Rod Lee, editor and publisher of Inside Worcester

Rotary Meeting Notes, 7 January, 2010

After a lengthy holiday break, the Club reconvened at Maxwell's' on Thursday, with Chet Caswell presiding pro-tem in place of President Jay. Invocation was led by Frank Doherty; the opening song by Chet. No casualties were reported from the Glogg party.

Bob Johnson summarized the Club's activities with the Salvation Army prior to Christmas. Two Saturdays at Sam's Club collecting money for the Salvation Army holiday programs resulted in a grand total of $1,621 during the Club's collection hours. The pre-Christmas dinner, however, did not happen due to bad weather. Therefore, our volunteers were not utilized. Volunteers for the bell ringing/kettle functions were Skip Hall, Steve Loring, Tim McGee, Gary Macconnel, Bob Johnson, Rod White, Past President Ben Ticho and his wife Lynne, Brad and Peter Wyatt.

Recalling several highlights from the Glogg meeting on 17 December: 1/ Thanks to Paul Shusus' generous donation of floral prizes, and our free-bidding members, a total of nearly $1,700 was raised during the auction. 2/ A fond farewell and gift certificates were given to our departing secretary, Kate Moody - - along with our thanks and best wishes, 

for extraordinary service. 3/ Val Callahan reminded members of the important work of the Rotary Foundation and enlisted our donations. Val's hope and target for the Club's 100^th anniversary in March, 2012 is to have 100 percent of the members Paul Harris Fellows. Toward that end, the Club will match at least the first $50 donated by members.

Assistant District Governor Skip Doyle spoke to the cluband conveyed the District's regrets about the events of last year surrounding the formation of a second Worcester Rotary Club. He also advised us that the District will be rebating a portion of last year's RYLA application fees. The deadline for receiving RYLA applications for this year's conference is 10 February, he said.

Today's 50/50 drawing was won by Lisa Piehler, who immediately donated the proceeds to Barbara Guthrie for the Rainbow Child Development Center's "sprinkler fund."

Chairman of the Day, Chet Caswell, introduced today's speaker, Rod Lee, editor and publisher of a new Worcester monthly Inside Worcester. Rod has a long record as a working journalist in Upstate New York and New England. Most recently he was a business reporter for the Telegram & Gazette from which he retired last April. His current endeavor seeks to fill a niche in local news reporting not covered by the local daily, and he has enlisted the aid of many local writers... Writers such as Ken Moynihan, Christina Andrianopoulos and Rich Broszeit will be contributors.

Some of the characteristics of the new publication will be a strong food and restaurant section, personal profiles of prominent and contributing Worcester residents such as Bob Cousy, Worcester neighborhood sections, extensive coverage of city politics, and vigorous reporting on local finance and business. It's a tough economic climate to launch a new publication, Rod admits, but he plans to rely on paid subscriptions and advertising. Early editions of the magazine seem to have captured local advertising in abundance. We wish Inside Worcester well.  Additional, experienced reporting on our city can only contribute to its success.