May is here and with it came a beautiful spring day! 

We gathered for Star Wars Day at the Redwood - May the Fourth be with you! Cindy greeted 20 Naples Rotarians and two guests - Kathleen Duserick and Sarah Wilhelm from Ontario County 4-H.

 

President Jack was playing in a golf tournament today so Past President Liz filled in. We rose for the Pledge and sang America the Beautiful. Cindy read a Rotary theme from the District Conference over the weekend: 

"Together, we see a world where people unite and take action to create lasting change across the globe, in our communities, and in ourselves." The highlights say it all concisely.

 

Announcements: The Great Grape Derby is this coming Saturday. Tickets available online or check in with Judy Miller. Be at the Creek on Mark Circle at 12:30pm. Race goes at 1pm. 50-50 raffle tickets on sale at the Digger. Watch for any changes (rain forecast this week) on Facebook and our website. Catchers needed! * Naples 250th celebration at Watkinstown Festival is on June 6th at the old town square in front of Fairview Cemetery from 11- 4pm.  * Today was Cindy's birthday so it was celebrated in song. * Long time Rotarian, Tom Hawks is looking for someone to adopt his beloved dogs as his health is declining. His information is posted on his Facebook. Please share to anyone you know who could add them to their family.

 

Our speaker today was Sarah Wilhelm from the Ontario County 4-H. Sarah spoke about what we think of as part of 4-H: animal science. The other projects students choose are cooking, sewing and gardening. 4-H is a national organization of 6 million US participants from 5 to 19 years old. It is the largest youth organization. 4-H motto is learning by doing, to make the best better. The Hs are head, heart, hand and health. Head for clear thinking, heart for greater loyalty, hand for larger service and health for better living; for the club, the community, the country and the world. 4-H members participate at the Ontario County fair, showing their animals and home projects and staffing the ice cream bar. There are 256 youth in our county, 50 volunteer leaders in 12 clubs. They also have after school programs in Geneva. Events include a Harvest Fest of cooking with local produce. There are public speaking presentations, a textile showcase of sewing and crochet. An important service is tractor safety training which is open to 14-15 years, required for farm work at that age. Other programs focus on shooting sports, dog and horse raising and raising market animals that will be auctioned at the NY State Fair. The County Fair is from July 21-15 this year. Come out to see the animals and enjoy the ice cream booth. 4-H summer camp at Camp Bristol Hills is 5 weeks long with enrollment going on now. Youth do not need to be a member of a club to participate in 4-H programs - they can be independent. The tractor safety program participants are often from other counties. It happens in February and March. Sarah's office is in Canandaigua in the Cornell Extension building, shared with Soil and Water Conservation. Her email is: sab423@cornell.edu. The Miller and Duserick girls were 4-H members and Liz was in the horse program and a camp attendee - valuable experiences!

 

Ace of Hearts was $78. Bo had lucky ticket #0055 - he chose the Jack of Hearts.

Happy Bills were given for the great conference - the venue was nice and the speakers inspiring. * Thanks to Sarah's program. * Thankful that Skip is home from the hospital!. * Sending prayers for Tom. * Reminder that NCS budget hearing is this week, vote on May 19th.

Rotary Moments were plentiful at the conference. We had 14 attendees, plus Rose joined us at times. The evening's dancing was led by Naples women Rotarians!

 

We recited the Four Way Test and Liz rang the bell to adjourn. See you at the Creek on Saturday. Have a great week!