Team Assignments: LORING MERROW (Meal Pickup), NICHOLE NELSEN (Salad), FRED DENAPOLI (Cookies)
Arrive by , 4:15 P.M. would be great,
at 71 Wallis St., Peabody.
If you're unable to attend on the specified date, it's your responsibility to locate a replacement. Please inform the meal pickup person (Chief Entree Officer) of the change and the replacement of your assigned responsibility. Thanks. Look at NEWS and Haven Team Assignments for the future schedule. Please check out new assignments.
A new feature requested by President Steve: Question of the week. The answer is in this newsletter. If you cannot answer the question at our meeting next week, or by e-mail if you don't attend next week, be prepared to pay the consequences.
Q:What is the Four-Way Test?
Meeting notes
Today's visiting Rotarians: Ernie Wronka of Lynnfield Club
Guests: Rudy Van Oeveren; ADG Helene Andersen Michel
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Today's meal: A Lot of Garlic with: Chicken Limone (Per Jeff Doherty); Roasted baby red Potatoes; Mixed Veggies.
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It was apparent that Mike Eidelman, Loring Merrow, and Peggy Pedro hadn't read last week's Ripple. They didn't know the answer to the question. So President Steve Morad fined them. Let that be a lesson and reminder to all members. Read The Ripple or bring plenty of cash to each meeting. Cathy Gravel answered the question correctly. And--If it's near your birthday or your spouse's or your wedding anniversary, be prepared to help our club financially.
President Steve reminded us about the Golf Tournament, which will be a joint venture with the Peabody City Council. It will be on September 22nd at The Meadow in Peabody. All members should send e-mails to their distribution list with a "Save the Date" message.
The Danversport Yacht Club is booked for March 10th, the initial tentative date for the Taste of the North Shore. After checking with City Hall for conflicts, he'll try to book March 24th.
Because Mike Tallo wasn't at the meeting, President Steve announced that we will have a Fellowship pool party at Mike's house on ----just kidding, Mike, wanted to see if you were reading this. But President Steve will check with Mike for a good date.
REMINDER: THERE IS NO LUNCHEON MEETING NEXT WEEK, AUGUST 5TH. INSTEAD, WE'LL MEET AT 5:30PM AT SUGAR CANE, ON MAIN STREET IN PEABODY. Copied and pasted from a previous edition of The Ripple: The meeting of August 5th will be an evening meeting at Sugar Cane, downtown Peabody, as the Red Carpet will be rolled, spotlights out, limos rolling in, stars galore as the World Premiere of the Cable TV show, starring President Steve and PP Grace, will be premiered.
President Steve said that the Board unanimously agreed that the club should vote on a potential move to a Thursday, 7:15AM, $20 fee, club at the Marriott. The Board also endorsed the idea. Fred deNapoli shilled for the District saying that DG Tom Elliott would support whatever we decide to do. He also said that RI would send referrals our way from people seeking a breakfast club in Peabody. (Ed.'s note: I should have mentioned this after Fred spoke yesterday: In my 9+ years in the club, we've NEVER received a referral from RI. It's doubtful that would start now.) Fred also said that DG Tom would ask all neighboring clubs to refer potential members seeking a Peabody breakfast club to us, should we switch. Several members spoke passionately, and with grave concern for our club, on the pros and cons of moving to a breakfast club. Herb Harris spoke against the move, citing the cost and potential loss of members. Gayle Cavanaugh, Peggy Pedro, Steve Smith, Tom Rowen and Gary Epstein all spoke in favor, all citing potential of new members. (Ed. note: In my first draft of this newsletter, most of the write-up on the discussion focused on my opinions, with a sentence about what others said.) Gary, as elder statesman at the meeting (Mel wasn't there), mentioned that in 1991, there were 50+ memners. But over the past several years, despite the low number of members, we've raised record amounts of funds. Think about how much more we can raise with more members!
The secret ballot vote was held. But because the voting is still going on by absentee vote, the results so far will not be printed here. President Steve did say that there were no hanging chads (we watched him peer through all the ballots) and that all citizen members were allowed to vote. The absentee voting will go on until next Tuesday at Noon. So all members--regular, "Senior inactive" (or whatever that designation is now) and leave of absence--should send President Steve an e-mail with your opinions.
Rudy mentioned that if we switch to a Thursday breakfast club, all the road signs will have to be changed. Fred will head a committee to review our "infrastructure"--what do we need? Banners? US Flag? How much signage? Etc.
A FORMAL EDITORIAL: At today's meeting, we all spoke passionately and with deep concern for our club's future. We didn't all agree, but we all have one common bond--we care deeply for the Peabody Rotary Club and want it to grow and succeed. Now I'll ask all members--are you willing to be ROTARIANS or do you just want to be a member of the Peabody Club and just go for a meal once a week? If you want our club to be successful, the answer should be that you're willing to be a ROTARIAN. You'll want to learn as much as possible about Rotary so you can speak knowingly about what Rotary is all about. You have to commit to more than attending our club's meetings and functions. I strongly recommend that you attend the September 17th District Membership/Foundation conference. This is where you'll pick up ideas to attract new members and you'll learn where the Foundation is spending our donations. This Foundation knowledge will also help you to get new members for our club. There's a strong possiblity that we won't have a regular weekly meeting that week because so many members hopefully will attend the conference. Go to NE Link on September 26-7, either the entire 24 hours or just part of it. As a rule, the club should pick up the cost of attending District functions (unless you'd like to donate to the club by paying your own way). Make-up at other clubs to steal ideas for our club--possible speakers, fundraisers, meeting management, and so on. So, PLEASE BE A ROTARIAN!!
