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Tomorrow’s meeting:
Lucia Tyler, PhD, CEP, Author and Founder of Tyler Admissions Consulting
“College Fit — Why It Is More Important to Students This Year, Yet Harder to Achieve”
Join the Zoom Meeting May 5, 2021
Newsletter Reporter: Gail Lyman | Photos: Mike Brown | Editor: Ted Schiele  Last week’s meeting fell on May 5th, 5/5, Cinco de Mayo. The day of celebration, Loralyn Light explained in her Thought for The Day, commemorates the Battle of Puebla in 1861, during which a meager band of 2,000 poorly equipped Mexican soldiers overcame the French Empire’s force of 6,000. And while President Geoff Dunn’s countdown did not include a countback of the 58,440 days that have elapsed since the battle, he did note that there were 46 days to the official start of summer, 26 days to the start of the summer season on Memorial Day, 56 days to the end of the Rotary year, and 235 shopping days until Christmas.
 The Four-Way Test was recited by Larry Baum, Serenna McCloud, Brad Carruth (hello Brad!!), and Jean McPheeters.
Picking up more of Loralyn’s history lesson, Cinco De Mayo’s deeply rooted history influenced Mexican-American communities in the early years of the American Civil War. These communities took up the banner of the Cinco De Mayo celebration as a way to commemorate the cause of freedom and democracy. Today, in the United States, Mexican-American heritage and pride is celebrated annually on May 5th.  Meeting guests included Megan Barber, Executive Director of the Community Arts Partnership of Tompkins County (CAP). After being introduced, President Geoff gave Megan the floor to announce the 13th Annual Spring Writes Literary Festival. This year’s festival, which is all on Zoom, includes readings, panel discussions, and workshops, through May 16th. Register at springwrites.org.
It was the first meeting of the month, and Prez. Geoff took us through May’s birthdays and Club anniversaries.
Back in March, fifth Wednesday Happy Dollars were channeled directly to the cache set aside for Community Grants, our annual program that is traditionally funded by ticket and advertising sales for the Little Apple Fall Follies, or LAFF. Because LAFF 2020 was cancelled by COVID, the funds account for 2021 grants was empty. At last week’s meeting, Mary Berens announced that we were within $205 of our $16,000 grants funding goal! No word yet on whether or not the 6 days since has closed the goal gap, but don’t let that stop you if you’re just one click away from making your contribution (the suggestion is $48, same as the four LAFF tickets Rotarians are asked to buy or sell). Donations can be made through your Community Foundation of Tompkins County. Click here for CFTC’s Give Online page, and type “Rotary Club of Ithaca Fund” in the Fund Name field. A couple of weeks ago, Joanne Lamoureux asked members to send her pictures of yourselves from back in the day, before you were age 18, and preferably before you could tie your own shoes. You may have forgotten, but Joanne hasn’t, and so last week she reminded us all. Note that she has not yet announced how these photos will be shared or displayed, but trust me, you can trust Joanne so don’t let that stop you! The meeting broke out into table groups for about ten minutes of fellowship.
Yours truly introduced the week’s speaker, Frank Kruppa, Tompkins County Public Health Director. Frank’s presentation was titled, “Our Community’s Response to COVID-19 — What’s Next?”  Frank affirmed that the response to COVID-19 in Tompkins County is in a “good spot” relative to the other counties in our Region. The number of active cases is at its lowest number since last October. Testing continues at a pace averaging over 4,500 a day, and confirms that disease prevalence has been brought to low levels.
The TC Health Department's partnership with Cayuga Health System was described by Frank as “amazing” due to its effective testing program and the significant progress made with vaccinations. However, now with 60% of Tompkins County’s population having received at least one dose (now over 70% of those age 18+), the number of vaccinations being given is plateauing, evidenced by the county's vaccination clinics sometimes struggling to fill available appointments.  Pop up Vaccinations PODs (Points of Dispensing) have been held in Newfield, Dryden, and Enfield. These offer flexibility and accessibility for those who want to get vaccinated, but can’t easily (or are not motivated to) get to the county's main site at the Shops at Ithaca Mall. A new program allows any organization to apply to host a pop-up vaccination clinic if they have 10 or more people who want to get vaccinated.
Recently, representatives from New York State came to Ithaca to mark 50,000 doses administered by Cayuga Health. Asked about resuming in-person meetings for groups the size of our Rotary, Frank did not encourage them, but stated it was no longer prohibited. As more people get vaccinated in our county, our members should reach a comfort level to resume in-person meetings. In terms of reducing vaccination hesitancy, Frank emphasized that encouraging vaccination through one-to-one relationships with friends and family is a more effective approach than any public health campaign. For more information on our county health department’s response to COVID-19, visit tompkinscountyny.gov/health. You can see the slides that Frank used in his presentation at this link.
Visiting Rotarians: None
Students: None
Workers:
• Thought for the Day, Loralyn Light
• Introductions, Rotary hosts introduced their guests
Zoom Manager: Trina VanAtta
Bulletin Reporter: Gail T. Lyman
Photographer: Mike Brown
Bulletin Editor: Ted Schiele
Club Service Facilitators, Beverly Baker & June Losurdo
Sunshine Chair, Kellyann O’Mara
May 12, 2021
Lucia Tyler, PhD, CEP, Author and Founder of Tyler Admissions Consulting
“College Fit – Why It Is More Important to Students This Year, Yet Harder to Achieve”
Join the Zoom Meeting
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