Cogitator May 16, 2012

Posted by George Cooper 
on May 16, 2012
 

Club Assembly, May 16, 2012

 

 

VISITING ROTARIANS

Steve Hinger, a past president of the Warwick Rotary Club, joined us.

GUESTS

Sally Russell invited Chris Amalfitano, who is a new account representative for RI Insurance Group.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY…

…wishes go out this week to Meghan Kruger, on May 17th.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY…

…wishes this week to Bill (and Daphne) TenEyck, celebrating 22 years on May 19th. 

CLUB ANNIVERSARIES

Sergeant at Arms, and tenor extraordinaire, Jim Essex joined Rotary 11 years ago, on May 16th, 2001.  And Charlie Winkler, our most senior Rotarian, joined the East Greenwich club back on May 18th, 1977.   

TASTE OF THE TOWN

Pat Lenihan rallied the troops to keep on selling tickets and get ready for a fantastic event on Friday the 18th.  She also gave a special ‘thanks’ to Gill Thorpe, who, as always when the club needs him, was working like crazy over the past week, making sure the St. Francis Parish Center was ready for the festivities.    

EVENING OF HOPE

Congratulations again to Judy Pratt, who received the 2012 Spirit of Lou Gehrig Award at the Rhode Island ALS Association’s Evening of Hope Saturday, May 12th, at the Newport Hyatt.  It was a wonderful night featuring a very special moment for the well-deserving Judy, who was cheered on by her family as well as two full tables of East Greenwich Rotarians.  Dr. Bob Miller gave a touching speech and warm tribute to Judy, while Judy, selfless as always, thanked everyone around her for making the Scott Carlson Memorial ALS 5K such an incredible success over the past twelve years. 

BIPIN PANCHOLI ROTARIAN OF THE YEAR AWARD

John Wolcott reminded everyone to please make sure you cast your ballot for the 2011-2012 Rotarian of the Year.  You can pass your vote to John, Richard Waterman, or Jane Boynton. 

HAPPY BUCKS

-Sue Dorne announced a May 24th Zumba event at Gold’s Gym. 

-Bob Miller spoke of the big job ahead of him in getting ready to speak on behalf of East Greenwich Rotary at Bill Foster’s memorial service. 

-Ed Neff gave five happy bucks for his terrific 5-day trip to California, while seeing his son get married.

-Beth DeGerlia was happy about Rocky Hill School hosting ‘America’s Cup, Then and Now,’ with Brad Read and Dyer Jones. 

-Chuck Sauer spoke of the wonderful Evening of Hope event in Newport, and gave credit to Judy Pratt for a ‘first class acceptance speech.’

-Lou Lepry finally did it…just this morning in fact…he polished off the last grapefruit from his Citrus Drive purchases.

-Sally Russell remembered Bill Foster as ‘a great mentor, Rotarian, friend, and source of encouragement.’

-Janet Essex reflected on the amazing growth of the Scott Carlson ALS race since 2001.  She also congratulated President Mike for his leadership in bringing on so many new members this year.

-Jodi Gladstone’s daughter conferred with her about wedding plans.  It looks like the ‘big wedding’ is no longer, but rather a small outside family wedding event…in two weeks!

-Yours truly congratulated his good friend, Judy Pratt, while also noting Seth Wilson’s outstanding contributions to the 2012 ALS 5K event.

 

PROGRAM/CLUB ASSEMBLY

Community Service

Chuck Sauer handed out a two page list of contributions the club will have made to various causes and organizations by year’s end.  At the end of the second page was a number, a large one in fact.  This year the club will proudly be able to say it gave away nearly $143,000.  As Chuck put it, this is what Rotary is all about, changing and saving lives.

Some highlights include: $62,000 to the RI ALSA Chapter; $15,000 in East Greenwich Rotary Scholarships; $8,000 to the Little League Cragan Field Light Project; $6,400 to the Rotary Foundation from Paul Harris Fellow teams; $5,000 to Clean Water for Cambodia; $3,000 for hurricane relief; $2,500 for a Romanian Boy Scouting Center; $2,500 for the Summer’s End Concert in town; and $2,500 for the LaRomana, Dominican Republic project. 

Phonebook, 2012

Chairperson Kathy Brown officially kicked off the 2012 Rotary Phonebook campaign.  All ads will be in color this year, and she’s hoping it will be a banner year for renewals as well as new business.  Kathy cited Alan Clarke, the club’s long-time friend and behind-the-scenes ‘glue’ for each year’s production, who said, ‘This book is still critical to people who live and work in this town, and it’s still a phenomenally inexpensive advertisement for businesses nearby.’

John Wolcott passed on his own phonebook wisdom, from years of experience.  His advice--get to your advertisers early, before the summer is in full swing. 

Richard Waterman challenged the club to have a record year in phonebook sales, as a fitting tribute to the man who meant so much to phonebook for so many years, Bill Foster. 

East Greenwich Rotary Scholarship Fund

Scholarship Fund President Dave Iannuccilli noted that it was in 1982, thirty years ago, that the first East Greenwich Rotary Scholarship was awarded.  Bill Foster was on hand then in getting the Fund off the ground, while Bill O’Neel provided the leadership as Scholarship Fund President for twenty-plus years thereafter. 

The Scholarship Fund is technically a separate 501(c)3 entity, outside of the East Greenwich Rotary Club.  It files its own tax returns, and it raises money on its own, although the East Greenwich Rotary club has for years now budgeted $5,000, or more, to the Fund from its own coffers.  Scholarship Fund board members are all East Greenwich Rotarians, the current Rotary Club president is charged with nominating board members, the Rotary Club treasurer serves as an ex-officio member, and the Rotary Club’s president is invited to all board meetings as a non-voting member.

The Scholarship Fund awarded $14,000 this past year to various students from East Greenwich High School.  The Fund also now awards a $1,000 scholarship to a graduating senior from Rocky Hill.       

The Scholarship Fund funds grew significantly with Bill O’Neel at the helm.  Bill handed over his the reins in 2004 to Dave Iannuccilli, who has done a stellar job ever since, managing to oversee steady growth despite very spotty stock and bond markets of late.  The Scholarship Fund had at its last board meeting in April nearly $250,000.  However, with Amica’s recent donation of $50,000 on behalf of Andy Erickson’s fifty years of dedicated sevice with the company, the Scholarship Fund now possesses over $300,000 for future endowed scholarship awards.