Andrew Bluestein, Owner of Emma’s Café 

 

 

Andrew Bluestein opened Emma’s Café in November 2013.  Emma is Andrew’s 4 year old daughter.  He also has a two year old son, Sam.  Providing good service and good, real food are the keys to Andrew’s success.  He makes a point of purchasing food from local farmers and has no microwave in the restaurant.  Andrew got his start in the restaurant business when he was 13 working at his uncle’s deli in New York.  He got an opportunity to work in France and has worked with great chefs, like Emeril Lagasse.  Emma’s Café’s menu has dishes that he cooks for his family and breakfast is served all day.  The most popular menu item is the adult grilled cheese with tomato and avocado.  Business is increasing and Andrew is already thinking about expanding!

         

Next meeting on March 27 Nancy’s Air Field Café, 5:45 p.m., Dr. Megan Ford tells us about Hearsmart and the latest in audiology.

 

Guests:

  • Andrew Bluestein, speaker
  • Kathy Cataldo

 

Club Announcements:

 

  • Local projects:

o    Reality Fair 2014 was a success!  It was impressive how seriously the students took the event.  The ledger forms showing students’ progress through the fair will be sent home to their parents.

o    The Acton-Boxborough Club will have its first Reality Fair on April 4 at the Acton Boxborough High School at 8:15 a.m.  Contact Betsy Purcell (betsypurcell@gmail.com) to volunteer!

o    Wine tasting fundraiser with the Acton-Boxborough Club is set for April 24 at the Holiday Inn Boxborough.  Head over to the wine tasting right after our Rotary meeting!

o    Stow Springfest is scheduled for May 17 rain or shine. This event is good for recruitment and service.

o    RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Awards) Conference: The Board approved funding RYLA Conference attendance in June for two students.  Applications were due on March 1.

o    Spirit of Hudson: Contact Nanci to help plan or volunteer at the event.

  • International projects:

o    Natascha suggested we could make a donation to a woman in the Dominican Republic who finishes a project we have already agreed to fund.  Perhaps something related to attending college like a laptop would be appropriate.  (The two new projects we are supporting at Dr. Compere’s Rotary Club in the Dominican Republic are: $500 for a Public Health program and $500 for a Teen Pregnancy Prevention program.)  Contact Natascha to discuss ideas!

 

  • Foundation Minute: RichardS told us about the EREY (Every Rotarian Every Year) goal of getting every Rotarian to donate to the Rotary Foundation’s Annual Fund every year.  Next, he told us about a jazz mentoring district grant project in Michigan.  Kids are able to get musical instruments and mentoring.  This is an example of how contributions to the Annual Fund are used in communities.

          Laura was recognized as a Paul Harris Fellow!  Congratulations, Laura!

  • Membership Corner:

    Do you know who our current Officers are at the Rotary Club of NV? Do you know how you would find out?

    (Here’s a hint- www.nashobarotary.org)

    Who’s our President elect?

  • Member Spotlight: Matt joined Rotary about a year ago.  He lives in Hudson, which has a Rotary Club, but he decided to join the Nashoba Valley Rotary Club because of its more favorable meeting schedule.  When his kids were younger, he served the community by coaching his children’s sports teams.  Rotary provides ways to give back to the community.

  • Sign ups galore!

o    Rotarian at Work T-shirt

o    Wings & Wheels planning support (kicked off this week)

o    Opening Day at the COA in Stow: April 4 at 1:30 p.m.

o    Stow Lions Club Breakfast with the Easter Bunny: April 13

o    Springfest: May 17

o    Women in Rotary 25th anniversary bash planning (summer event)

o    RYLA support: June 27-29

o    Spirit of Hudson planning: August 16

  • 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.

  • 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!)

  • We donated $100 towards a Stop Hunger Now event at district conference in May.
  • March 28: Save the date! The DISTRICT PROJECT EXPO & PR Awards dinner will be on Friday, March 28 at the Holiday Inn Boxborough. 

o    5-6:30: Social time and the expo

o    6:30-9: Dinner, program, and awards

o    We’re shooting for the Make Your Mark award again!

 

  • First ever Zone 24-32 Avenues of Service - Zone Photo Contest – photos are due March 31, 2014

          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

  • Electronic recycling event Marlborough
  • DISTRICT CONFERENCE: May 16-18, includes a Stop Hunger Now event.  Register before April 1 for Best Club points!

 

Non-Rotary/public announcements:

  • 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 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.
  • Bloodmobile in Stow

 

Birthdays:

  • March 2: Deb Kotlarz
  • March 4: Don McPherson
  • March 5: Ashley Oulette
  • March 11: Lisa Trainor
  • March 17: Rob Cirillo

 

Happy/Sad Fines:

  • Bob was happy to be working on an electronic circuit.
  • RichG was sad that he broke his leg playing ultimate Frisbee after the Reality Fair.
  • Carol was sad that she had to go to court last week.
  • Matt was happy that his daughter is home but sad she is sick.
  • Don was happy that spring is here.  He was also happy that he started to ride his bike.
  • Barbara was happy to be here.
  • Ron was sorry to have missed the Reality Fair.  He had fun playing golf in Boca Raton where he met an 85 year old former District Governor.
  • Mary Ann was happy that she went to the Reality Fair.
  • Kathy was happy to be here.
  • RichardS was happy that a new 26-foot truck was purchased for our mobile dental clinic project in the Dominican Republic.
  • Chris was happy that he went on vacation for a week and rode 400 miles.
  • Jim was happy that he went to the Reality Fair.  He also went to the symphony on Saturday night!
  • Laura was happy that Ashley’s daughter was born.  She was sad that Tom Sturiale is ill.  Send your get well cards to Tom at 2 Royal Meadow Lane, Framingham, MA 01701.  Laura was happy that the Reality Fair was great.  The pictures that RichardS took and are posted on our Facebook site have 1,084 views so far!  Laura was also happy that she and Chris are going to see Book of Mormon in Hartford.