Rotary Community Heroes of Hope
Introducing "Rotary Community Heroes of Hope" - a podcast dedicated to showcasing the profound impact of Rotary in District 5330 and beyond. Join us as we explore the remarkable stories of rotary heroes and initiatives that are transforming communities and creating hope around the world.
Rotary Community Heroes of Hope
Empowering Future Leaders: PRYDE Program’s Impact and Rotary Volunteers' Heroism
Discover how seventh graders can blossom into future leaders as Jackie Chapman from the Desert Hot Springs Rotary Club shares the secrets behind the life-changing PRYDE program on this episode of the Rotary Heroes of Hope podcast. Jackie opens up about her journey into Rotary through youth initiatives and sheds light on the Personal Rotary Youth Development Experience—an engaging camp that’s meticulously organized and fully funded by Rotarian donations. From the rigorous selection process to the fun yet challenging daily activities, you'll gain insight into how PRIDE nurtures leadership skills in young participants.
We then shift focus to the phenomenal impact Rotary Clubs and their Interact programs have on middle school students. Listen to inspiring stories about international service projects, like collecting eyeglasses for Uganda and donations for Mexicali, that make global service tangible and exciting for kids. Learn how these experiences not only foster compassion and global awareness but also offer long-term benefits, including scholarship opportunities and continued community service involvement. We also dive into the meticulous youth protection measures that ensure a safe and supportive environment for all, from comprehensive background checks to fingerprinting.
Lastly, we honor the unsung heroes—community volunteers who tirelessly dedicate their time and effort without expecting anything in return. Join us in celebrating individuals like Judy and Jamie, whose selfless contributions make a significant impact on our district. Their commitment embodies true heroism, and we conclude with heartfelt gratitude to all volunteers who infuse hope and make a lasting difference in our communities. Don’t miss this episode that showcases the extraordinary ways Rotary transforms lives and empowers the next generation of leaders.
Welcome to the Rotary Heroes of Hope podcast. I'm your host, Judy Zolfakar, proudly serving as the current District Governor for Rotary District 5330. Co-hosting with me is Jamie Zinn, our esteemed immediate past District Governor. Heroes of Hope brings to light the remarkable stories of impact from Rotarians within our district. Our episodes shine a spotlight on transformative community projects taking root in our region and extend their reach to initiatives making waves on a global scale. Each story is a testament to the profound influence Rotarians exert on the lives of individuals and communities we are committed to serving. Join us in this inspiring journey. Dive deeper into the world of Rotary with us and witness firsthand the extraordinary ways in which Rotary touches lives and reshapes our world. Welcome to the Rotary Heroes of Hope podcast, where hope takes center stage and the heroes are the Rotarians among us, turning vision into action.
Speaker 2:Good morning Judy. How are you?
Speaker 1:doing today? Good morning Jamie. I'm doing great. I love the weather. It's not blazing hot right now, so I'm good.
Speaker 2:Yes and I'm sure our guest today, jackie Chatman, is going to say that she loves the weather down where she is at because she is in the desert and it's been very scorching hot down there, yep. So, jackie, we are so excited to have you here today to talk about one of our youth programs which is very important to our district, and that is our Pride program. So if you could take a moment, introduce yourself to our listeners here and then tell us a little bit about Pride, what is Pride and why does District 5330 participate in it?
Speaker 3:Thank you, ladies, for inviting me to the show. I appreciate that. My name is Jackie Chapman. I'm a member of the Desert Hot Springs Rotary Club. I've been a member since 2015 and got involved with Rotary because of their youth program. So I was first introduced to Rotary through some of the youth programs that they do, got involved with our other youth leadership camp and then got involved with PRIDE, our current leadership camp for seventh graders.
Speaker 1:Can you tell us what PRIDE stands for so?
Speaker 3:PRIDE is spelled P-R-Y-D-E. It stands for Personal Rotary Youth Development Experience. Awesome, thank you. And so it's. There's a lot of confusion sometimes with what PR Pride is in relation to, again, our other leadership camp, which is Ryla. So if you've heard of Ryla, pride is for seventh graders, so it's a leadership camp. That's a two day camp that focuses on seventh graders learning how to lead themselves.
