President Frank opened the meeting with the pledge led by Megan Noble and grace by Werner Zumbrunn. Josie Titcomb’s guest was Kelly Brock and RYLA student Victoria Kilfeather joined us today.

 

March Food Drive Volunteers – Many thanks to all who volunteered for this month’s food drive: Mikel Hoffman, Megan Noble. Jim Kanzler, Chris Cunningham, and Alice Hagerman

 

Bread Run Volunteers – More thanks to our bread run volunteers who collect and distribute bread and other baked goods six days a week, every week, every month of the year: Michael Simon, Angela Charron, Warren Light, Chris Cunningham, Neil Weingarten, Tom Whelan, John Stellin, George Murray, Josie Bryant, Karl Titcomb, Frank Seibert, Neil and Jeanne Weingarten.

 

 

New Member Application – The board has approved the application of JoAnn Boettcher for membership in the BRC; her name has been posted to the general membership for comment.

 

Arbor Day – This year’s Arbor Day ceremony will be held on Wednesday, April 25th at the Paul J. Bellew Elementary School in West Islip – details to follow.

 

Special Program Scheduled – We will host a special presentation on the Good Samaritan Stroke Center, Tuesday, May 22nd at 5:30 PM in the Babylon Public Library. This meeting replaces our usual (4th Tuesday of the month) Happy Hour/Networking meeting.  

 

Scholarship To Honor Rich Brennan – The board has approved funding for a Babylon Village Youth Program scholarship to be awarded in Past President Rich Brennan’s name.

 

RYLA Fundraiser – Victoria Kilfeather reports that the RYLA. International Day, held at Windows on the Lake in Ronkonkoma on Sunday, January 14th, was a great success. She thanked our club for our support of the event. All had wonderful time and RYLA made a modest profit.

 

"Soles 4 Souls" – Megan Noble is working with the Northport and East Northport Rotary Clubs again this year on the Soles 4 Souls project. Their goal is to collect 20,000 pairs of shoes this year for those in need. 

 

If you have any gently used shoes of any size, style, or kind and would like to donate them to the cause, please bring them to our BRC meeting on Wednesday March 21st or Tuesday March 27th, or drop them off at Megan's office at1801 Argyle Square in Babylon Village.

 

Rotary Foundation – All are reminded that our club subscribes to the Rotary initiative of “Every Rotarian, Every Year,” whereby all club members are encouraged to donate $100 each year to the Rotary Foundation. To help meet this goal, members are asked to contribute $50, and the club will match it with another $50. The simplest way to make your donation is through the Rotary International website (rotary.org); just click on “GIVE” and follow the prompts. If you have any questions about donating to the Rotary Foundation, please contact Frank Seibert (fjseibertcca@hotmail.com).

 

 

 Today we held a club assembly to discuss the structure and fate of our major fundraisers.

 

The Wine & Food Expo and the Dirty Sock Run have been our major fundraisers for many years. While the Dirty Sock Run saw its greatest success last year, the Wine & Food Expo has not fared as well.

 

Event Chair Chris Korte and his committee did an outstanding job last year producing record proceeds from the Dirty Sock Run, largely through vigorous event sponsorship efforts. We will be striving for an even greater sponsor role for this year’s event. Since we may be relying on this single fundraiser for the majority of our charitable funding, all members must get behind the effort and do their best to bring in new sponsors from businesses and organizations in our community.

 

Policy changes at the Long Island Yacht Club have dashed our hopes of reviving the “Endless Summer” Wine & Food Expo at that facility. Most of the meeting was consumed by discussion of new venue and event format options now being assessed by the Wine & Food committee. Event Co-Chairs Jim Kanzler and Megan Noble are seeking input from all members regarding event scheduling, format and venue preferences. They would also like to hear some new ideas on how we can re-energize this erstwhile BRC signature event.

 

As always, any creative ideas on how to improve our fundraisers or new fundraising projects are welcome. Please  pass your latest brain drippings along to Jim (jim@meta5.com) or Megan (gldchmr@aol.com) asap.

 

 

At our next regular meeting on Wednesday, March 21st, we’ll hear from Randy Kromol about PALS – Patient Airlift Services.