Rotary Rocket - Happy Birthday - 104 years old!
Happy Birthday to the Rotary Club of Worcester!
Our Club is 104 today!
We had a fantastic meeting yesterday! Lisa Brennan and Beth Tingly from Ascentria Care Alliance (formerly Lutheran Social Services of New England) were our guest speakers. Although Ascentria Care Alliance provides many social services for families, children, the elderly and disabled the discussion focused on Refugees and Immigrants to America! In Massachusetts, Ascentria offers refugee resettlement services; legal services for immigrants; foster care for refugee children through the Unaccompanied Refugee Minors Program (URMP); and the micro-enterprise development program to train and assist refugees to start or strengthen their own business and attain economic self-sufficiency through self-employment.
Prior to the meeting the Board of Directors approved a membership application brought in by Satya Mitra for David O’Doherty. David is a Universal Services Advocate at Veterans Inc. and specializes in housing. David’s application was accepted unanimously by the board. David was also in attendance at the meeting. Please join me in Welcoming David to the Club!
We also had another application and new member attending yesterday as a guest of Mark Fuller. Matt Erskine. Matt came to the meeting, application in hand. The board will vote on his application via e-mail.
Matt is a past member of the club and wishes to rejoin. He is an attorney in Worcester at Erskine & Erskine LLC. He is also the son of a long standing member Matt Erskine.
Once Matt’s application has been voted I will schedule an induction for both our new members.
The Club received a nice thank you letter from Kaska Yawo and ACE for our donation of $2,500 to provide food for breakfast and lunch for youth and families in the ACE program.
Kids Café – Amy is looking for volunteers to help with the upcoming Kids Café programs on Tuesday March 29th and Tuesday April 26th please contact Amy at amy@expressivecapital.com if you would like to volunteer to serve 300 hungry children at the Boys and Girls Club.
District Convention – Brad has sent all members the link to sign up for the District Convention in Plymouth MA. Please let us know if you plan on attending the convention. The Rotary Club of Worcester will have a Hospitality Suite. For more information please contact Chris Gates at cjgates@charter.net.
Celebrate Community! – As you know this is our biggest fundraiser of the year and a true celebration of 4 members of the Worcester community who demonstrated Service Above Self! At this time we need your help to make this year’s fundraising efforts a success! Your club is seeking auction items, in-kind donations, sponsorships, booklet ads and attendees for our fundraiser. This is going to be a lot of fun as we will have a full dinner, live music, silent and live auctions and the presentations of our Service Above self awards!
50/50 raffle – Ken Harling had the lucky number but not the 10 of Diamonds. The pot has grown to $570.00 plus whatever we take in next week. It could build up to over $600…. Should a member win!
Our Guest speaker next week will be Rob Antonelli Assistant Director of the Parks, Recreation and Cemetery Department for the City of Worcester. He is also the husband of club member Gretchen!
Please make every effort to attend. Attendance is so important because you make a difference in the lives of others and YOU are a GIFT to the WORLD!
Thank you,
Bob Mangan, President 2015 – 2016
Rotary Club of Worcester