Speaker 1:And it's really supported. It is amazing how much Rotary in general worldwide supports youth, but our district specifically. It's one of the biggest things that we do and those kids that are going to this camp it's at no cost to them. That is completely covered by Rotarian donations. Correct, absolutely.
Speaker 3:So each Rotary Club has an opportunity to send kids to camp. This year, our camp is $375 per student. The club's fundraised for that or budget for that, and we get a lot of kids coming up because our, like I said, the 11th grade leadership camp. Our district is the only district that has a pride camp, so we invented it, it is ours and we are very proud of it. It's been in existence, I believe, for 15 to 17 years. I got involved in 2021 and then became part of the staff in 2022. 2021, and then became part of the staff in 2022. One of the things that I do is I work with the Rotarians that volunteer to come up to camp to work with our kids. So we have youth leaders and then we also have adult leaders. I train the adult leaders to work with our students so they get the training on how to work with kids in the camp setting, and I'm very proud of the work that I do with them.
Speaker 2:So our listeners have a better picture of what Pride really is. Can you give us an overview of what I'll call a day in the life of a Pride student?
Speaker 3:So our Pride students again, once selected, they go through an interview process. They get chosen by their club. They show up at the bus stop, usually between six and seven in the morning on a Saturday morning. So different clubs from their area will get on a school bus. They ride up to camp together. That's the beginning of the camp experience. It starts at the bus stop, it starts on the bus. It starts with these kids coming in scared, not knowing what to expect, and then getting the experience from that very moment. So they ride up the mountain and again, that's a term we use up the mountain, down the mountain, but it's up in Thousand Pines, which is near Arrowhead Lake, gregory. So for those of us in the desert, it's a nice trip away, gregory. So for those of us in the desert, it's a nice trip away. So the kids ride up the bus, they come, they get to camp and they're welcomed by the adult leaders and the youth staff that's there. So the welcome is very exciting Lots of screaming, yelling, songs, chants. They get their sweatshirts, they check in and then the activities start right away. So they go into their groups.
Speaker 3:We start with icebreakers. We go from icebreakers to a main speaker, a motivational speaker. Then after each motivational speaker these students are broken into smaller groups for group discussions with their adult Rotarian leaders. After each discussion group there's a physical activity that's led by our youth leaders. So the kids go from a speaker to a discussion group, to an activity, to a meal. There's lots of food, lots of snacks and that's kind of how the day runs. On Saturday night we do have an activity that's meant to break down stereotypes. It's a very intense activity. The kids get a lot out of it, but then we follow that up with a dance. So everything we do we have something that's maybe a little hard and a little fun. So we're testing their skills, but then they're rewarding them at the end. Then they go to bed.
Speaker 3:We wake up Sunday morning and Sunday is really our Rotary Day at camp. So Then they go to bed. We wake up Sunday morning and Sunday is really our Rotary Day at camp. So they do a service project. They hear from district leaders Hopefully District Governor Judy will be there I will be there, awesome. We do group pictures so we get to see the kids as a group that come from their clubs. We talk about how they can take Rotary and interact back to their communities. So we always leave them with the message that there's a place for them, even at seventh grade, to make a change in their own community. And then again, the ending of the experience is getting them on the bus, riding down the mountain with those new experiences and then handing them back either to the Rotarian leader at the bottom of the mountain or to their parents. And the kids are so different from when they get on that bus on Saturday morning to when they come back Saturday evening or Sunday evening, excuse me, sunday evening.
Speaker 1:It's amazing how two days can be such a life-changing experience and it's it's really fun to watch how that transition happens over that period of time. And I think the beauty of catching kids at seventh grade is they haven't quite, you know, gotten those habits or those biases or that bullying, or I mean they may have experienced some of it, but you're catching them right as they're in that early development of puberty, and how they're going through those really hard times as young adults. And then reinforcing it as Ryla is a good thing. So what a great time to catch them in their development process.
