Rotary Club of Nashoba Valley
Regular Club Meeting
July 16, 2020 7:30am
Guest: Diana Nastrova and David Kaiser
Pledge (Bob) and Words (Carol)
Happy/Sad fines: Bob: sad that the Hawaii convention is cancelled, happy to have Diana and David here today; Bill - happy he just finished his Massachusetts re license; Howard happy to have a great 4th; Carol: sad got an email from best friend whose father just passed, happy to look forward to great leadership; Susan-happy - her foundation has been authorized that they can begin fundraising, weather; Dave Kaiser- happy to be our AG this year: Jacky- happy seeing mom for outdoor dinner, had a great family vacation with great weather; Diana - happy to be with us, seeing so many old friends and that our club is exemplary club in our district; Laura - happy she got through Rotary International branding, annual Stow town meeting where she moderated the outdoor and got through it! And happy more social distancing outside with family and friends; Ron - happy July 4th got to see family from NY outside, baseball starting next week; Rich - happy we have a nephew accepted to West Point but couldn't go to send off, celebrated 47th anniversary and got to eat a restaurant (outdoor); Mary - Happy - gourmet cooking club and has been cooking up a storm, working on Global Grant; Mary Ann - happy golfing with grandsons, and that Mary helps her with her work; Chris M - happy about spending time with friends outdoors and at restaurants; Ray - spent time kayaking with friends but forgot about repair cafe webinar in No. Carolina but can watch the recording; Glenn - happy he was a le to get to the Cape before kids go off to college; Chris S - Happy he is at Emmas to be in the meeting, virtual Pan Mass Challenge this weekend; Carolyn - Did a triathlon with friends.
Recognition
Paul Harris + 8 Award - Bob Johnson - TY to Bob for his incredible contribution to our club
RI Citations - not official yet
Past Presidents -thank you for the 4 past presidents that stepped up last year. Thank you so much for all the work that took!
Rotarian of the Year Award - Catherine Hammill
Membership update - Carol will be bringing a new member. We all need to try and encourage friends and family to join us.
Service projects:
- Lancaster IT tech support: Jacky - Working on getting wifi to seniors. Doing mini clinic soon.
- Cards and letters for local nursing homes: Chris M. - things are going well - 4 weeks worth of cards and letters via mail and drop off. Mary puts in cartoons and games. Residents loving it.
- Repair Café update: Ray - Virtual one June 20 that went well but only served 11 people who need to have their own tools and confidence to fix things. Considering volunteer repair cafe but might be losing the person interaction. Also webinar to teach skills. In progress.
- Service opportunities and resources for Covid-19: Jacky - needs updating but resource
- Backpack project: Catherine. Orders will be ready July from both towns.
- Bolton update: Mary Ann - $14,000 in individual grants to several families who needed it. Concert at senior center in Bolton - did it on 4 sides of the building because the residents weren’t allowed out of the building.
- Polio - We need to get to $50 million, we are at $40 million. As of July 6, they think they have done it!
Global and District Grant update (Mary, Ray and Jacky) - in the middle of writing grant for Columbia to go into schools and help children with literacy and after school programs.
District grant - submitted grant for Habitat build day. Jacky has all the templates for presenting to other clubs.
Upcoming events and meetings:
- July 20th, Central MA Veterans Golf Tournament at Sterling Country Club, volunteers needed
- July 30th, Club Assembly
- November 8, Devens Dog Festival (Mary)
- Possible Christmas service activity: New England Home and Center for Veterans
- February 6, 2021, Rise Against Hunger
- June 2021: RYLA
8:00 – 8:30 a.m.
Speaker: District Governor Diana Nastrova - Discussing how this challenging time has opened opportunities for Rotarians. We have made the changes need to help the people around us. Hopefully this will also help increase membership and growing our service opportunities. We can help shape the future. Encouraging young people in high school and college to be a part of Rotaract and Interact will help build and shape Rotary’s future. We should be their mentors and show them the Rotary values. We will also learn from them. They have fantastic ideas on many platforms.
Youth of Action Making a Difference - series of online and hopefully in person sessions to learn.
We need new members - to help achieve more, making sure they are the right people and once members, we need to make sure we treat them well and encourage them.
We need to get the word out about all the great things that Rotary does near and far - it will inspire people!
Challenging year - we all will be learning to shift here and abroad.
Council on Legislation - status of Rotaract has been raised to be equal members, able to hold office, apply for grants, etc. Also number of meetings per month requirement changed, set dues, etc.
If schools are on line in the fall, how are we going to reach out to youth and encouraging. Kids are getting more comfortable with online. It proves to be easier to work with youth this way but service projects will be more challenging. Working on ideas for that.