Weekly Bulletin - January 30, 2014 Meeting
Corinne Walker, President of the Lancaster Garden Club.
The Lancaster Garden Club was founded in November 2008 and began as a small group of friends with a common interest in gardening. Membership has grown from 20 in 2008 to 80 in 2013; new members are welcome. The Lancaster Garden Club’s mission “is to promote the interest in and development of all aspects of gardening, including horticulture, conservation, and education, and to engage in related activities and civic projects in the town of Lancaster, MA.” Monthly meetings are on the third Sunday of the month at 7 p.m. at the First Church in Lancaster. Speakers give talks or present workshops at the meetings.
The Lancaster Garden Club raises awareness about local issues and resources. They also beautify Lancaster by (1) cleaning up and planting flowers at traffic intersections that have become eye sores and (2) planting gardens at places such as the Lancaster Community Garden and Thayer Memorial Library. They participate in community events such as the Lancaster Historical Society’s “Strollin and Rollin’” event, the River Festival, and the Thayer Memorial Library’s 150th birthday celebration in September 2012. Members also have fun by going on garden tours, going to flower shows, and taking field trips to places like the Fitchburg Art Museum and the Southeast Mass. Nursery and Winery.
To raise funds, the Lancaster Garden Club has two major fundraisers each year: the Spring Plant Sale and the Fall Bulb Sale. For more information go to: http://lancastergardenclub.net/
Next meeting on February 6 at Colonial Candies in Bolton, 7:15 a.m., Baby shower for Giuliana Eva Ouellette, Ashley’s baby. Ashley is registered at Target and Babies R Us.
Guests:
- Debb Colony, Board member of Domestic Violence Services Network
- Corinne Walker, President of the Lancaster Garden Club
Check Presentation: A check for the proceeds ($1,200) from our October 24 event held to benefit Domestic Violence Services Network’s Lawyer for a Day program was presented to Debb Colony who is a Board member of DVSN and a fellow Rotarian.
Club Announcements:
- Local projects:
o Stop Hunger Now meal packaging event on January 25 was a great success!
§ 200 people attended – tons of families and teens
§ 7+ Rotary clubs were represented: Clinton, Concord, Dracut, Fitchburg East, Framingham, Littleton, Nashoba Valley
§ People came from all over including Rhode Island!
§ Finished packaging 10,000 meals in less than 2 hours
§ Sold 24 T-shirts, 3 long-sleeved T-shirts, 2 hoodies: all proceeds benefit Stop Hunger Now
§ Raised an additional $121 in donations after the event
o Reality Fair 2014 is on Friday, March 14 at Nashoba Regional High School. Please let Laura know if you are interested in supporting this event! Also please contact Laura if you would like to be part of the planning committee. (Catherine and Jim have already volunteered.) We will be kicking off planning meetings very shortly.
o An Ethics in Business networking event is being planned for April 10 (tentative date). RichardS, Karin, and Nanci are coordinating this event. More information will be forthcoming.
o Amy’s Angels (a Lancaster organization) project is in the planning stage. Karin, Mary, and Nanci are working on this project.
o RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Awards): The Board approved funding two students. Applications will be available soon. Bob said that he is looking for students and adult volunteers (Rotarians and non-Rotarians) to help during June 27-29 weekend. Children of Rotarians are allowed to participate! More information is forthcoming.
o Spirit of Hudson: The first planning meeting was held last week with a focus on how to involve more members across the two clubs. Nanci Bishop will follow up with members of our club for our support.
- International projects:
o Chris reported that funding for two new projects was sent to Dr. Compere’s Rotary Club in the Dominican Republic: $500 for a Public Health program and $500 for a Teen Pregnancy Prevention program.
o Sister Club: The Rotary Club of Aurangabad West (India) is interested in having our club be a sister club. Natascha may be interested in serving as a liaison to this club.
- Dues news:
o H2 dues are due ($60) – you should have received an invoice. Please send your dues payment to Jim if you haven’t already!
o To cover RI and district dues, we’ll be increasing dues to $150/year ($75 semi-annually) starting July 1, 2014.
- February 3, 6 p.m. at Emma’s Café in Stow (Shaw’s Plaza) Board meeting. Everyone is always welcome to attend!