We'll be selling Penny Candy at the International Festival. Can one still buy candy for a penny? President Steve suggested that we sell bags for the kids (or adults) to fill with candy for a price yet-to-be-determined.
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SAVE THE DATE: SEPTEMBER 17TH, from 3:00 TO 8:00PM. This is the date of the District's Membership and Foundation Forum at the Sheraton Ferncroft. This is where all Rotarians will learn more about how Rotary functions. And with this knowledge and tips from the Membership segment, we'll better be able to attract and retain more members. Please make every effort to attend.
Did you know that Larry Lucchino had been an Ambassadorial Scholar in 1973-4? NELink (September 26-27) is trying to get him to speak. The snag may be that the Red Sox are playing the Evil Empire (aka the Yankees) that weekend. For those who don't read the Rotarian (but you should!!), this month's issue tells us that the Ambassadorial Scholarship program is the LARGEST PUBLICLY FUNDED SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM IN THE WORLD!! By the way, the other locally well-known person who had been an Ambassadorial Scholar is former Lt. Governor Kerry Healy.
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Would you like to help Mel Babner deliver food for the Citizens For Adequate Housing families, temporarily housed in Salem? Anyone who would like to help Mel, please contact him.
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What do you do with your empty bottles and cans? (And we know there must be a lot of empty beer cans and bottles.) Please bring them (both beer and soda) to the meetings every week to give to Mel Babner. Every nickel helps!! Mel Thanks Dick Berg for his generous contribution.
There must be a ton of empty beer cans and bottles from July 4th weekend and all summer--please give them to Mel.
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Our speaker scheduler, Grace Martins, is asking that you tell her of any people who may want to speak to the club or whom you think may be of interest to the club.
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Happy Dollars: Sergeant-at-arms Jeff Doherty collected $69.
Reminder: If you see any news articles or pictures of our members, bring them in so the member can donate $$$ to the club. We can use the money!! But more important--we'd like to recognize and applaud our members.
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50-50 Raffle: The pool was $171. Neither Mike Eidelman nor Nichole Nelsen picked the Queen of Spades.
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Your Contributions to Rotary at Work
The total of Donations that Peabody Rotary made during the 2007-2008 year under President Grace: $22,208.83 !!
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JULY/AUGUST BIRTHDAYS:
JULY 2: PHYLLIS EIDELMAN (MIKE)
JULY 7: DONALD LYONS (PEGGY)
JULY 12: ETHEL BABNER (MEL)
JULY 14: RACHEL WILLAIMS (FRED DENAPOLI)
JULY 15: AL DIMAMBRO
JULY 21: JEFF DOHERTY
JULY 30: PEGGY PEDRO
AUGUST 15: STEVE SMITH
AUGUST 17: CATHERINE DIMAMBRO (AL)
JULY/AUGUST WEDDING ANNIVERSARIES:
JULY 5: MEL & ETHEL BABNER
JULY 31: JEFF & CHRISTINE DOHERTY
AUGUST 5: PAUL & MARY PEICOTT
AUGUST 14: LORRING MERROW & JOANNA LISS
AUGUST 21: HERB & JUDI HARRIS
TO ALL MEMBERS:IF THERE ARE ANY ERRORS WITH THE BIRTHDAY OR ANNIVERSARY DATES, PLEASE NOTIFY GARY EPSTEIN. ALSO, THERE ARE NUMEROUS MISSING DATES ON OUR ROSTER. PLEASE GIVE GARY YOUR INFORMATION--JUST THE DATES--NO ONE CARES HOW OLD YOU ARE. BUT WE MAY BE INTERESTED TO KNOW HOW LONG YOU'VE BEEN MARRIED.
Upcoming Programs:
NEXT MEETINGS:
AUGUST 5: 5:30 Meeting at SugarCane for World Premiere. No Luncheon meeting.
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Please make every effort to attend your Rotary meetings. The more members we have each week, the better we look to potential members--and to our visitors and speakers.
Thank you!
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UPCOMING IMPORTANT DATES:
September 14th: International Festival--We're selling Candy.
September 17th: District Membership & Foundation Forum at Sheraton Ferncroft in Danvers
September 26-27th: NE Link in Worcester--a truly remarkable experience with our Ambassadorial Scholars and World Peace Fellows.
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It's easy to become a Rotary Sustaining member. It's $100 per year, but Loring can bill you $25 per quarter. That's $8.33 a month, or 28 CENTS a day, or a little over a penny an hour.
LET'S BECOME A 100% SUSTAINING MEMBER CLUB!!
" Let us keep our hearts strong, enthusiasm fresh,hope high. As long as we keep imbued with this spirit, Rotary can never die."
The Rotarian, August 1926
THE 4-WAY TEST of the things we think, say or do:
1. IS IT THE TRUTH? 2. IS IT FAIR TO ALL CONCERNED? 3. WILL IT BUILD GOODWILL & BETTER FRIENDSHIP? 4. WILL IT BE BENEFICAL TO ALL CONCERNED?
"I am dead set against free agency. It can ruin baseball." George Steinbrenner(Ed. Note: I know this section is mostly about humor—so I hope you see the humor here, considering the source.)
