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Tomorrow’s meeting:
Matt Adler, Rotary District Governor (7170)
“Opportunities”
Join Zoom Meeting
Meeting ID: 880 0341 6864; Passcode: 702484 August 19, 2020
Newsletter Reporter: Kelly Buck | Photos: Mike Brown | Editor: Ted Schiele  President Geoff Dunn opened last week’s meeting by calling attention to a newsletter-style email that Anna Kelles posts to the Human Services Coalition Listserv twice a week. Anna is the Democratic Party candidate for Barbara Lifton’s open seat in the NYS Assembly (125th). President Geoff gave us the take-away messages from the August 18 post, feeling they were particularly pertinent to the Rotary principles.
- Get as engaged as possible in the election process; watch some or all of both conventions to see what the parties are offering in messaging and priorities.
- Honor and explore our differences; look for, find, and amplify all the ways we can create mutual support, understanding, empathy, patience, and common ground.
The official Thought for The Day followed, given last week by Ross Feldman. His reading was about integrity, and the differences and confusion between integrity, morality, and ethics. Rotarians then were invited to introduce their guests.  A whopping 87 tickets were sold for last week’s DoGoodery Raffle, which this month benefits Loaves and Fishes. Ray Brisson is still handling all the back-end logistics for ticket sales (don’t toss out those emails you’re getting from Ray!), but Maricelis Acevedo was back picking the winning number last week. And it’s a good thing, because the winning number for a $100 gift certificate to the Ithaca Country Club, was held by (no kidding, folks) Ray Brisson. (Couldn’t happen? Had to be fixed? No way! I mean, just think back to the days when Bob Sprole seemed to win every other week!)
Remember, pledges must be in Ray’s inbox by 5:00 Monday to hold a ticket for that week’s raffle. (brisson.ray@gmail.com) The Ithaca Rotary Tastes of Gorges Safe Distance Dinner Club is with New Delhi Diamond’s Restaurant until this Saturday, August 29. Diamond’s is open for take-out lunch and dinner. Delivery through Ithaca To Go and other services, or curbside pick-up. Check out Dennis Gray’s video about Diamonds here, or visit Diamond’s website here.
President Geoff reminded everyone that District Governor Matt Adler will be at our meeting tomorrow, and urged everyone to attend. DG Matt will also be at tonight’s Board meeting. Our local and amazing Vitamin L Project for youth music education has recently posted a new video titled “We Keep Going / Corona 2020,” and Geoff played it for everyone. Click here to see it on YouTube.  Last week we reported on the success of this year’s Rotary Road Rally, which raised $2,400 for the James L. Gibbs Scholarship award, and this week we met this year’s Scholarship winner, Catherine Charnoky. Catherine just graduated from Ithaca High School, and received the $1500 scholarship to go to Amherst College in a few weeks. Right now she is tossing around the ideas either a sociology or archeology major. Catherine expressed her deep gratitude for being awarded the scholarship, and our attendees responded with a flood of congrats and well wishes through the meeting chat.
 Foundation Chair Maricelis Acevedo got the enviable task (a perk of the job) of presenting a Paul Harris +7 (plus seven!) to Janet Steiner, a member for 24 years and counting, even after her move to Pittsford. Thank you, Janet!
Finally, Dennis Gray received the following note of appreciation from Katy Noonan at Loaves and Fishes, for you alls generosity this month through the DoGoodery Raffle Thank you so much for all the creativity and time you have put into making the August Rotary raffle videos really great. We appreciate that you have showcased us with all the different pictures and information about Loaves you have included. We are so grateful for the support for Loaves offered through the raffle proceeds. Ithaca Rotarians have been a vital part of our community for decades and decades. Members do so much to ensure quality of life in Tompkins County is great and that all citizens are supported Thanks so much for all you do. Yep, people of action!
I suspect that everyone has their own perspective on how fast Coronavirus information is moving. Some mental health practitioners suggest only looking at the news twice a day as a way to manage anxiety. Some of us might keep a closer eye on developments. For Dominick Recckio, the speed of information can be more than just a marathon; it can be a steady sprint!  Dominick is one of us — an Ithaca Rotarian for 3-1/2 years — and he is the Communications Director for Tompkins County — for less than 6 months. Dominick graduated from Ithaca College’s Park School of Communications in 2016, worked at the Tompkins County Chamber in membership and communications for three years, and is an active volunteer with our United Way, the Center for Transformative Action, and the Tompkins County Library Foundation. Now, Dominick is in charge of keeping county residents informed about COVID-19 in their community.
Dominick has to sift through much more information than anyone has time to digest, so he has a three-way test for what to prioritize: - Is it critical public information?
- Is it encouraging good behavior?
- How is it inspiring / reassuring the people?
Dominick reports to County Administrator Jason Molina, and works closely with both Jason and Public Health Director Frank Kruppa. Day-to-day though, he oversees (and relies on) an active communications team that includes Health Department public information officer Samantha Hillson, as well as (Pres) Geoff and myself. I mention this not for boasting purposes (though there is some of that), but as a witness to Dominick’s ability to keep all the balls in the air, while never losing a grip on the most important one: team leadership.  Every two weeks the Tompkins County Legislature gets an update on the comings and goings of the Emergency Operations Center (did I mention that Dominick is the “comms” guy for that too?) Dominick put the most recent version of that report up on his screen. It is available to the public here.
Dominick also produces the periodic live stream COVID-19 Update Town Halls, during which Jason, Frank, and others give updates and answer questions from the community. You can find links to all of them here. The next Town Hall is this Thursday at 4:00 p.m. Tune in on YouTube here.
Ambassadors: None
Visiting Rotarians: None
Students: None
Workers:
• Thought for the Day, Ross Feldman
• Introductions, Rotary hosts introduced their guests
Zoom master: Angela Sullivan
Bulletin Reporter: Kelly Buck
Photographer: Mike Brown
Bulletin Editor: Ted Schiele
Club Service Facilitators, Beverly Baker & June Losurdo
Sunshine Chair, Kellyann O’Mara
August 26, 2020
Join Zoom Meeting
Meeting ID: 880 0341 6864; Passcode: 702484
Matt Adler, Rotary District Governor (7170)
“Opportunities”
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