4 new members from the Framingham Police department were installed last Monday by Rotary District Governor Karin Gaffney, Club Co-president Dick Manelis and Chairperson Kevin Webber.
"Service Above Self" |
We meet Every Monday at 12:15 PM
Ken's Steak House 95 Worcester Road
Route 9
Framingham, MA 01702
United States
Come join us!
|
The Framingham Rotary Club manned a table at the Taste of MetroWest with various Rotarians providing information regarding our Club.
Mark Contois, Director of Libraries for the city of Framingham, and Ruth Winett, Chair of the Library Foundation, attended the meeting on March 19th and provided an overview of the library services and the new initiative to put a Bookmobile back on the streets of Framingham. Mark shared a graphic showing the huge variety and volume (over 1,500,000) points of services the library provides. He described the unique programs offered including special programs for high school seniors and FSU; summer reading, visiting authors, adult reading, concerts and movies and a wide array of print and electronic resources. Mark and Ruth discussed the initiative to get a bookmobile to be able to once again bridge the library to different parts of the community where getting to the main facilities is not as easy or convenient. They currently have about 2/3rds of the money needed. Donations from individuals and organizations are welcome. Currently there is a matching program for individual donations.
Wendy Rocco shared her wonderful and amazing story of how she started Operation American Soldier when her step-daughter was serving a tour of duty in Kuwait in 2003 and found that many of the basic supplies we typically use every day simply were not available in the post exchange or in the local stores. She found that some soldiers weren't getting mail from home so began a campaign to ask people to send simple Thank You notes or other correspondence that can be given to the soldiers to help feed their spirits as well as their bodies. The program has grown over the years and they now ship packages to over 6 theaters including Afghanistan, Kosovo, Cuba, South Korea and Africa. All of their efforts are funded through donations and their own fund-raising events like the upcoming golf tournament
Member Teri Banerjee spoke about the Rotary missions to help Puerto Rico after the hurricane devastation. Our District, in partnership with Operation Endeavor, has focused on the western PR town of Moca, one of the most affected places on the island. As with most relief missions we partnered with the local Rotary Club, Club Rotario de Moca
The missions have had 4 main efforts:
- Flu and tetanus vaccination
- Shelter restoration
- Toys for children
- Food and clean water (the latter is no longer an issue.
In addition, washing machines, refrigerators and mattresses have been donated to people in need.
Robert (Bob) A. Tremblay (right), Superintendent of the Framingham Schools, spoke about some of the important issues facing the school district today and the programs the schools have
in process to address the issues. Sharing a personal story, he emphasized the importance that music had as a positive influence in his early life and even in meeting his wife and now in his family. His message was that the arts are an important pathway for children who may have troubling things going on in their lives that could be channeled into music and other arts.
in process to address the issues. Sharing a personal story, he emphasized the importance that music had as a positive influence in his early life and even in meeting his wife and now in his family. His message was that the arts are an important pathway for children who may have troubling things going on in their lives that could be channeled into music and other arts.
Several Framingham Rotary Club members and their spouses gathering for an annual Fireside Dinner at the Wayside Inn.
Rick MacPherson, CEO of the Metrowest YMCA provided an enlightening overview of the broad array of YMCA programs available through the YMCA including children's before and after school programs, camps and adult programs for individuals dealing with illness and healing. Rick shared the vision for expansion of the Framingham and Hopkinton facilities to better serve the communities including improvements to aquatic and children's programs, child care and offices.
Dick Manelis (on right) presented Jim Snyder, Manager of Framingham Parks and Recreation with a check for $17,000 that represented the completion of Phase II of the renovation of Butterworth Park. Phase I was the playground and Phase III will be a commemorative walkway and jogging path.
Two new members, Pedro Brum and Paul Joseph were inducted today. Pedro is originally from Brazil where his father was a member of Rotary. Paul has served in various public service roles including his latest position as the President and CEO of the Metrowest Chamber of Commerce. Welcome!
Puppy HARRIS and his client are part of the NEADS Spring 2018 Service Dog Graduation ceremony on Sunday, April 29th, 2-4 pm at Montachusett Regional Vocational High School, 1050 Westminster St, Fitchburg, MA 01420. Framingham Rotary began this service project with the NEADS: World Class Service Dogs organization back in April 2016, sponsoring a puppy to begin service dog training. Harris received training at MCI Framingham as well as on the NEADS campus and with weekend puppy raisers for socialization experiences. With his soon to be graduation Harris is now a four-footed embodiment of Service Above Self.
