Pledge - Prayer - 4Way Test: President Gary McCauley
Happy Bucks: BM: the nice weekend, in St. Petersburg FL visiting old friends from Old Saybrook; TW: glad to join the meeting today and Students of the Month; JA: georgeous day, great weekend; AS: beautiful day, Easter weekend, did Meals on Wheels today; CN: glad to see all on ZOOM, seeing the best college basketball game ever (Gonzaga vs. UCLA); JG: great weather, Easter weekend; PD: great weather - spring is here; PD: great time visiting daughter and son-in-law in RI; JP: weather, Students of the Month, high school theater group doing shows which can be live streamed; JW:spending time with children and their families; MikeD: attending the meeting from S.Carolina; PS: the Gonzaga-UCLA game; CR: spectacular weather, played golf yesterday; MD: spectacular weather and playing golf tomorrow; GM: seeing his son and his family especially the grandkids!
President Gary's Report:
Going to Groton Tuesday morning to pick up the last of the disposable face masks from the Million Mask Challenge. There may be some available to give away at the Summer Concert Series which we are sponsoring
District Assembly happens every spring. The online version takes place this Saturday 9am to 12pm. There will be another session April 22 and 23rd. Let Gary know if you'd like to attend. Great way to learn about Rotary
Our ZOOM account has been renewed for another year which takes us to next May. We received a 20% discount
The Chamber of Commerce is offering a new gift card program called Saybucks e-gift card. It launches May 1.
We have 2 Facebook pages. We'll sort that out soon to have 1 page.We are posting events on FB.
Summer Concert Series: John Giannini will be attending a meeting tonight. We are the exclusive sponsor for the series of 12 concerts on the green (does not include the movies). The first concert is June 16 and we will have a presence so we are gathering ideas of what we can do to enhance the experience. For starters, we'll have bottled water to give out, maybe popsicles, maybe an ice cream truck. The committee will propose a budget.
Golf Tournament: Charlie Renshaw and Brent will be meeting next week with John Jackson of Fox Hopyard to find out what we can and cannot do. The tournament is scheduled for Aug. 19.
Shredding Day: Most of the preparations have been made. John Aforismo has led the way from making arrangements with the police for traffic control, to getting posters printed up and laying out the shredding footprint. A poster was put up at the Transfer Station.
That's Pat Settembrino behind the mask. We will be giving out Rotary brochures, letter openers, coupons to Ben&Jerry's. So far we have 17 people signed up to help (not counting Interact Kids) - the more the merrier! Come early for a Duncan Donuts coffee donated by DD. The truck arrives about 8:30. Great opportunity to get out and show the community we are an active bunch!
Jan Peruccio announced our Students of the Month and sent their photos for web posting.Unfortunately, due to the pandemic, we have not been able to see them live at a meeting but virtual visits may be possible. The scholarship committee is starting to swing into action. Applications will go out and interviews will be scheduled.
Pat Settembrino talked about the Transfer Station Project, aka the Commodities Exchange structure. Pat Devito has submitted a grant application to the Guilford Bank Community Foundation. The maximum amount we can apply for is $3,000 and any award will be based on multiple factors. Pat feels our application has a good chance. $3,000 is roughly 40% of the cost.
Architectural rendering of proposed structure
Gary is looking for ideas for community action projects that the club can do locally. Our club can be a potential resource for hands-on help. Meals on Wheels is one example of club members rolling up their sleeves and helping out. We are delivering meals to the elderly 2 times a week.
Outreach: Joan Michaud heads this important committee. Among others, we have given $1000 for food gift cards, $1500 to OS Social Services, $1500 to the Cancer Foundation, $2000 to SARAH, $1500 to Parks & Rec and more.
Alan Schwartz has ordered the Rotary logo shirts and hats and they should be in next week.
At next weeks meeting, our own Charlie Norz will speak on the recent grounding of the giant cargo ship Ever Given in the Suez Canal. Charlie had a long career in the commercial maritime industry and taught at Mass Maritime so we are looking forward to his expert insights on what happened and why.
md
