The Ken
November 1, 2021
Fine Master: Mike Ford
Table Attendance & Split Club: Cameron Kukla
Invocation: Tim Glor
The Ken: Donna DiFrancesco
Meeting called to order by President Dick at 12:27 p.m. with the Pledge of Allegiance. Tim Glor led us in prayer. We had a large group today! Over 20 members. It would be nice if we could do this every week.
Guests today are the speaker, Honar “Art” Ali, Greg Stevens, Michele Lockett and Char Coon.
Announcements: President Dick will designate 1 or 2 meetings a month to members to speak about their business and or community involvements. He will have 2 or 3 members each time, and this will be a great opportunity for other members to know what our peers do.
Larry announced there is a concert at 7:30 p.m. on Sunday November 7 at Cardinal O’Hara High School featuring the award winning American Legion Band of the Tonawandas.
Greg Stevens, founding member of the Satellite Club, announced that their next meeting is Thursday, 11/4 at 8 a.m. at the Spot Coffee of Webster Street. They meet there every other Thursday. All are welcome. I know from attending some of these meetings myself that they are very informative and they get a lot accomplished. Everyone should try to attend at least one once in a while.
Larry introduced our speaker, Honar “Art” Ali, whom he was able to put through the Rotary RYLA program several years ago. Honar took a 5,000-mile bike trek that took him 71 days to complete. He hails from Northern Iraq and at age 19, he came to Buffalo to complete his immigration and become a US citizen. His given name ALI means Art, so he’s adopted that as his name! His biking adventure was a last-minute idea. He only planned a one-way trip to Seattle, Washington to visit a friend. Within 2 weeks, he and his friend left from Astoria, Oregon, after having to purchase bikes and all the necessary gear for camping and survival. They separated at one point, with Honar heading to Buffalo and his friend heading to San Francisco. There were so many stories he told of people he encountered and places he visited, but one of the most memorable stories for me was about an orthodontist he had to contact to fix his braces that broke. He found one 2 days travel time away, scheduled an appointment, and when he arrived, he saw the Rotary emblem on his door. The receptionist, the doctor’s wife, told Honar that he was a long time Rotarian. After fixing Honar’s braces and Honar telling the him that he, too, was involved in Rotary as a Rotaract member, there was the kindness of “no charge” for the repair, even though Honar was ready and willing to pay. He came away from this adventure with a new found confidence in himself, he found acceptance and his own identity as a US citizen, and all along his journey he was treated with love, dignity and respect by everyone he met. He is scheduled to speak at UB Rotaract on Wednesday 11/10 @ 6 pm. in Clemens Hall Room 120 and all are invited. We would also LOVE to have him back to a club meeting for a part 2 (and possibly part 3) sometime in the near future.
Due to such an interesting speaker, time was short and no fines were had. Split club was won by Holly at $14.00 and Ron drew the Ace of Diamonds.
Meeting adjourned.