Alison McKenna, executive director, Yankee Golden Retriever Rescue, was the speaker.
 
 
 
 
 
Guests: Kathy Miles, Gino Frattiloni, Alison McKenna
 
Club announcements
 
  • Snow: If Nashoba district is closed, we have no meeting; or if school is delayed and it’s a morning meeting, we have no meeting; but if school is delayed and it’s an evening meeting, we will meet.
  • Donations: Stow community chest $50, athletic boosters $50, Healing Garden $100.
  • New projects: The board voted to continue the health insurance information project, this time specifically for businesses; and to hold Rotary Day and community awards.
  • The rainwater harvesting project in Guatemala is fully funded; special thanks are owed to the Westboro club, which put us over the top. See also Rotary magazine, which  focuses on clean water.
  • Our annual Holiday party is 12/18 at Nanci Bishop’s house. Since this is a Thursday, there will be no morning meeting that day.
  • Agents of Change: With the Concord club, we will be honoring women’s roles in Rotary at the Fenn School in Concord. Razias Ray of Hope (a school for girls in Afghanistan), and the White Ribbon campaign (to educate boys in preventing violence toward women) will be honored.
  • Social media forum: will be held January 14, at the Double Tree Hotel in Leominster.
  • The district holiday party, primarily for club presidents, future presidents, etc., will be held December 7 at Tower Hill Botanic Garden.
  • The New Generations forum will be December 13; anyone interested in starting an Interact club is welcome.
  • The next repair café will be held January 24.
  • Stop Hunger Now: We’re inviting the clubs in Littleton, Acton, and Hudson to join us February 7 at Nashoba Regional to package 10,000 meals
 
Happy/sad fines
 
  • Ron Bott: happy for a good Thanksgiving, at which he fried a turkey.
  • Rich Garcia: managed to spill coffee on the notebook where he kept meeting minutes, rendering the November 20 meeting illegible.
  • Chris Spear: sad that after 19 years, he’s been laid off, but happy that he’s got a good layoff package that enables him to look for something new.
  • Laura Spear: happy that her daughter was home for Thanksgiving, and glad that she’s gone back.
  • Ray Pfau: happy about his trip to Argentina and a nice time in in Connecticut for Thanksgiving; sad about a total change in a project at work
  • Gino Frattilone: Happy to be here, and to have received his third Christmas party invitation.
  • Kathy Miles: happy to have been working at Emerson Hospital and to have brought joy to patients for Thanksgiving.
  • Richard Simon: happy to find out that his youngest daughter is pregnant; sad about a serious oil leak in his car.
  • Bob Johnson: sad that breast cancer has claimed his daughter-in-law.
  • Jim Stone: happy for advice from Laura, allowing him to make a recurring donation to the Rotary Foundation.
  • Lisa Trainor: happy that she was part of distributing 600 meals in Hudson; sad that her son just got his driver’s license.
  • Nanci Bishop: happy to be back.
  • Maryann Fitzgerald: happy for Thsnksgiving; happy to spend time with her mother, who is  99 years old.
  • Carol Twoomey: happy to have been present at WPI’s Rotaract visioning session, with no preconceptions as to what their vision should be; and happy that Nashoba will present two talks at the Rotary International conference in Sao Paulo.
  • Alison McKenna: happy that six dogs with medical needs were accepted by the shelter.
 
Speaker: Alison McKenna, executive director, Yankee Golden Retriever Rescue
 
There are several rescue shelters for dogs. Those in Andover and Hopkinton are for all breeds, this one only handles golden retrievers. These shelters aren’t affiliated. This organization has its own facility in Hudson, which is open by appointment only. They have a waiting list for adoptions; potential adopters are evaluated first on paper, then a home visit is scheduled; finally they’re placed on a waiting list to adopt. If it turns out that they’re not able to afford to keep the dog, they must surrender ownership. The shelter currently has 16 dogs, and took in 6 in the past week: needs include blindness and epilepsy; another reason for giving up a dog is owners’ allergies. The organization serves all New England; they perform outreach to dog pounds and dog officers, to make room for other breeds. They stand behind the dogs they put up for adoption. They maintain a senior-to-senior program, whereby seniors can have companionship without actually owning the dog; a business service, to teach other organization how to put themselves on a solid  business footing; and therapy dogs.
 
Next meeting:
 
  • When: Thursday, December 11, 5:45 to 7:00
  • Where: Nancy’s Airfield Café (Stow Airport), 302 Boxbororough Road, Stow
  • Program: John Curran, a member of the Portland, Maine, Rotary club, will speak about the 3-H Project: Hearing, Hands & H2O in the Dominican Republic.