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Tomorrow’s meeting:
Angela Ryan, executive director, Matthew House end-of-life comfort care home: “Our House — Your Home.”
Join the Zoom Meeting February 10, 2021
Newsletter Reporter: Kelly Buck | Photos: Mike Brown | Editor: Ted Schiele President Geoff Dunn gave the word, and bell-ringer Heidi Goldstein rang her bell, signaling to President Geoff that the time to open the meeting had arrived, which he did along with the good news that the Dozen Dinner Draw (DDD) team had sold all 300 tickets! The drawing for 13 lucky winners came later in the meeting! Geoff led us in the 4-Way Test with the support of Gertrude Noden, Ray Brisson and Linda Brisson, Linda Pasto, and Heidi Goldstein. Jim Johnston gave the Thought for the Day, gleaned from past president Don Komph, who was president during the 1996-97 Rotary year. Among the guests who were introduced was visiting Rotarian, DG Matt Adler, whom President Geoff spotted on the Zoom chessboard. Matt made several district announcements: - February 23 is Rotary International’s 116th anniversary.
- Our next Rotary president is Shakur Meta, and he has just announced his theme for 2022: “Serve to Change Lives”
- District is working on creating a forum for young people so we can recruit them as new members
- Rotary Leadership Institute (RLI) is virtual on March 6. Cost is only $25 but don’t let that get in your way! DG Matt has scholarship money up to $150, so sign up soon to go free!
(Ed. Note: Attention New Members! Go to RLI! It is so worth it! And yes, like everything else it will be different this year, but you also won’t need to meet your ride at 7:00 a.m. on a Saturday morning!) And speaking of everything different this year, we’re coming up on ten and a half months of virtual meetings, and Secretary Joanne Lamoureux took a few minutes to speak about how hard it is to sustain Rotary fellowship during these times of light and sound, but no touch. So she is trying different things to keep us connected (thank you for your Valentine, Joanne), and one of her ideas is to share the names, stories, and contact info for two older members every week, in the hopes that Rotarians would be inspired to reach out to them in some way. To get us started, Joanne (re)introduced these two members: - Jesse Ripple — Jesse joined our club in 1995 (25 years ago!). She now lives in Wisconsin with family, but we do see her occasionally at our Zoom meetings. Jesse is a past chair of the Community Grants committee. You can reach her at: jesseripple@gmail.com or 710 Rung Way, Verona, WI 53593
- Joe Metz — Joe is a Professor Emeritus at Cornell’s College of Ag. and Life Sciences; he retired 30 years ago. At age 97, Joe is the eldest of all our members. He joined our Club in 1970. You can reach Joe at: jfm12@cornell.edu or 112 Hillside Circle, Ithaca 14850.
President Geoff asked members to put their Happy Dollars in the Chat.
“The Dozen Dinner Drawing was two weeks ago, and while photos from the event did make it into last week’s newsletter, the winners’ names were embargoed until last week’s meeting. Drum rolls ushered in the announcement, and here are the top three winners:
“#3) $300 in restaurant certificates: Nathan Lyman!
“#2) $500 in restaurant certificates: Doug Larison!
“#1) $1,200 in restaurant certificates: Walt Cottrell!”  That was how it went three (3) years ago, for the very first ever Dozen Dinner Draw, according to the February 21, 2018 newsletter. Like this year, the tickets were $50 each, though there were only 200 sold. The proceeds were split, with $1,000 going to a ShelterBox, and $9,000 to Puerto Rico for a housing repair project in Vieques, overseen by the Rotary Club of San Juan. “‘We really had no idea how this would turn out,’ said Dennis Gray (in the same Feb. 2018 newsletter) who, with Maricelis Acevedo, launched the idea back in December (2017).”
 This year was the 4th Annual Dozen Dinner Draw (DDD), and once again ‘we really had no idea how this would turn out,’ thanks to this everything-is-different year of Covid. But, said DDD Committee chair Juliet Gibbs, the response was amazing! As President Geoff mentioned at the top of the show, all 300 tickets were sold at $50 each, raising $15,000 for local and international programs. There were 13 prize packages valued at over $3,000, with first prize (still) a dozen dinners.
In the previous three years, the restaurants and other venues donated the prizes. This year, with businesses hit hard by the Covid lock-downs, Rotarians donated the prizes to the tune of more than $2,800 in value! Bravo!  Linda Brisson reported that an anonymous Rotarian had bought and donated a DDD ticket for each of our seven outbound exchange students! George Gull won the “super seller” prize for selling a total of 57 DDD tickets! Yikes George! His award was two tickets of his own.
