Pledge/Prayer: President Gary McCauley
Guests: Marc McDonough, Robin Wilson (Apple Rehab), Joan Winters
Happy Bucks: Please send your HB payments to Kathy Callinan at Essex Savings Bank
BM: Happy for the bright sunny day with low wind; MD: getting scheduled for the vaccine; JA: got the vaccine and no side effects; Marc (guest): business is good - pleased with the start of 2021; AS: ready and willing for the vaccine shot; JG: getting good Vit D levels with the sunshine; CR: reported that former long time club member Andy Anderson is home now after being in the hospital for a while - great news!; PZ: warming up after the storm, J&J close to getting approval for their vaccine; PD (Mrs): happy to be healthy; PD (Mr): happy to have someone who plows his drive when we have snow like this; CN: Today is wife Judy's birthday! Tomorrow is Charlie and Judy's 60th anniversary. They were married during a blizzard in '61, expecting their 1st great grandchild in August. a sad buck for having lost a family member to covid-19, his nieces husband Tony - former NYC police officer for 25 years and overall great person.
President Gary Reports:
-Gary has 2,000 masks to distribute, waiting to hear from the schools to arrange delivery
-Rotary Apparel: Alan Schwarz is collecting names and orders for shirts and hats. We want to combine everyone's order together to make the minimum
-Grant money is available from the district, Pat Devito is accepting suggestions. We don't want this opportunity to pass us by! More on this later
-Town Bench project - At Pat Settembrino's suggestion we are passing on this for now
-Golf Tournament: Charlie Renshaw has been working with Jon Jackson of Fox Hopyard. We are putting in for a new date when we can have a normal tournament. It seems that September and October times will cost $30 more per golfer so we will try for Aug. 26 when the price will be $70 per golfer rather than $100.
-Membership, Pete Zucco: we have several people interested in joining our club! Pete is working with them by talking to them about what we do and inviting them to meetings so they can meet us and we can meet them. The candidate should submit a letter about their background and why they want to join Rotary. Pete is available to answer any questions such as club activities, dues, meeting times, etc.
-Wine Tasting, Marty: We have a date - Friday Feb. 18, 2022 and a contract has been sent for signature by Gary by Aug. 1. Committees will be formed. Hopefully we will be past this pandemic and a social event like our Wine Tasting will be a normal activity again!
-Shredding Day - a new idea from John Aforismo! The Chamber of Commerce did this in the past but are no longer doing it so John thought why don't we take it on? The date is tentatively scheduled for April 24. A location is needed and perhaps the OS high school could be the place - you need some room. John will talk to the police department and the folks at the Chamber. The club seems to be in favor of this as a great opportunity to interact with the community and provide an important service.
-Macaroni Dinner - John A is happy to head this up and John G is glad to be the head chef again. Our first one was a great success - time will be October at Fireman's Field - takeout only.
-Pat Devito talked about the $1000 district grant. We need to submit soon, its first come first serve for the money. Some ideas were proposed including the Estuary, Meals on Wheels. Marty brought up SARAH, an organization that serves the handicapped in our area. SARAH is a well run and local nonprofit organization. Pete is familiar with them and vouched for their worthiness. Pat also endorsed them and will contact them about possibly donating.
-Foundation Committee: Charlie Norz is holding a meeting tonight to approve funding for the website rebuild.
-Bill McLaughlin has been working on getting speakers but getting committments has been difficult. As a fallback, club members may be asked to give a brief bio. Pat D will see about getting a representative of SARAH to speak to the club.
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