Spring spirits were high tonight after a great District Learning Assembly on Saturday and a productive Board Meeting this afternoon. Eleven Naples Rotarians attended DLA and we had 26 members and 2 guests at our evening gathering.

 

President Jack invited us to say the Pledge followed by A Grand Old Flag.  Marty had an important inspiration: "Worrying is a waste of a good imagination." 

Our guests were our speaker, Nigel Heaton and Sue's son Neapolitan Josh Dominick, visiting from his current home in China. We welcomed Jill and Marty back from Florida. Wayne expressed his thanks for the well wishes during his recent recovery and celebrated the opening of his dental office this day in 1978! Brenda's recovery is coming along as she continues PT and OT rehab at home.

 

Announcements: The Rotex Polar Bear Plunge on Sunday earned $50K! Two Naples Interact students and one dad jumped in Conesus Lake. * The District Conference is May 1-3. Last chance to register is this week. * The Great Grape Derby is May 9th at Naples Creek "Digger" on Mark Circle. Please share the Facebook posts to your friends. Tickets will be available online and at meetings. * Jack has two tickets for the Eastern Cities Dinner at Locust Hill, Friday 4/17, 5pm. Cost is $75 each, the speaker is the RI President! * April is Rotary Maternal and Child Health Month and Environmental Month. * The list of April birthdays is: Judy Miller, Sharon, Lawrence, Liz Bailey, Frank and Bruce.

 

JoAnne gave her thanks to all those helping with the Trout Derby, especially organizers Micah, Jon Betrus, Christy and Sherry. Kudos to Liz Bailey and Denise for getting donations and putting the 22 raffle baskets together and for Denise's 240 yummy rainbow cookies!

There were 387 registered anglers and 42 fish submitted - online and at the firehall. We had income of $8077, expenses of $1778 for a profit of $6299.  It was a great success!

 

Highlights of the Board meeting: We are having our first Rotary Meet and Greet of the year next Thursday, 4/23 at the VFW from 6-8pm. The Facebook post will go out soon - please share to your friends! Bring potential new members with you for conversation and refreshments! * We will support a Rotary Global Grant hosted by the Canandaigua Rotary that will provide nutritional training and support to an area of Uganda. * Naples student Liam Fahy will be attending RYLA this summer. * Arbor Day is April 24th. We will be bagging the saplings we give to elementary students after the noon meeting next Monday 4/20. * We received a thank you from the Naples Elementary School Student Council, signed by Collins Borglum - President, for our support of a playground addition of a Gaga Ball Pit. We applied for a District Grant to assist with the purchase. 

 

Our speaker tonight was Nigel Heaton from the Patriot Guard Riders. Nigel was born in England, son of a WWII RAF Spitfire mechanic who moved the family to Canada. In 1960, they moved to Irondequoit where Nigel grew up. While still a British citizen, he signed up for the Vietnam War draft - his birthdate was draft #306. He became a citizen in 1976. He tried the reserves in 1980 but was not qualified. In 2006, he learned of the Patriot Guard Riders which was formed in Kansas to honor and protect families of service members who were being hassled at public funerals. He is now a Ride Captain, Assistant State Captain and the Board VP for NYS. The NYS group was formed in 2010. Not all guard member ride motorcycles, not all are veterans but all respect the American military and first responders. They attend funerals, burials and dignified transfers. They support Gold Star and Blue Star families and veterans with no family to honor them. There is Help on the Homefront program that gives financial support for veterans with rent, furnishings, etc. to help homeless vets through the VA. The Veteran Recovery program assists with finding unclaimed remains in funeral homes and hospitals and getting them to a final resting place, often at Bath or Samson National Cemetery. The Guard also participates in greeting Honor Flight returnees from Washington DC. There is a group coming back to ROC airport on Sunday. For more information on PGR see their website: PGRNY/org.

 

The Ace of Hearts was up to $37. The lucky ticket was #9926 which was in Bruce's hand. He chose the Ace of Clubs - so close!

Happy Bills were many for Nigel's great presentation, the PGR program and all they do for veterans and families. Nigel mentioned that there is an Honor Flight in May that will be for women veterans only. The District Learning Assembly was very valuable. 

Jack's Moment was the crew who cleaned up the cemetery at Rose Ridge. Trees have been trimmed so that the cross is visible from downhill in town at night. It's can be seen from Laurie's house and the schools.

 

We recited the Four Way Test and Jack rang the bell to adjourn at 7:17pm. Have a great week!