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Tomorrow’s meeting:
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Meeting ID: 880 0341 6864; Passcode: 702484
5th Wednesday, Club Service Day: “Give Yourself a Point,” facilitated by Heidi Goldstein July 22, 2020
Newsletter Reporter: Reporter | Photos: Photos | Editor: Ted Schiele Still in his Presidential honeymoon period, Geoff Dunn opened his 4th meeting on a personal note: furlough is over, and as of yesterday, he is back full time in his seat at the County Department of Emergency Response! Despite what it may seem, time is not standing still!
The Four-Way Test was recited by Steve Savage, Steve Johnson, Frank Towner, and Loralyn Light.
President Dunn read us the Object of Rotary:
The Object of Rotary is to encourage and foster the ideal of service as a basis of worthy enterprise and, in particular, to encourage and foster: - FIRST: The Development of acquaintance as an opportunity for service.
- SECOND: High ethical standards in business and professions;
- THIRD: The application of the ideal of service in each Rotarian’s personal, business, and community life.
- FOURTH: The advancement of international understanding, goodwill, and peace through a world fellowship of business and professional persons united in the ideal of service.
 The Thought for The Day came from longtime member and former Ithaca Police Chief Harlin McEwen. In a heartfelt and well crafted presentation, Harlin expressed his strong denunciation of the acts of misconduct we have seen committed by some police officers around the country. He also expressed his support for most police officers who are good people and who are as troubled by these acts as all of us.
Harlin went on to denounce the hateful, vulgar speech exhibited by some protesters, as well as the criminal acts of violence and destruction being committed in some areas of the country. Pointing out that mental health and addiction services have long been seriously underfunded, Harlin emphasized that the focus should be greater attention on these services, rather than “defunding” the police. Read the full text of Harlin’s TfTD here.
Guests were introduced.
DoGoodery Raffle details were reported out by Raffle Maestro Maricelis Acevedo. Thirty-one tickets were sold last week, netting a total of $151. The prize was a gift card from Edible Arrangements, and the winning ticket belonged to President Geoff! (Geoff: the chocolate covered strawberries are a totally safe bet, but the pineapple is also really good!)
 Dennis Gray showed a great video about Rotary Harvest and the DoGoodery Raffle. This week’s raffle is prize is HugNLuv stuffed animals. This is the last raffle for this month with proceeds going to the Rotary Harvest. Next month’s raffle proceeds will go to a yet to be determined cause.
President Geoff asked that all Rotary members please fill out the survey about returning to in person meetings. Many are not comfortable returning in person and even when we do return to in person meetings, there will also be a zoom option for meetings. Thank you to everyone for your input!
Bob Gravani sent a note on behalf of John Barradas, Mary-Lynn Cummings, and himself expressing their sincere thanks to the Rotarians who put their backs into the Rt. 13 Clean-up last Saturday morning. The turn-out was outstanding; the best in a while — maybe even a record! The crew collected 48 bags of trash, giving our section of the highway a spit polish shine that can be seen from atop the Newfield hill. “We hope you had fun, got to better know each other while working, and gained the satisfaction of knowing the great work that we all did for our wonderful community," Bob said.
Long-time member of the Ithaca Rotary Club, Ned Dunham passed away. Ned was also a renowned pianist and member of the Savage Club.
Siu Ling’s mother passed away on July 21. She was 96 years old. Siu Ling’s father passed away on the same date 25 weeks ago (he lived to be 100). Both her parents were very active with pancake day and chicken BBQ.
Gertrude Noden reported on the results of the District Grants Committee. Twenty-eight applications were reviewed, of which 24 were awarded. Gertrude shared background and plans for the International Grant awarded for the proposal “Digital literacy for the 21st Century.” Funds are going to a school in Uganda; the school recently got a grant to renovate a computer lab that is now completed. The District grant will allow the school to put in the hardware and software for the lab.
Road Rally update from Kelly Buck: For the first time, the finish point is being shared ahead of the Road Rally: Pavilion F at Myers Park. To keep gatherings smaller, cars will stagger their arrival. The Salvation Army will have a food truck at the site. Awards will be announced the week after the rally.
Rotarian Nick Romo’s State Farm agency is our newest sponsor. Thank you Nick! Maguire Auto is our first sponsor, and one Rotarian is going to match their $125 sponsor fee. Goody bag donations are still being taken, so email Kelly (kdbskier@gmail.com) to to coordinate getting your swag into the mix. Everyone is asked to bring a non-perishable food item to the event.
The Rotary Road Rally is August 9. Online registration is open now; all teams are urged to pre-register to be eligible for one of the prizes. The unusual prizes are that three winners can direct a donation to their choice of charity. Proceeds of the Road Rally go to the James Gibbs scholarship.
Last year AguaClara Reach was the recipient of the Dozen Dinner Draw (DDD) campaign, and John Finn sent a letter of thanks to President Geoff. “On behalf of the many people who felt the positive impact from this effort, and who are still benefitting, I want to thank you and all Ithaca Rotarians,” John said. He included a PDF Thank You card, which you can open by clicking here.
Name: Hal Coghill
Classification: Financial Services
Employer: Equitable Advisors
Position/Title: Financial Professional
Sponsor: Frank Towner
Please send your comments regarding applicant(s) to New Member Flow Coordinator Joanne Lamoureux, within 10 days of receiving this bulletin.
Ivy Stevens-Gupta introduced guest speaker Suzanne Gilbert, Senior Director, Research & Strategic Opportunities at SEVA Foundation. Suzanne shared her work for global eye health for the Seva Foundation.
 The Seva Foundation partners worldwide to create self-sustaining programs that preserve and restore sight. Seva has helped restore sight to over 5 million people since the foundation started in 1978. In 1980, Seva analyzed data using an apple computer donated by Steve Jobs, and determined that at least 2.2 billion people in the world have severe vision impairment. Among these, vision impairment in at least 1 billion people could have been prevented or has yet to be addressed.
Seva works in over 25 countries with health ministries, ophthalmologists, and many others. Eighty-nine percent of the people Seva helps live in developing countries; 55% of blind people are women, and there are 19 million visually impaired children in the world. Three quarters of those with vision impairment need surgery or glasses; cataract surgery is the most commonly performed surgical procedure in the world.
 Seva started the Global Sight Initiative, which builds a community of practicing of eye care service providers around the world. Program drivers are primary eye care vision centers, training, kids, and technology. Seva’s response to the pandemic includes helping partners respond, conducting a rapid survey to find out the needs of partners, and inviting proposals to repurpose funding to help global partners. Seva is currently collecting stories about telehealth during COVID-29 to better improve remote services in the future.
Seva collaborates with global & U.S. professional societies, universities, and service organizations to promote quality assurance, training, and policy development, and collaborates to implement partner eye hospitals. Seva has worked with Rotary in many countries to provide services.
Workers:
• Thought for the Day, Harlin McEwen
• Introductions, Rotary hosts introduced their guests
Set-Up:
Bulletin Reporter: Margaret Frank
Photographer: Mike Brown
Bulletin Editor: Ted Schiele
Club Service Facilitators, Beverly Baker & June Losurdo
Sunshine Chair, Kellyann O’Mara
Join Zoom Meeting
Meeting ID: 880 0341 6864; Passcode: 702484
5th Wednesday, Club Service Day: “Give Yourself a Point,” facilitated by Heidi Goldstein
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