Milford Rotary Fall Roundup
So far the Fall of 2013 has been overflowing with fun and good works! Phatsuda Somsuk (aka Jenny), our 2013 Rotary Exchange Student, arrived and started her year with a flourish. We flipped pancakes and burgers around town with lots of support from the Interact Club. We honored a fellow Rotarian and longtime supporter of our 100 Holes of Golf. Prez John's powers of persuasion got us 6 website sponsors and our local RI Foundation Chairperson stripped us of a few dollars to reach the fall End Polio Now goal. Read on for photos, highlights and more fun to look forward to.
Post-Labor Day kickoff to Fall - September got off to a great start with the induction of a new Rotarian - Armand Chery! Sponsored by Prez-elect Rick Boyd, Armand is a certified personal trainer and the owner of Amherst Yoga and Fitness Studio! Prez John got busy and rounded up six businesses to sponsor the club's website. Thank you to Dave, Marc, Ken, Rick, Joe and John! This was a great help to the Club Funds bottom line.
Rotary Exchange Student - Jenny arrived at Logan International Airport and started her Rotary Exchange Adventure here in the Souhegan Valley - attending Milford High, making new friends, playing fieldd hockey, visits to the lake and seacoast, pressing apples for cider, cheering on "brother" Jimmy in soccer, homework in front of the fireplace, Homecoming 2013 and so much more!
45th Annual Pancake Breakfast! Milford Rotarians once again flipped pancakes on the first Sunday after Labor Day and netted around $24,000 for our community support and scholarship programs. Hundreds of neighbors joined us for breakfast - many who attend every year and many who will be making this a new tradition in their households. As always the Interact students were a great help !
A good turn always deserves another! Since Interact Club members always show-up to help at MRC events, club members were quick to sign-up this year to help Interact at the Milford Pumpkin Festival! While the kids "manned" the front end sales and serving, Rotarians grilled up the usual delicacies! Great fun was had by all and we got to meet Nancy Tong the new Wilton-Lyndeborough Interact advisor during her initiation to Pumpkin Festival fun on the corner of Middle Street and Union Square. The Interact Club netted over $4000 this year from their Pumpkin Festival Concession stand!
Joe Clement - Paul Harris Fellow recipient! At the October 9th meeting, Milford Rotary presented Henniker Rotarian Joe Clement with his 5th Paul Harris Fellow. As Alec Buchanan remarked "Joe is one of the good guys and a true gentleman!" Joe has been participating in the 100 Holes of Golf tournament since the beginning. As a matter of fact, he has only missed a couple of years in the event's 19 year history - and that, according to Alec, was because we forgot to call him!! This year Joe not only played 100 Holes, he once again sold an enormous number of raffle tickets - nearly 500 or nearly $10,000 worth this year - and his annual number keeps going up each year. Bravo Joe - Thank you and see you on July 25, 2014 for the 20th annual 100 Holes of Golf Tournament!
A double-header for the Rotary Foundation and End Polio Now - Sheila Sturm, our local RI Foundation Chairwoman, put out a challenge to the club - let's raise $3500 in three months for End Polio Now! As Sheila explained this was part of a larger RI initiative to take advantage of a 2-to-1 challenge from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. To read more about the RI-Gates Partnership Click Here. To reach our modest goal a number of anonymous $500 donations were made and multiple members contributed to the cause. Tom Quinn donated a $30 Mile Away gift certificate that Steve Desmarias quickly auctioned off to Dave Hammer with a winning bid of $60! The pièce de résistance for this campaign came with an over-the-top finale by our fearless chairwoman. When looking at the photo below of Sheila standing on the front table imagine hearing the 1958 David Rose tune entitled "The Stripper". Needless to say - we exceeded the $3500 goal!
The second part of October's End Polio Now double-header came on October 24th. Members of our club traveled to Concord NH to participate in World "End Polio Now" Day including an illumination at State House Plaza. This world-wide event shined a light on Rotary's leading role in ending polio around the world. Additionally there was a live stream broadcast of the latest update Click Here
What's Next............ 
According to Steve Sareault, Interact Liaison, Milford Rotary will be sponsoring four local high school students to attend the upcoming Rotary Youth Leadership Award (RYLA) event. The Monadnock Rotary Club sponsors this day-long workshop each year. The students attending this year are:
Jaida Silomba, Wilton-Lyndebourgh ~ Hanna Hembrow, Milford
Erin Tyrrell, Milford ~ Annie Feraco, Souhegan Valley Boys & Girls Club
And as if any of us could forget - IT'S nearly CHRISTMAS TREE SEASON! Please remember to sign-up for three shifts including at least one weekend shift. Any questions - please see Captain Christmas...errr.....we mean Co-chairman Chris Nervik.
P.S. The Holiday Party will be on Sunday, December 1st. Co-chairpersons Karen Keating and Mike Brisebois are making the arrangements - stay tuned for further details via email.