Present: President Neil Zanni, David Roth, Joan Ficarra, Tammy Deveikes (Zoom), Jim Fusco, Alley Giangrande, Ellen Gale, Amie Avila, Leslie Tondreau, and Maila Berry
President Neil Zanni called the meeting to order at 7:24 a.m. @ AOCU
Pledge of Allegiance: Ellen Gale
Inspiration Quote: Ellen Gale
Birthdays/Anniversary Shoutout: None
Card Raffle: Sierra Hughes, picked Neil's name and he pulled a four for $4.00. ($63 total)
Guests: Nancy Beach, Sierra Hughes & Enier Rodrigues Da Silva
Speaker: We had Rob Foster join us this morning who Ellen met at an event and thought his 9/11 personal story was worth sharing with all of us. He showed us a powerpoint filled with pictures and graphs of 9/11 that he experienced as he lived 1 block away from the twin towers. Today's weather, 9/17 was just like that day on 9/11/01. He walked his daughter to school and then walked his way into work at Gateway Plaza. He showed us a picture from the early 1980's of Battery City when it had sand and was considered a little beach on downtown Manhattan showing the twin towers in the background. The showed a picture of what Battery City looks like today filled in with buildings along the Hudson River. Battery Park was filled with restaurants, stores and felt very safe as a neighborhood until 9/11. His timeline of that day outlines as: at 8:15 am walked his daughter to school and went to the office, 8:46 am North tower plane crash, 9:03 am South tower crash, 9:15 am he returned home from office, 9:59 am South tower collapses, 10:28 am North tower collapses, 1:00 pm up town was destroyed and at 5:20 pm WTC7 building collapsed. His family stayed that night in the apartment and had lit candles in the windows as did everyone else who stayed behind in their apartments. This was to let people know they were there because there was no power, no phones and very spotty cell service. The light from 'the pitt' shown in his apartment and was so bright they had to sleep in another room. The next morning they had to get out and pack everything that had value to them in suitcases and backpacks. There were pics of windows blown out, and 2 inches of dust and debris in the streets. Most were not home in the apartments bc they left early to go to work. His family stayed with his cousin in a 1 bedroom apartment temporarily but then had to move several times after that. His work eventually laid off everyone in NY so times were very difficult for him and his family with no place to live and no job. They shuffled from place to place, stayed at the Plaza hotel for 2 weeks then the last week in October/1st week in November they returned to their apartment. He told story of when the a/c suddenly stopped working and it was bc there was so much dust/debris inside. He credits the Red Cross for moving into an apartment on 12/20/01 on the 40th floor at Rector Place overlooking the NY harbor and Hudson River which they lived for 2 years. Rob showed pics of what Battery City park looks like today and the memorial of the towers. He is one of many that has a special card to go to the doctors for annual health checkups due to the horrible dust that everyone encountered. His wife passed away in 2017 and he now lives in Lunenburg for the past 23 years. 9/12/01 changed everyone in NY and across the country, it was the few days where everyone cared for one another. David commented he was in CT that morning and could see the dust cloud from 30 miles away. We will never forget as we remember all the lives that were lost and still losing today from health concerns. Q & A followed.
Happy/Sad Dollars:
We had 13 people that contributed for happy/sad dollars, and the collection of food dollars and Foundation.
New Business discuss this morning:
JAF - Joan went over the details, Neil will be there at 6:00 am, come at 7:30 am, tables that Neil will provide, bring your own chairs, we will have 2 scratch ticket, one that will be a tree and the other a skeleton - sell tickets for 1 for $5.00 and 3 for $10.00 and it will go towards our charities we serve. New brochure has been printed. Joan will bring dictionaries to hand out, and Tammy will bring a lockbox to put money in. Alley stated it cost $75 to make Thanksgiving pie banner which we approved of $50 originally. Jim made motion to pay Alley the $75 and David seconded with all in favor. Signup sheet was going around for 8-12 and 12-5 shifts. Modify pickup date within Zeffy pie order. Will be in the District newsletter. Need to sell pies!!!!
RYLA - Neil ran into teacher at Monty Tech. More to come.
Old Business to reference:
Cormier Park - David gave update that we raised an American flag (Mayor Dean will replace the interim flag and give back to David because Kelli ordered a new one. Jim F. stated there are 3 benches with a plaque to remember past Rotarians. Neil donated mulch and now we need to get a date/time to do this?? We need to get more cleanup there, get a signup sheet, can we go through Ward councilor to help with this effort (?) and do we have any more Rotary flags as backups? Maila is finding out from Kelli how much we owe her for flag from the mayor.
Spoke about corporate/family memberships through RI that to hold a Rotary position in a club you must be the active primary person. The additional people in a family/corporate membership are honorary therefore cannot hold a position that we report on in club runner.
Steering Committee - meeting on 9/17 @ AOCU. Present were Neil, David, Joan, Amie, Jim, Alley and Maila. Minutes are below:
10/1 BOD meeting - All committee chairs, please be prepared to present your reports and provide any updates.
