Thursday April 8, 2010

The Ripple

The Newsletter of the

Rotary Club of Peabody - District 7930

P.O. Box 94, Peabody, MA 01960

WWW.ROTARYPEABODY.ORG

Meeting: Thursdays, 7:30-8:30 AM, at the Peabody Marriott, Centennial Drive, Peabody, MA

*

April is Magazine Month! (the Rotarian)

*

How to propose a member:

Identify an individual (would s/he pass the Four-Way Test?).

   Invite that person to a meeting.

  Fill out a proposal card.

  Board votes on the proposed member.

  Proposed member has information session with Secretary Gary.

  Proposed member is asked if s/he would like to join.  If yes, application is signed.

  Proposed member's name is published in The Ripple. 

  If there are no objections sent in writing to the Membership Chair within seven days, the proposed member becomes a member.

*

 April Birthdays:

April 8 - Bob Wood

March Wedding Anniversaries:

April 26 - Steve and Lori Morad

April 26 - Peggy P and Jody

  TO ALL MEMBERS: IF THERE ARE ANY ERRORS WITH THE BIRTHDAY OR ANNIVERSARY DATES, PLEASE NOTIFY GARY EPSTEIN.  ALSO, THERE ARE NUMEROUS MISSING DATES ON OUR ROSTER.  PLEASE GIVE GARY YOUR INFORMATION--JUST THE DATES--NO ONE CARES HOW OLD YOU ARE.  BUT WE MAY BE INTERESTED TO KNOW HOW LONG YOU'VE BEEN MARRIED. 

*

    NEXT BOARD MEETING:

Tuesday April 27 - 5:30PM at GraVoc

E-mail President Cathy (Cathyg@Gravoc.com) with agenda items

*

CITIZENS FOR ADEQUATE HOUSING

Thursday, May 6, 2010

JOHN MEAKIN (Meal Pickup), GARY EPSTEIN (Salad and Cookies)

Arrive at 4:45 P.M at 42 Washington St., Peabody
 

If you're unable to attend on the specified date, it's your responsibility to locate a replacement. Please inform the meal pickup person of the change and the replacement of your assigned responsibility. Look at NEWS and Citizens For Adequate Housing Schedule for the future schedule and specific responsibilities.

*

MEETING NOTES

Today's visiting Rotarians: None

Guests:

Grace Martins presented today!

    Grace prepared a powerpoint presentation of her trip but unfortunately the projector wasn't working...

Grace spoke of her mission trip with her guests Laurie, Heather, and her daughter Ashley.

With the donations they received, they brought 12 suitcases full of medical supplies.  The clinic will also be able to buy a baby scale for their community.  While they were there, Grace and her team also purchased a refrigerator for the local nursing home.  This nursing home serves 70 elderly people and desperately needs better supplies. 

This was Grace's 3rd trip to Nicaragua since 2006.  She was able to see the progress made on the clinic started in 2009.  This clinic sees 60-70 patients a day.  It was heartbreaking to hear about the people who suffer from respiratory infections, stomach bugs, and skin issues.  Maybe of the simple treatments we take for granted here in the US are in not even remotely accessible to the people in countries like Nicaragua. 

Thank you Grace for donating your time and efforts to helping others.  You are an excellent representation of "service above self"!

*************************  

John reported on how last week's dinner at Citizens for Adequate Housing.  He said that there are not a lot of families that come down when we are there between 4:30 - 5:00.  We know that the food we bring is much appreciated and always eaten throughout the evening as families become available to come down and eat.  The question was raised about the visibility Rotary is receiving by doing this.  The group commented on the aprons we wear and the signage that is out for display on the food table.  For now we agreed that as long as they continue to eat and appreciate out dinner donations, we will continue to serve them.

We will again be partnering with the Peabody Chamber on the golf tournament in September.  Outback will be holding our lunch afterwards, although this year we will have to pay a fee... TBD.

Ann volunteered at the Y it Matters program on Friday.  She brought her daughter and said although the kids were tired and distracted, they had fun!  It is hard for them to be motivated being a Friday, but Ann had the magnificient idea to just bring them in the gym and let them play!  She said it was a great idea to incorporate the activity/lesson plan with some sort of physical activity. 

The District Assembly is Wednesday April 14.  Martha will be leaving for her Ireland vacation this weekend, so if anyone is interested in coming after today please let Cathy know.

The Scholarship application deadline is April 15.  Peggy has published information in the paper and at the schools.  A handful have come in so far.  Her tentative committee is Martha, Steve P, Jeff, Gary, and Peggy.

The International Convention in going to be held in Montreal this year, June 20-23.  Bob Wood spoke of the wonderful events that happen during these trips and that it is such a unique opportunity to meet fellow Rotarians from around the world.  Visit http://rotary.org/en/Members/Events/Convention/ for more information!

************************

Reminder: If you see any news articles or pictures (not Rotary related) of our members, bring them in so the member can donate $$$ to the club.  But more important--we'd like to recognize and applaud our members.

*************************

Happy Dollars: We collected $122 this week in part due to Bob Wood's generous birthday donation. 

50-50 Raffle: Jeff picked the 2 of Clubs and Bob picked the 3 of Spades - we're sneaking up on both sides of the winner card... the Q of Hearts!

The pot is up to $103

*************************

REMINDERS:

    Our speaker scheduler, Grace Martins, asks that you tell her of any people who may want to speak to the club or whom you think may be of interest to the club.

*************************

Secretary Gary Epstein reminds members of Rotary's attendance requirements.  Members cannot miss more than three consecutive meetings without making up.  However, there are plenty of opportunities to make up.  Attend a Board meeting (All members are encouraged to attend, anyway.), attend a committee meeting, work on the website, and the most basic make-up--attend other clubs' meetings.  Be sure to steal ideas our club can use!!

*************************

What do you do with your empty bottles and cans?  (And we know there must be a lot of empty beer cans and bottles.)  Please bring them (both beer and soda) to the meetings every week to give to Mel.  Every nickel helps!!

*************************

NEXT MEETINGS:

April 29: Dr. Michael Stare - Spectrum Fitness Consulting, LLC

May 6: Debra Macgregor - District Attorney

UPCOMING IMPORTANT DATES:

  April 14, 2010:  District Assembly

April 15, 2010:  Scholarship Application Deadline

April 19, 2010:  142nd anniversary of Paul Harris's birth

April 26, 2010:  Alumni Event

May 14, 2010:  Joint Meeting in Peabody with GSE Team

May 21-23, 2010:  District Conference

************************* 

(If anyone has any stories or jokes you would like to add to the weekly Ripple, please email Vanessa at vsilveira@metrocu.org) 

It's easy to become a Rotary Sustaining member.  It's $100 per year, but Loring can bill you $25 per quarter.

That's $8.33 a month, or 28 CENTS a day, or a little over a penny an hour.

LET'S BECOME A 100% SUSTAINING MEMBER CLUB!!

 THE 4-WAY TEST of the things we think, say or do:

  1. IS IT THE TRUTH?

2. IS IT FAIR TO ALL CONCERNED?

3. WILL IT BUILD GOODWILL & BETTER FRIENDSHIP?

4. WILL IT BE BENEFICAL TO ALL CONCERNED?

Please keep this in mind!

 ***********************************************************

  Note: Other Rotary Club meeting locations are posted at www.rotary.org, then, click on 'Club Locator'.

The District 7930 Club locator can be found at www.rotary7930.org