Speaker 3:And that leads into Interact, because again, we have middle school Interact. So a lot of our Interact clubs are high school level. But I feel the same way that middle school age is really where we want to catch these kids before they develop the habits that we have to change in high school. So, again, middle school interact is something that I think you know just feeds into what we do at camp. So instead of just sending them back, we want to try to have middle school to catch them and continue to cultivate them into their high school experience.
Speaker 2:Tell us a little bit about the middle school interact. Some of our viewers and listeners out here might not know what that is.
Speaker 3:So that is actually not very common in our district. Yet Most of our interact clubs are high school level, which is usually ninth grade to 12th grade. But we here in Desert Hot Springs we have two middle schools and again, we had early act at our elementary schools and we had high school interact and we lost them at that critical point. So we had decided that we were going to do a community based interact club, and that was 2019. So before COVID we started going to do a community-based Interact Club and that was 2019. So before COVID we started and we made it community-based so we could encapsulate both of our middle schools. We didn't have enough Rotarians to do individual clubs at each of the campuses, so for our first year we met at a local restaurant, a local resort actually, that gave us a room and we did our projects there. So we met once a month and we did an eyeglass collection for Uganda and we did. We collected items to take to Mexicali. So they did two international projects as a middle school interact club their first year.
Speaker 1:What great experience of servant leadership right there at that young age.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and again it was super easy. The eyeglasses was do you have old glasses? Do your grandparents have old eyeglasses that they're not using? Bring them and we'll donate them. We had a connection with a Rotarian, I believe he was from one of the Riverside clubs and he went to Uganda every year. So he came and took those collections and so we did. It was a collaboration with another Rotary Club and then an international project, and it was super easy for them. Everybody's got glasses laying around, so the easier we can make service for our kids, the easier it is for them to get excited about it. So then we partner that with showing them where Uganda is and giving them the education about even though we're maybe in a lower socioeconomic environment, we are so blessed compared to other people, and giving them that level of compassion and opening the world to them at that young age I think is really beneficial for them.
Speaker 1:So we're right now and this podcast will be published probably the end of September, early October. So this is right when we are looking for seventh grade students to join us at Pride. How would somebody, if they haven't heard about it or maybe nobody in their school has connected with them, how would they find out or connect with a Rotary Club to have their seventh grader be a part of this process?
Speaker 3:So most of the Rotary Clubs are sending students and, again, depending on where your school is, if you have an Interact Club, that Interact Club is connected to a Rotary Club. So you reach out to that sponsoring Rotary Club, first and foremost because hopefully that club has your. They already know about you, they're already connecting with you. If your school doesn't have an Interact Club, you can reach out to myself. I'll give you the email address and I can connect you with the closest Rotary Club in your area to see if they're looking for students. You could have your student reach out to their school counselor. A lot of times the school counselors have those connections to the Interact Clubs. A lot of times you'll see postings on social media about camp opportunities. Reach out to those people. Those are the people that are looking to give your students an opportunity.
Speaker 1:And you can also go to rotary5330.org and just fill out the contact form and we'll make sure and get you to the right person so we can get you to Jackie and or a Rotary Club near you that can help your student have the opportunity for the Pride Camp.
Speaker 3:Absolutely. And again, the deadline for clubs to register their students is September 30th, so I did send an email out to clubs. We are running on a deadline here. We need to get kids up to camp, so let's get these kids registered Excellent.
Speaker 2:So tell us a little bit about the interactions you've had with parents after their student has attended Pride. What do the parents say about it, and how profound are they seeing a change in their child?
Speaker 3:Well, again here in Desert Hot Spice. We've been doing this for a little while. So we have generations of students that have gone to our youth camps. So we have a student that we sent to Pride, that we then sent to Ryland and then we gave a scholarship to, and then we see the parents at the next back to school night for their younger students coming in. It's like oh my God, jackie, you sent my daughter to blah blah, blah. How do I get this child involved? So a lot of it is generational.
