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Tomorrow’s meeting:
Community Grants Presentations (Your LAFF dollars at work!) October 3, 2018  President Mary open … Nope, wait, rewind; In Mary’s absence — she was in the U.K. (see Rotary photo, below) — Veep Geoff Dunn opened the meeting, at the Ithaca Country Club (listen for the sound of self-inflicted forehead slaps by those who showed up at Coltivare), and thanked the ICC staff for hosting us once again. Geoff gave the high sign for the Hinman & Siu-Ling duo to step up, and lead both verses — complete with spoken intro — of Irving Berlin’s “God Bless America.” What a great song. We easily matched any seventh inning stretch.
[Sidebar: When I was about eight, my brother and I spent spring break in Palm Beach with my grandparents. Riding up the hotel elevator one evening, a large woman with a walking cast got on. My grandparents greeted her in a low key manner, then said something about going on Ed Sullivan even with the cast. Yes, she said, a bit exasperated; a sprained ankle. When the woman’s floor came up, she offered my brother and me a purple marshmallow Peep from the box she was carrying, and hobbled off. For the rest of her years, my grandmother would pop up with, Remember that time you got the marshmallow chick from Kate Smith?]
 The Thought for The Day was given by Brigid Hubberman, who read from Peter Reynold’s book, The Word Collector.
“Reach for your own words. Tell the world who you are, and how you will make it better.”
Rotarians introduced their guests, among whom was — we’re told — a future member! Also in the house: Evan Kurtz from the Dryden Club, and our exchange student Giulia, from Italy. Joanne Lamoureux had the honors for October birthdays and Club anniversaries, and Don Hinman lent us his voice once again to lead Happy Birthday. (That day was even Don’s actual birthday day!)
The red ticket raffle for two tickets to the December 9 concert with Don McLean at the State Theater was won by none other than … Jeff Bricker! Well done, Jeff!
 Last week was the last LAFF reminder, given by show producer, Jack Roscoe. The ninth annual show, which took place last Saturday, broke the $100,000 mark for money raised to support community grants, local arts, and the Ithaca High Arts Boosters. The show was outstanding — a perfect mix of youth and adult performers, including some amazing voices from both age groups. Many kudos and high fives to a lot of vols from both Rotary, the Savage Club, and IHS. Rotary Community Grants, funded by LAFF, will be awarded this week at our meeting.
 Linda Pasto made another announcement about our District grant that sponsors “Day for Girls,” an amazing program to make feminine hygiene kits and “Turning Periods Into Pathways” for girls all over the world. The next sewing event dates will be October 19 and 20 (weekend after next). Please sign up to help — no sewing experience necessary!
Global Handwashing Day is October 15, and if you want to see handwashing education in action, check out this 3 minute video of our own Dennis Gray teaching a group of kids in Kenya. The clip will open in a Dropbox window (tab) ready to play with no need to sign-in.
 Siu-Ling asked Rotarians to consider placing a $100 ad on the Pancake Day placemat. This annual tradition allows the club to raise an additional $2,700 to support our student exchange program. Please submit your 2” x 3.5” ad to Siu-Ling by October 15.
And speaking of Pancake Day, sign-up sheets for volunteer slots will be available starting next week. This is an All Hands On Deck event; our biggest of the year. On Tuesday, November 6, earn an “I Volunteered” sticker to go with your “I Voted” sticker.
Geoff collected Happy Dollars: casino night at the Hangar, Finger Lakes ReUse Center, Unity House fundraising day at Chili’s, keeping Ron Provus’ wife Barbara in our thoughts, trip to South Dakota, Zone 28 & 29 Institute, and the Tommy Plane (Mike Brown’s photo is below, and in the Ithaca Times).
And, Geoff introduced our newest member — Diane Cohen. Diane is an Ithaca College graduate and the executive director of Finger Lakes ReUse Center in Ithaca. F.L. ReUse is celebrating its 10th anniversary, and in keeping with one of our newest mini-traditions in which a just introduced new member is also the meeting speaker, Diane stayed at the podium to give her presentation.
 Diane Cohen thanked the club for the warm welcome, both as a new member and as the day’s speaker. The Finger Lakes Reuse Center was founded in 2007 to help reduce waste and reinvest value back into the community. F.L. ReUse has won numerous awards, including the N.Y.S. Environmental Excellence Award and Sustainable Tompkins’s People’s Choice Award in 2016.
Why reuse? It reduces waste, conserves energy, saves money, and produces jobs. Diane’s presentation was titled, “Reducing Waste and Creating Opportunities.” The mission of the FLR is to enhance community, economy, and environment through ReUse. FLR has 12,000 “super users” (members). Click here to download the slideshow in PDF.
F.L. ReUse became so successful, it won a grant through Eugene, Oregon-based Cascade Alliance to start a second store downtown.
 The original Triphammer Mall store opened in 2008 with 7,000 square feet. They have recently added clothing. Deconstruction and salvage of building materials and electronics is another large part of their work. In these categories, F.L. ReUse provides great opportunities for job training.
In August 2018, sales were up 28% and donations up by 52% (graphs are in the slides). Believe it or not, these increased donations are a challenge, a happy challenge, for F.L. ReUse. The store is now into recycling clothing, which takes a significant amount of space.
F.L. ReUse is part of a large and growing reuse industry, the entirety of which faces serious challenges: wasteful/ non-reusable product design, lack of reuse infrastructure, overflowing landfills (it takes only 30-40 years to fill a landfill site). Still, and the end of Diane’s day the best aspect of her work is the human experience. Working with the staff and volunteers she said, is very rewarding.
Finger Lakes ReUse has a business plan available online, which is open to be reviewed by any community with an interest in starting their own ReUse center.
Ambassadors: None
Visiting Rotarians: Evan Kurtz, Dryden Club
Students: Giulia, Italy
Workers:
• Greeter, Jim Showacre
• Kettle, Mel Richards
• Thought for the Day, Brigid Hubberman
• Introductions, Rotary hosts introduced their guests
Set-Up:
Bulletin Reporter: Kelly Buck
Photographer: Mike Brown
Bulletin Editor: Ted Schiele
Club Service Facilitators, Beverly Baker & Jeff True
Sunshine Chair, Kellyann O’Mara
October 10, 2018
Coltivare, S. Cayuga at Clinton St., Downtown Ithaca
Community Grants Presentations
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