On Sunday, September 8, at 5:30pm, the Jacksonville Applegate Rotary Club will be holding its annual Salmon Bake at Historic Hanley Farm.
Traditionally, this fundraiser has supported our Club’s International projects, but this year, we are excited to also be supporting the Jacksonville Booster Club’s lighting project at the Britt Gardens.
The Salmon Bake began by funding a clean water project in Tanzania organized by Benedictine Monks of Hanga Abbey in Southwest Tanzania in cooperation with Jacksonville Applegate Rotarians. An amazing Tanzanian priest, Father Pirmin Ngole (who has since died in a tragic car accident), Rotarian Ace Carter and I met in one of the most remote locations in East Africa to map, plan, and implement a gravity-fed clean water system. Following completion, it brought safe water to seven villages and almost 30,000 rural Tanzanians. In this area alone, infant mortality was reduced by nearly 70% due to this effort.
The Salmon Bake grew to include funding a project in Guatemala spearheaded by Rotarian Judi Johnson, our current President, using an
ingenious Double Bucket Filtration system that was distributed to thousands of Guatemalan homes without access to clean water. Contaminated water is a primary source of disease transmission around the world—70 percent of all deadly human ailments can be traced back to bad water sources. Clean Water Projects are the reason we bring our friends and family together to grill salmon at Hanley Farm each September. We strive to continue to fund projects that provide solutions for struggling communities around the globe.
Past Salmon Bakes have provided funding for a milk cow farm, a chicken farm and generators to keep refrigerators powered through the ubiquitous Tanzanian power cuts. We have funded an Aids Orphanage in Dar es Salaam, built a school in Masai Land, and provided assistance for malnourished children in Greece now reeling in economic disaster. These are just a few examples of what your local Rotarians are involved with overseas and, here locally. Every time we raise a glass of cool water to our lips, we remember why we grill salmon at Hanley Farm every September!
So, please join us September 8 where you can wind down the summer in a relaxing farm atmosphere with live music, great local wines, wonderful raffles and auction items, and a great Salmon Dinner.
Many have asked me what my favorite Salmon Recipe is…it’s one that brings clean water to those of our brothers and sisters around the world who have none! In cooking Salmon, one may begin with the freshest fish, most tantalizing spices and herbs and a great cooking facility, but when our recipes also include the ingredients to improve the lives of others, then what we cook will rise up from just being Good to tasting Magical in a meal that nourishes your soul, too.
Khalil Gibran the Lebanese Poet once wrote, “If you cook food without love, you feed half of man’s hunger.” As Rotarians we cook with the kind of love that makes each meal feed many people’s hunger, here at Hanley Farm and across the world.
Jacksonville Applegate Rotarians will again be cooking for you with love this September 8, so buy a ticket, bring an appetite and a smile and hear your heart thank you for helping your fellow man live a better life.
Tickets are available from your local Jacksonville Rotarians. Amongst those closest to town are Jason Williams at Jacksonville Chiropractic, Judi Johnson at State farm Insurance, Rex Miller at his dental office, Jerry Hayes at Bella Union, Lynn Boening at Pioneer Financial, Mary Van Horn at John L. Scott and Platon Mantheakis-the Greek at Jacksonville Inn.
Posted August 27, 2013