Speaker 3:We're in the schools, we have a lot of educators. Our Rotary Club has a big reach in our community and so we kind of interact with the parents on a regular basis. So again, I have one student now who's a senior in high school. So she was part of my middle school Interact Club. We sent her to Pride Camp camp, we sent her to ryla. She's on the board of the interact clubs that. She's been part of her whole high school experience. She's now coming back, hopefully as an alumni, to ryla this year and then she's also in line for a scholarship from our club. So we keep this connection with our parents. She's got a younger brother, she's got two younger sisters that will also be in line, hopefully, hopefully for that Interact Club experience and then for the different opportunities that we offer, so the parents know how to find us. Luckily, we have a lot of support in our community.
Speaker 1:That's awesome.
Speaker 3:And they love what we do with their kids.
Speaker 1:You know I'm going to transition a little bit, because when we are responsible for these young children, you know we take that responsibility very seriously. So can you talk about what we do as Rotary for youth protection, whenever we're having these camps or any interaction with these students?
Speaker 3:I would love to talk about that. Youth protection is one of my favorite subjects to talk about. Youth protection is one of my favorite subjects. So Rotarians, before they can work with the youth, have to be background checked through the Department of Justice. We do a fingerprinting. So that is first and foremost. To work with kids, you have to be fingerprinted through the Department of Justice. We make that opportunity available. Again, I go to clubs. I was just at a club yesterday where I will go in and talk about what youth protection looks like, what our responsibility is to our students, but also protecting our Rotarians.
Speaker 3:So there's two sides to youth protection. It's protecting our youth, to make sure that our Rotarians know how to work with students, that they're appropriate with them, that they know, again, certain actions and behaviors can be appropriate or inappropriate, depending on the circumstance, and so Rotarians may not always know where the boundaries are with other people's children. So training Rotarians how to be appropriate and then what to look for in other situations is really important to the youth protection. Training but also looking for signs that where our youth may have some things that need to be addressed. So, again, looking for behavior in the student where we want to be aware that there might be something inappropriate going on in their setting. So different from what we do with Rotarians. But we're training people to look for different behavioral signs in students, to be aware of problematic issues that they may have, if that makes sense. To be aware of problematic issues that they may have, if that makes sense.
Speaker 3:So we look at again the fingerprint process. We go to a form that's specific to our Rotary District. We get a clean live scan that gets reported back to the club. That person is able to work with the youth. But we also have an application process for volunteers that the clubs need to implement for their clubs. So again, why is that person wanting to volunteer? What is their experience with youth and then training them how to be appropriate with the kids. We want to make sure that we have, you know again, there's a ratio of adult to students that we want to make sure that people understand when we're taking them out into the community, because our job is to make sure that when we're supervising them, that they're safe.
Speaker 1:The health and safety of our students is a top priority.
Speaker 3:And our.
Speaker 2:Rotarians.
Speaker 1:So yeah, and we do spend a lot of time and energy to make sure that that happens.
Speaker 3:And again, we think that sometimes a behavior can be appropriate. You know we're just joking around and we have to know that there are boundaries with children. You know that just because they're volunteering with us, we have to show them the same respect that we want shown, because we're mirroring the behavior. So it's really important that we mirror the best appropriate behavior with these kids.
Speaker 2:Jackie, maybe a couple things that you might provide some clarification for our listeners out here, and that would be. The first thing is many of us have been fingerprinted for other reasons through the Department of Justice. You adopt a child, you work for another nonprofit. Can you clarify for folks regarding the requirements that they would still have to be required to fingerprint through us and then also whether or not, after they are fingerprinted and are working in our youth programs, are they now considered mandated reporters?
Speaker 3:So those are both great questions. So as volunteers we are not mandated reporters. I actually just did a training for the school district and we are not mandated reporters, the same way that school officials would be mandated reporters. So the first part of the question is if you've been live scanned through the school district, through real estate, through any other organization, those organizations have their own reporting number, same way our Rotary Club does or our Rotary District does. So our live scanning is specific for our district. If there's a subsequent arrest, that gets reported to the reporting number. So let's say you're live scanned through the school district and something happens, that report only goes to the reporting agency that did the live scan. So something happens. You're live scan through the school district. They know, but rotary doesn't know because you weren't live scanned through our reporting number. So we don't take anybody's any other organization live scan. It has to be through our rotary district. Um, I'm sorry, jamie, what was the second part of the?
