Welcome to Autumn! We gathered tonight at the Redwood with twenty six Naples Rotarians plus three new members being inducted and two guests. Frank greeted us all with a smile!

 

Jack rang the bell at 6:05 sharp and led the Pledge followed by You're a Grand Old Flag. The inspiration was: "The secret of success is to do the common things uncommonly well." John D. Rockefeller

 

Our guests were Carly Waltman and her mom Sarah. Carly was a RYLA student this summer and presented her experiences with Carrie, who is the District Chair of RYLA.

 

Announcements: It's Naples Grape Festival week! The weather is looking good for the weekend - fingers crossed for a great turnout! T-shirts, sweatshirts and hats will be available at the Morgan Hose Building on Thursday from 1-3 pm. Or purchase them at the  merchandise tent near the Beverage Garden at Memorial Town Hall! * Camp O raffle tickets are available from Frank. He also has tickets to the dinner in October in Geneva. * September is Basic Education and Literacy Month. * We sang to Blanche and Denise who have birthdays this week.

 

Tonight we were excited to have three new members inducted into our Club! Denise and Kevin Johnson were sponsored by Cindy. Christy Mattice was sponsored by Sherry. Jack, John, Carrie and Judy assisted with the ceremony. Welcome to Naples NY Rotary!

 

Our program tonight was about RYLA - Rotary Youth Leaders Awards. Carrie coordinated the program at FLCC with 14 students attending from Rotary Clubs in District 7120. Each school can send one student. Carly was our representative this year. She has also been elected as president of Naples Interact club! The goal of the program is the same as when Carrie attended in 1995 - using activities and meetings to encourage leadership, respect, mental health and diversity/equity/ inclusion in high school students. They also added A (access) and B (belonging) to DEI. Carly was quiet and nervous about meeting and getting to know strangers as she has gone through school with all the same people here in Naples. She thought leadership was just telling people what to do! She learned, through the projects and activities, to work together to solve problems, to trust your team and gained confidence in getting out of her comfort zone. She even sang karaoke with encouragement from the group! District Rotarians spoke on Interact, Youth Exchange and volunteering with our current District Governor Jim Crane attending the graduation. Chris McDonald from Rochester Southwest did all the presentations. Bill, David and Carrie's sister Aimee chaperoned and enjoyed it! The cost of the program is $750 and paid by each club. Both Carly and Carrie thanked our club for our support of this wonderful experience!

 

The Ace of Heart was $153. Alan had ticket #9248 and selected the Queen of Spades. Better luck next week!

 

Happy Bills were given for the RYLA program, Carly's Interact presidency and many welcomes to our new members! Interact had 26 students at the first meeting. Hoping for a great Naples Grape Festival and Nancy's 37th year on the porch. The Groves enjoyed a trip to see Grady at Alfred Tech. He and Charlie are bringing a lot of friends to the Grape Fest!

 

Kristen's Rotary Moment happened at Camp O Carnival. A woman shared that she was a camper starting 47 years ago and still comes as an assistant counselor!

 

We recited the Four Way Test together and adjourned.

 

See you at the Naples Grape Festival!