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Tomorrow’s meeting:
Join the Zoom meeting here
Meeting ID: 971 8470 4473 Password: 513890
Diana Crouch, Healthy Neighborhoods Program Education Coordinator, and colleague Pat Jebbett to present “How can Healthy Neighborhoods help you (or any Tompkins County resident)” June 10, 2020
Newsletter Reporter: Gail Lyman | Photos: Photos | Editor: Ted Schiele   The Zoom kicked off with President Frank Towner in the lead as we all recited the Four-Way Test. The Thought for The Day came from President-in-less-than-a-month Geoff Dunn, who gave us three heartfelt quotes from Charlie Chaplin:
- “Nothing is permanent in this wicked world, not even our TROUBLES.”
- “I always like walking in the rain so no one can see me crying.”
- “The most wasted day in life is the day in which one has not laughed.”
Rotarians introduced their guests. Koo, our exchange student from Japan, was online with us, and Linda Brisson introduced two of his three host families. Three cheers for Koo, who very soon will be leaving our special circle of reality, and our nation’s shores for his home. And three cheers for Koo’ host families, without whom our student exchange program would be just a teenager’s dream. Our sincere thanks to all, including of course Linda and members of the Student Exchange Committee.
 And Aly Evans introduced Amy, a nonprofit management professional who is new to Ithaca. Amy came to Ithaca with her husband, who was just hired by Cornell.
 The blue ticket “show us the money” prize was a barbeque cookbook provided by Dave Martin. Larry Thayer stepped right up, displaying a check for $65; $55 for the prize, and $10 for Happy Dollars.
At Rotary, we have no tolerance for racism. Promoting respect, celebrating diversity, demanding ethical leadership, and working tirelessly to advance peace are central tenets of our work.
We have more work to do to create more just, open and welcoming communities for all people.
We know there are no easy fixes and that challenging conversations and work lie before all of us. Rotary’s strength has long been our ability and commitment to bringing people together. We will tap into that strength now as we stand with those who are working for peace and justice.
Rotary will do our part to listen, learn and take action to ensure that we continue to contribute to making positive change.
A Note About Next Week, June 24!
Next week, 6/24, is Pass the Gavel! Please bring a drink to the virtual meeting so we can all say cheers to Frank for a great year, and cheers to Geoff as he begins his year as President. The “Take Out Polio” campaign is running short of the goal set to trigger a 2-to-1 match from the Gates Foundation. Our Foundation Chair, Ivy Stevens-Gupta, cited an email from our District Gov Dave Bensley asking for 7170 Clubs to step up their giving, and asked our members to do what we can to help make the goal. The campaign asks Rotarians to donate a day’s lunch money to End Polio. What have you been doing with the money you’re not spending at Coltivare on Wednesdays? Go to the End Polio Now donation page now to help make the goal happen.
The District is also sponsoring a Run for Polio, called “7 Runs, 7 Counties, 7 Days.” Each of the District’s 7 counties has mapped out a route to walk, jog, or run, out to the end of the route and back again. 777 starts on June 21 and each county holds the event on a different day, ending with Tompkins County on day 7, Sat. June 27. The time is 2:00 p.m., the place is the Ithaca Children’s Garden, out to the Black Diamond Trail. Get more details here on the District 7170 website.
Heidi Goldstein introduced our latest Paul Harris Fellow, Sherry Haefele, who reached her $1,000 goal after only one year as a Rotary member. Congratulations Sherry!
A quick catch-up on events from the Spring Back Cleanup Days of Action for World Environment Day, the weekend before this past one, to thank Rotarians, including those with Honorary status, for their volunteer efforts on the Route 13 highway cleanup crew. - Geoff Dunn
- Jeff Bricker
- Sachin Gupta (Honorary Member of Rotary)
- Ivy Stevens Gupta
- Bob Gravani
- Mary-Lynn Cummings
- Loralyn Light
- Heidi Goldstein
- Maricelis Acevedo
- Serenna McClough
- Elijah Fox (Honorary Member of Rotary)
- Martha Walker (Honorary Member of Rotary)
- Dennis Gray
- Paul Martin
- John Barradas, crew chief
 Linda Brisson introduced Koo Sasano who has been Lansing High School's first Rotary exchange student. Koo gave a presentation on his year in Lansing.