Speaker 3:question reporting um and mandating reports. So we we are not again mandated reporters in the same way, so we don't have the same like again. If you're a mandated reporter for the school, you have 24 hours to call a hotline and then you have to do a written report within a certain amount of time. Those are the mandated reporter requirements. Our Rotary District still requires reporting, but it's not reported to the same organizations, it's reported to the Youth Protection Officer or to Rotary International directly. So that's the difference in the. We're still required to report, but the term mandated reporter doesn't fall under the category for volunteers. Right, legally. Legally, you're right. But we are still required, if we see something, say something. If we're unsure, better to ask.
Speaker 3:I remember before I was youth protection officer I would reach out to the youth protection officer and say you know, I'm not really sure how to handle this or what do you think about that? And he's advised me or had advised me in different directions. So the first call if you're concerned or not sure, if something feels right, looks like, smells right, reach out to somebody to at least ask the questions. Then again, in the position of youth protection officer, I would advise either we report directly to Rotary International and there is an online form where you can report. So, again, you can bypass me and report directly to Rotary International. They have people that will take that report and then they handle it from there. So those are the ways that we, as Rotarians, have to report anything that we see as problematic. Again, some things again. If there is a situation that needs to be reported to the police, then I advise again, those reports need to be made as well. But the like I said, the official mandated reporter title does not apply to volunteers.
Speaker 1:And mostly I just wanted to make sure that we covered the fact that you know we're really caring for and taking care of and are very serious about, you know the health and safety of the children when they're in our in our hands and we're working with them. Let's circle back around to pride. That that's coming up round to Pride. That that's coming up, and can you talk to us about what would you say to a seventh grader out there who maybe has never been to an overnight camp or is nervous about going to camp? What would you tell that student on why they should attend Pride?
Speaker 3:So I get overly excited when I'm talking to seventh graders about going to camp. I am so animated about it and, again, I think pride camp is the most fun experience they can do in their young lives. I really think that getting away from home and branching out and learning about themselves is so beneficial for them. But it's so much fun that's the thing. We make it so much fun for them that that I really I just tell them that you know, drop whatever fears you have. We're going to be there with you, we're. You can do hard things and we're going to help you do them, but you're going to have a really good time. You may be scared going up, you may be unsure, but when you come back you're going to be so happy that you took the risk and that you went.
Speaker 2:And it's a weekend away from home. No chores, right.
Speaker 3:Absolutely, and you know, again, they, they, they're a little so part of our interview process also.
Speaker 3:So we're we're as a pride team, we're trying to help the clubs pick the best students. So one of the first questions that we ask is have you ever been away from home without your parents? And that will help them figure out oh, do I want to do this, can I do this? It provokes a question in them because they don't think about, oh, my gosh, I'm going to be away from my parents. Or, oh, yeah, I go to sports camp and this camp and that camp and I'm like super okay with that. It's not a determining factor, but it is part of our interview process to make sure that they're ready to go and so that helps them. And then we also do a parent night with the students when we help them register. So we bring all the parents in and help them register and answer all those questions. And really, again, a lot of our people that work on the Pride team at our local clubs have been to Pride in Ryla, so we have the experience and the excitement of our own adventures at camp.
Speaker 1:I'd like to point out too, when we're doing this, this interview process, it's not, oh, we're only going to take the kids that have been the top academic excellence, or we're only going to take the kids that have, that are extroverts and that really get excited. This is a mix. It's like what is this camp going to do for this child, so those things that are typical requirements to go to some type of leadership camp? That's not what this is about, because we want them to grow. So it's like where are they in their process and how can we? Will this camp hopefully help them and are they open to it being helpful?
