.png)
Cogitator August 3, 2011
'A Wish Come True'
GUESTS
Janet Essex's fourth (of five) sons, Mark Kenyon, joined us. Mark lives in Boston, and is the director of Emmanuel College's career center. Mike Gemma invited his youthful 27 year old friend Keith Peacock from the Vertis Group.
BIRTHDAYS/ANNIVERSARIES
The ever youthful and energetic Gill Thorpe celebrated a landmark birthday this week, number 80, on August 2nd, and was well serenaded by the club. Happy birthday, Gill!
Mike Neville celebrates his anniversary this week with wife Joyce on the 3rd, and Bob Petrucelli celebrates with wife Shirley on the 4th.
PHONEBOOK UPDATE
Betsy DePrimo, Phonebook Chair, reported that we're 60% of the way there. But, that remaining 40% leaves us still a long way to go. So far, the club has collected or received commitments in the amount of $39,200. Keep going, everyone, as we only have three weeks left in our most important 2011-2012 campaign for charity funds. Betsy also reported that some $5,000 in advertisements will NOT be renewing this year. So please, Betsy needs your help. Get those renewals in as soon as possible, and, contact Betsy with the name(s) of any 'new' local or out-of-town business you think might wish to advertise in our phonebook. (Betsy's email is johnbetsy@cox.net.)
NEW GENERATIONS
http://www.rotary.org/en/mediaandnews/news/pages/100909_news_newgen.aspx
Bill TenEyck, who chairs our club's 'New Generations,' Rotary's newest and Fifth Avenue of Service, mentioned that our club has met with representatives from New England Tech to discuss starting a Rotaract Club.
Also, Bill gave a brief update on our club's efforts with Youth-to-Youth Leadership.
POLIO AWARENESS
Rotary's Polio Awareness Week is in late October, and President Mike is taking the lead in putting together a Wednesday after-lunch walk on October 26th. A New Jersey Rotarian and polio victim will be with us as we head from Chianti's to Main Street, East Greenwich. More details to follow...
HAPPY BUCKS
Vin Meola gave a buck for his happy isolation in the Sergeant at Arms seat, as he filled in for our regular Sergeant Jim Essex.
Bill TenEyck is happy to be gearing up for his annual summer trip to Crystal Lake, NY, with the Boynton and Inkley families.
Gill Thorpe handed over his birthday buck, saying he enjoyed a quiet dinner at the Fish Market in North Kingstown with his family.
Richard Waterman, Gill's son-in-law, also gave a birthday buck in honor of Gill's 80th, and, thanked him for picking up the Fish Market tab! (Wait a minute...I thought...on your birthday...)
Mike Gemma made a pitch for all of us to continue doing a great job at inviting guests (and thus, potential members) to lunch, especially younger guests like his who could be in Rotary for decades to come!
Bob MacKenzie announced that he's retiring Amica Insurance after 25+ years of service. Bob is currently Amica's Vice President and Secretary.
Janet Essex was happy to have seen President Mike's amazing energy on display at the club's recent New Generations/Rotaract meeting with New England Tech.
Steve Lombardi told us that the East Greenwich Chamber of Commerce's Bev Prosnitz had a bad fall recently and broke her ankle. If you'd like to send Bev a get well card, call Steve at 885-0020. Also, Steve welcomed President Mike's Gem Barcoding as his newest Chamber member.
Jodi Gladstone had a good time over the weekend traveling to Chicago with her track star son, Caleb.
Diehard Yankees fan, Bob Miller, took wife Trish, a diehard Red Sox fan, to Fenway Park last night to see the Sox (win!). His favorite part of the night? Watching the score board to make sure the Pinstripes won as well. Luckily he found a fellow Yanks fan to his left during the game, as he made it through another year's 'tortured pilgrimage.'
Bob Petrucelli wished Gill Thorpe a very happy birthday, and, gave another buck for his 21st wedding anniversary with wife Shirley on August 4th.
PROGRAM/SPEAKER
Rosemary Bowers, Founder and Executive Director from A Wish Come True, Inc.
Rosemary Bowers says she has the best job in the world. She gets to grant wishes to children. A mother of three children and grandmother of another three, Rosemary earned the title of Fairy Godmother from her kids at work. She is the founder of A Wish Come True, an organization which grants wishes for 3 to 18 year olds from Rhode Island and Southeastern Massachusetts who have life threatening illnesses.
Rosemary has also earned serious recognition for her work with A Wish Come True since 1982--a Jefferson Award for public service, a Heroes Among Us Award from the Boston Celtics, and a Paul Harris Fellowship Award from the Rotary Club of Fall River. Humbly, she gives the credit to all of her devoted volunteers.
A Wish Come True started while Rosemary was running a pre-school and volunteering at a local hospital. At the hospital one day she overheard a child reveling in a recent trip to Walt Disney World, and another ruefully wishing she could go some day. Rosemary thought to herself 'how great that would be to grant that little one's wish.' An attorney friend who loved the idea, and saw the look in Rosemary's eye, offered her free legal services to start an organization which could do just that. Off she went into her new career of granting wishes.
In the first year, A Wish Come True granted 12 wishes, each costing around $3,000. It took a lot of fundraising and volunteerism back then, as it does today. However, today Rosemary and company are able to grant as many as 50-70 wishes per year, despite the fact that the average cost per wish has doubled since 1982. Rosemary also makes sure each wish includes the family.
The most popular request? Disney, of course. However, there have been some other interesting wishes granted, such as meeting celebrities like Lady Gaga and athletes like Jon Lester of the Red Sox. One four year old struggling with brain tumors had a simpler wish granted--she and her parents received funds allowing her to stay in her beloved pre-school.
A doctor at Hasbro Children's Hospital told Rosemary once, 'Despite the marvelous things we can now do, you give kids something we simply can't. You give them something to reach for, something to look forward to.'
Rosemary has her own special wish...to be out of business one day. But, in reality, she knows her special work will never cease. And so, the Fairy Godmother's efforts continue on...
Rosemary Bowers (right), from A Wish Come True, with Betsy DePrimo.
Here's the website for A Wish Come True--http://www.awish.org/