We had a full house today with our Interact senior students joining in our noon meeting! They were accompanied by their advisor Mrs. Colleen Betrus. 21 Rotarians were present with speaker Joan Luther and guest Mark Poppleton. Cindy greeted today and enjoyed introducing 12 NCS seniors! 

 

Jack began the gathering with the Pledge and America the Beautiful. Cindy shared the inspirational words of Patrice's poem from last year entitled "May".

 

Announcements: Naples Historical Society is offering raffle tickets for a weekly vegetable selection from the Schenk Family Homestead CSA. See Cindy for tickets before 5/26! * The new U-shaped table arrangement was enjoyed by many. * We still need a volunteer to take over the joy of coordinating our weekly programs! A small committee would be a great way to contribute to our Club! * The new date for the Great Grape Derby is Saturday 5/31! The "grapes" go swimming at 1 pm off Mark Circle with the finish line at the "Digger". * Rotary Lite last week was a relaxing chat on the deck at Engine 14. We enjoyed learning about identity theft and managed to avoid getting hit by the corn hole bags! * Betty Zillmann is seriously ill in Florida and will not be returning to Naples. Bruce Richardson is with her there. We keep them both in our thoughts. * Memorial Day parade is next Monday (no Rotary meeting). David is willing to carry our banner but needs two others to help. * The Pickleball court is open and a league started last Thursday! 24 people were there. It will continue on Thursdays and Sunday will be added. Donations to go toward maintenance may be encouraged. * The NCS budget and board vote is Tuesday 5/20!

 

Jack shared some highlights from the morning Board meeting: Quickbooks will be used to store our financial papers online. * The upgrades to the pottery shed at Camp O are in progress thanks to our donation. It will be ready for this summer season. * The Gavel Dinner will be on June 30th at 5:30pm at Brew&Brats. It will be a second consecutive evening meeting at the end of the month. Caterer TBA and more info to follow. Club Awards will be given that night. The ballot for the Robert Allen Award will be sent in email this week. * The Club By-laws will be reviewed and updated soon. * $100 will be donated to the Canandaigua Lake Trout Derby this month. * May is Rotary Youth Service Month. We were privileged to have 17 Naples Rotarians at the District Conference plus our 2 current Exchange Students and 2 outgoing students for next school year! In addition, there are 3 NCS students abroad now. This shows the amazing support in our Club and community for the Rotary Youth programs.

 

We recognized the Interact Seniors today. There were 12 present plus one student out sick. The Naples Interact club was started in 2021 with Charlie Grove as it's first member. The growth has been fantastic! 

Colleen Betrus is their advisor. She and Jack presented certificates to students as they introduced themselves and told their plans for after graduation. Erica is VP of the club and described their activities this year. She will be outbound to Germany next year. She feels that Interact is a movement and a place to come together with purpose, doing small acts of kindness. Interact students sponsored a "Pink Out" fundraiser ($691) for the American Cancer Society, helped with Thanksgiving dinner at Caruso's, had a dodge ball tournament for Hospeace House, collected can tabs for Ronald McDonald house, helped with set-up for Light Up Naples and Grape Festival and held a Christmas bazaar like the ones they attended as children at Naples Elementary. Students honored today were Abby, Anna, Ben, Delaney, Emily, Erica, Evelyn, Grady, Grayce, Keira, Olivia, Polly and Uryu. Best wishes to all! What a great year you've had contributing to our community!

 

Our entertaining program today was given by Joan Luther, volunteer extraordinaire, at Bristol Valley Theater. Also visiting was a frequent BVT actor, Mark Poppleton. Joan reviewed how the theater will present four shows this summer, each with a different director. The special spring offerings include a Queen tribute band on 5/30 and a Frederick Douglass presentation co-sponsored by Naples Library, Naples Historical Society and FLX Music on 6/14, including a pot luck lunch. The summer schedule starts in July with You're a Good Man Charlie Brown with family friendly tickets at $20 for all. Next is a suspense mystery called Scotland Road with many twists and turns. August brings The Cayuga Canal Girls, set in Seneca Falls, the birthplace of the women's rights movement. Last up is The Rainmaker, a romantic comedy that will include Mark in the cast. BVT is in great need of volunteers to house the cast and crew this summer. Spare rooms are needed for 3 weeks or the entire summer. David and Mark have hosted many times and find it to be very rewarding. Hosts are compensated and given free tickets to the shows. They also need help in the office, ushers, snack bar and painters.  Call the office to sign up! Naples Rotary made a donation to BVT today. There is a matching grant for up to $20,000 for donations made this year.

 

The Ace of Hearts was at $425.50 today! Jack had ticket #635 but the card was the Ace of Spades! Oh, so close! Only 5 cards left for next time!

Sue shared a huge Thanks to all the Rotarians who participated in the Monte Carlo Night for Hospeace House. It was a great success and lots of fun!

Happy Bills went to the Interact students and their amazing plans for the future, Colleen, Jill's involvement with Interact, Joan's program and all she does for BVT, BVT's support of the HS Musical the last two years, the School vote, Nancy's rewire procedure, Monte Carlo Night success and a three year old's birthday party. 

Sherry's Rotary moment from a couple weeks ago - a young girl was with her mom at the Open Cupboard, with her Arbor Day Tree carried in her backpack!

 

Jack concluded the gathering with the Four Way Test and gently rang the bell with a table knife! He does know where the gavel is!

 

Late breaking sad news via Frank: Betty Zillmann passed away today, Wednesday evening. She was a sweet lady and a longtime, dedicated volunteer at Camp ONSEYAWA. She will be greatly missed by all.