August 6, 2018
This is the first publication posting for proposed new member, Catherine D Piciulo, Executive Director of Ken-Ton Chamber of Commerce, sponsored by Damon Piatek.
President Donna gonged us into the pledge of allegiance at approximately 12:40 PM. Chuck led the club in singing God Bless America. Chuck also provided our invocation. Ron Levea announced our only guests: Catherine Piciulo, Greg Robinson (a visiting Rotarian from San Francisco), and his sister Laurie who is an accountant at the Buffalo History Museum. President Donna exchanged our flag for a flag Greg brought from San Francisco.
Announcements: Welcome back Ted! No meeting Monday, August 13 due to Sunshine day on the 15th. Board meeting at 8 am on Thursday, August 9th at Plaka. Please sign up for Sunshine day ASAP so Chuck knows how much food to order. If you want to order a Rotary T-Shirt, please let Secretary Pat Griffin know. Amherst Rotary club is having their car show. It’s $15 to register. If interested Ted has details.
Phil was our Fine-master. He asked for confessions first. President Donna confessed to celebrating her 30th wedding anniversary. Ted made a generous $20 donation in honor and love for his wife as she took care of him, the house, and the fur babies as he recovered. Joe donated $5 as he confessed to an 8 day river cruise in France. Holly confessed that she moved to a new house and thanked Ed Markarian for his legal help (Ed volunteered to pay Holly’s fine for her). Holly also confessed to a trip to Washington DC. Our guest, Greg, donated 4 happy dollars in honor of his trip to Buffalo to celebrate his 40th high school reunion. Phil fined us over Travel and Civil War Trivia.
Holly was our speaker today. She gave a nice presentation around Cradle Bach Camp in Angola NY, and Sunshine day. Holly was a counselor at cradle beach about 25 years ago. Cradle Beach is an overnight camp that focuses on children from low income households and children with developmental disabilities. Each camp session lasts 10 days. Cradle Beach is fortunate enough to have camp counselors from all over the world (all counselors go through a one week training prior to opening for the season). Holly said this was the hardest job she has ever worked as well as her favorite job. She learned to appreciate diversity and how to appreciate children’s abilities vs. disabilities while employed with the camp. Jim Kelly has always been a big supporter of the camp, so much so that the camp named the BIG HOUSE after him. The Amish fix up the tree house every year. There are many kids who did not want their time at Cradle Beach to end, so they come back to be staff.
Cradle Beach has been putting on Sunshine Day for the past 60+ years. There are many other surrounding Rotary Clubs that sponsor their own form of Sunshine Day at the camp. This year, Holly is asking for volunteers to arrive around 11 AM to help set up and possibly to take a tour of the camp. After setup, we will eat a Panera lunch which Chuck has arranged. The kids come out for Sunshine day between 2-4. After that, we clean up and go home. We will not have ponies this year, but Holly is looking to add air brush for tattoos instead. Next year Holly’s goal is to add something else, like a bounce house. Many members added the faxt that we used to have a motorcycle there with a side car, so that might be an idea too. Amherst Rotary Club has also mentioned partnering with Kenmore for the day and possibly sponsoring something. Jeff Markarian also recommended we take an assessment of the games that are currently out there to see what needs to be replaced or freshened up. Larry has committed to bringing six kids to help us run games this year. Holly thinks it might be a good idea to rotate helpers in shifts at each location so people don’t get burned out and so everyone attending has something to do.
Sunshine day is a lot of fun and a great way to give back. If you’ve never attended, I highly recommend coming out to Cradle Beach on August 15th! Thanks Holly!