Our guest speaker this week was Herb Chasen, founder of Hoops and Homework - a non-profit organization dedicated to help kids, age 5-14, living in economically challenged areas of Framingham with programs to enrich their academic and physical lives and health. The organization helps get resources needed to improve playgrounds (and yes, Basketball courts) so that they are safe play areas. In some cases the food the Hoops and Homework organization provides may be the only evening meal these children have. The program has grown to include scholarships to help kids attend colleges so they can improve their economic standing and in turn raise the living standard for all. Hoops gets funding from business sponsors and individual donors and as Herb pointed out, new sponsors and donors are always welcome.
Three new members were inducted this week. They include Paul Landers, Jay Adrian and Ed Sieh. AG Judy Merriman kicked off the induction with a few welcoming words and then the new membership materials were presented to the inductees by Dick Manelis and Tom Sturiale.
Three Rotarians from District 7910 will be participating in a relief mission to Puerto Rico Feb 2-5. Terri Banerjee from the Rotary Club of Framingham, Michael Dexter Smith from the Rotary Club of Weston Wayland (both pictured) and Shikha Dhiyani from the Rotary Club of Framingham.
This team of 3 from District 7910 along with the Rotarians from the Liberty NY Rotary Club, Operation Endeavor and Wings of Michael will be traveling to Moca, Puerto Rico for a Hurricane Relief Mission and participate in relief effort activities coordinated by the Moca Rotary Club and other partners on the ground. Activities will include aiding in food and clean water distribution, emergency shelter construction, flu and tetanus vaccination clinic and toy distribution to children who sustained total losses during the hurricane.
46 children from the greater 
Framingham chapter of SMOC joined in the holiday festivities at the Rotary Club meeting.
Framingham chapter of SMOC joined in the holiday festivities at the Rotary Club meeting.Everyone was treated to a scrumptious lunch and then were mesmerized by the prestidigitation of JoJo the Magician.
The Magic Show was followed by the much anticipated visit from our very own Santa Claus 
.JPG)
Rifles to Rods founders Dmitri Karpouzis, Ryan Puzzo and Gerard McAllister spoke to the Club about their efforts to create a program that helps veterans with their transition back to civilian life. Through their own experience, they realized that fishing reduced the stresses of the transition. They formed Rifles to Rods as a 501(C)(3) Charitable organization about 1 year ago and began to expand the fishing program to help other veterans. In their first year they sponsored 10 high quality trips serving 50 veterans from Western MA to Cape Cod. They plan to expand the program to help more veterans with the help of business sponsors and other donors.
The day before Thanksgiving eleven Rotarians gathered at the Eagles Club to help the Curtis Family prepare for their community Thanksgiving Dinner. Over 1,600 dinners are served to the Thanksgiving attendees and another 500 dinners taken to those that could not make it in.
.jpg)
Angela Martano, Community Programs Coordinator for Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Central MA, provided an overview of the BBBSCM organization and challenges.
The mission of BBBS is to provide children facing adversity with strong and enduring professionally supported 1:1 relationships that change their lives for the better, forever.
.png)
Uliana Mikhailik from Russia was a guest of Tim Sullivan and Ardis Manelis was Dick Manelis' guest. Tim shared that 22 years ago, he visited Russia as a representative of the Rotary with a goal to find help for children who were struggling to obtain medical care for special cases where care was unavailable in their home country. He was connected to Uliana who was able to travel to the US. She came to the US and underwent extensive surgeries and post-surgery care before returning to Russia. Uliana credits the Rotary, Tim and the Manelis' with turning her life around and giving her a chance to live a life she would not have been able to have. Pictured here from left to right: Ardis, Uliana, Tim and Dick
.png)
The Framingham Rotary hosted its 6th Annual Pancake Breakfast at Keefe Technical High School on Saturday, November 4, 2017. We had a great turnout of both volunteers as well as guests. In all about 30 Rotary members and family members turned out to help staff the event and over 150 guests (including children) came by for a hearty breakfast of pancakes, sausages and home fries. Everyone loved the real maple syrup and the sausages and home fries were delicious. (As an aside, we all had to set aside our briefing for one day on healthy nutrition that we co-hosted with the MetroWest Medical Center on the prior Thursday).
