself, to become more independent, to understand the value of friendship and make so many friends, and to learn about and gain from the experience of others.

Georgia Rotary Student Program (GRSP) 2015/2016 Returning Scholars

For Ivanna Hayek (see photo LHS) GRSP was an opportunity to discover another side

of the world. For her, what makes America stand out is its diversity and endless

possibilities, a home to people from around the world, combining their cultures and

traditions. The opportunity to meet such people, to discover their perspectives on

issues and how these may differ from each other and from one’s own was invaluable.

What she admires most about America is its people -- everyone she met has been very

kind and generous. She thoroughly enjoyed the new activities her GRSP Rotarian

friends set up for weekends and holidays, from kayaking to going up a lighthouse. In

sum, the year was indescribable — a gift that she will always cherish and thank Rotary for. She will stay

in the USA next year and graduate from Kennesaw State University in Georgia..

She is ever so grateful for the support of her three Rotary Clubs in Georgia: RC Decatur, RC Midtown

Atlanta, and RC Emory Druid Hills. She is also ever so grateful for the host families that took care of her

“every step of the way”.