Cogitator June 25, 2014

Posted by George Cooper

on Jun 25, 2014

District Governor Valerie Perry (center) with President Jodi Gladstone and President-Elect Ron Winde

VISITING ROTARIANS

Newly Installed District (7950) Governor Valerie Perry joined us for lunch, and, as our guest speaker.

GUESTS

Wes Forsythe, caretaker at St. Luke’s Church, was also with us. Bill Winter invited his vivacious young daughter, Catherine, who is now playing competitive soccer. And, Dave Iannuccilli’s good friend Paul Muffoletto was on hand once again for lunch.

BIRTHDAYS

Happy birthday to the Cogitator editor…hey that’s me…on June 30^th. And, happy birthday wishes from all of us to John Wolcott on June 26^th.

PRESIDENT JODI’S LAST WEEK

President Jodi Gladstone’s final meeting was today. Congratulations on a terrific year, Jodi! And, congratulations on being able to, next week and beyond, sit at the back table and simply say, ‘Please pass the soup.’

Actually, our club’s history is replete with involved or ‘front line’ past presidents, and I’m certain Jodi will follow that tradition…!

CLUB SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT

After Chianti’s Restaurant two months ago suggested a significant price increase for lunch, Ed Neff and Bonnie Sauer took the time and did a great job at diligently searching around town for other possible lunch site options. In the end, the board of directors voted to remain at Chianti’s. The new price for lunch will be $20 each week, but we will be to remain at our ‘home base’ and continue to house our Rotary memorabilia. Chianti’s also pledged an improvement in food quality. Beginning Wednesday, July 9^th, the $20 charge will apply.

LITERACY COMMITTEE

The Literacy Committee submitted a $2,000 District Matching Grant request last week. The goal is to secure funds to purchase books for the Barbara Tufts Cooperative on South County Trail. Some books will go to kids to take home, and others will remain in the Barbara Tufts Cooperative Library.

ROTARY AFTER DARK

Keith Peacock reminds us about July’s Rotary After Dark which will be held from 5:30pm to 7:30pm on Thursday, July 10^th, at McKinley’s Pub. McKinley’s is located at Norton’s Marina, just past the East Greenwich Yacht Club. The cost is only $10 for light appetizers, and it will be a cash bar. Make sure to be there! It should be another great after-hours event for East Greenwich Rotarians.

ROCKY HILL/JULY 2^ND

President Jodi reminded us that the July 2^nd meeting will be held at Rocky Hill. It will be a ‘Brown Bag’ or bring-your-own lunch. Also, Soozie Sundlun and EG Photo will be on hand to take the annual Rotary Club Photo.

CALLING ALL EDITORS…

President Jodi also asked anyone interested in becoming the club’s new Cogitator editor to see either her, newly installed President Ron Winde, or yours truly!

Honestly, it has been a fantastic job volunteering over the past four years to write the club’s ‘newspaper.’ It has reminded me of my time as club treasurer and the front row seat it gives one to everything going on in the club. That’s a real privilege, and one I tried to take seriously each week in letting folks know what’s going on with the club, and, creating a club archive for ‘the vault.’

Lastly, thanks to all of you for the kind words of encouragement, ‘fuel for the tank’ as I would call it, over the past several years.

PAST PRESIDENT SLIDE SHOW

Thanks to Andy Erickson for his work in putting together photographs for a nice slide show of our club’s past presidents! Looks great…

ERICKSON FAMILY SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENT

Ben Capuano couldn’t be with us last week, so he joined us today to say ‘thanks’ for his recent Erickson Family Scholarship Award of $500. Ben is a Bishop Hendricken graduate and an Eagle Scout from Troop 2, East Greenwich. He built shelving at a Providence food pantry for his Eagle project. Ben is heading to Providence College, where he plans to major in biology and prepare for medical school.

HAPPY BUCKS

-John Wolcott gave a birthday buck, and promised Harry Bonham he would have his badge made up soon.

-Bill TenEyck’s daughter Schuyler made First Team All-City (Warwick) in tennis. Nice work, Schuyler!

-Incoming President Ron Winde congratulated President Jodi on a great year!

-Judy Pratt attended the ALS Evening of Hope two weeks ago and presented our club’s whopping check of $53,000. We’ve now made it to, since 2001, $500,000! It was a great night for a great cause, and Judy also noted that Greg Pelko, who received the Brian Dickinson Courage Award, has regained some limb movement due to stem cell treatments. Judy is also now on the national board of directors, and news like this from their research and development is incredibly encouraging!

-Incoming District Governor Valerie Perry thanked the East Greenwich Club for attending her recent installation event at the Crown Plaza in Warwick. She also praised Ben Capuano for making it to Eagle Scout, noting that only 2% of all scouts rise to that level.

SPEAKER/PROGRAM

Incoming District Governor Valerie Perry

Ron Winde introduced Valerie Perry, District 7950’s Governor for the 2014-2015 Rotary year. Valerie is just back in the States, having returned from the Rotary International Convention in Sydney, Australia.

Some of Valerie’s thoughts about Rotary, and the year ahead…

-She would love to see local clubs sharing projects, so smaller clubs can partake in successful charity events.

-She is strongly connected to Rotary’s Global History Fellowship. For Valerie it has been ‘a great experience’ over the past two years with the Fellowship. It has allowed her to meet people from all over the world, including folks from last year’s Rotary International Convention in Lisbon, Portugal.

-Rotary in general has meant the formation of many lasting friendships and working side by side with good people, fellow volunteers, changing and saving lives.

-Valerie cited a wonderful ‘secret’ known as the RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Awards) conference. RYLA helps connect kids to Rotary, volunteerism, and leadership in the community.

-Interact Clubs are also very important to Valerie, since again they develop a connection to kids who will perhaps one day carry on the many worthwhile missions of Rotary International.

-Valerie hopes this year to focus on district ‘health awareness’ and to seek district-wide health awareness related activities.

-We will continue on the district level to support Polio Eradication, and Valerie mentioned the frustration felt around the world as we’ve seen recent spates of polio outbreaks in places like Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Nigeria. It’s time to stamp out polio once and for all!

-She looks forward to doing ‘important things, and fun things’ in the new year ahead.

Finally, Valerie is working on a year-end District Conference in Mystic Connecticut, one that would actually merge two districts together for a joint conference: District 7950 (ours), and, the Long Island, NY District. Valerie said happily, ‘Listen, those New Yorkers are fun!’ And, she joked that the theme could be ‘The Pilgrims Meet the Sopranos!’