It’s exciting to bring on new members to our Rotary board. Congratulations to Heather Bub, Betty Casey, Pamela Portland, and Mike Tanzini. We’ll be in great shape for the next three years as the following President Elects take on our Rotary leadership: Carl Speicher (2023-24), Rick Materese (2024-25), and Dotie Kuehl (2025-26.) We are looking forward to working with all of our future leaders.
On March 15th, Darlene Leonard has organized our next orientation to Endicott Rotary for our new members: Nick Burlingame, Jessica Corbett, Vic Fiori, and Jim Testa. Our March 30th luncheon meeting will be devoted to our in-house business…we’ll call it “The State of Endicott Rotary.”
Please consider giving a personal donation to our George F. Johnson Monument Restoration project. Ted Warner, Endicott Trustee and Endicott Heritage Museum director, will match individual donations up to $12,500! Also, you can be a part of UE’s Tiger Legacy Park (planned for behind the GFJ statue) by purchasing a paver in your name or in memory/honor of a family member or friend…it’ll be a wonderful long-lasting tribute.
Finally, we know that the winter months can bring about some stress or dull days into our lives. Here are a few suggestions for doldrum days and stress:
Spend time with friends and family or even talk to a counselor or pastor
Laugh a lot
Play with a pet
Work on art, crafts, paint, or puzzles
Read something you enjoy
Listen to audio books or soothing music
Go for a walk
Meditate
Prayers
Volunteer
Happy St. Patrick’s Day to all of our Irish friends or to those who wish to be Irish for a day! And oh, watch out for the “Ides of March!”
We made donations to two local organizations for kids. One was to Jim Testa for U-E Girls Softball called Tigers Softball Association for $50.00 for a quarter page ad that will run in their program booklet. It will have the Rotary logo and Endicott Rotary logo on it. The second donation went to Brian Salati for the Union-Endicott Little League for $100.00 advertising signage at the concession stand.
Both checks were presented at the February 23rd meeting, (pictures are below.)
As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to ask me.
Thank you,
Tom Latini
Endicott Rotary Foundation President
Brian Salati
U-E Little League
Accepting the donation made to UE SADD Club for the
To the many volunteers who donated their time during the basketball season, we thank you! We cannot make this happen without you. Special thanks to Lou Karedes, Bob Utter and Mike Sopchak who faithfully volunteer for nearly every game and run the kitchen flawlessly. There are so many others who work week after week embodying what Rotary stands for - Service Above Self!
Darlene Leonard and Brian Steele recently attended the yearly executive planning meeting for District 7170. Darlene, an Assistant District Governor and Brian, the Public Image Chair, participated in an all-day planning event for the final year of District 7170. The meeting was well attended, informative and lead by incoming District Governor Wendy Deis from the Owego Rotary Club. The district has many events, trainings and collaborative initiatives planned for the 2023/24 Rotary year.
In the 2024/25 Rotary year, we will become CNY Rotary. Here are some frequently asked questions regarding the merger;
Why are our districts coming together?
The short answer is due to declining membership numbers. The long answer is that Rotary wants to have districts be of a certain size in order to justify the costs associated with supporting each district. With our three districts just barely at or below that threshold, our leaders chose a proactive solution rather than having Rotary International decide for us.
Will the President of CNY Rotary visit all the clubs like District Governors do?
Rest assured that everyone will get a chance to meet with the President of CNY Rotary. It will be more common that clubs come together for a visit, but we feel that this is a great opportunity for clubs to make new connections and establish new traditions.
CNY Rotary sounds like a really big district. Is that normal?
Broadly speaking, each of our districts currently have about 40 clubs and about 1,000 members. Becoming CNY Rotary with about 115 clubs and about 3,000 members sounds pretty big. Having a district that takes five hours in the car to connect its furthest corners is a new challenge for us, but none of this is new or unique in Rotary. Many districts cover regions far larger, like the entire state of Alaska. Some requiring boat or airplane travel. Many span multiple countries. There are leaders who must be bilingual in order to communicate with all of their members. And we are not talking about districts on the other side of the world either. You can find districts with these added travel and distance challenges right here in North America. CNY Rotary’s leadership team will be built to serve this larger footprint and in-person gatherings will be adapted to be as accommodating as possible. Thankfully we are all adept at virtual meetings, which will make it even easier to stay connected in between our get-togethers!
How do these changes impact my everyday experience in Rotary?
The average member is not likely to notice anything change in their club experience as we transition to CNY Rotary. Clubs will continue to operate autonomously just as they do today.
Club leaders who receive training, support and resources from the district will have new, expanded teams to work with. There will be many more leadership roles on district committees, providing more members with rewarding opportunities to serve their fellow Rotarians. If you want to serve in new ways, it is great news for you!
CNY Rotary’s events like District Conference will attract a much larger crowd, which helps us attract exciting speakers and presenters to inspire us with bigger and better ways to serve.
As we move closer to the merger Darlene and Brian will update the club on what's happening at the district level and CNY Rotary. As always, if anyone has any questions, please feel free to contact Darlene or Brian.
We have officially kick off the fundraising efforts for George F. Johnson Memorial Rehabilitation Project. We have a great opportunity through the Ralph J. Warner Memorial Fund to match private individual donations up to $5,000.
If you would like to make a donation to this project, please find the information below and on our webpage www.EndicottRotary.com
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