Jim will reach out to Athol/Orange club to come visit and talk about the fire truck fundraiser. We need invoice if we are going to donate money? How much? $100?
Need to add another person to committee - David is joining.
Corporate membership - what does business get for recognition? Need to add the corporates in club runner. Maybe add new price tier of $300 to have 2 active members? If so, need to update Bylaws.
Peace Pole - should we add this to the rail trail with our bench on Erdman Way? Jim will ask Leominster/Fitchburg/Rail Trail person on installation. We already have one at Cormier Park. Do we vote to get another one?
We have new brochure - thank you Alley!!
Rollup Rotary sign - Leslie needs to sign to get quote from vendor. Who has it?
Meat Raffle for March 2027? Joan will work with Tammy.
Looking for Treasurer backup?
Still in process of reviewing Bylaws
New Members - installation on 10/8 for Enier, Sierra and Cassi. To be active members you have to pay dues which we pro-rate and all others will be honorary. Then we can switch from honorary to active in club runner. Invoice will be given to Enier.
Speakers - Kelli/Ellen working on this and Joan can reach out to her potential people now that we have structured meetings. Have speakers 2x a month.
Haunted House - we will volunteer/support event being held on 10/3, 10/10, 10/17 or 10/24. Let Neil know, need signup sheet.
Comedy Show - asking Leslie to pull numbers to maybe have event in fall of 2027? David/Amie chairs
LRC Tournament - Jim F still needs to look at numbers and get back to the club. We need to get December meeting on calendar with Fitchburg club.
Budget - to complete after 10/1 morning meeting with Neil, David, Amie, Leslie and Maila for 2026-27 and for 2027-28. Need one for 2026-27. Leslie will bring past budgets to reference for meeting. Need Slate of Officers for December meeting.
District Rotary Signs - Leominster club/John Souza is replacing old Rotary signs with new ones. Need to fix the Rotary sign from across C n M pizza because it is crooked and on business flower bed container. We re trying to improve Rotary visibility and the brand of Rotary. Where are we putting our club signs? Jim will ask Leominster club...maybe Lunenburg, Ashburnham, Townsend?
Salvation Army - spoke with Lynette at JAF and she has us down for 11/28 from 10-5. Looking for 1 hour shifts from club? Sent her an email yesterday asking if she can come speak to club before 11/28; gave dates for 10/29, 11/15 or 11/12. More to come!
2027-28 Grant Discussion?
2026-27 Grant - Jim stated grant approved from District and $2,000 check will be sent out the 2nd week in October.
The grant will be for the technology at Crystal Clubhouse and the need for smartboards for their daily tasks. They have 1 and it is going so well they are proposing for 1 or 2 more. They are touchscreen, can connect to phones, tracks meetings, etc. Our grant we were asking for $3,000 and Tammy found one for $2998. Update - Submitted grant for $4,000 and will get back $2,000.
Bylaws - At each meeting we will review sections of our current 2023 Bylaws. We reviewed Articles 1-4 together as a club. Jim F. re-handed out the edits made on Articles 1-4 and discussed at this mornings meeting. RI only recognizes the president and can only have 1 cast vote and see email from Jim on edits that were made. Leslie has master sheet of Bylaws and she will make changes once we get through them all and will send out revised Bylaws to all club members.
Maila will reviewed Article 5 for next meeting. We are going to list Co-President in Article 5, section 1, remove attendance meeting, make note Leslie/I share some of these duties. An update will be sent out for review.
Amie will reviewed Article 6. We had a discussion when we do the final review of bylaws that we put in the following: to create a financial assessment committee to conduct an annual review of the budget, banking accounts, financials, deposits, withdrawals, checks, etc. at the end of each presidency.
Joan will reviewed Article 7. We had no changes to this section.
David will reviewed Article 8 and Article 9. Need to have discussion about corporate membership to update bylaw verbiage throughout document if we want to have more than 1 primary listed. For the framework, did we verify that all Avenues of Service is included in this?
Article 10 & 11 - Alley, please review for next meeting
Article 12 & 13 - Jim Fusco, please review
2026 Upcoming Dates:
September 24th: cancelled meeting
October 1st: Monthly BOD meeting
October 8th - District Governor Penny Hamel visit - all required to attend @ AOCU
October 15th: Open
October 22nd: Open / Steering Committee Meeting following morning meeting
October 29th: Open
November 5th: Open
November 12th: Monthly BOD Meeting
November 18th: District Foundation Dinner at Great Wolf Lodge Fitchburg
November 19th: Open
November 20th: Turkey Raffle at Athol/Orange club
November 26th: NO MEETING
November 28th: Salvation Army Bell ringing 10-5 @ Walmart in Leominster.
December 10th: Monthly BOD Meeting
Next meeting meeting scheduled for Thursday, October 1, 2026 at AOCU for 7:15 am..
