Dear Fellow Rotarians, there is NO MEETING this Friday, May 24th, due to the Memorial Day holiday. While many of us will be enjoying a long weekend and look at this holiday as the unofficial start of summer, let us all remember the true reason for this holiday. Memorial Day is considered to be one of the saddest occasions in America. Memorial Day (sometimes also called Decoration Day) is a federal holiday in the United States, aimed to remember all military people who died when serving in the country’s armed forces. Let us never forget those who have made the ultimate sacrifice in helping to preserve our freedom. We are forever in their debt.
Last Friday our speaker was Neal Freyman, son of Rotarian Ellen Freyman. Neal is the chief editor at Morning Brew, an online daily newsletter focusing on business topics. Neal was very funny in explaining to us (of a certain age) what and how Morning Brew is and operates. We were all quite impressed at how quickly this young company has grown. For more info or to read the latest newsletter go to https://www.morningbrew.com/latest/
The 2nd Annual Chalk It Up event was last Saturday, May 18th. Thank you to Steve Jablonski, Jack Toner and all the volunteers who helped make the day a success. It was an incredibly beautiful day. Nearly 50 children and their families came out to enjoy the museums and take part in the “sidewalk art festival”. See this week's bulletin for some photo’s from the day with more to come.
Last Sunday, Giselle Vizcarrondo joined me in attending a District-wide BBQ & Social at District Governor Kate Sim’s home. The Opioid Committee presented the “District’s Plan of Action” in helping to fight this terrible disease. More details will be discussed at upcoming meetings.
Don’t forget to “Save the Date! “ on June 18th. It is our Paul Harris/Service Grants Awards Dinner when our club will be giving away $10,000 in grants to area non-profits. You won’t want to miss it. See the bulletin for more details.
Drowning is the 2nd leading Cause accidental death in children under the age of 5. This hits home for me as my son Marc was pulled lifeless from a pool on his first day of camp. After twenty-five minutes he was resuscitated and rushed to the hospital. He miraculously survived. He is now living with brain damage as a result of the non-fatal drowning. It was so painful to know that my son will never be the same and I promised myself that this should not happen to any other child again. So, I started the Miracle Marc Foundation.
Its goal is to raise awareness about water safety, provide support to families to access swimming lessons, and most importantly, advocate for change of legislation and policy. Our mandate will be that, “the rates in child drowning decrease in the next decade.” We can do this! It all starts at home in our community. We do this by providing scholarships for children to attend free private swimming lessons. On November 1st, 2018 the first class of Miracle Marc swimmers started lessons with Water Wonders Swim School. Families can apply and learn more by going to our website http://www.miraclemarcfoundation.org.
Last Friday our speaker was Neal Freyman, son of Rotarian Ellen Freyman, pictured here with President Sue Mastroianni. Neal is the chief editor at Morning Brew, an online daily newsletter focusing on business topics. Neal described their typical reader as a young business professional who would like to read, the Wall Street Journal every day if they didn't find it so boring to read.Morning Brew mixes business news with popular culture and a dash of sly humor. In the four years since it was started by two University of Michigan undergrads it has moved to Manhattan and developed a following of more than 1.4 million readers. Morning Brew is a free daily five-minute update on the business.
Shiva for Jim Russell's daughter, Michelle Russell Tsiotsias, will be Thursday, May 23 at 7:00 p.m. at Jim's home, 108 Bel Air Drive in Longmeadow. The family will have a private burial.
A memorial service will be held Sunday, May 26th at 12 Noon at Twins Hills Country Club. All are welcome to attend.
ChalkIt Up! was last Saturday, May 18th and we couldn’t have asked for better weather. Thank you to Co-Chairs Steve Jablonski and Jack Toner and their committee.
Special thanks to our volunteers - In addition to Steve and Jack, Liz Toner, John and Nancy Perez, Nancy Perez, Dene Kimball, Rick Lee, Paul Lambert, Bernie Spirito, Michael Cooley, MaryAnne Herron, Maurice and Terri Powe,and Sue Mastroianni. Special thanks to Blake’s Cafe for the breakfast and lunches prepared for the kids. No one left hungry!
Our Rotary District 7890 has formed an Opioid Task Force and has joined forces with the LIONS club to help combat this terrible epidemic.Last Sunday, fellow Rotarian Giselle Vizcarrondo joined me in attending a District-wide BBQ & Social at District Governor Kate Sim’s home to learn more. The District’s Opioid Committee presented the “District’s Plan of Action” in helping to fight this terrible disease and distributed materials to help individual Rotary clubs combat this disease in their own community.
The recent statistics about opioid deaths in Springfield were alarming.
Our club will form a committee to discuss ways we can help implement the Task Force’s Plan into ACTION in the Greater Springfield area. Please contact me if you are interested in learning more at samastro@comcast.net.
SAVE THE DATE June 18th, 2019 at 5:30 p.m. will be our Paul Harris/Service Grants Awards Dinner at La Quinta Inn on 100 Congress St in Springfield. In addition to recognizing this year's Paul Harris recipients (and because of everyone’s hard work on our fundraisers this year), we will be able to award $10,000 in community grants to area non-profits at the dinner. If you would like to help out with this wonderful event please contact Jack Toner at jtoner@sumnertoner.com.
Dene Kimball could use a little help with displaying our Rotary flags at meetings (as Richard Fulkerson is doing in the attached photo). Dene is planning some extended vacation time soon and would like a few Rotarians to volunteer and put up the flags while he’s away (or give him a break now and then). The flags are stored at Max’s and only take a few minutes to put up or take down. Please talk to Dene about helping out. And thank you for your participation in helping to display our flags!
Do you have some news or information that might be of interest to fellow Rotarians? Please send it to Gillian Palmer at gpalmer@baypath.edu by Monday of each week for inclusion. Our weekly Bulletin goes out to more than 70 local leaders every week and is a wonderful way to spread your message. Subject to approval.
Did you know you can easily reach the Rotarian Magazine, Rotary International, the District website and our own club website right from this bulletin? Well, you can! Just check out the links under "ROTARY ONLINE" on your left.
Club Information
Rotary Club of Springfield - Meeting Fridays-12:15 PM
Service Above Self
We meet Fridays at 12:15 PM
Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame
1150 West Columbus Ave.,
MassMutual Room
Springfield,
MA 01105 United States