- February 6 meeting: Instead of a speaker, we will have a baby shower for Giuliana Eva Ouellette, Ashley’s baby. Ashley is registered at Target and Babies R Us.
- February 27 meeting: Special joint meeting with the Acton-Boxborough club
o Meat and Greet!
o 5:45-7 at the Holiday Inn Boxborough
o Meeting of the week PLUS consumer education on meat cutting!
o $10 meeting fee includes hearty appetizers
o Cash bar available
o Free beef raffle!
- Foundation Minute: Richard Simon
o Arch C. Klumph was a member of the Rotary Club of Cleveland, OH, and served as the Rotary International president in the 1913-1914 Rotary Year. In 1917 he began the Rotary Foundation “for the purpose of doing good in the world in charitable, educational, and other avenues of community service.”
- 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!)
- Rotary Club of Greater Salem, NH. His club is holding its 4th annual Polar Plunge on February 1, 10:45 AM, at the Cape Ann Motor Inn in Gloucester to raise funds for Polio Plus. Dana will be taking the Polar Plunge! Please contact Dana or Karin if you would like to sponsor him.
- Rotary Club of East Fitchburg: Asking us for help with Superbowl brunch on February 2 from 8:30-12. Contact President Mark (markminnucci@yahoo.com) if you’d like to help that day or attend. More information is on Facebook. We donated a “Taste of Nashoba Valley” basket for their raffle.
- Dick Manelis is leading a trip to Brazil this year as part of the Hands-On Service club. He is also looking at donations and participants for a trip to Puerto Rico next year. Contact Dick if interested.
- March 28: Save the date! The DISTRICT PROJECT EXPO & PR Awards dinner will be on Friday, March 28 at the Holiday Inn Boxborough. Social time and the expo are from 5-6:30. Dinner, program, and awards are from 6:30-9. Our club won the Make Your Mark award last year, and we’ll go for it again this year!
- First ever Zone 24-32 Avenues of Service - Zone Photo Contest
- The most important rule of the contest is to “have fun.”
o The photographer must be a member of a Rotary, Rotaract, or Interact club in Zone 24 or Zone 32 (our club is in Zone 24-32).
o Photos submitted must be in JPEG file format with a maximum size of 3 MB and be submitted on or before March 31, 2014.
o Each photographer may submit up to 3 photos that were taken between July 1, 2013 and March 31, 2014.
o Each photo should represent one of the 5 Avenues of Service that the photo best illustrates: community service, international service, youth service, club service, and vocational service.
o To enter the contest and upload a photo, click HERE.
o For contest rules and small print, click HERE, and for the judging criteria, click HERE.
o Rotary Zone 24-32 website - www.RotaryZones24-32.org
Non-Rotary/public announcements:
- Stow Community Blood Drive: Saturday, February 1 from 8 AM – 1 PM at the Church of St. Isidore on Route 117. Walk-ins welcome!
- Next Bolton Repair Café: February 1, from 9 – 1 pm in Davis Hall (hall attached to the First Parish of Bolton Church on Main Street, Bolton – next to the Houghton Building). Contact ray.pfau@oracle.com if you want to help.
- Nashoba Valley Winery Benefit Event for the Healing Garden: Thursday, February 13, 6:30-9:30 PM.
- Bolton 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 Deb Kotlarz.
Birthdays:
- Fatima Serra: January 7
- Matt Tucker: January 11
- Bob Johnson: January 18
Happy/Sad Fines:
- Jim was happy to be here.
- Bob was looking forward to the Repair Café.
- Ashley was happy to be here.
- Matt was happy to be here and over the flu.
- Debb was sad that her 94 year old aunt died but also wanted to celebrate her life because she was an amazing woman.
- Mary Ann was sad that Mary O’Malley died.
- Ron was happy about the great turn out for the Stop Hunger Now event.
- Barbara was sad that she had caught a cold.
- Jacky was happy about the success of Stop Hunger Now.
- Chris was happy that at least 200 people were at the Stop Hunger Now event.
- RichardS was happy that he was presiding over his first Rotary meeting and hoped he would not screw up!
- Corinne was happy to be here and awake so early in the day.