Cogitator Sept 7, 2011
Welcome, District Governor Bill Vangel
VISITING ROTARIANS
Ira Steinberg, our Oberlin, Ohio friend and retired education administrator joined us, as did Ed McLaughlin from the Wakefield, RI Rotary Club. Our special VIP guests were District Governor William (Bill) Vangel, from the Scituate, RI Club, and Assistant District Governor Russ Bertrand, from the Wakefield, RI Club.
District Governor Bill Vangel, President Mike Gemma, and Assistant Governor Russ Bertrand.
GUESTS
Chub Clement brought his better half, Florence, with him this week. After the meeting, Florence presented me with an old Cogitator from 1980, written by then-editor-in-chief Bruce Hevenor. Great stuff in there--I'll pass it around at the next meeting. Thanks Florence!
BIRTHDAYS/ANNIVERSARIES
Happy birthdays go out this week to Jim Essex on the 9th and Bob Petrucelli on the 7th. And several Rotarians were duly reminded of wedding anniversaries in the week ahead. Chub and Florence Clement celebrate their their 59th (God bless you, Florence) on September 6th. Seth and Jeni Wilson celebrate their 15th on September 7th. Gill and Nancy Thorpe celebrate their 56th on September 10th. Finally, may God also bless Lisa Cooper, who has put up with yours truly for 13 years as of September 11th.
CLUB ANNIVERSARIES
Happy 44th(!) Rotary Anniversary this week to Robert Allen Greene, who on September 11th, 1967 joined the Rotary Club of East Greenwich. And, a very happy Rotary Anniversary number one to Laura Krohn, who joined us on September 8th, 2010.
PHONEBOOK
Our goal is $65,000 in gross revenues. We're currently at $53,900. It has been a tough year for renewals, but...that's a huge gap. Phonebook Chair Betsy DePrimo and President Mike need your help, quickly. Dig deep effort-wise this week, as we need to fill that gap in to have a successful year in Charity Giving. Let everyone you can think of know about the phonebook and the great advertising value that it still is, and let's make a last minute push to get to where the club needs to be. Please, everyone, pitch in these last weeks and do your all.
PUBLIC SERVICE FLYERS
Thanks to Allegra Printing's Stan Reuter, who printed a bunch of great looking Rotary public service announcement flyers for Rotarians to display in their local businesses.
CITRUS DRIVE
Citrus is right around the corner, as summer fades away and the weather turns colder. Bonnie Sauer is leading the charge this year. East Greenwich Little Leaguers are involved in this year's sales, helping us raise money for the 'Field of Dreams,' the Cragan Field Lights Project. (If you sell grapefruit, they will come...)
POLIO PLUS
The Providence Bruins will host Rotary District 7950 on Friday, October 21st. The theme--'End Polio Now.' Plan on heading to Providence for a fun night at The Dunk.
SUMMER'S END CONCERT
The East Greenwich Rotary Club was again a major sponsor ($2500) for the town's amazing Labor Day Weekend 'Summer's End' concert. It was a wonderful night for the thousands who attended, and our Rotary banner was proudly displayed on the stage.
ROTARY FOUNDATION
Foundation Chair John Wolcott announced a Rotary Foundation meeting coming up on Saturday, September 17th. Please see John if you'd like to head out with him to White's of Westport that morning for what should be an interesting Foundation conference.
PAUL HARRIS AWARDS
The first two 'Old Fogie' Paul Harris Award recipients, Alan Flynn and John Wolcott, were duly recognized and pinned by District Governor Bill Vangel. That makes Paul Harris Award number four for Alan, and number six for John. Congratulations!
HAPPY BUCKS
John Wolcott had a great father-son weekend in New York, taking in the city around Rockefeller Center and then traveling with Matt out to Long Island, to visit the old neighborhood where John grew up.
Florence Clement was happy that our current District Governor hails from little old Scituate, RI. Also, sadly, Chub and Florence lost their boxer, Rufus, last weekend. (Rest in peace, Rufus.) She also noted that Judy Pratt took good dental care of daughter Erin, and, Florence was pleased to learn that Judy's sister is now teaching one of the Clement grandkids.
Dr. Judy Pratt passed on a buck for Florence's Happy Great Dentist plug.
Wil Yoder temporarily bade us 'adieu' (until Thanksgiving anyway), as he begins yet another teaching semester at Rhode Island School of Design.
Bob Petrucelli was happy to announce that his son was married last weekend.
Beth DeGerlia had a very busy summer at Rocky Hill, but is happy that she'll be able to join us more often that the school year has begun.
George Popella recently spent 22 whole days of 'not touching land,' sailing everywhere he could. He and Deb even enjoyed a nice 3-day stint at Martha's Vineyard. Upon returning, George was disappointed to have lost 3 big oaks to Irene. But tears turned to cheers as he received a 50% discount from a local tree removal company. They offered the big savings if he would participate in a TV spot. Nice work!
And Griffin Cooper's dad proudly gave a buck for a very happy first day of pre-school this week. (Boy, time sure does fly...)
Irving '(Chub') and Florence Clement
PROGRAM/SPEAKER
District Governor, William R. 'Bill' Vangel
Bill Vangel, a Scituate, RI native, recalled two consecutive terms as president his Scituate Club during the tenures of our own Past Presidents Chuck Sauer and Pat Lenihan. He experienced true Rotary fellowship alongside Chuck, Pat, and so many other club leaders from the district during his president-elect training seminars (PETS) in New Hampshire. Bill said that it's the fellowship, most of all, that keeps Rotarians coming back as community volunteers year after year and keeps us reaching toward new heights. He asked each member of our club to attend at least one Rotary District event this year, and experience fellowship on the District level. He also mentioned, for those interested in traveling well beyond the District, that the government of Thailand is honoring Rotary with a $9 million dollar contribution, and this will greatly reduce the cost for Rotarians traveling to the annual Rotary International Convention in May, 2012.
http://www.rotary.org/en/Members/Events/Convention/Pages/ridefault.aspx
Bill passed on Rotary International President Kalyan Banerjee's message for the current Rotary year: Peace (in family and the world); Continuity (to make clubs bigger, better, and bolder); and Change (to make Rotary better throughout the world).
Why Rotary? Because, simply put, Rotary changes and saves lives. Whether purchasing an ambulance for a community in need, digging wells in Africa, distributing Rotary clean-water filters in Honduras or Cambodia, or continuing the battle to end polio in the world...Rotary continues to change and save lives.
Bill urged us to take good care of our club's Avenues of Service--Community, Club, Vocational, International, and New Generations. He added that we must especially take care of making Rotary more attractive to younger members, so as to build Rotary's future generations.
Bill gave a hearty thanks to fellow Scituate Rotarians Norm Saute and Ann Brown, both invaluable mentors to him from his first days in Rotary and both cherished friends to this day.
He finished with this quote: 'Be the change you want to see in the world. Reach within, and embrace humanity.'
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And this week...we remember 9/11/01...