26 czerwca 2023 r.
Powitanie na lotnisku w Świdniku. 
Lunch
Foto: Krzysztof Brogowski
Jak już informowaliśmy wcześniej, gościmy w naszym Klubie rotarian z zaprzyjaźnionego Rotary Club of Saco Bay Sunset ze stanu Maine, USA. Są to dwie osoby: Carolyn Marcotte – Prezydent Klubu – Senior prof. at University of New England oraz prof. Al Pfeiffer.
Rotary Club of Saco Bay Sunset jest naszym głównym partnerem w re-alizacji projektu Peace Shelter (Schronisko Pokoju), który z powodzeniem zrealizowaliśmy w Brzuchowicach, k. Lwowa w Ukrainie. Jest także inspi-ratorem rozpoczętej współpracy z Rotary Club of Brunswick.
27.06.2023
Przed naszą siedzibą GH Lublinianka
W Kaplicy Zamkowej
Goście, którzy są pierwszy raz w Polsce, zwiedzili Lublin, spotkali się z uczniami naszej Szkoły Muzycznej im. Paula Harrisa dla młodzieży Nie-pełnosprawnej (niezwykle udane i emocjonujące spotkanie), spotkali się z Zarządem naszego Klubu w naszej rejestrowej siedzibie - Grand Ho-tel, odwiedzili Lubelskie Hospicjum Małego Księcia gdzie naocznie zobaczyli efekty naszej współpracy z tą placówką.
W Szkole Muzycznej im. Paula Harrisa
W Hospicjum Małego Księcia
Koleżanki i Koledzy
W imieniu kierujących naszym rotariańskim Peace Shelter (Schroniskiem Pokoju) sióstr Kongregacji św. Anny kieruję szczególnie serdeczne podziękowania dla Jacka Woźniaka za olbrzymią pomoc i współpracę, m.in. za przekazane ośrodkowi detektorów gazu i czadu (dla całego obiektu). Takie same podziękowania dla Piotra Krawczyka, który przekazał pakiety artykułów higienicznych i poszukiwanych przez mieszkańców ośrodka leków pediatrycznych.
Dziękuję też mojej żonie Barbarze za ubranka dla najmłodszych mieszkańców schroniska. Wszystko to zostało zawiezione na Ukrainę przez Mirka Orłowskiego (swoim autem) i Włodka Nepelaka. Mieszkańcy szczęśliwi, siostry zachwycone. Serdeczne dzięki! Brawo chłopaki!!!
28-29.06.2023
W środę i czwartek przebywali w Ukrainie gdzie byli gośćmi naszego Peace Shelter oraz współpracujących z nami Rotarian ze Lwowa.
30.06.2023
W piątek brali udział w naszej uroczystości przekazania służby. Tutaj spotkali się m.in. z PDG, Szefem zespołu D-2231 d/s komitetów międzykrajowych.
W sobotę (1.07.2023) Janusz Milanowski gościł Amerykanów w swo-jej Fundacji Arka w Wojciechowie.
A w niedzielę (2.07.2023) w Warszawie spotkali się z przedstawicie-lami naszego dystryktu D-2231 m.in. z Michałem Skupem – Szefem Dys-tryktalnego Komitetu DEI (różnorodność, równość i niewykluczanie).
Carol i Al w Warszawie
Pragnę serdecznie podziękować Naszym Kolegom: J. Kargolowi, K. Brogowskiemu, M, Orłowskiemu, A. Wasilewskiemu, W. Nepelakowi, A. Czajce za udział i dotychczasową znakomitą współpracę w realizacji pro-gramu pobytu naszych gości.
Mateo
Koleżanki i Koledzy! Delegacja amerykańska odleciała dzisiaj rano do USA via Londyn. Na lotnisku pożegnaliśmy ich w imieniu Klubu we trzech: Jurek Kargol, Mirek Orłowski i ja. Było bardzo miło i emocjonalnie. Poniżej przesyłam list jaki otrzymałem od Carol Marcotte po wyjeździe, “z drogi”. Jest to forma podziękowania za nasza gościnę i rodzaj retrospekcji całego ich pobytu zrobiony oczami gościa. Niezależnie od licznych wątków związanych z moją osobą (bo byłem bezpośrednim organizatorem i u mnie w domu mieszkali) jest to piękny ukłon w stronę naszego Rotary Club jako całości za dobrą rotariańską robotę.
Dziękuję serdecznie wszystkim, którzy przyczynili się do tego międzynarodowego sukcesu.
Pozdrawiam
Mateo
From: Carolyn Marcotte
Sent: Monday, July 3, 2023 3:42 PM
To: Maciek Karczmarczuk
Subject: Thank you!
Dearest Mateo,
I can never, never thank you enough for your caring and splendid experience that I had in Poland and Ukraine. Many emotions have embed-ded in me because of the trip. Foremost, thank you for your open arms and open heart. Please tell Barbara- that we thank her as you opened your flat to Al and I. It was beyond expectations, kindness and your flat is lovely.
The scheduled visits, project experiences, party and relaxing at your summer home in the country were superb. Thank you for your thought-fulness and friendship. You have a beautiful flat and home and we deeply appreciate the experiences at both. Again,please thank Barbara for us.
Little Prince Lublin Hospice for Children was a heartwarming and emotional experience in which I will never forget. The best to Fa-ther Filip and I look forward to reading his book. I wish I had more pictu-res of the experience. BUT on the otherhand, the visit is embedded in my mind and heart. Also the best to ELMAX/Jacek in September and the Grand opening will be amazing! What an idea and a remarkable way to save history too!! The visit to the former Nazi concentration camp Majda-nek....was silencing and good for us to know more about. Such cruelty…!
