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Tomorrow’s meeting: Jason Molino, Tompkins County Administrator July 18, 2018  President Mary Berens called her first meeting to order, almost seamlessly. She could not locate the gavel that had been passed to her the previous Wednesday. Calls of “use a knife” echoed across the room and Joanne Lamoureux produced one (a table knife), which Mary then used to ring the bell. The bell was struck and Joanne retrieved the gavel from deep in the recess of the lectern. (So much to learn with this president job!) Mary led the Four-Way Test.
Allen MacNeill gave the Thought for The Day, telling us all we could ever hope to know about the country’s “second” national anthem, America the Beautiful. Allen, in true actor fashion, read the song lyrics as the poem it first was. The well-known words were moving and still apropos today — maybe especially today — after nearly 130 years.
With no delay in introducing her own traditions, President Mary is putting a twist on welcoming guests by asking Rotarians themselves to introduce their guest(s). Delightfully personal, and it sidesteps bungled pronunciations. We also welcomed visiting Rotarian, Dewey Neild from Ithaca Sunrise.
Mary’s second new thing was to boost red ticket sales by offering some higher value prizes. Up this week was a basked of goodies from the Cornell Store on The Commons. Joanne Lamoureux solicited the donation, picked up the donation, and then tallied up the value: $110! The basket was won by Linda Brisson who, knowing she would not be at the meeting (she’s in Tanzania) bought 25 tickets in advance. Linda’s gamble paid off, as one of her tickets was the winner. (No word on whether or not her broker is snagging one of the wine glasses as a fee.)
Mary gave a shout out to our Salvation Army’s new leadership, who just this month took command of the Ithaca post. Stacy McNeil, a Rotarian who is transferring from the Ogdensburg Club, was at our meeting for the second week in a row. She and her husband Shaun are the service agency’s new commanding officers. They were featured in an Ithaca Journal article last Tuesday. Welcome Stacy and Shaun!
There was a District 7170 outing at the Binghamton Rumble Ponies announced for last Friday (the Ponies lost), and Ron Provus is recruiting for another golf tournament, coming August 16 in Masonville. See him for details.
The fifth annual Rotary Road Rally is coming up on Sunday, August 12. This is a club fundraiser and a lot of fun. Register from 1:00–2:00 at the Homewood Suites, Triphammer Mall, then hit the road. Details on the club website. The committee is collecting 20-25 giveaways for the goody bags now, as well as larger prizes for the prize table. Please pass to Kelly Buck, Angela Sullivan or Geoff Dunn, and join us on August 12 for another fun day!
  A half dozen Ithaca Rotarians participated in a lightning round of reporting on the Rotary International Convention, which was held in Toronto at the end of June. Maricelis reported that about 35,000 Rotarians from 175 countries were present, including such notables as Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Princess Anne, Laura Bush, and Helen Clark, the prime minister of New Zealand. The convention celebrated the 50th birthday of Rotaract. Presenters were Maricelis Acevedo, Jeff True, Heidi Goldstein, Nancy Potter, and Richard Kiley. Maricelis has prepared an overview of their comments, which you are encouraged to download here.
Some key areas that need to be addressed are advancing gender equity and increasing the role of women, both in club membership and leadership roles, and increasing overall membership. Membership in Rotary hit its peak in 1995 at 1.2 million worldwide, and has been on the decline ever since. We all must do what we can to make Rotary more appealing to all ages, especially younger generations.
 Bob Sprole gave a special Paul Harris Fellow presentation to local businessman Dick Boronkay. Dick has been lifelong friends with Gordon Lane, an former Ithaca Rotarian who now lives in Tennessee, where he is a member of his local Rotary Club. In Gordon’s absence, he called upon Bob to present Dick with a PHF in honor of their deep friendship.
In his first week as program chair, Geoff Dunn introduced CJ DelVecchio of Warren Real Estate. CJ is also currently the president of the NYS Association of Realtors.
 CJ earned a masters in communication from Ithaca College, and has been with Warren Realty for 28 years. The NYS Association of Realtors (NYSAR) has 58,000 members, and is the fourth largest such board in the U.S. The National Board of Realtors is the largest trade group in the country.
The term “Realtor” is actually a registered trademark of the National Association of Realtors, and is only applicable to a licensed real estate professional who is a member of the NAR. The important part for those of us on the consumer side of a real estate transaction is that all Realtor members are held to a strict Code of Ethics.
The NYSAR is comprised of 28 different Boards or Associations. Ithaca is in the Southern Tier Association along with Cortland, Binghamton, Elmira-Corning, and Otsego-Delaware. Ithaca has 229 of the Southern Tier’s 1,365 members.
Among CJ’s key roles as 2018 president of the NYSAR are representing New York State within the national organization, and lobbying legislators in Albany for laws and policies that are favorable for the industry. To learn more, visit NYSAR.com and IthacaRealtors.com.
Ambassadors: None
Visiting Rotarians: None
Students: None
Workers:
• Greeter, Ross Feldman
• Kettle, Brett Bossard
• Thought for the Day, Allen MacNeill
• Introductions, Hosting Rotarians
Set-Up: Harlin McEwen, Joe Giordano, Ron Provus, Dave Martin, & Brad Carruth.
Bulletin Reporter: Kelly Buck
Photographer:
Bulletin Editor: Ted Schiele
Club Service Facilitators, Beverly Baker & Joanne Lamoureux
Sunshine Chair, Kellyann O’Mara
July 25, 2018
Coltivare, S. Cayuga at Clinton St., Downtown Ithaca
Jason Molino, Tompkins County Administrator
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