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Tomorrow’s meeting:
Club Service
Join the Zoom Meeting March 24, 2021
Newsletter Reporter: Kelly Buck | Photos: Mike Brown | Editor: Ted Schiele One of my go-to podcasts over the COVID year is by Mike Osterholm, a down home Iowa lad who is one of the world’s top infectious disease experts, based at the University of Minnesota (Go Gophers!) Way back in the Spring of 2020, Mike predicted there would be over 450,000 U.S. deaths from the pandemic — yep, he’s a straight shooter. One of his weekly features is to share a “COVID Act of Kindness” sent in by a listener. I listen to these stories and imagine Mike holding forth, seated at a kitchen table with a cup of coffee (black), stretching out his hands for emphasis, and though in my scene he never says “what was your act of kindness this past week,” I always think about that. I myself have never come close to the sampling that Mike has selected for his show, but I do belong to a Rotary Club, the Rotary Club of Ithaca, New York, that has matched each of the stories that Mike has told over his 50-plus episodes. Knowing this makes the acts of kindness that Mike shares more precious, and makes my membership — and every member’s membership — in Ithaca Rotary more meaningful. There is no “I” in “member.” We are all equals in our Club’s amazing COVID Acts of Kindness. Heidi Goldstein is the member who rings the bell for member President Geoff Dunn to open the meeting, which he did with the good news that spring is here! Turning the page in Dunn’s Weekly Almanac, we learned there are 8 days to the start of the baseball season, 88 days to the start of summer, and 98 days until the end of our Rotary year. Prez Geoff asked Serenna McCloud, Warren Allmon, Stacy McNeil, and Dale Flinn to recite the Four-Way Test. He gave a shout out to Linda Pasto, whose volunteer work as a vaccinator at Cayuga Health’s mall clinic was keeping her from attending the meeting. For his Thought for the Day, Jeff True pulled from Paul Harris’s book “My Road to Rotary.” Paul was born in 1868 and started Rotary in February 1905. His book was published posthumously, and contained this quote that resonated with Jeff: “Beneath the good works of Rotary is an invisible power — the power of good will.” There were no guests or visiting Rotarians.
For our new(ish) weekly feature the (New) Member Moment, Frank Towner introduced Chris Roscoe (son of member Jack). Frank fondly recalls Chris and twin brother Nick attending the YMCA as youths, and that they were “a little active.” Things that Chris loves include cooking, Cayuga Lake, and his Corgi dog. He formerly worked in the family millwork business in Dryden, and is now at Bailey Place Insurance in Ithaca. Linda Brisson shared disappointing but not unexpected news that Rotary International has decided to cancel the youth exchange program through June 2022. There are seven students postponed from last year, and four new ones waiting in the wings. Some flexibility exists for students taking a gap year. Gertrude Noden put out a call for youth aged K-22 years who may be interested in participating in a sustainability/ reuse program. The program was developing in collaboration with Wells College for 18 months before COVID hit. Students will learn the priorities of the program, then drill down into human rights, climate change, responsible reuse, etc. Project participants will have the opportunity to learn, then design and implement a project to help cut down on irresponsible consumption. Rotarians are asked to spread the word to youth groups. Contact Gertrude at gertrude.noden@gmail and go to www.wordsintodeeds.org to learn more. Marys Kane and Berens announced that any Happy Dollars given this week, March 31, will be dedicated to this year’s Community Grants program. Donations made then will be matched by a generous anonymous donor, up to $5,000! Without LAFF show income, other revenue sources are needed to fund the grants program. The club is donating $2,000, and $3,000 will come from the club’s donor advised fund at the Community Foundation. It was suggested that Rotarians each make a Happy Dollar contribution of $48, the amount they would have spent on four LAFF tickets anyway. The goal is our favorite number, $15,000! President Geoff collected Happy Dollars. Folks were so happy for being on a beach in Maine, the spring weather, a new exhibit at the Museum of the Earth, getting the vaccine, the Mars flight, and more.
Steve Savage introduced the last of the Cayuga Health speakers for March, Dr. Elizabeth Plocharczyk. Beth is the medical director of Cayuga Health System (CHS) Pathology Labs. CHS was in an excellent position to respond when Covid hit a year ago. The data produced in the labs is used to improve care delivery across the system. Millions of pieces of data are generated every year in CHS’s world class labs by world class technicians. The size of the labs doubled from 2013–2019. Before COVID, there were 142 full time lab staff. They have added 90 more. When the pandemic hit, they had no idea of the scope of need. Dr. Plocharczyk guesstimated they may conduct about 40,000 tests. To date, they done over 1.2 million. NYS considers CHS’s data transmission and quality to be “best in class.” CHS is operating two independent COVID testing labs now in Tompkins County. They do so in partnership with Ithaca-based Rheonix; it was the only way to perform so many tests. Looking ahead, we still don’t know what to expect in terms of how the variants might interact with the current vaccines. Beth expects that antibody testing will be the next big thing, and is looking forward to seeing how the new “vaccine passport” will develop. This app will hold travelers’ health information as they travel internationally.
Visiting Rotarians: None
Students: None
Workers:
• Thought for the Day, Jeff True
• Introductions, Rotary hosts introduced their guests
Zoom Manager:
Bulletin Reporter: Kelly Buck
Photographer: Mike Brown
Bulletin Editor: Ted Schiele
Club Service Facilitators, Beverly Baker & June Losurdo
Sunshine Chair, Kellyann O’Mara
March 31, 2021
Club Service
Join the Zoom Meeting
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