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Cogitator 090909
No visiting Rotarians this week, but we had a guest. Bob Miller brought Alan Clarke. Alan is the guy who puts the phonebook together. He is also an honorary Rotarian and Paul Harris Fellow.
Anniversaries for Gill Thorpe and George Cooper and Birthdays for Jim Essex and Mike Neville.
Our logo is up on the scoreboard at the high school, representing our $5,000 gift. Now as soon as the field dries out they will use it.
George Cooper handed out perfect awards to Don Anderson, Jerry Meyer and Bob Sloan. Anderson and Meyer have each been perfect for 7 years and Bob Sloan has been perfect for one, in spite of the fact he has been a Rotarian for 35 years.
Meyer says he is happy that he will now be able to shave the beard he has been growing until he achieved his 7 years of perfect attendance. For some reason the beard came in black in spite of the fact his hair turned gray a long time ago.
From John Wolcott and Paula Buckheit a story about a Rotarian going the distance for the Foundation.
Running, biking and swimming 482 miles in the course of a year or even a month is hardly the marvel of sports headlines. But racking up that distance in three days staggers the imagination. Jeff Glidden did just that through his Ultra Distance Triathlon Challenge, raising over $100,000 for the Annual programs Fund. " It was difficult", said Glidden, "but it was more rewarding that anything I have ever done". Many Rotarians that had never given before contributed and supported me, and that was definitely one of my goals". Corporate sponsors helped fuel Glidden's mega-triathlon challenge by each contributing at least $1,000. Local media coverage also raised overall awareness of Rotary.
All proceeds from Glidden's challenge went to support the Rotary Foundation. One example of one person making a difference.
A group of musicians from La Romana in the Dominican Republic will perform at the Baptist Church this coming Wednesday evening. They are people connected with the hospital there, construction of which has been aided by members of the church with some funding from Rotary in an international service cooperative effort. There is no charge, but donations will be accepted.
Amy Levin is back from three weeks in Israel, where she attended Rotary in Jerusalem. She battled with a brief bout of memory loss, but recovered and was able to focus. Her Temple is planning another concert for the benefit of their building project in East Greenwich. Coming up on October 18th is a concert by "Northern Lights". More to come.
Our Congratulations to Don Anderson who is stepping down as the Field General of Summer's End after 14 years on their Board. Club members rated the September 4th concert as one of the best.
From the September 10th Board meeting.
Some dues are still outstanding. If you haven't paid we would really appreciate hearing the check is in the mail. Wait a minute, we would actually appreciate hearing.--here's my check.
Ed Neff is still taking orders for website advertising. $10 a month will get you a small ad on the site.
Avenue of Service.---We contributed $500 to the MDA Telethon and were the second gold star on the big board and got lots of mentions. A good cause and some positive PR.
Other Contributions
$300 - Salvation Army
$300 - USO for Holiday Gifts
$500 - Red Cross
$300 - New England Museum of Wireless & Steam
$1,000 - RI Family Shelter Meals program
International Service
Though Plan USA, headquartered in RI, Jaye Boynton has arranged for us to sponsor Roffi, a little boy in the Dominican Republic. It is hoped he may be close enough to La Romana for a visit by some members of our team on their annual visit.
Wine Tasting - The date is set for May 20th and the search is on for a location. Under consideration is the Varnum House, which has a spacious lawn area. The committee is still looking for a site that will add to the appeal of the event.
Vocational Service -- Sally Russell made contact with CCRI and found two excellent recipients for the $1,000 scholarships the board approved. The recipients were very appreciative and the money will be a big help as they work to hone their skills in a tough ecoomy.
Citrus...the campaign is being put together and this year will include an additional choice....a holiday CD and several orla soy candles from Richard Waterman's North Star Records. This refreshes the campaign and adds the potential for more revenue.
OCTOBER 14TH. SAVE THE DATE....our million dollar meal. Our location will be the MEETING STREET SCHOOL. John Wolcott has found the location and promises you will find this interesting
Ed Neff's Cavalcade of Stars continued with Dr. Ed Mazze, Distinguished Professor of Business Administration at URI.
Mazze, whose opinion on the Rhode Island economy is highly regarded, described our economic challenges as a problem for all Rhode Islanders. He says we mistakenly benchmark our state against our neighboring states instead of the states which are creating jobs, and predicted out unemployment will continue to go up while other states go down. Some 75 thousand people are now collecting unemployment benefits, but many benefits have run out. Adding in those unemployed and working in other states could mean we have an unemployment rate closer to 33%.
Mazze says this recession will not be measured by the number of people who go back to work because productivity is going up and companies are learning to live without the workers they have let go. "We have learned to be more efficient."
He predicts that by next April or May the state budget will be short another 200 million dollars and says the legislature should be back at work on the budget right now.
Mazze offered 5 suggestions to deal with the budget crisis
- Deal with the problem of too many cities, towns and school districts by re-structuring into 5 counties. He says the longer we wait, the more communities will go bankrupt.
- Zero Based budgeting for state and local government. "We are not growing", said Mazze, "we have a million people, but are structured for 50 million'.
- Rhode Islanders understand the difference between the truth and a lie, he said, and do not believe we can get out of this without raising taxes. He said the legislature is not raising taxes, but is raising fees and adding licenses.
- Centralize Economic Development. It is silly to separate the state from development by cities and towns.
- Do better in support for education. Mazze says education is the key, but also criticized the system, saying many college students do not belong where they are.