Cogitator Oct 10, 2012

Posted by George Cooper 
on Oct 10, 2012
 

 

 

VISITING ROTARIANS/GUESTS

None.

ANNIVERSARY/CLUB ANNIVERSARY

Happy anniversary to Judy (and Jonathan) Pratt, married 17 years ago on October 8th, 1995. 

October 8th is a significant day for Judy, and the club, for another reason.  That’s the date, back in 2004, she was inducted into East Greenwich Rotary.  Happy double anniversary, Judy!

PROVIDENCE BRUINS NIGHT

Don’t forget that Friday, November 2nd will be Rotary Hockey Night at the Dunk, as the P-Bruins take on the Worcester Sharks.  Tickets are $13, of which $5 goes to Rotary’s Polio Eradication efforts. 

ROTARACT

Bill Ten Eyck thanked the club for hosting the New England Tech Rotaract officers at last week’s meeting.  College kids are always happy to receive a nice warm meal!   He also mentioned that they had a great tour of ‘a slice of Americana’ last Monday while visiting Bob Merriam’s New England Wireless and Steam Museum on Frenchtown Road.

PAUL HARRIS TEAMS

Paula Buckheit and yours truly were selected for upcoming Paul Harris Fellowship Awards.  George Popella does a great job organizing 5-person Paul Harris teams which commit to providing the Rotary Foundation $5,000 over five years.  (Each member contributes $200 per year, totaling $1,000 over five years, and thus along the way receives recognition from the Rotary Foundation.)    

Also, George would like to help President Ken put one more Paul Harris team together before the year is out.  Tradition has been for one new team to be formed each year, in support of our current president.  Please see George to help support President Ken, and, the Rotary Foundation.

ELECTION DAY BREAKFAST

John Wolcott gave us ‘homework’—selling the 6 tickets he handed out to each of us for this year’s Rotary Election Day Breakfast at St. Luke’s.  Let’s help get the attendance to 400 or more guests this year.  John also had posters for folks to put up in their places of business, and he’ll have sign-up sheets for volunteers over the next two weeks.  Finally, for only $25 you can advertise on a Rotary Election Day Breakfast placemat.

PUMPKIN PATCH

Chuck Sauer told us about ‘Pumpkin Patch,’ a fundraising campaign which will aid Janice Wray and her family.  Janice was a local URI nursing student who was paralyzed in a terrible car accident earlier this year.  Chuck passed around a sign-up sheet for: 1) unloading the big truckload of pumpkins arriving at the United Methodist Church, and 2) for taking a shift (or two) to help sell pumpkins over the next couple of weeks. 

HAPPY BUCKS      

-Griffin Cooper turned five on October 5th…(that was a blink of an eye)…happy birthday, big guy. 

-John Wolcott enjoyed time last week in New Hampshire with his 3 grandkids aged 3, 5, and 6.

-Bill TenEyck reported that the Toll Gate girls’ tennis team did a good job in beating Middletown last week, and now move on to Narragansett. 

-Soozie Sundlun praised as ‘a good man’ Charlie Winkler, our dear friend who recently passed away.

-Ken Colaluca also gave a remembrance buck for Charlie Winkler.     

-Bob Petrucelli was very happy to report that his daughter Kerri just reopened Jigger’s Diner!  Good luck to Kerri and Jiggers, an East Greenwich landmark for years.    

-John Wolcott threw in another buck upon hearing the good news about Jiggers, one of his favorite local restaurants.    

-Dave Iannuccilli’s youngest granddaughter just celebrated her first birthday.  And, of course, he gave a ‘Go Yanks’ buck as the Bronx Bombers headed into the playoffs.

-Bob Miller spent three wonderful days in the Berkshires, enjoying a newly found treat—apple cider doughnuts. 

-Bob Sloan spent three days at Lake George near another ‘hilly’ range, the Adirondacks. 

 

PROGRAM/SPEAKER

James Sanzi, Senior Philanthropic Advisor, St. Jude Children Research Hospital

James ‘Jim’ Sanzi is a former JAG officer for the US Navy.  He also recently worked in fundraising for the Rhode Island Foundation.  And he offered more praise for our club since he last visited last year, then with the RI Foundation:  we’re still ‘the best looking Rotary Club in New England.’

Danny Thomas, performer, philanthropist, and founder of St. Jude Children Research Hospital was known to have said, ‘No child should die in the dawn of life.’  Making sure, as best they can, that doesn’t happen is still, fifty years after opening, the mission of St. Jude’s.    

In 1962, the pediatric survival rate was 20%; today, it is 80% thanks to incredible advances in medicine and science, and thanks to years of research at hospitals like St. Jude’s.  

St. Jude’s is a world renowned and non-traditional children’s hospital.  Patients need a referral from a local health care provider, but once admitted, patients pay nothing for care, and families are allowed to stay free of charge.  

Jim mentioned that 75% of St. Jude’s funding comes from private donors, mostly individuals.  He compared that statistic to most other hospitals, which ‘are 10% donor driven.’ 

St. Jude’s has an endowment of $1.5 billion.  It takes $1.8 million per day to run, and it cares for some 7,500 patients per year.  It is the largest pediatric cancer center in the country.    

A father of a patient once cleverly said, ‘St. Jude’s is the vehicle; the doctors and scientists are in the driver’s seat; God is in the front seat; patients and families are in the back seat; and American donors are the fuel.’

St. Jude’s takes on ambitious and expensive trials to wipe out pediatric cancer, and they ‘freely share their remarkable discoveries.’  Today they are working on a proton-beam radiation technology which will be the first ever in the world.  Also, over 600 cancers have been genetically mapped out by St. Jude’s in their quest to find specific cures. 

Jim Sanzi enjoyed his years of practicing law, including time as a Navy JAG.  But his new ‘practice,’ one to which he is wholeheartedly dedicated, is helping St. Jude’s succeed in their quest—making sure kids make it through ‘the dawn of their lives.’ 

Here’s a link if you’d like to know more about Danny Thomas and St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital.    

http://www.stjude.org/stjude/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=f87d4c2a71fca210VgnVCM1000001e0215acRCRD

  

James Sanzi with Bob Sloan