Spoke 5/19/2016

Posted by V. Bruce Pacht 
 
Received 5/20/2016 at 10:16 AM! Atta boy Bruce!!!
 
19-05-16:  Club Assembly
 
Rotarians were expected to take seats at the table where their committee label was displayed.
 
MCTO circa 12:15 PM by Pres. Don.
We sang “R-O-T-A-R-Y” and “America.”
 
INVOCATION by Garlan Hoskin.
 
Secretary’s report by Will Koppenheffer
  • Visiting Rotarians:  None.
  •  
 
DRAW: 
Will’s question was about the fellow who inherited 1100 acres of George Washington’s land.  He built a home there in 1802 to be a monument to Old George, filled with GW’s antiques.  Unfortunately, his daughter married Robert E. Lee.  After the Civil War, the USA took the home for non-payment of taxes.  The family sued, and eventually got their money.  What is the national park within which the home sits?  Rich Wallace got the answer:  Arlington National Park.  Rich pulled Jon Blodgett’s ticket, but Jon failed the test. 
 
SONG:  “Clementine” led by Joanne Lemieux.
 
ROTARY MINUTE:  Evan Leary told us about the H2O collaboration in Ghana whose goal is to provide more than 80% of Ghana’s people with clean water; only 14% have safe   water now.  The group has created bore holes, wells, school latrines and public toilets along with 3 mechanized water delivery systems.  More than $4MM has been spent in Ghana, with similar amounts in several other countries.
 
COMING EVENTS by President Don:
  • 25 June:  Ernst:  Mascoma River Clean-up.  Everyone must participate.  Headquarters is behind the CCBA.  Ernst would like a short announcement on the back page of the Valley News’s Section A – Rich will take care of it.  Bartolo invited everyone to bring family and friends.
  • 30 June:  President Don’s Changeover menu includes turkey and pot roast and a cash bar.  $30 per person.  Sign-up sheet will begin circulation next week.
  • 10 July:  Upper Valley Nighthawks baseball game starts at 5 PM.  We need one more club to sign on in order to get a banner on the field.  Adults $5; kids free.
 
BRAGS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Paul Tierney:  City Center Ballet event tomorrow night includes dinner with Rotarians.  Garlan qualifies that he has room for 3 more people at Elixir Restaurant at 5:30 where each diner will order and pay for his own meal.  The Ballet begins at Briggs Opera House at 7:30 PM.  Kevin Gould adds that it’s worth it just to see the lightning bugs in their costumes.
 
Suellen Griffin:  The reconstituted innovation committee has 8 members; it met today for the first time with 7 of 8 folks showing up. 
 
Rich Wallace:  Daughter Brittney (sp?) is home from her 1st year at UNH;  she was recognized as UNH’s “most dependable tour guide giver”; also, as of 6 June, she begins a fulltime job as a flow teller at Mascoma Savings Bank, though Steve Christy did NOT pay a fine.
 
Valerie Armstrong was in Hawaii for the past two weeks.  She met a past president from Simi Valley Rotary who will visit us at some time in the future.  Also, Valerie’s son will perform on 4 June starting at 5:30 PM with the Dance Collective, which is putting on a recital; tickets are $13.
 
BOARD ACTION FOR CLUB CONSIDERATION:
The Board recommends adding $2,000 per year to the budgeted $2,000 for scholarships in order for us to provide two, $1000 scholarships to students attending a 2-year post-secondary school, and two scholarships to students attending a 4-year school.  Discussion brought us around to approve the additional $2,000 with the idea that the Youth Service committee should have flexibility to move funds from one category to another depending on the applications received.
 
CLUB FORUM took place for about 20 minutes after which a spokesperson from each committee reported:
 
Youth Service – Steve Whitman
2 RYLA students have been chosen.
2 Lebanon High School scholarship recipients have been chosen; we are working to identify 2 additional recipients from Mascoma Valley Regional High School.
At the request of the Innovation Committee, the Youth Service committee reviewed the “New Generations” requirements for RI President John Germ’s Citation in 2016-17.  The Youth Service committee believes that continuing with its efforts to establish and maintain an Interact Club at MVRHS would be the best path toward meeting the Citation requirements in this area.
 
Social – Bartolo Governanti
  • Changeover will take place at Mountain Meadow in West Canaan.Entertainment will be John Yacavone and a public address system.
  • Our joint Lebanon-Lebanon Riverside BBQ attracted about 2 dozen folks total from both clubs.Next time, we need to mix better with the other club.
  • Bartolo suggested we try a BBQ at Baker’s Crossing Conservation Area, perhaps in August at 5 PM in lieu of a daytime meeting.
  • Social committee is considering once a month in the winter, holding a cocktail hour at a member’s business as a way to see each other’s place of work.
  • This year’s President’s Picnic will take place at Kevin Gould’s home, 391 Williams Hill Road, Grafton, NH, on Sunday, 31 July.Kevin will provide proteins and soda; others bring things; 1-6 PM.
  • Next Business After Hours, we will try to involve the Hanover club.
 
Membership – Ron Carr
  • We need to concentrate on retention as opposed to new members – keep people on the books.
  • Suggestion of a fireside chat 6 months after a new member is in – what do you like and don’t like about the club?
  • Re-institute classification talks – new members haven’t done them and newer members don’t know old members’ vocations.
  • Another survey:what do you like and don’t like about our club? – simpler questions and answers.President Don would like to work on this survey as he has other questions.
 
Giving – Jennifer Grant
  • The Mascoma community science garden connects youth at the high school with an actual garden in the community; they learn skills in advance and continue working over the summer on the actual garden; some local farms are involved as well.Total budget is $4k of which $3k is staff; the committee is considering recommending $1k.Project starts 15 June.
  • Ledyard Charter School – Evan’s been in touch about their request for 5 Chromebooks to help students do their work.Evan will seek a written request from them.
 
Community – Ernst Oidtmann
Mascoma River clean-up:  Ernst is talking with helicopter operator to haul out a dumpster.  We want signs of Rotary for the videotapes, like “Rotary At Work” emblazoned on the helicopter!!  Also, Steve Usle will head up the annual Baker’s Crossing Clean-up this Saturday, 8:00-10:00 AM.
 
Kevin closed the meeting with a responsive reading of Rotary’s Four-Way Test.