This year’s beneficiaries are the Alternatives Impact AFCU Small Business COVID-19 Relief Fund, Family & Children’s Services of Ithaca, and Solar Power for Digital Learning at the UNIFAT School in Gulu, Uganda. The impact of this project is big, and the dedication of so many Rotarians who bought and sold tickets, mostly one-by-one, is equally big. The grand prize winner was our own Dale Flinn, receiving $1,200 worth of dining certificates around town (12 $100 gift cards)! One last thing: Pledging to sell 300 tickets was only the start. A lot of Rotarians worked together to make it happen, step by deliberate step. Please don’t skip over this part of the newsletter! Many thanks to President Geoff, the Board of Directors, the International Service Committee and the entire DDD team. Shout Outs to: - Ray Brisson for managing and tracking all ticket sales
- Linda Brisson for collecting and organizing all gift certificates and prize packages
- Nancy Potter, liaison with our beneficiary organizations and with the NY State Gaming Commission
- Team Grace for giving birth to this fundraiser several years ago and for continuing to support it in every imaginable way
- Dave Martin for gratis printing of flyers and tickets
- Sherrie Negrea for providing PR support
- Brett Bossard and Dennis Gray for web support and updates
- Gary Stewart for publicizing the DDD and for interviewing representatives of two of our beneficiary organizations on his WHCU broadcast All Things Equal
Rotarians who bought and donated gift certificates for the prize packages: Maricelis Acevedo, Larry Baum, Mary Berens, Linda and Ray Brisson, Ann Coyne, Geoff Dunn, Harlin McEwen, Dale Flinn, Juliet Gibbs, Dennis Gray, Joanne Lamoureux, Loralyn Light, June Losurdo, Gail and Nate Lyman, Gertrude Noden, Brad Olson, Linda Pasto, Nancy Potter, Ron Provus, Colleen Schiefen and Frank Towner. Businesses that donated unsolicited gift certificates:
Monks, New Delhi Diamonds and Cayuga Chamber Orchestra Ticket SuperSupporters: Maricelis Acevedo, Mary Berens, Linda and Ray Brisson, John and Kate Finn, Dale Flinn, Mary Grainger, Dennis Gray, ***George Gull and Nancy Potter***, June Losurdo, Gail and Nate Lyman, Ron Provus, Larry Thayer
***Note that George Gull and Nancy Potter won BOTH ticket sales incentive prizes! 2021 Sponsors: Agava, Aurora Inn, Boatyard Grill, Bright Leaf Vineyards, Cayuga Chamber Orchestra, Ciao, Cinemapolis, Coltivare, Country Club of Ithaca, Crossroads Bar & Grille, Dryden Hotel, Edible Arrangements of Ithaca, Fargo Bar and Grill, Gateway Mediterranean Bistro and Grill, Gola Osteria, Handwork, Hangar Theatre, The Heights Restaurant and H Bar, Ithaca Bakery, Just a Taste, Kilpatrick's Publick House, Kitchen Theatre, Little Venice, Long Point Winery, Mahogany Grill, Maxie's Supper Club and Oyster Bar, MIX Ithaca, Monks on the Commons, New Delhi Diamonds, Northstar House, Purity Ice Cream, Salt Point Brewery, Sunny Days, Treleaven (King Ferry Winery), Viva Taqueria, Wegmans Catering 
 Kelly Buck is handling the meeting programs for February, and last week she introduced Marian Brown, Executive Director of Wells College’s Center for Sustainability & the Environment. The Center was founded in 2014 to promote the reduction of consumption and increased re-use of products.
Marian explained that “sustainability” isn’t a WHAT, it’s a HOW. To be truly sustainable requires changes in the way we think, act, and make decisions; it is a continuous process. When we gradually move to making thoughtful choices surrounding sustainability, we see a huge impact on our environment over time.  Marian set up three key points: We do not want to: 1) hurt the environment, 2) hurt others, or 3) waste money. So for each sustainability initiative being considered, we must ask and answer these three questions: How does this action impact: 1) others, 2) our environment, and 3) business?
The overall point is to build and provide a rich community environment that encourages sustainability in an interdependent world. The Wells student body is supportive of the college’s sustainability initiatives, with two-thirds saying that the college’s commitment to the environment both matters and demonstrates that the college makes a positive difference as an effective steward of resources. The Center for Sustainability hosts a series of “Sustainable Business” presentations that are open to the public. Visit the Center’s events page on their website for details and access information. Marian invited Rotarians to contact her directly at mbrown@wells.edu.
Visiting Rotarians: None
Students: None
Workers:
• Thought for the Day, Jim Johnston
• Introductions, Rotary hosts introduced their guests
Zoom Manager: Angela Sullivan
Bulletin Reporter: Kelly Buck
Photographer: Mike Brown
Bulletin Editor: Ted Schiele
Club Service Facilitators, Beverly Baker & June Losurdo
Sunshine Chair, Kellyann O’Mara
February 17, 2021
Angela Ryan, executive director, Matthew House end-of-life comfort care home: “Our House — Your Home.”
Join the Zoom Meeting
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