Our Rotary Club enjoyed a bit of fellowship with a picnic at Simpson Park on the Sudbury River. Box lunches, conversation and games ruled the lunch hour in place of our normal lunch time meeting. Sun filled day with great camaraderie.
"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!
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Natalia Steffen from Special Olympics of Massachusetts attended the meeting today as a guest of Ron Isaacson and gave a 
short address to the Club to express appreciation for the $1000 donation to Special Olympics the Club collected during Marathon Day. She noted that this year was especially challenging due to the bad weather on Marathon Day. There are 12,500 Special Olympic athletes in MA. All the contributions go to help the athletes that range from 2 years to 98 years of age.
short address to the Club to express appreciation for the $1000 donation to Special Olympics the Club collected during Marathon Day. She noted that this year was especially challenging due to the bad weather on Marathon Day. There are 12,500 Special Olympic athletes in MA. All the contributions go to help the athletes that range from 2 years to 98 years of age.Our meeting today was largely focused on the 2018 Accommodation Awards handed out by the MWOC to companies who demonstrated a commitment to employing persons with disabilities in our community. Rutty Guzdar kicked off the session with a brief overview of the origins of the MWOC many years ago when it grew out of a Jobs Fair event targeted on helping disabled persons with job placement assistance. She introduced MWOC's Mary Jane Kunycky, Employment Services Manager, Programs for People, who moderated the Program.
State Representatives Carmen Gentile and Jack Lewis presided over the presentation of the 2018 Accommodation Awards to representatives from four employers in the area: Pet Supplies Plus in Ashland, TJX / Homesense, Stop and Shop (Wayland) and the Boys and Girls Club of Assabet Valley. The Awards were given "In recognition of demonstrated commitment to hiring and accommodating individuals with disabilities."
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The annual Scholarship Luncheon was held at Keefe Tech on May 14th. Ten scholarships worth $45,000 in total were awarded to High School Seniors from several communities served by the Framingham Rotary. Dr. Javier Cevallos, Chairman of the Education Committee, presided over the ceremonies which were attended by students, their families, friends and guidance counselors and the members of our Club. 10 seniors from Framingham, Hollison, Hopkinton, Keefe Tech and The Learning Center each received a certificate and a scholarship for $4,500.
Susan Wilkins, Director of Education at the International Museum of WWII in Natick was our speaker. This museum is the only international museum of WWII in the world and has the been made a reality through the passion and work of Ken Rendell to collect over 500,000 total artifacts since 1959. Susan provided a great overview of the museum's attractions which included various weapons, uniforms, Enigma Machines, various personal items from major figures and artifacts from WWII. But what was unique was the amazing set of documents that exist no where else in the world such as a Flyer for the Treaty of Versailles with Hitlers handwritten notes, a signed version of the actual Treaty of Versailles of 1919 and a 1938 working draft of the Munich Agreement with handwritten edits.
Check out their website for information on hours of operation and tours.
On Saturday 12 May, 21 Rotarians and 12 students from the Fuller High School Interact Club working on various projects around Framingham. Service activities included;
- Simpson Park - some raking, spreading chips, brush clearing
- Parks & Rec - planting small trees and simple gardening
- YMCA - landscaping and clean up
- Veterans - cleaning up around veterans' graves in Edwards Street Cemetery clearing the ground level plaques, cleaning the stones (soap & water & brush). The Fuller School students created over 400 greeting cards for the veterans at the VA hospital.
- Nursing home - calling bingo at Waterview Lodge in Ashland for the residents.
Sam was one of 21 Super Heroes that were honored and their stories of Service Above Self were inspiring. Service work is how members of the community get to know what Rotary does and attracts more members to contribute more community service work. Distric Governor Karin Gaffney presented Sam with the award, his pin and a Super Hero T-Shirt. Congratulations Sam!
The Rotary Club distribute flowers to residents of 7 nursing homes in Framingham and Ashland as a celebration of Spring. In an interesting twist of irony, the flowers were delivered on Monday in the snow.
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Jon Evans, Superintendent of Keefe Technical High School first read Keefe Tech's mission: "Our mission is to challenge students to demonstrate the academic, technical, and interpersonal skills necessary for successful lifelong learning." and then went on to explain how the organization is pursuing that mission through the depth and breadth of the 16 career and technical programs offered to the over 700 students currently enrolled. He explained that many people have a mis-perception that the school is only a technical school but that it actually offers an extensive and full set of academic programs that include AP and STEM classes and supports dual enrollment opportunities with MASS Bay and Framingham State University. In fact, 69% of the 2017 class went on to pursue college career programs.
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.
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 
