Maddy called the meeting to order at 7:40 a.m.
Pledge of Allegiance: Ellen Gale
Reflection Moment or Song: Maddy Merchant
Birthdays & Anniversaries: David Roth birthday Jan 11
Happy Sad/Dollars:
Alley - happy she is here and is selling Superbowl squares for $25.00 each.
Kelli - Happy just because
Neil - excited to have Jim here to speak and even got here early!
Jim F. - he's broke went to ATM but TDBank ran out of $$, Holiday party was a great event. What is a sargent of arms to do? Be here, have badges. Happy to be leaving for Costa Rica for 10 days and will not be here - passing it to Derek.
Michelle - make Derek be sargent of arms all the time, lol!
Tammy - happy that Lisa is started scholl yesterday!
Lisa - happy for her next class
Maila - thank you Jim for being our speaker, had a great time at the Holiday event and happy to be here!
Joan - thank you Jim for being here, very interesting discussion he spoke about, sad dollar granddaughter in CA had to evacuate twice and can't work.
Jim Lattanzi - gave $20 to be here
Jeannie - has known Jim L. since 1984! She hopes he still has picture she left him of him sitting on the deer, lol....which the deer was cemented on the ground.
Ellen - happy Jim is here to speak, let us know if there is any projects for us to volunteer for. Happy her grandson, Jack (8 years old) has his 1st piano lesson and Theo (6 years old) was talking up a storm to see Nana! Chris is skiing in Aspen last time he was there he tore his acl and happy to be here sitting with everyone!
Maddy - happy that her and Shawn attended the Holiday party, his 1st time going which they both had fun and painted the baby's room pale rose color.
Agenda Items that were discussed:
- January 17th - THANK YOU to everyone who attended our annual Holiday Rotary party!!
- Gave update on Blue Ocean Society Ladder the inflatable whale at Mckay on 1/10/25 which the club donated a $100 towards the project. The 1st grade teacher thanked us and students leanred about the anantomy of the whale.
- Looking for volunteers from 5pm-6am for 2 to 3hr blocks at the emergency shelter support in Leominster by emergency management center. Maddy can get contact if anyone is interested.
- Maddy, Alley, David, Leslie and Neil met on 1/17 to put a budget together for FY26. Haven't had in 5 years, will build foundation going forward.
- RYLA update - Maddy registered 2 students, Leslie will send a check for them, Maddy reached out to Monty Tech and still needs to connect with Oakmont and she will attend the RYLA training on 1/22. The dates are June 27-29. Bring in newspapers for this event. We will conduct interviews end of Feb/beginning of Mar.
- Rotary International and District bills for the 2nd half of the year have been paid.
- Service Projects and fundraiser discussions - Mother's Day flower sale, Cormier Park cleanup (Rotary Day Of Caring), Gift card fundraiser (next year) and Mental Health Awareness Event in May.
- LRC - September; have this once a year vs. twice
- District - PELS; David and Neil both planning to attend
- Birthday kits - will give to Tammy and let us know when we can bring them to food pantry.
- District Grant - there is $1,900.00 open to clubs that is left over and has to be used each year. We can put in an application to get some of this money for Veteran's project sign. Jim F. will provide an update in a couple of weeks on this.
Speaker:
Ellen introduced Jim Lattanzi, owner of Hollis Hills in Lunenburg. He is approaching 11 years which is a challenging business especially with food but can be very rewarding. You cannot always measure success by your checkbook. He asks, what can I do and the impact I can have on my community, family, employees and neighborhood? You manifest your own fortune with good human measure with support, giving back and donating. Last year was tough. Five years ago he started his own excavation business focusing on drainage, clearing land, snow removal, etc. which is financially stable. He is not a huge veggie grower like Neil but does have berry/fruit trees and is a hay grower. He is always helping others and chasing down opportunites to bring back to Hollis Hills. In 2018, he bought some cows and sold the beef to local restaurants as they are willinng to pay premium because where it's coming from and he feeds them organically. He had to do an infrastructure upgrade for this but he is excited for this passion project. He does have some apple/peach trees but with the low temperatures this may hurt the trees as they won't know until the spring. He spoke highly about his mother being a gardner and harvesting when he was younger with her which is probably where he got the love of getting in the 'dirt'. He talked about his food truck he had, the maple syruping he did with over 4,000 taps and tubing on th trees. He even completed the infrastructure on his own road for paving in Fitchburg which cost him about $70,000. He loves challenges and is always tackling projects which he is so proud to share. Thank you, Jim for sharing a piece of your world with us. We look forward when you can come back as a speaker again!
Next meeting is scheduled for Thursday, January 30, 2025 at All One Credit Union., 20 Adams St. Leominster @ 7:30 a.m.
Adjourned at 8:35a.m.
Minutes taken by:
Secretary Maila Berry
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