We were happy to be joined today by four Rotary Friendship Exchange visitors from Italy! They have spent some time in the NYS Southern Tier and are headed to Rochester Rotarian hosts until Thursday.

Judy Miller greeted us all!

 

President Jack led the Pledge and we sang America the Beautiful. Our guests sang some of the Italian Anthem as well! Today was the birthday of Paul Harris, founder of Rotary in 1905. We read a poster of Paul's goals for Rotarians. 

 

Our guests today were District Rotarians Helen and Bill Gormont and Lisa Norwood, the incoming Governor for '26-'27. Four Italian Rotarians from Valle del Rubicone and Sassuolo Clubs were here. NSC Assistant Superintendent for Business Chad Hunt joined NCS Superintendent Kevin Swartz to discuss the 2026-27 school budget. 

 

Announcements: The Great Grape Derby is May 9th. Tickets are available online or in paper from Skip. * The Memorial Day parade is Monday May 25th. No meeting then. * Watkinstown Celebration of Naples history is June 6th at the Old Town Square by Fairview Cemetery. * Thursday is the Meet and Greet for potential new members at the VFW from 6-8 pm. Come out and bring your friends interested in what we do as Naples Rotarians. * Tree bagging for Arbor Day happened after our meeting. We package evergreens for Naples and Prattsburgh elementary students every year. * April is Rotary Child and Maternal Health and Environmental month. * Jack showed a photo of the Naples Italy high school and their mascot - a wildcat, depicted in green! 

 

Kevin gave an overview of the NCS budget process. They started in October to prepare it. The State budget is overdue so it can't be finalized at this time. Their mission is to be fair, predictable and provide students with the skills needed to excel in life. Enrollment is down and costs are up due to health care and utilities. State aid has had lower increases in recent years. Skilled trades are increasing in popularity but there is a wait list for some BOCES classes and programs. Despite this, Naples is on good ground due to future planning in the past and for the future.

Chad gave the details of the proposed budget, reviewing the revenue and expenses. There are 8 municipalities making up our district, each with their own tax structure. The average tax is $11.82/ $1000 of home assessment. There will be 2 diesel buses in the  vote this year. We will not buy any more EV buses in the near future as their performance in cold weather is problematic. They require mid-day charging and can't even get on the road because it takes too long to warm them in winter. Program adjustments will be by attrition but offerings with stay the same. Information on the specifics will be sent out soon and the budget vote takes place on May 19th, 7am-8pm at the high school library.

 

The Ace of Hearts was $47 today. Patrice had ticket #9971 but drew the 10 of Spades. Happy Bills will resume next week.

 

Monica has 3100 members in her northeastern Italian District. The area is known for the food and automotive manufacturing - Ferrari and Lamborghini. Some of their projects include help for flooding in Romagna, Ukrainian orphans, family medical services and a polio project. They were able to vaccinate 9000 children.

Caesar's club began in the 1970s. In 1979, they launched, with Albert Sabin, the program that led to the Global Polio Plus program. The district also distributed more than 40 defibrillators in several cities and provided transportation to healthcare. During the pandemic they donated laptops for distance learning. In 2025 their global grant helped fund a program for dementia care at their local hospital.

 

We thank our new Italian friends and our Naples educators for their programs today!