Weekly Bulletin - October 1, 2015 Meeting

Posted by Richard Garcia 
on Oct 08, 2015
 
A Great Turnout at our Club Assembly!
 
 
Guests
  • Leigh Carpenter, Framingham Rotary
 
Announcements
  • The Repair Café in Stow had some 35 guests; another takes place in Bolton on October 17. The Westborough library is now looking to host yet another repair café.
  • Purple Pinkie Day: We’re scheduled to see the principals at the Luther Burbank middle school and the Mary Rowlandson elementary school in Lancaster tomorrow morning. (No reports from Bolton or Stow.)
  • The Concord club is sponsoring “The American Dream is Still Alive: From an Indian Heart” by Krish Dhanam, tomorrow evening at 7 pm at Concord-Carlisle High School.
  • A masquerade ball sponsored by the Acton-Boxborough club will be held on November 7.
  • Stow Open Table will start serving free monthly community suppers beginning in November at the First Parish Church in Stow. Our club donated $1,000 toward the kitchen equipment. We will also be involved as volunteers serving the meals on an ongoing basis. The venue may be a good location for our Veterans Day breakfast.
  • The November 12 meeting will be a joint meeting with the WPI Rotaract Club, at WPI.
  • Habitat for Humanity is building two homes in Ayer and is hosting “A Toast to Hope” on October 15th from 5:30-8:00 pm at the Devens Common Center, Devens MA to raise funds.
  • Rotary Day at the UN is sold out - even the waiting list.
  • We need a speaker for the Veterans Day breakfast.
 
Happy/sad fines
  • Karin: happy for Laura, who gave a great presentation at Zone training in Providence.
  • Ron: happy that he lost 12 pounds on his diet.
  • Nanci: is delighted by our club’s $3K grant for the Healing Garden, they now have 13 hours of material for their new video.
  • Carolyn: happy that her kids are back in school, and happy for Habitat Day
  • Don: happy for his association with Leigh, and sad that she’s not a member yet.
  • Leigh: happy about the Halloween decorations at Colonial Candies
  • Carol: happy that our club is such a great supporter of district events.
  • Laura: happy that her meetings in San Francisco were canceled; and happy that she’s hosting a Bandey-Heffler couple.
  • Ray: happy that the repair café idea is spreading; and that his retirement negotiations are going well.
  • Lisa: happy to be back at a meeting.
  • Natascha: happy that Nigeria has come off the polio list.
 
Program
 
Today was our Club Assembly. Our focus for this meeting was on the club’s various committees—what they do and how members can get involved.
 
Membership Committee (Nanci): The purpose of this committee is to recruit new members, to engage everyone’s interests, and to keep the club growing.  Right now, we need someone to attend the District Membership Forum on October 14.
 
International Projects Committee (Richard): Our club has a significant footprint in this area, having sponsored three international projects in the three years of the club’s existence. We’ve sponsored a mobile dental clinic in the Dominican Republic, which is almost complete; a rainwater harvesting project with WPI Rotaract in Guatemala that is complete; and we’re beginning a malaria eradication project in Malawi that will save some 850 lives a year, in cooperation with the local club in Lilongwe and Dr. Brian Lisse.
 
Youth Services (Mary Ann): Mary Ann is the Interact Club advisor. The NRHS Interact club has a couple of projects in the works already: to clean up the Assabet River, to decorate a senior citizen center, and to collect money for Purple Pinkie Day. The committee, which has consisted of Mary Ann, is now working with Yvonne to get the RFK center involved.
 
PR Committee (Laura): The duties have been transferred to Brian as point person, although Laura will continue to maintain the Facebook page. The committee’s goal, other than the publicizing of Rotary in the Nashoba Valley area, is to be example for other clubs in branding.
 
Foundation (Carol): Donations to the Rotary Foundation are held and earn interest for three years, and made then made available for global and district grants. There are no grants given to Clubs that do not give $125/person/year.
 
RYLA (Bob): Rotary Youth Leadership Awards is open to high school sophomores. Our club has voted to sponsor two scholarships. Applications are accepted in February. Our goal is to pick students who will gain the most from the program, not those who have already demonstrated their leadership skills. The program is usually held at Worcester State University, but this year, the site isn’t available due to construction; anyone who knows of other possible sites should let Bob know.
 
Speakers (Karin):  Arranging for speakers represents an opportunity to meet people in the community. Karin encouraged others to get involved.
 
Scholarship Committee (Mary): Last year, we began our scholarship program. There were three applicants. The original vision was for someone who truly needed the award and who was interested in a health-related field. Our awardee met the vision’s requirements and we gave $1,000 to her.
 
Meeting notes (Rich): Who knew that this was a committee? But he’s grateful to be able to take the notes of the meetings. Eventually he will need some backup. If during the happy/sad fines someone is truly happy or sad and doesn’t find his/her name in the meeting report, apologies are in order; it’s because the meeting is running too fast to keep up.
 
The meeting concluded with time for people to speak with committee chairmen and to volunteer their services.