It's the Monday After Grape Fest! Still, many tired hard working volunteers made it to our gathering. We had 23 Rotarians and 7 guests here tonight.  Thanks to Jo for greeting us. A lot of cheer was evident after a busy successful weekend of fun and fellowship!

 

President Carrie led us in the Pledge. The inspiration was especially pertinent to the weekend: "Volunteers are unpaid not because they are worthless, but because they are priceless". Carrie also highlighted the years of service for many members who joined in September: Denise, Kevin and Christy (1); David and Liz B. (3); Jo (5); Micah (6); Sherry (9); Laurie (11); Brenda (25) and Wayne (43!) Thanks to you all!

 

Announcements were included in the reminder for this meeting. Skip sold the raffle tickets supporting the Camp O dinner on November 6th. Dinner reservations can be made on-line. We are also collecting for a donation to the Alzheimer Walk held over the weekend. 

 

Vicki James came tonight to thank us for our support of her Health Insurance and Medicare information business about ten years ago. She gave us a donation for our continued work in our community. 

 

Jill gave a spotlight on the Youth Services of Rotary Youth Exchange (RYE). There are several facets to it.

Naples committee includes Kristin and Craig, Carrie and Bill and Jill and Marty. The guys are male counselors and Kristin and Carrie are the female counselors. They meet monthly with students and families. Jill is our RYE officer - she gets to do all the paperwork: coordinating with the school, school board, nurse, etc. The most important group are the host families. We need them to make it all possible. Jill asks us to reach out to friends and neighbors to find some for the coming year. It is a 3.5 month commitment during the next school year. The deadline is November 1st! Students interesting in outbound RYE need to apply by October 15th. 

There is also a District component to RYE. Potential students interview in late November and are approved based on their independence and maturity. They can request up to 5 countries and efforts are made to place them in one of them. Many organizations are involved in getting the students to their placement including the US State Department and many educational oversight groups. RYE motto is "world peace one student at a time."

 

Our guests were Kristie Braun, Casey Wood and Camry Allen, Vicki and Terry James and speaker Joseph Rosenshein and his wife Alana Martin.

 

Joseph came to share information about the second largest Rotary program (after Polio). It is Rotarian Books for the World. He is president of the WNY group. Alana is the secretary. He came to the Rochester area as the Bausch and Lomb head of global scientific affairs. He is a past president of the Honeoye Falls - Mendon Rotary. The WNY group was founded in 2008. Since then they have shipped 455 tons of books to 16 countries worldwide! Shipments happen once or twice a year with 20-22 tons each. Many schools and Rotary Clubs in our district have participated. Rotarians are involved in the whole process, from collecting, packing and shipping them to Houston where the Second Wind Foundation handles putting them into containers for transport by sea to countries in Africa, the Middle East, Pakistan and India. On the receiving end, Rotarians distribute the books to communities in need. Without these donations, many places would not have capacity to teach their people to read. Central and South America are starting to receive books in Spanish. Joseph would be happy to assist with any project we might take on to contribute to this endeavor.

 

The Ace of Hearts was at $170. The lucky ticket #527 was again held by lucky Bill S.! His card was the King of Spades so the pot continues to grow!

 

Happy Bills were many for a great Grape Festival weekend and for Joseph's presentation. Carrie was thankful to have 16 college students visiting for the weekend. Bill and his dad are on an elk hunt in Buffalo, WY. Carrie congratulated Judy for her great job at last Monday's meeting. We were happy to have several guests tonight. Marty missed the NGF since he was in Ohio with the RIT Baja Team who won the competition for building and racing their car. Jill was thanked for her presentation on RYE. Go Bills! Jack and Sharon shared the extra cookies from their son's b-day party. Jo Anne thanked everyone for their dedication to the Grape Fest team!

 

Rotary Moment from Jack was the shared birthday of their son Jonathan and one of their RYE students, Amy!

Alan B. showed his new hat from the Rotary RV Fellowship group! He and Kristie met many Rotarians from around the country during a recent gathering in Bath, which was coordinated by Bo and Patrice. They are looking forward to attending another event in Branson, Mo in May 2027.

 

Carrie led the Four Way Test and adjourned the evening. Rest up and have a great week!