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Tomorrow’s meeting:
Frank Kruppa, Tompkins County Public Health Director
“Our Community’s Response to COVID-19 — What’s Next?”
Join the Zoom Meeting April 28, 2021
Newsletter Reporter: Loralyn Light | Photos: Mike Brown | Editor: Ted Schiele  President Geoff Dunn cued Past President Heidi Goldstein to ring in the meeting, and welcomed everyone, while noting that there were a lot of guests in attendance, a number of whom were at our Ithaca Rotary meeting for the first time.
Not being one to let tradition get stale, Prez Geoff added a new date to his weekly countdown: 53 days to the start of summer, 63 to June 30 (the end of his Rotary term), and … 114 days to the return of the NYS Fair! And of course, 1 day closer to the end of the pandemic, and another day closer to our return to Coltivare. (Relevant sidebar: A survey will be sent out to gauge members’ thoughts on timing for a return to in-person meetings at Coltivare.)  The Four-Way Test was recited by Gary Stewart, Kim Pugliese, John Barradas, and Linda Pasto. Thank you all!
For her Thought for The Day, Loretta Goss read a few short quotes she thought were appropriate for Rotary. - Volunteers are unpaid not because they are worthless, but because they are priceless. (Anonymous)
- Only a life lived in the service of others is worth living. (Albert Einstein)
- We make a living by what we get; we make a life by what we give. (Winston Churchill)
- If you want happiness for an hour, take a nap. If you want happiness for a day, go fishing. If you want happiness for a year, inherit a fortune. If you want happiness for a lifetime, help somebody. (Chinese Proverb)
 Who knows more people and has more friends than anyone in Tompkins County? I think it’s Frank Towner, and at one point or another he brings them all to a Rotary meeting! Last week he introduced three guests (“potential Rotarians”), Bea Nellenback, Director of Development at Alternatives Federal Credit Union, and Tess Fraser, Director of Development & Marketing for Challenge Workforce Solutions. Challenge has just finalized an alliance with Mozaic of Seneca Falls, and Tess stepped in for Frank to introduce Allen Connely, President and Chief Executive Officer of Mozaic and (now) of Challenge Workforce Solutions. Mozaic does a lot of manufacturing for the state using disabled people, Allen said, adding that he is thrilled to be part of the community.
Kelly Buck reciprocated Allen’s enthusiasm, saying that a lot of Unity House clients do go to Challenge for working opportunities. “Allen and his team have done a great job, and we’re delighted to have the Mozaic influence down here,” she said. And it was great to continue having Lansing-Ithaca Club member Kathryn Mapes join us. Last week’s Member Moment had a little bit of all of us in it — or, at least, could have. Member Moment Maestro Joanne Lamoureux (say that ten times fast) asked — hoped — that we would “indulge” her whim and share a photo of ourselves from the good old days of pre-adulthood. Could be as a cute baby or a cute (or scary) teen. Joanne will then share at our Wednesday meetings, and maybe create a digital directory. Note to Joanne: Please keep these photos separate from the photos of our pets that we sent to you last year!
Fireworks news from President Geoff:
The Rotary Community Fireworks working group has recommended a further postponement of this year's event/ celebration until July 2022. As disappointing as this news is, it is the prudent thing to do. Despite the progress being made on the vaccination front and restrictions being eased, there are still many obstacles and uncertainties with regards to staging an event of this magnitude. Please read Prez. Geoff’s complete email, including a list of obstacles, at the end of this newsletter. The April 24 Route 13 clean-up was a success, generating 28 bags of trash and assorted large pieces of debris. Bob Gravani thanked the following volunteers for their great work: Rotarians Geoff Dunn, Catrina Van Atta, Nick Romo, Barbara Romano, Ivy and Sachin Gupta, Walt and Jeanne Cottrell, Richard Kops, Loralyn Light, Brad Carruth, Mary-Lynn Cummings, Bob Gravani, Mark Hasse (Sunrise Rotary); Rhonda Gilmore (Cayuga Lake Watershed Network); Anna Bicca (Cornell Food Science Club member); Clarissa and Christine (Zero Waste Ithaca); and Molly Hom (Ithaca High School). The activity was dedicated to Noel Desch, who launched and for many years coordinated the program for our Club. After a one-year hiatus due to COVID-19, the Trumansburg Rotary Golf Tournament will be held Friday, July 9th, 8:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m., at the Trumansburg Golf Course. Register by June 30th to get the early-bird rate. The Groton Club will hold their tournament the following week. Watch for more details. Happy Dollars featured family visits and hugs as the pandemic wanes, and more vaccinations!  June Losurdo’s son was fully vaccinated this week, relieving some stress in her house! Nancy Potter and George Gull were able to travel to South Dakota to visit George’s mother! Jean McPheeters was able to spend a week with family in a forest near Pigeon Forge, Tenn. Linda and Ray Brisson traveled and got to hug and see their daughters this past weekend!