Speaker 3:And you know, I'm really proud of our Pride team because and I'll give a shout out to Mary Helen Tuttle and to Beth Sanders, who I've worked with over the few years We've had the Webbers join us as part of our team. We have the Favillos as part of our team. Charlie James is of our team. We have the Favillos as part of our team. Charlie James is on our team. We have two nurses, shelby and oh gosh, I don't remember Shelby's daughter's name, but we have two nurses that come up and so we have a really big supportive team. Kevin Willis just joined our team, brian just joined our team and we we look like.
Speaker 3:So if you've got a kid and they may have a special circumstance, reach out to our team, say, hey, we've got this kid. This is why we think they need to go, but they're having this issue. Our if we know ahead of time, we can work with a lot of students. We we do have some limitations because we are volunteers, we're not paid professionals, so we do have some limitations, but if we know the circumstances and I'll give you an example we I had a student actually from from our middle school and he had a medical condition where he needed to be on IV nutrition 10 hours at night Every night. He and the mom reached out and we reached out to the team and at first the team was like no, I don't know if we can handle this. And they're like, let's figure out what the requirements are. So we reached out to the camp nurse, we talked to the mom, we made all the arrangements ahead of time and this kid did great. This kid was awesome, he was a leader, he was a rock star and we were able to accommodate what his physical needs were because we knew ahead of time, because we knew exactly what to do.
Speaker 3:But sometimes the selection process from the clubs needs to work with the camp. So it's not just picking the kids or having the guidance counselor pick the top kids. It's the Rotarians and our Rotarian heart that I think needs to select these students. We really need to hand pick them because we want to give them an experience. And so we're working very hard at the kickoff meeting that we do, at the trainings that we do, at the emails that we send, at the emails that we send, all the things to get the clubs engaged, to pick the best students, not the best scholars, not the necessary captain of the football team or the head, like those stereotypic leaders. We want the kids that have a leader heart but may not have the leader behavior yet.
Speaker 1:And then give them an opportunity to shine Absolutely and not every kid an opportunity to shine Absolutely.
Speaker 3:And not every kid has a great experience at camp, Just like when I went to summer camp. I hated it. But you will learn from that experience, good or bad, because we always take something away from all of our experiences. And so we, like I said, we want to work with the clubs so they make the best selection. So when those kids come back they can have them speak, they can have them help them start their interact clubs. We really want the continuity, not just let's pick a kid and flip a coin and hope they turn into a Rotary leader. So it's cultivation.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and it's the same thing like adults I mean, think about the number of adults that you know have that capability but until they're tapped on the shoulder and said hey, we think you have this or you have a unique talent, and that's what we're doing with these kids is tapping them on the shoulder and getting them to think outside of the box and be stronger, have great self-esteem and try things new and different.
Speaker 1:And see that leadership in themselves Correct. So we're going to wrap this up, Jackie. Are there any final thoughts that you have about Pride or your program, our programs and youth?
Speaker 3:I think that we are doing an amazing job with our youth. I think our district should be very proud of what we do and how we do it and how we support our communities. I'm so excited to have district support, like hands-on district support, this year, because that's made a huge difference. We feel the support from the top down, we feel the support from the bottom up and I think this year is going to be a very successful year for our camps, for our youth exchange, for our Interact Early Act clubs. I just feel like we're on such a good direction this year and, like I said, I appreciate the district support and the support from the clubs and all the Rotarians that make our youth program shine throughout the world.
Speaker 1:Awesome. Well, thank you, and thank you for all of your service over the years and going forward. It's much appreciated. I think sometimes people don't realize that we all do this work and it's not a paid job. We do it out of the goodness of our hearts and that really shines out with what you're doing in our district.
Speaker 3:Thank you, judy, thank you Jamie, I appreciate you and have a wonderful rest of your day.
Speaker 1:Thanks, jackie. You too Awesome. Have a good one. So that wraps up this episode of Heroes of Hope. We are so happy that we have an audience out there listening. We want you to subscribe, share and tell your friends about the Rotary Community Heroes of Hope, because that's how we get the word out about the impact we're having in this world.