WELCOME & TRADITIONS

“Les Six” President Geoff Dunn announced that it was National Dress Day, Oreo Cookie Day, and Frozen Food Day.  Keeping with his presidential tradition, he provided these statistics to ponder:  there are 13 days until the Spring equinox, 23 days until the MLB opening day, 25 days until Easter Sunday, 33 days until the solar eclipse, and 166 days until the end of the Rotary year!

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

In honor of Women’s History Month and Diane’s mother who will be turning 83 this Saturday (March 9^th), Diane Cohen wanted to share a bit of wisdom from a number of outstanding women that she admires:

• “Many receive advice; only the wise profit from it.”  ~ Harper Lee
• “Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement.”  ~ Helen Keller
• “Learn from the mistakes of others.  You can’t live long enough to make them all yourself.”  ~ Eleanor Roosevelt
• “Knowing what must be done does away with fear.” ~ Rosa Parks
• “What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.”  ~ Jane Goodall
• “If you don’t like the road you’re walking, start paving another one.”  ~ Dolly Parton
• “I was smart enough to go through any door that opened.”  ~ Joan Rivers
• “Cautious, careful people, always casting about to preserve their reputations can never affect a reform.”  ~ Susan B. Anthony
• “There are two kinds of people, those who do the work and those who take the credit.  Try to be in the first group; there is less competition there.”  ~ Indira Gandhi

• Sherrie Negrea, Mike Katz, Linda Pasto, Paul Martin, and Heidi Goldstein (mentor) attended the 2024 Rotary Leadership Institute
• Our originally scheduled meeting date on Wednesday, May 8^th has been moved to Thursday, May 9^th due to room conflicts at Coltivare
• The CNY Rotary District Training Assembly is Saturday, April 6^th from 10 AM to 4 PM at the Vernon-Verona-Sherrill High School in Verona; this event is free and open to all members who are interested in learning about Rotary
• Registration for the Rotary multi-district conference is April 26^th–28^th at the Doubletree Hotel in Binghamton; DG Wendy Deis stated that our district is offering scholarships for first-time attendees, reducing the 3-day conference cost to $70
• And our DG Wendy Deis “loves our Ithaca Rotary newsletter!”  Kudos to our editor Loralyn Light and the weekly notetakers

Bob Gravani asked members to save the date; that is, the Spring Highway Cleanup is scheduled for Saturday, April 20^th (9–11 AM) to coincide with Earth Day!  Meet at the Top’s Market parking lot at 8:45 AM (2300 N. Triphammer Rd).  Wear sturdy shoes and bring gloves and water; hard hats, colorful vests, and bags are provided.  Contact Bob at rbg2@cornell.edu.

As chair of the Voice of Rotary tech committee, Bez Thomas announced that BOTH he and Mike Brown will be away the first two weeks in April, so are in need of AV assistance for those meetings.  Note that instructions are available—so the task will not be too daunting!  Contact Bez if you can be of help.

Mary Berens asked members to bring Rotary magazines they have at home that can be donated to our newest members not yet receiving them.  Bring any unneeded issues to our meetings and turn them over to Mary.

Although needing no introductions, Geoff Dunn welcomed our club Rotarian and photographer Mike Brown to the lectern.

Some shapes looked like packman eating a blob, the world’s biggest butterfly, a lollipop, and an angry wolf.  Other shapes were deliberately grown in farm fields such as “USA” and a peace symbol in the Owego area.  Mike even showed us the shape of a dolphin created by a migrating flock of snow geese gathered in a lake.

Mike also gave us a birds-eye view of where some people live and the questions that could result, such as, “What is it like to live on the shore of a large lake?” or “How do you get to that house in the middle of a swamp?”

Mike has flown his airplane all over the country, photographing broad landscapes, displaying the “bones of the land as one flies west,” the Grand Canyon, the Rocky Mountains, the Pacific Coast Highway, and the Intracoastal Waterway (in SC).  Bolt Castle looks quite impressive from 2500 feet above the St. Lawrence River.  To close his presentation, he showed images of the area around his home over the years.

• Jack Roscoe: gave $20 for his new 20/20 vision following cataract surgery
• John Vineyard: brought a Rotary banner from Pass Christian, MS
• June Losurdo: will be traveling to Chicago to see her son and to St. Paul, MN to see the city’s St Patrick’s Day parade; she will celebrate her 60th birthday in Ireland
• Sherrie Negrea: has paid her last month’s rent for two daughters who have finished advanced college degrees
• Bob Sprole: learned how to overcome a Facebook outage by rebooting his iPhone
• Paul Martin: happy that his daughter is going to Long Island University (Global Studies Program) on a scholarship, and for the folks that recently joined the Youth Exchange team