Bob Gravani was happy for all those who showed up for the highway cleanup. Kim Pugliese was happy for 10 happy days at her newest, best job! And when John Finn opened up the Rotary magazine he happened upon a one-pager about the Citizens’ Climate Lobby, a wonderful organization that spoke to us in January.
Before he introduced the speakers last week, Jack Roscoe related how much fun he had taking on the challenge of scheduling a month of speakers! (I will echo that. I’ve done it twice, and both times came in with a theme. It was a way to give back to people I value, and make new connections, and share my interests with our membership.)  Jack introduced Laura Branca and Deborah Hoard, whose presentation was about a documentary in progress chronicling the life and influence of Dorothy Cotton. Laura is a Senior Fellow and Program Director of the Dorothy Cotton Institute (DCI) and is a managing partner of Training for Change (TFC) Associates, founded in Ithaca in 1982.
Deborah is the long-time President of the local documentary film company PhotoSynthesis Productions (PSP) in downtown Ithaca. With a special focus on social justice and education, her work has won hundreds of media awards and has been screened at festivals and theaters worldwide.  A part of the Center for Transformative Action, DCI was first conceived in 2007 by Dorothy and a small group of her colleagues. Today it continues as a small independent institute offering popular education and training to inspire and support people who want to foster and protect human rights. Dorothy didn’t want DCI to just be about the past, Laura said. They want to foster effectiveness and skills for people to interact with government and other organizations. DCI carries on the legacy of Dr. Cotton, who passed away in 2018.
 When DCI set out to create a documentary about Dorothy’s life and her work, they interviewed many people to find the right filmmaker, and are thrilled to have found Deborah. Dr. Cotton’s contemporaries are now in their 80s, so there was some urgency to getting interviews before it’s too late. Deborah said they want to do more interviews this summer and fall. Stanford has a MLK Festival in January and they would love to get it done for that. You can watch a five minute teaser, and a number of other clips at the film’s website, movewhenthespiritsaysmove.com/video.
Deborah and Laura said a fundraising campaign will be starting in June, but you can give now using the GiveGab button on the website. They also gave a big thank you to George Ferrari and the Tompkins County Foundation for their help at various junctures.
Visiting Rotarians: None
Students: None
Workers:
• Thought for the Day, Loretta Goss
• Introductions, Rotary hosts introduced their guests
Zoom Manager: Harlin McEwen
Bulletin Reporter: Loralyn Light
Photographer: Mike Brown
Bulletin Editor: Ted Schiele
Club Service Facilitators, Beverly Baker & June Losurdo
Sunshine Chair, Kellyann O’Mara
May 5, 2021
Frank Kruppa, Tompkins County Public Health Director
“Our Community’s Response to COVID-19 — What’s Next?”
Join the Zoom Meeting
The Rotary Community Fireworks working group has recommended a further postponement of this year's event/celebration until July 2022. As disappointing as this news is, it is the prudent thing to do. Despite the progress being made on the vaccination front and restrictions being eased, there are still many obstacles and uncertainties with regards to staging an event of this magnitude. As you know, the intent was to partner with the Friends of Stewart Park for a late summer/early fall celebration to mark the park's Centennial Anniversary. But in a long conversation with City Clerk Julie Holcomb, it was clear we would face many challenges, and the logistics for putting on a successful event would fall primarily on the shoulders of a small group of Rotarians. Among them: - We would need to get approval from the Health Department with a maximum # of attendees and have some way of counting people in line with capacity limitations.
- We would have no access to police, as IPD staffing is very low at this time.
- We would have to file an evacuation plan for Stewart Park in great detail.
- TCAT would have a hard time getting enough buses and drivers, since they may still be under capacity rules and the early evening time in late August would conflict with commuter times.
Much of the planning and commitments need to take place now, but unfortunately, we don't know what may or may not be changed, COVID-wise, by the end of summer. So let discretion be the better part of valor.......and we look ahead to a bigger, better Community Fireworks Show in 2022! I want to thank Fireworks "guru" Dale Johnson and his small team of Jim Johnston, Jean McPheeters and Mary Kane for all their work and thoughtful considerations of all the options available to us. I also want to acknowledge the contributions of Rick Manning and Diana Reisman from the Friends of Stewart Park during our discussions. Should you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to Dale or myself. Thank you.
Geoff
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