Koo comes from the city of Sapporo, the fifth largest city in Japan and the largest on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido. He went to Sapporo-Asahigaoka High School, where he was a part of a 100-member chorus.
 From this exchange experience, Koo’s fondest memories included trips to New York City, Niagara Falls, and Canada. From a day-to-day perspective, he enjoyed water activities on Cayuga Lake, coming to Rotary meetings, visiting local restaurants, and engaging in school activities.
Music was a big part of how Koo connected with the many friends he made at Lansing High School. Linda heard Koo sing at chorus concerts, and described his voice as “amazing and beautiful.” Linda Pasto added a story about the Lansing High School musical, “Once Upon the Mattress.” After the performance, the show’s three main characters grabbed Koo to take a curtain call with them! As a school board member, Linda has heard “many wonderful comments about Koo.”
Koo expressed gratitude to all three of his host families. He just received his graduation gown, and will be in Lansing until his trip back to Japan on July 9. Thank you Koo, for being part of our community over these last months. Please keep in touch!
Ithaca City Beautification and our Rotary Rotary
Heidi Goldstein introduced Martha Gioumousis, Community Beautification Program Manager for Cooperative Extension. Martha is retiring after 12 years with the CCE project. Heidi described Martha as “physically and mentally the hardest working person that she knows.”
 The Tompkins County Community Beautification Program was established in 2002 with funds from the Tompkins County Tourism Program and the Hotel Room Tax, an additional 5% paid by guests at local hotels, motels and bed-and breakfasts to support tourism initiatives.
The Beautification Program has a full time, year-round coordinator and two part-time seasonal assistants that work for Cornell Cooperative Extension of Tompkins County. These paid program employees work with many volunteers, collectively known as the “Beautification Brigade” easily recognized around the city gardens for their colorful bright orange shirts.
 The goal of the downtown beautification program is to create welcoming, artistically landscaped areas. Some of these areas include The Commons, the East State St. triangles, Purity Point, Rotary Rotary and the strip along the side of the TC Public Library.
Starting in 2015, our Rotary club began sponsoring the plantings for Ithaca's only true traffic rotary, where Albany St., Spencer St., and Elmira Rd. come together. Now known as the “Rotary Rotary,” it has two metal signs acknowledging our sponsorship. Dramatic yellow forsythia opens the gardens in the spring, followed by a succession of red tulips and bold displays of color from summer to fall.
Due to Ithaca City's budget cuts, the city no longer delivers water to the Rotary Rotary site. There are 2 holding tanks with an underground watering system. Martha asked if our club had any ideas for how to get water to the site.
Mila Fournier, Cornell Cooperative Extension's full time landscape architect, has taken over the position of Beautification Program coordinator. The two staff employees, Eileen Sheehan and Janine Willis, work closely with the Beautification Brigade .
If interested in joining the Beautification Brigade or lending a hand bringing water to the site, email Mila Fournier at Beautification@cornell.edu .
Students: Koo
Workers:
• Thought for the Day, Geoff Dunn
• Introductions, Rotary hosts introduced their guests
Zoom: Catrina VanAtta
Bulletin Reporter: Gail T. Lyman
Photographer: Mike Brown
Bulletin Editor: Ted Schiele
Club Service Facilitators, Beverly Baker & June Losurdo
Sunshine Chair, Kellyann O’Mara
June 17, 2020
Join the Zoom meeting here
Meeting ID: 971 8470 4473 Password: 513890
Diana Crouch, Healthy Neighborhoods Program Education Coordinator, and colleague Pat Jebbett to present “How can Healthy Neighborhoods help you (or any Tompkins County resident)”
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