Weekly Bulletin - May 21, 2015 Meeting

Posted by Richard Garcia 
on May 26, 2015
 
President Richard Simon receives one of many club awards at this year's District Conference from DG Val Callahan
 
 
Guests
  • Ralph Hammond, Visiting Rotarian
  • Michelle & Tony Gasparo, Visiting Rotarians
  • Carolyn Read, Guest
  • Steve Glines, Visiting Rotarian
 
Announcements
  • Richard Simon spoke about the many opportunities we have for worthy service: the RFK ropes course, the reality fair at the high school, the meal packing event at Solomon Pond Mall; the Power of Change event celebrating women’s empowerment, funding the rainwater harvesting project that is currently being implemented by the WPI Rotaract Club, to name just a few.
  • Richard expressed appreciation for the momentum and enthusiasm of the Club, with special thanks to the Steering Committee that applied for the awards given at this year’s District Conference. Our Club received the most awards of any club in the district: Club of the Year (silver); Club Growth; Vocational Service; International Service; and Youth Service.
  • New member induction: Carolyn Read, sponsored by Bob Johnson, was inducted into membership. Carolyn is a Bolton resident and an Executive Director for Habitat for Humanity. Congratulations, Carolyn!
  • Tony and Michelle Gasparo of the Montachusett Area Club spoke to us about the Bandey-Hefler program, a project to increase fellowship between Rotarians in the US and UK. Our district needs to find 80 places for people to stay, September 29 to October 13, for 3-4 days apiece. The program operates on a 3-year cycle: they come to us one year, we go to them the next, and we skip the third year. Guests face no costs.
  • June 27 is the dedication of the ropes course at RFK Children’s Action Corps Center in Lancaster. We need volunteers to cook and serve food.
  • Club Assembly Discussion: International project proposals for Global Grants:
    • Haiti: The project initially was to support a school for children who can’t pay school fees. It’s morphed to build a water well deep enough to avoid pollutants, a water treatment system that will allow water to be shared with the homes, and improved sanitation (toilet) facilities.
    • Razia’s Ray of Hope: At the Power of Change event, clubs spontaneously raised $10,000 in five minutes. It now looks like Concord has decided not to take leadership of the project. Also, there is no corresponding club in Afghanistan able to work on the project (they’re overwhelmed with other projects), so this one is on hold for at least a year.
    • Bridges to Malawi: The initial mission was for health care professionals to provide health care in central Malawi, the poorest nation on the planet; high school students from Nashoba Regional and other high schools also took part. They discovered that a greater need is malaria prevention. A pilot spraying project took place in 2014. About 4,000 people benefited at a cost of $3 per person. The proposal asks for funds to purchase spraying equipment and insecticide, to hire trainers, and to upgrade the pilot project into a long-term sustainable one. Malaria has come down in the treated areas in the pilot project by 89%.
  • It was pointed out that the Malawi project is the most advanced in terms of viability for a Global Grant. It was also pointed out that one of the results of our visioning meeting was that we wanted to have an international project on 5 continents; this would be a significant step toward reaching that goal.
  • Repair café on May 30: volunteers are needed for food, sign-in, etc.
  • June 3 is the official inauguration ceremony of Nashoba Regional’s Interact club. Club members are invited to attend and enjoy pizza with the Interactors.
  • We earned $452 as a result of selling tickets to the recent wine tasting event at the Holiday Inn Boxborough.
 
Happy/sad fines
  • Bill: happy about a successful Stow Springfest.
  • Jackie: happy that her husband’s birthday is today.
  • Fatima: happy to be counting the days before going to Brazil, where in addition to the RI Convention, she is planning a reunion with friends.
  • Bob: happy that the RYLA conference is coming up, volunteers are needed.
  • Karin: happy that she has no more children in college.
  • Michelle: happy about Jim Fusco’s inauguration as District Governor on June 19.
  • Brian: happy about walking his first dog client.
  • Tony: sad that he has a dead animal in an undiscovered location in his car.
  • Laura: happy that her nephew has graduated from law school; social media campaign for Wings and Wheels is flourishing; we have 146 “likes” for our club’s Facebook page, and 192 for Wings and Wheels.
  • Mary Ann: happy about the new Interact Club at NRHS.
  • Richard: happy about his younger daughter’s coming due date.
  • Ray: happy for the party for his (belated) birthday.
  • Jim: happy about packaging 12,144 meals at the District Conference event with the goal of reducing hunger in New England.