Club Assembly led by President Laura Spear


 

Next meeting on May 1 at Colonial Candies, 7:15 a.m., Dolly Darozio, Dog Trainer, will share tips for training your “best friend.”

 

Membership question for May 1: How many Rotary clubs are there in district 7910?  Hint: go to http://rotary7910.org/

 

Guests:

  • Julia Garcia

 

Club Announcements:

 

  • Local projects:

o    Wine tasting fundraiser with the Acton-Boxborough Club is tonight immediately following our meeting.  Natascha sold the most tickets!

o    Stow Springfest is scheduled for May 17 rain or shine. This event is good for recruitment and service.  We will have a table promoting our club and a second table promoting Wings & Wheels.  We will also help with logistics for Springfest, especially directing cars to the parking lot at Bose.  More volunteers are needed.  Contact Chris to volunteer.

o    Wings & Wheels kicks off on the first Thursday in June!  Let Laura know if you want to help.  Matt is helping line up sponsors.  Laura will put information about being a W&W sponsor on our club website so we can help get more sponsors.

o    RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Awards) Conference: The students are registered for the conference on June 27-29.  Volunteers are needed to help at the RYLA Conference.  Contact Bob to volunteer!

o    Women in Rotary 25th anniversary bash planning (summer event): contact Natascha for more information.

o    Spirit of Hudson: Nanci reported that $5,000 has already been raised!  There will be two beer tents this year (instead of one) and approximately 20 restaurants.  Advertising on Facebook has already begun.  Contact Nanci to help plan, volunteer or find sponsors for this event. 

o    Health Fair this fall!  Contact Jim for more info.

  • Membership Minute: Mary Garcia told us that Natascha brought her and her husband, Rich, to a Rotary meeting.  She said, “We felt at home the minute we walked through the door.”  She decided to join Rotary because of the good things Rotarians do.  We already knew that Mary is a teacher.  What we did not know is that she took some breaks from teaching and had other careers too!  Mary was a tour guide in Boston for 14 years.  She enjoyed that job and met tourists from all over the world.  She also went to school for public speaking and trained to be an on the air radio person.  Mary was also an educational consultant for a company whose clients were Fortune 500 companies.  She spoke about issues such as work/life balance.  Plus, Mary had her own company, Leap Forward, and did personal consulting to help people meet their goals.

  • Membership Corner: This week’s question was, “What are the 6 Rotary International areas of focus?”  Together we answered the question.

o    Peace and conflict resolution and prevention

o    Disease prevention and treatment

o    Water and sanitation improvement

o    Maternal and child health improvement

o    Basic education and literacy

o    Economic and community development

  • Member Announcement: Next year Laura will be the District Public Image Chair!

  • Activities galore!

o    Wings & Wheels planning is underway.  Contact Laura if you want to help.

o    Springfest: May 17 – Contact Chris if you want to help.

o    Women in Rotary 25th anniversary bash planning (summer event): contact Natascha for more information.

o    RYLA Conference support: June 27-29.  Contact Bob for more information.

o    Spirit of Hudson: August 16.  Contact Nanci for more information.

o    Health Fair this fall!  Contact Jim for more information.

  • Dues news:

o    To cover RI and district dues, we’ll be increasing dues to $150/year ($75 semi-annually) starting July 1, 2014.

  • Laura has posted the Best Club award criteria and the updated 2013-2014 Calendar of Activities on our website www.nashobarotary.org.

 

Other Club and General Rotary Announcements (Capitalized events earn points for our club!)

  • April 17: DISTRICT TRAINING – Five members of our club attended the training.  RichardS explained that the training was about the way things are done in Rotary.  There were break out sessions after dinner on a variety of topics including: youth services, public image, and Rotary Foundation.  Laura gave the presentation at the public image break out session!

  • May 28: Red Sox Rotary Night – contact Lindsay Dean or Jim McFarlin if you are interested in going.
  • May 16-18: DISTRICT CONFERENCE (Holiday Inn Boxborough)

o    Register online and get more info here: http://rotaryma.org/rotary-district-7910-conference/index.html

o    Includes a Stop Hunger Now event on Saturday morning (same time as Springfest)

o    Laura will M.C. the lunch on Saturday, May 17!

o    Pay only for food: Paul Harris dinner on Friday, awards dinner on Saturday

o    Bring canned foods, donations for local food pantries

o    Rotary Expo featuring the 5 avenues of service on Saturday afternoon

o    Hospitality suite on Friday and Saturday nights (dessert and beverages)

 

Non-Rotary/public announcements:

  • The Stow Boy Scouts’ electronic recycling event is on April 26 at Bose Corp., 688 Great Road, Stow from 9-2 p.m.

  • Communities for Restorative Justice is sponsoring a movie, “Finding Courage,” on April 29 from 7 to 8:30 p.m.  Go to https://c4rjfilmaction.eventbrite.com to register.

  • Boy Scouts' paper shredding event on May 10 at the Hale School in Stow.  The cost is $0.25/pound of paper.

  • Trinity Church Congregational Yard Sale (Wattaquadock Hill Road in Bolton) on May 17 from 9 to 3 p.m.

  • Bolton 5K Road Race planned for June 14: Last year was an inaugural race to benefit the White family, victims of the Boston Marathon bombing.  Plans are underway for the second race.  Anyone interested in helping to plan, sponsor, volunteer, or participate should contact Mary Ann and Deb Kotlarz.  Jacky told us that they are applying for a Community Chest grant to support this event.  Proceeds will go to the RFK Center in Lancaster.

 

Birthdays:

  • April 24: Jim Stone

 

Happy/Sad Fines:

  • Bob had a good time helping at the Boston Marathon.
  • RichardS also helped at the marathon.  He is also happy that he saw his grandson recently.
  • Fatima was happy to be here.  Her Mom is having surgery soon.  Fatima will be going to the Bahamas for her daughter’s wedding!
  • Mary was happy that her oral surgery was successful.  Here nephew has been helping her sister, who has been very ill.  He is a narcotics officer and he was able to get her off of the narcotics that were prescribed for her and onto Tylenol.  She is so much better now!
  • Cyndi dropped her daughter off at the airport today after a good visit with her.
  • Mary Ann was happy!
  • Nanci was happy that she went to a Rotary meeting in Westford.
  • Barbara was happy that the daffodils are in bloom.
  • Chris was happy that his son turned 20 today.
  • Laura was happy about her son’s birthday.  She was also happy that she had a good trip to Ohio for Easter.  She saw old friends and her yearbook advisor.