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April 2023 Message from Mario Salati, Endicott Rotary President

We are glad to see that our long winter is coming to an end and that spring is squeaking through with warmer weather and nature showing it’s beautiful colors.

I would like to thank all who presented (or gave input) at our “State of Endicott Rotary” at our March 30th meeting: Betty Casey, Tom Johnson (Dave Powell), Tom Latini, Darlene Leonard, Kim Potter, and Brian Steele…all was well received and informative.

Thank you for those that completed our recent Club survey. We received 47% back from our members. Although we would have liked 100%, all research says that if you receive at least 1/3 (33%) back you’re doing well, and we surpassed that. I’m concluding that those that did not turn one in, are satisfied with the overall operations of our Club. Here are a few general comments gained from the survey. (I gave a more specific summary at our meeting on March 30^th.) Results:

Members feel extremely welcomed and Club is very friendly
Meetings are informative and fun
Overall good variety and educational speakers
Club leadership is positive and transparent
Members feel they are valued
Excellent meeting place, and positive about food and staff
Positive exposure throughout our community
Great camaraderie
Good networking opportunities
Good and important community projects
Overall, members feel very positive about our Club

We know that we should not rest on our laurels and must work to strengthen and improve wherever we can. Some comments and suggestions were given in the following areas:

Pursue ways where we can bring in younger members
Ensure that all members are respected with their opinions and ideas
More involvement with district and international endeavors
Keep our meetings moving along, give time to our speakers, and stay withing 20-minute presentations
Continue to encourage attendance and project participation
Sponsorship and support of community events…maintain high visibility within our community
Pursue partnerships with other community organizations
A little more variety with lunches…include more vegetables
Continue to reinforce service above self…think of “the whole vs. self”

It takes all of us, with all our efforts, to continue to make Endicott Rotary the premier service club in the “Greater Endicott” community. Thanks to all of you!

Wishing you the best,

Mario A. Salati

President

1926 Wurlitzer Band Organ

Endicott Rotary acquired the 1926 Wurlitzer Band Organ

which will be on loan to the local Endicott communities

gracing the areas world famous Herschel Carousels

The band organ is scheduled to be on a yearly rotation between

West Endicott Park in the Town of Union and

George W. Johnson Park located in the Little Italy

section of the Village of Endicott

1926 Wurlitzer Band Organ

Music Rolls in the Band Organ

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Annual Food Basket Project

The Endicott Rotary Club, and other members of the community, provided food for the holidays for 125 families! Each year we team with the Union-Endicott School District and the Southern Tier Community Center to provide food baskets to families in need.

We were able to give each family 3 boxes of food totaling approximately 100 pounds of food per household. Enough food is provided for a Holiday meal as well as food for the winter break.

A very special thank you to Sam A. Lupo and Sons for providing their facility for staging, packing and storing baskets, as well as a refrigerated delivery truck. We would also like to thank all of our community partners, as well as The Community Foundation for offering us grant funds for food insecurity. This allowed our team to provide food to 25 additional families this year.

Thank you, Nikki, Dave and Mike, for leading the project for Endicott Rotary and The Union-Endicott School District, especially Nicole, Pamela, Jenn and Chris.

We are truly grateful to live, work and be a part of such a caring community.

Mario Salati

President

Endicott Rotary

Endicott Rotary Foundation Message

On November 15, I presented a check to Rob Pickett from Pickett's Painting for the painting of the Endicott Visitors Center in the amount of $2,800.00. It hadn't been painted in many years and was looking pretty bad. We were asked to actually do the painting but after considering it, the board decided to hire professionals to do it. Monica Jordan and I received two bids for the job and Rob came in $600 less than the other painting contractor. I personally have been responsible for getting the bricks on the inside walkway done for several years now. The bricks each cost $35.00 including engraving, which is now $15.00 per brick I believe, with the other $20.00 going into a separate account that is to be used ONLY for the Visitors Center. I asked if any amount could be used towards offsetting the cost of the painting and we received $500.00 towards that cost from Broome County Community Charities. So the foundation's net cost was $2,300.00. This was approved by the board several months ago.

Nicole Wolfe sent me a request for the U-E Key Club for a donation of any amount. After speaking to her about the request, she said the Endicott Sertoma Club donated $500.00 to this cause. I am attaching her letter to me so that everyone can get an idea where our funds are being used within the community once we make a donation. The Foundation also agreed to donate $500.00 to them.

We have also received a request from JoAnne Morak from the Girl Scouts NYPENN Pathways for $3,000. She was a guest speaker a few weeks ago. I returned an email to her explaining to her that we cannot give $3,000.00 to them at this time and that I would let her know the amount, if any, that we can donate.

The board is trying to donate something to each organization requesting a donation. As I said earlier, once the funds that have been allocated and have been donated, we can only donate more from the principle for an emergency situation, which brings me to another topic.