Dinner at the Grand Hotel was spectacular and a “grand” experience. Everyone was so wonderful!! Thank you for the beautiful and special 2nd entry into our weeks. What a special and unforgettable way to be intro-duced into Poland the Rotary Club of Lublin Centrum!
As I reflect on our visits of each day, I cannot in any number of words describe how surreal it all was and the connections/friends that were made. The visits at the City of Lublin and the Old Town were rich, rich, rich! I loved the steps!! How I loved the visit to the Music of Lublin Music Socie-ty and the Paul Harris Music School for Disabled Children. Those children are so gifted, and I will enjoy sharing their music talents somehow back home in USA. Anna provided a spectacular and passionate lecture about the music, church and tower. We loved seeing the sites from the top of the city. Good luck to the tightwire walker if he ever returns~
Barbara’s dinner, food preparation, kindness and superb beauty was so beyond expectation as well. Her Polish meal and food preparation at the party shows how talented she is and graceful as well. Looking forward to hearing the CD and reading her text and learning from it.
Ukraine, a dream come true. To be able to see the children, families and of course Veronika and Sisters would have nevered happened without your arrangements. I sincerely appreciate and will never forget seeing Ve-ronika at the front of the Peace Shelter waiting for us. Seeing the “recon-struction” and being in the new corridor etc. was divine. Watching the chil-dren receive gifts, play soccer and rides bikes was wonderful. Being able to sit next to Sister Veronika was amazing! Her arrangement for the Ukrainian child singer-Uray was very special. Thank you ever, ever so much. Getting us fast tracked into Ukraine was also unbelievable.
Seeing Borys Bodnar, RC Unity Ukraine and representatives of RC Lviv was splendid. After seeing his name on documents for the grant it was a pleasure to see him face to face and also the warehouse and his part of Rotary work. The City tour of LVIV was spectacular! Oh my goodness all of the treasures there!! HENNADII was a fantastic tour guide and such a pleasant person. The history of the city was a wonder to learn about. The restaurant food was great too.
The Handover of Service ceremony and being with the 2 Lublin Rotary Clubs was more than special! I so very much appreciated being at that ce-remony. Watching the process, the powerpoint content, interactions and the handover itself gave me so much pride in knowing you! I was so honored to be there~~! Excellent job Jerry with the Master of Ceremony work! Mateo, you rock!
I so so enjoyed Janus and his wife…at your dinner. It was great to get to know them! Getting to know Janus and daughters (careers of Pyscho-logy) on the way to Wojciechów was fun! The refugees at the Rotary pro-ject ARK location were so very, very special. Even though there was no “language” spoken between us, there was no language barrier either….we communicated! The special soup (diecious) meal and dessert (yummy!) was such a treat and so thoughtful for the tenants to do. The tour of the house and land was awesome! What a very special project and quite visio-nary. I love it…for Rotary to be able to support those with ARK with psy-chology needs and to allow them to be future/successful citizens will be very special for all. The idea of planting, gardening and being self suppor-tive is critical for their well being. I love the idea of one of the buildings being classrooms. I would love to see my club contribute in a small way.
Your ”21st birthday party”…thank you, thank you and THANK you for inviting us. What a beautiful, elegant yet relaxing social event it was Mateo! You have a special country home as well as a special family; very special. I loved being with Polish people, seeing them have fu and it will always be a special time for me. Thank John for his very talented and be-autiful voice and songs. It was a great party!!
The Warsaw trip and meeting with Michel Skup was excellent and he-althy! Loved the four-hour tour – I actually was able to get my 10,000 steps in that day. As a citizen of Warsaw he is very knowledgeable about history of the city and current happenings. As head of the DEI Committee D-2231 it was very engaging to share thoughts and ideas. He was fantastic as well!
All the work that you are doing for humankind is inspiring. The pro-jects are motivating and provides rich examples of your beliefs and love for service above self. You are so motivating to me! I want to continue to.
Now, let’s talk about Mirek, Jurek and Vlodek – There so many ama-zing and generous people that we meet on the trip. All of them you arran-ged for us to see of course…it is so challenging to share how special and unique each one is. When I think of the time, energy, passion, and love that these three put into accommodating us during trips, events and ventu-res, it is truly hard to describe how special how those times were and how incredibly fortunate we were to have them in our lives for the special days that we were here. The admiration and special thoughts about them will always be with me. As I mentioned, Janus too – to be willing and kind enough to take the day before he and his wife are going to Scotland and be our special tour guide to Ark is so amazing. Thank him so much!!
My dearest, dearest Mateo, how in the world can I thank you? How can I tell you how not only special you are, (YOU ARE MORE THAN SPECIAL) but how much this trip and experience has changed me for the better. My passion and wonder about my Poland heritage is at its height. I want to know and learn more. My inquiry to know more about Rotary is more. The belief that one person can help change the world for the better is front and center. That is who you are Mateo! You are an amazing, gene-rous, fun, thoughtful, intelligent, and very kind person. I am blessed to know you. Thank you every so much for being my dear friend. I love you and who you are Mateo. Until we meet again…!
Love,
Carol
PS hope I spelled names right!
Be well.
Take care,
Carol M. Marcotte, Ph.D.
Senior Teaching Professor, Department of Education
MSE and CAGS Online Programs
Coordinator of Ed Studies Program
141 Decary Hall, University of New England
