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2019–2020
President: Geoff Dunn
President-Elect: Catrina VanAtta
Vice President: Mary Kane
Treasurer: Jay O'Leary • Secretary: Joanne Lamoureux 

Stories
News 2021-01-27

Tomorrow’s meeting:
Kim Thayer, group sales manager, Greek Peak Mountain Resort: “When Life Hands Us Lemons, We Make Snowflakes!”

Join the Zoom Meeting

January 27, 2021

WELCOME & TRADITIONS

When I say “Groundhog Day,” what’s the first thing you think of? The second day of February in Punxsutawney, Pa., climate forecasting by folk lore and superstition, or the phenomenon of being forced to relive something over and over, irrespective of efforts to break out by changing inputs of action or behavior? For me, it’s the last one. Except maybe the once a year when it is … February 2nd. Happy Groundhog Day!

At the ring of Heidi’s bell, President Geoff Dunn opened last week’s meeting, and asked four members to recite the Four-Way Test: Stamie Despo, Steve Johnson, Roger Segelken, and Ann Coyne.

For his Thought for The Day, Bill Highland read Robert Frost’s “A Considerable Speck.”

A speck that would have been beneath my sight
On any but a paper sheet so white
Set off across what I had written there.
And I had idly poised my pen in air
To stop it with a period of ink,
When something strange about it made me think.

You can read the full poem (on austingranny.com), or better yet listen to this 1957 recording of Robert Frost reading his poem (on YouTube).

There were no guests at the meeting. Visiting Rotarian Kathryn Mapes from the Ithaca Lansing Club joined us.

 



ANNOUNCEMENTS

Jo-Ellen Hedlund announced that Rotary is continuing the discussion about race, equity, and inclusion, with a special meeting held last Wednesday, titled “The Conversation Continues: Becoming Aware of Racism in Our Lives.”

The special guest speaker was Past Rotary International Trustee Carolyn Jones, whose talk was titled “Racism, Social Justice, and Rotary.” Carolyn is a PDG from District 5010 (all of Alaska), the Immediate Past Chair of the Rotarian Action Group for Peace, and has served in numerous positions for her Club, her District, and for Rotary International. She is an active anti-racism speaker for Rotary groups around the world. A Q&A followed Carolyn’s presentation. The meeting was recorded, and is available here on YouTube (thanks to Jo-Ellen for the link).

President Geoff reported that the board met on Monday, January 25, and will meet on the last Monday of the month for the next few months. Some sparkling news from the meeting was that the group who is organizing the annual fireworks show is working on early planning for the event. Sadly, the board accepted the resignations of Jessica Janssen, Rajaram Rao, Gary Slade, and Suzanne Smith Jablonski.

Kathryn Mapes announced that there is a family in her congregation whose daughter has stage 4 cancer and lives in Columbia. They would like to bring her to Sloan Kettering and there is a GoFundMe to support their efforts. https://gofund.me/bb8ea827. 

Juliette Gibbs updated us on the Dozen Dinner Draw. There are $3,000 worth of prizes, with a grand prize worth $1,200. We have sold 207 tickets, meaning there are still almost 100 tickets yet to sell. Please continue to spread the word throughout your networks. Let’s get the last hundred tickets sold! Order through the website, or email Ray Brisson.

One of the organizations supported by the Dozen Dinner Draw is Bridging Digital Literacy to the UNIFAT Primary School in Uganda. Gertrude Noden presented on what kind of projects are underway and have been completed, including a current plan to bring solar power to the school.

There were Happy Dollars — starting with celebrating the many members who have already paid their dues! Diane Cohen thanked members for listening to her presentation last week, thanked Marshall McCormick for the nicest introduction she has ever had at a presentation, and she shared that Ithaca ReUse was having sales that week.

Christin Greven was happy for her 34th birthday, and really, really, 10x really happy for, only minutes earlier, getting a call from Chief Tom Parsons telling her she got The Job: a full-time paid position with the Ithaca Fire Department! Plus, a bonus 11 weeks of basic training at the state Fire Academy.

Happy dollars were pledged as a thank you to Gary Stewart and Karl Graham, who discussed Dozen Dinner Draw beneficiary Alternatives on the WHCU All Things Equal radio show and podcast.

Ann Coyne was happy for all 500 people at Kendal who got their first dose of COVID-19 vaccinations on Monday. And there were also dollars of thanks to Dennis Gray and his friends who helped get 50,000 packets of nutritious food that will be given out by various organizations throughout the Southern Tier.

 



LAST WEEK’S PROGRAM

Marshall McCormick introduced Dr. Jonathan Gibraltar, the 19th President of Wells College.

Dr. Gibraltar acknowledged the hardships of this year. He announced to the world last year that if Wells couldn’t bring students back to the college in the fall of 2020, the college would probably close permanently.

The announcement helped create some incredible opportunities. The College worked hard to keep the student community connected during the pandemic. With so many factors adding stress to student lives, Wells maintained ongoing check-ins to stay in touch with them. The College graduated a smaller senior class in 2020 — the ceremony was held virtually — confirming that student numbers are declining.

Wells was able to apply for and receive Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) funding in the first and second rounds that allowed them to continue paying staff and faculty. CARES Act monies, and a large number of donations from Alumni and other donors, along with a generous grant from a private foundation, also supported the College.

Wells is expecting an incoming freshman class this coming academic year, and are working on strategic plans to remain open. Dr. Gibraltar acknowledged Cayuga Health System and their invaluable assistance with testing on campus to help protect their community. Dr. Gibraltar and Wells would like to continue or create partnerships with all of our organizations; virtual interns, guest speaking in a class, and the like. Predicting that students won’t want to go too far from home, Wells is recruiting students from within a 100-mile radius through a new marketing campaign. The College has lost some staff and faculty but has laid no one off, and they are hiring for positions that need to be filled. Dr. Gibraltar invited everyone to feel free to contact him at jgibralter@wells.edu.

 



THANK YOU ROTARIANS

Visiting Rotarians: Kathryn Mapes from the Ithaca Lansing Club
Students: None

Workers:
  • Thought for the Day, Bill Highland
  • Introductions, Rotary hosts introduced their guests
Zoom Manager: Aly Evans

Bulletin Reporter: Margaret Frank
Photographer: Mike Brown
Bulletin Editor: Ted Schiele

Club Service Facilitators, Beverly Baker & June Losurdo
Sunshine Chair, Kellyann O’Mara

 



COMING THIS WEEK

February 3, 2021


Kim Thayer, group sales manager, Greek Peak Mountain Resort. “When Life Hands Us Lemons, We Make Snowflakes!”

Join the Zoom Meeting

 



 

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