Mary Brewster looked up the origin of Cinco de Mayo for her inspiration:

 

It is not a celebration of Mexican Independence, and in fact is little celebrated in Mexico. It commemorates the victory over Napoleonic forces who invaded Mexico in 1862 on the pretext of collecting a debt. Mexican Independence had been already declared in 1810.

 

Cinco de Mayo started being celebrated in the US to show solidarity with Mexicans, and to celebrate Mexican culture. it underscores the importance of this heritage in American life, and of diversity in general. As such, it is in good Rotary spirit for us to celebrate tomorrow!

 

About a dozen members and friends took part in the trivia contest organized by Mary Brewster to celebrate Cinco de Mayo and support Rotary’s PolioPlus fund.

 

Wendy Marcus announced our May Birthdays: Art Norwalk on May 18. Barbara Harris on May 26, Holly Applegate on May 28, Jackie Gourde on May 28, Luis Lorenco on May 28 and Bob Morse on May 29.

 

Rob Black announced the upcoming in-person meeting next Tuesday, May 11, at Squantum Club. Bryan also announced that we are having another in-person meeting at the Marriott on May 25 with paid reservations. Both meetings will also be available on Zoom.

 

 

Margaret Kane gave 5 Happy Bucks because of the Upcoming Trivia Cinco de Mayo event!

 

Barbara Harris gave 5 Happy Bucks because she is so excited to have Amy Nunn as today’s speaker.

 

Mary Brewster gave 5 Happy Bucks because she is enjoying her visit in Vermont!

 

Bintou Chatterton gave 2 Happy Bucks, one for her daughter for her First Communion, and her son’s birthday.

 

Don Saracen gave a Happy Buck for his grandson, Johnny Blue Eyes who fell off the trampoline and broke his arm. With his new cast, he’s a rock star at school. Everyone wanted to sign it.

 

Wendy Marcus gave a Happy Buck to tell Don that one of their previous homes in South Carolina had an inground trampoline surrounded by wrestling mats for safety!!

 

 

Guest speaker Dr. Amy Nunn, executive director of the Rhode Island Public Health Institute (RIPHI). She highlighted RIPHI’s mission to promote community health and to reduce health disparities in RI and beyond with their innovative public health programs, their research and training for students and health practitioners.

 

In 2020, RIPHI launched Open Door Health at 7 Central Street, Providence, Rhode Island’s first LGBTQ clinic. Why does RI need an LGBTQ clinic? RI has an estimated 38,000 LGBTQ residents (4.5 % of the state’s population). Also RI was one of only 13 states without an LBGTQ dedicated clinic.

 

The goals of Open Door Health are create a welcoming environment, focus on sexual health and primary care services, hire culturally competent staff, give attention to gender identity and sexual orientation, screen for issues that are known to disproportionately impact the LGBTQ population for HIV/STI’s, cancer, immunizations, mental health and substance abuse. Since this center opened just before the Covid shut down, they set up Covid testing and vaccinating at Open Door Health.

 

She also talked about the Food on the Move initiative which provides mobile produce markets, local produce seasonally, SNAP incentives to 5000 customers. Hunger is at an all-time high in RI with 1 in 4 families experiencing hunger.

 

She launched NourishRI which is a statewide advocacy campaign promoting a SNAP incentive program. This program would double the value of SNAP for Rhode Islanders when they use SNAP to purchase fruits and vegetables. This program would be financed with a sugary drink tax. She shared the website for this effort: www.nourishrhodeisland.org.