Secretary Teresa noted the new slate of officers 

Kevin – President

Tim – President Elect

V-President - Heidi Barrett-Kitchen

Craig – Immediate Past President

Teresa – Secretary

Ed – Asst. Secretary

Dick Pendergast - Treasurer

Also on the Board of Directors:  Bonnie Ireland, Harry Reichlen, Tiffany Pena

 

 

A special presentation:

 

In the spirit of the 4^th of July just passed Gary spoke of an acquaintance and now close friend he had heard from recently.  The remarkable individual who ultimately took the name “Genka” was imprisoned in war torn Europe as a child.  Once released, he was befriended by US service members and a church group leading to his immigration in 1952 and naturalization in 1954.  Growing up he ‘fell under the spell’ of the LA Angles and their then owner Gene Autry, who hearing his story, rewarded him with a signed personal autograph  After Gary’s introduction of  Genka, he shared a short video he receive from him  that featured Johnny Cash entitled:  An Inside Look… A History of Our Flag. In poetic verse, it traced the many ‘wounds’ our Flag has endured since Washington Crossed the Delaware to present day.  It was intensely moving and spellbound many of us as we live through the present.

 

Bev Lapham yielded his seat to Liz who extended the thanks of the Meredith Pathways Committee for the $35,000 that Rotary contributed to the Hawkins Brook, Laverack Nature Trail.  That dream is now a reality and will be dedicated on September 13^th.

 

Fred reported that membership has remained relatively constant… new members including two corporate memberships and one family membership has helped offset our losses.  He urged membership outreach!

 

Harry reported on extensive and mostly unseen work by the Technology Committee (Harry, Bruce, Ray, Fred, etc.).  In response to school on-line learning, the committee saw to it that the children of our four neighboring towns had access to wifi.  Unbelievable as it might seem, this committee has spent over 400 hours developing software that will revitalize almost everything the Meredith Rotary Club needs to operate.  This includes the processing of Derby ticket sales; fish entries; marketing; publicity, etc. A purchaser will now be able to print out one’s own ticket on-line! We also now have fail-safe measures to protect us from another power failure (as in 2019) including a wifi network for the waterfront.  Initial testing of the systems has proven out and a ‘mock derby’ is planned for September.  Tiffany has been working to ‘clean-up’ our derby database. She has culled the list and has identified As many as 20,000 individual derby participants over the last 10 years.

Ray Moritz, not hiding his emotions, expressed how overwhelmed he is by the contributions our newest members have made in their short time as Meredith Rotarians.  He stated:   Bruce and his Technology Committee have completed a ‘yeomen’ task well beyond his wildest expectations!

 

Tiffany, the new Ms. PR, has begun work to improve our visibility in the world of social media.  She will be updating our website; evaluating current vendors; establishing a marketing budget; developing a leveraging strategy to attract more members; and will be working to improve efficiencies in inter-committee communication.

 

Jim Mcfarlin announced the receipt of a $25,000 grant for the Meredith Library which puts that fundraising effort over $1M.  Ray, in the know as Chairman of the Select Board, noted with great pleasure that this exceeded the expectations of his committee.  Congratulations Jim!  Jim also reported on the “College Graduate Signs” purchased by Rotary and placed at student homes. This endeavor has been acknowledged with great pleasure by their families.  Thank you Jim!

 

Gary reported on our pending Global Grant earmarked to fund emergency responder’s disinfection gear for our four local fire stations.   We are in a very good position to have our contribution more than tripled by Rotary International.  We will know shortly.

 

Kevin and Richard Gerken informed the membership that Richard’s wife Carol recently fell at her daughter’s home sustaining a concussion and hairline fracture to her pelvis.  This will involve a lengthy recovery but “she is already on her feet”.  Rotarians’ thoughts were sent her way.

 

Gary reported briefly that Jasmine, two year past president of Interact, will be entering her freshmen year at Liberty College (CA) while taking her courses virtually.  She will remain in the Lakes Region actively involved in her church in Laconia.  She is looking into forming a Rotary affiliated group/club for young adults like herself who share our common values.  Congratulations and good luck Jasmine!

Gary was recognized by President Kevin for having been named District Coordinator of the long-term Exchange Program!

 

President Kevin’s $25 Happy Dollar went to recognize Teresa, John, Jim and Heidi on their Paul Harris Awards.