Meeting Minutes - October 5, 2016
Posted by Jim Bush and Dave Read on Oct 09, 2016
Concerns: Pat VerPlank's daughter, Lea Ann - emergency surgery, prayers requested.
Guests: Jane McGowan, Ian Wissick, both seniors at Pal-Mac.
Julia Bos, Exchange Student - described her week - some homework, some reading, some television, a large Rotary Club dinner, met with other Exchange Students from Italy, India, Mexico, Chile, ("one with half-orange and half blonde hair") - and to a cross-country meet with 8,000 runners. Groups of 200 people running, for example; one up to 600 people.
Dutch Word of the day: "History" - "geschiedenis"
Julia Bos, Jane McGowan and Ian Wissick
Fines/Happy Bucks:
• Kim & Mark returned from their trip, (16 days, 2350 miles, 1 day of rain. States visited: Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin & portions of Canada). One of the highlights: a visit to Lambeau Field, where Kim was converted to a Packers fan and enjoyed a tour of the stadium, its hall of fame, and a Packers - Lions game, which Green Bay won (34 - 27). A very impressive place, indeed! A bear ( or somebody else?) sighting in Canada in the area where Mark used to hunt with his Dad. All in all, a memorable trip.
• Bob Yost - celebrated son Matthew's passing his bar exam.
• Chris Santelli - Pal-Mac's 1st fireworks attempt at Homecoming - and surviving a minor mishap with a rogue fuse. Show went well.
• Gary Hopkins - a happy buck for Chris's great show and a win at Homecoming.
• Bob Ike - Happy about a good Homecoming weekend. (We were all happy about his TV appearance.)
• Maurina Schmidt - John is home after 3-1/2 weeks in rehab - able to walk a little each day - about to drive her bonkers, always a good sign.
• Eric Chapman - Home from a 23 day trip which included stops in 9 countries. Cruise from Spain, thru the Riviera, around Italy, points in Greece, Croatia, Montenegro, Venice, a visit with the Reidels (Dominic's family, 1997) - toured Venice for 2, 3 days, then to San Marino, Monaco, Vatican, Florence, Rome for 3 days. Met with Sofia Coll, last year's exchange student, in Barcelona, where she toured them through some of the older ruins that they never would have seen otherwise; that night they met with Diego, our exchange student from Mexico, who is now working there. "The last thing I'm going to tell you is it's really good to be an American! As beautiful as all those places were, there's nothing like our country." (Nice trip, Eric. I drove through Port Gibson one day on the way to the Nursing Home.)
• Peter Park - Happy about the Bills' advance toward "medium mediocrity" with a 2/2 tally.
• Leslie Vecchiotti - a "live" text from Juliana in Orlando, which is under hurricane watch as we enjoy splendid fall weather here.
Of upcoming interest:
- Newark Rotary Club's 90th anniversary dinner Oct. 27th at Clifton Springs Country Club - $40 ticket. RSVP by the 13th - See Kim if interested.
- Eastern Cities Dinner - Tues. Dec. 6th - $45.00 person. Note date changed from Oct.
- Board Meeting - Monday Oct 10, 6:30 Town Hall - it's a Makeup meeting!
- Dictionary Distribution - to 3rd and 4th graders - date to be determined. Peter will let us know.
- Rotary Readers - Brian Brooks is coordinator. An extremely rewarding time for all who have participated; rave reviews! Not to be missed if you love kids, education, and a fun project for Rotary. See Brian.
Marie Fessler introduced Jeannine Biehls at the Oct. 5th meeting
Marie Fessler introduced Jeannine Biehls, Regional Support Manager for Girl Scouts of NYPENN Pathways, Ontario & Wayne Counties - who let us know that Girl Scouts are "not just cookies, camp and crafts!" Jeannine works frequently with adults who are involved in scouts, especially in areas of conflict resolution. Her passion is in training and teaching leaders how to empower the girls. She compared scouts to Rotary on the obvious level of community service, and encouraged us to consider using girl scouts on projects that are large enough to benefit from additional helping hands from outside Rotary. (Marie would be our resource there.)
There are about 16,600 girls in Council right now, 5 troops in the area, all focused on community service efforts and learning the self-worth values that come from such work. About 140 girls from our area are registered in Girl Scouts, which is much higher than the national average percentage.
She shared a poignant "bullying" story to illustrate how six girls in one school stuck together to help another girl out of a jam; merely by their presence as she was being threatened. They gathered around her as a group. "You mess with her", they said, "and you mess with all of us." The bullies backed down. The girls involved, of course, were in Girl Scouts together.
Building "Courage, Confidence and Character." Girl Scouts. Thank you, Jeannine!