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Cogitator May 21, 2014
Andy Coutu, R&D Technologies, 3-D Printing
VISITING ROTARIANS
Guest speaker Andy Coutu is a 30-year veteran of the Warwick Rotary Club.
GUESTS
John Wolcott invited his better half Donna to lunch, and Steve Lombardi’s guest was Antonella Ricciotti, who Steve met at a recent Chamber of Commerce event.
BIRTHDAYS/ANNIVERSARIES
Happy birthday wishes go out from the entire club this week to Steve Lombardi (May 23rd).
ROTARY ANNIVERSARY
Congratulations to Jonathan TerMeer who celebrates his third year in Rotary this week, on May 25th.
INSTALLATION OF OFFICERS/CAFÉ FRESCO
Make sure to mark your calendars! Tuesday, June 10th will be the date of this year’s club Installation of Officers Banquet. We will meet at Café Fresco on Main Street, East Greenwich with cocktail hour beginning at 6pm and dinner at 7pm. Tickets are $40 per person.
It will, as always, be a wonderful social evening for the Rotary Club of East Greenwich. We’ll have a chance to thank President Jodi Gladstone for her courage and fine leadership during the 2013-2014 year, and we’ll look ahead with great expectations to President-Elect Ron Winde’s turn at the helm in the upcoming Rotary year.
BOARD MEETING
Friday, June 13th will be the ‘Old Board-New Board’ board meeting at T’s Restaurant, 7:30am sharp.
DISTRICT GOVERNOR INSTALLATION
Incoming District Governor Valerie Perry will be greeted warmly on Friday, June 20th by a full table of East Greenwich Rotarians. (Nice work!) If you’re still interested in attending, please see President Jodi and she’ll make sure to find room for you at the Crown Plaza in Warwick that evening!
CLUB PHOTO
On Wednesday, July 2nd, we’ll be heading to Rocky Hill School for a Million Dollar Meal and our annual photo session. Thanks once again to Soozie Sundlun for volunteering her time and expertise, and that of her staff at EG Photo, in putting together a great photo session for the club.
ROTARACT
Bill TenEyck mentioned that the New England Tech Rotaract Club definitely enjoyed their ‘field trip’ last week to Jane Boynton’s Best Tile on Jefferson Boulevard.
PHONEBOOK VOLUNTEERS NEEDED
Anyone? Bueller? Bueller? Please let President Jodi know if you’d like to chip in for next year’s Phonebook campaign. It’s our club’s largest Charitable Funds event of the year, so please consider taking a committee role, or even a leadership role, in the months ahead.
ZONE 32 NOMINATING COMMITTEE
President Jodi sent via email information about several candidates for the nominating committee which will help select Rotary International’s president for the 2016-2017 Rotary year. Our selection was Abraham Gordon, a Rotarian for 41 years from Bridgeport, CT who has served as his district’s governor and has been a Rotary International director and vice president (1998-2000).
JANICE WRAY/UPDATE
Charitable Giving Director Chuck Sauer gave us an update on Janice Wray, a young college coed who was in a terrible car accident over two years ago. Janice will receive $3,000 from two Rotary fundraisers—the 2013 Wine Tasting, and last fall’s ‘Pumpkin Patch’ at the United Methodist Church. Janice is also graduating this year from URI’s nursing program.
THANK YOU’S
We received three nice thank-you notes recently. The first was from Rotary International, thanking the club for its participation in the ‘World’s Biggest Commercial’ while getting the word out about Polio Eradication. The second was from our local Girl Scout Troop, for campership funds. The third note was from Allison DeGerlia, former Rotarian Beth DeGerlia’s daughter, for sponsoring her in this year’s RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Awards) Conference. Allison added, ‘It was amazing, inspiring, and I’m forever in your debt!’
HAPPY BUCKS
-Steve Lombardi was happy for his birthday and for his guest today, Antonella Ricciotti.
-Chuck Sauer was on hand at the East Greenwich Yacht Club several days ago as $80,000 was raised for the Kampala Children’s Center in Uganda. These funds will help kids from Uganda whose parents died during many years of terror and despotism under Idi Amin, and, during the following years there of civil war, genocide, and a horrible AIDS epidemic.
-Soozie Sundlun looked forward to a night of babysitting her granddaughter.
-Andy Erickson thanked Soozie for her fine photography work at a recent Eagle Scout Recognition Dinner.
-Jane Boynton was thrilled about son Jack’s 3.5 grade point average at URI.
-President Jodi’s mom is coming into town next week. She is happily preparing to meet her first great-grandchild!
-John Wolcott had a big class reunion last week—his 50th! John’s comment was, ‘Boy, did everyone else get old!’
-New member Harry Bonham was very happy about passing his Series 63 exam this past week, and he’s now finished with exams and the crazy-long study hours. Nice work, Harry!
PROGRAM/SPEAKER
Andy Coutu, R&D Technologies, 3-D Printing
Andy Coutu, a Warwick Rotarian for more than thirty years, has a new and exciting career. Andy is the founder and president of R&D Technologies in North Kingstown. Their specialty—3D printing, and much more…
Before he began, he happily noted about Rotary, ‘Geez, where else can you safely pledge allegiance to our flag, and, sing God Bless America?!’
Thirty years ago, the US Navy had a huge 3-D printer, one of the only ones of its kinds around these parts, and it cost $1 million. Today, you can find various 3-D printers right at your local Staples store.
New 3-D printers are time and money savers, and they have very practical applications in two major areas for Andy’s business—the medical world, and in US Department of Defense work at Electric Boat (Quonset).
Andy showed us several interesting replicas; all were made from plastic and rubber, via various types of 3-D printers. We were able to see and touch items like an alarm box cover, a remote control device, and a 3-D foot skeleton.
Andy proudly noted, ‘As amazing as it is, 3-D printing isn’t the end. It’s only part of the overall general continuum of technological advancement in this country.’
While praising this incredible new technology, he also agreed it will mean the displacement of many American workers, since manufacturing and supply chains will be so radically disrupted. Andy offered that America must continue to retrain itself and meet the great technological challenges of our times. We must also address current ‘skills gaps,’ while staying ahead of the curve in transforming the modern day workforce in America.