As you all know, in the past, Sam Lupo has been able to secure from Broome Catholic Charities the turkeys for the food boxes that are donated each year to the needy families of the U-E School District. This year, Sam was notified that they would not be able to help with the turkeys. Sam called me to see if the Foundation could purchase them if he couldn't secure the turkeys. This would fall under the emergency situation that I mentioned, plus it wouldn't be a huge sum of money. As it turned out, John Karedes became involved and was able to secure the 125 turkeys needed from Rob's Market in Hallstead, PA, owned by Anthony Coppola. Anthony made a donation in the form of a discount of approximately $1,100 to $1,200, the Broome County Community Charities made a donation, and Louie and John Karedes picked up the balance. Due to the business relationships developed over the years by several people and the generosity of individuals, this highly worthwhile project will continue as always.

I hope this gives all of you the insight of what's going on with the money we work so hard to raise over the year. If any of you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.

Take care,

Tom Latini

Endicott Rotary Foundation President 22/23

Third Graders Receive Dictionaries

Third-grade students in all elementary schools received a special gift that will serve them well in their education for years to come.

For nearly 13 years, members of the Endicott Rotary Club and Endicott Elks Lodge have donated dictionaries to all U-E third graders.

Dr. Dennis Sweeney, who helps coordinate the effort, said it’s an important program for both organizations adding, “Each child will have their own dictionary to use in support of general literacy education.” Sweeney, retired U-E superintendent, delivered the dictionaries to each elementary school. Building principals and a few students greeted Dr. Sweeney and thanked him for the generous donation. Each dictionary has a bookmark and a label where students can write their names.

The partnership helps foster community and collaboration between our students and the organizations in our area.

Rotary Internation on recent polio detections in U.S., Europe

August 18, 2022

The recent detection of the vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 case in New York, USA, and isolates in several environmental samples collected in London are stark reminders that as long as polio exists anywhere, it is a threat everywhere. It also highlights the importance of vaccination as the only form of protection against polio and other vaccine-preventable diseases and the work that needs to be done in our communities to encourage the uptake of vaccines. Also, as the world gets closer to zero wild poliovirus cases, it is increasingly important to track all forms of the virus wherever they may appear, including in polio-free regions.

Learn more and donate to
End Polio Now

The U.S. is still considered low risk for paralytic outbreaks of polio due to the high level of vaccine coverage across the population. If a child has received the entire course of vaccines, the risk of becoming paralyzed by polio is negligible. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 92.6% of children aged 24 months are fully vaccinated against polio, slightly below the 95% World Health Organization target.

The best things countries can do to protect themselves from polio until the disease is eradicated from the world are to: maintain high vaccination coverage and robust disease surveillance and be ready to respond in the event of an outbreak to minimize the risk and consequences of polio re-introduction or re-emergence anywhere.

The world currently has a unique opportunity to stop virus transmission for good. Still, all parties, including donors and country governments, must re-commit to polio eradication by fully supporting the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) 2022-2026 strategy. This focuses on adopting an emergency posture while generating greater accountability and ownership from country governments to eradicate wild polio and end variant poliovirus (cVDPV) outbreaks.

Rotary, a global service organization with over 1.4 million members, has been at the center of the worldwide effort to eradicate polio for over three decades. Every year, through our funding partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Rotary commits $150 million to the global effort to eradicate polio. We have contributed more than $2.6 billion and countless volunteer hours to end polio forever. Together with our partners, we engage communities everywhere to encourage high vaccination rates, immunizing over 400 million children annually. More than 20 million people are walking today who otherwise would have been paralyzed because of our efforts and those of our partners in the GPEI.

The time for urgent action is now. A new vaccine has been deployed – novel oral polio vaccine 2 (nOPV2) – which is more genetically stable to stop outbreaks of circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus effectively. With sustained political and financial commitments, the GPEI is confident that we can achieve a world in which no child is paralyzed by polio again.

2022 Dick's Sporting Goods Open

Another great year at the Dick's Sporting Goods Open. Endicott Rotarians donated over 500 volunteer hours this year at the main concession stand cooking hot dogs and serving great food from Lupo's. Each year the club provides volunteer workers to make this event a success for Broome County Community Charities. We were honored this year to have Assemblywoman Donna Lupardo stop by the main concession stand.

Endicott Rotary Helps Eagle Scout Collect Retired American Flags

A note from John

I want to thank the Endicott Rotary for collecting 22 flags for my Eagle Scout project. Overall, I was able to collect and retire 751 flags for the retirement ceremony. I would also like to thank the Rotarians who came to support me at this event, (Mrs. Leonard, Mr. Karedes, Mr. Baker and Mr. Steele).

The next step in the process is going to the Board of Review where they will interview me. This is a panel of three people comprised from the Boy Scout Council office.

Again, I appreciate all of your support.

Thank you, John

Endicott Rotary Plants 3 Historic Trees at 2 UE Schools

Endicott Rotary planted three historic trees at two Union Endicott Elementary schools.

Bill Campbell joined by fellow Rotarians Nicole Wolfe, Karl Bub, Nikki Post, Lou Karedes, Heather Uhlman and Darlene Leonard planted two trees at TJ Watson Elementary and one tree at George F Johnson Elementary.

The historic trees were acquired by American Heritage Trees. The children from each school assisted with planting each of the trees. The trees a George Washington Sycamore, a Franklin D Roosevelt Black Oak and a Moon Seedling Sycamore will serve the schools as a positive environmental impact and will be used in the elementary educational experience.