Members of the Rotary Club of Framingham had fun helping out at the Financial Reality Fair held for high school students at the Joseph P Keefe Technical High School today. This event helps students develop stronger financial "literacy" and better understanding of real world financial choices. See more at https://vimeo.com/240228486
Guest speaker: Irene Porro, PhD, Director Christa McAuliffe Center for Integrated Science and Learning, Framingham State University was our guest speaker and gave a wonderful talk on the work her department has underway at FSU. Following on Christa McAuliffe's legacy "I touch the future, I teach", the Center hosts many programs to encourage students - K-16 - to come together to learn about teamwork and problem solving using a Command Module simulation.
Lynn Faust, District 7910 Community Service Chair (and member of the Marlborough club), led a productive workshop with club members at the October 16 meeting aimed to develop community service projects. Each luncheon table was asked to develop and report on a potential project.
.jpg)
Service Dog HARRIS will graduate in Spring 2018!
Great news! Our sponsored service dog Harris has been matched with Connor as a Social Dog! Connor is 16 years old, and enjoys baseball, math and video games. Social Dog Harris will help Connor with Service Dog tasks, which include; picking up dropped articles, retrieving objects off counters, tables or desks, turning light switches on and off, pushing elevator buttons, and open refrigerator and other doors. We’ve been told Harris is a big boy – one of the largest service dogs they’ve had in the program. So he should be able to keep up with Connor. In roughly 6 months, we’ll get to see Harris and Connor on stage at graduation!
.jpg)
FSU President Javier Cevallos was the luncheon speaker and talked about some new initiatives happening at Framingham State University. Among those is a new program, called World of Work, aimed at developing the "soft skills" of students, to ensure that upon graduation they are ready to be employed. He also talked about the Warren Center in Ashland and plans to develop a Hospitality Program over the next few months. He also commented on the potential merger with the Danforth Museum and the acquisition of the Maynard Building.
Nine hearty souls came to play Putt Putt Monday evening September 11th. The weather was great and the evening was most enjoyable. There were several holes-in-one and Joe Meeham won the prize for lowest score. After the play, several went out to the Ashland Brew House for a light supper. Now that we have experienced players, it's time to branch out and challenge another club!!
On Sunday, September 24th, The Framingham Library Foundation will hold a dedication for the new brick pathway at the Christa McAuliffe Branch Library.
Another great Concert on the Green. Especially fun for the Rotary club to drop off Socks and other specially needed items to the Framingham Medical Reserve Corps and Framingham Veteran Services.
RYLA-is a 3 day annual youth conference. RYLA emphasizes the development of leadership skills,citizenship,and community service through group activities focused on listening, communicating, team building, time management and public speaking .
Alex W. spoke about being part of a RYLA Team. He said the cultural walk was a memorable part for him because he learned that a number of his peers were able to openly acknowledge emotional challenges in a safe setting.
Alex W. is flanked by Steve Rathmill - Club President and Sherri Whittemore - Club RYLA Chair.
Rotarians manning the booth at Concerts on the Green this summer - spreading the word of "Service Above Self"
Here’s Harris – the club’s sponsored Service Dog in training -
attending a parade. Hard to believe, but he’s now almost 13 months old! At this age, he’s learned almost everything on the service dog curriculum, and now his skills are being fine-tuned while he matures. NEADS Service Dog training has over 15 Service Dog tasks, and over 30 obedience commands/cues. Harris and his weekend raiser continue to take him on field trips to sit down restaurants, AKC events, and historical parks.
attending a parade. Hard to believe, but he’s now almost 13 months old! At this age, he’s learned almost everything on the service dog curriculum, and now his skills are being fine-tuned while he matures. NEADS Service Dog training has over 15 Service Dog tasks, and over 30 obedience commands/cues. Harris and his weekend raiser continue to take him on field trips to sit down restaurants, AKC events, and historical parks.
It's Carnival Time
At Framingham State University parking lot off of Rt. 9
Open Wednesday through Sunday July 19 - 23
Free Parking and Free Admittance
Rides for small and large
Fun and Food
