Posted on Mar 25, 2018
TJ King, local 6th grader, shares his passion and work to help end hunger in Eastern MA.
 
Tonight we were joined by the Clinton Club & TJ King, from Eat Give Live
 
 
Reminders and Happenings from Mary
  • District Grants being done differently, as shared at previous meetings.  Options that Mary & Jacky have received include RFK School & Habitat For Humanity.
  • Rotary Youth Leadership Award (RYLA) interviews completed (10 applicants, 3 delegates and 3 alternates selected).  Carolyn Read’s daughter, Amelia, was among those selected.  Bob hopes we can all participate in the RYLA event from June 22-24.
  • Dogs2Vets Fest updates: Sunday, April 29th at Willard Field in Devens, disc throwing competition (with a national organization) & obstacle courses are coming along well, 5 food trucks on board, Tito’s Vodka has signed up as a sponsor and given us $20,000 worth of ads and the money for a dog!  Mary was interviewed by the Boston Globe so be on the lookout!  www.dogs2vetsfest.com
  • March 25th, Lions Club Easter Breakfast
  • April 3rd, volunteers reading at RFK School
  • $2,500 scholarship for student at Nashoba Regional (Howard leading).  9 applications received with a decision deadline of May 1.  New tool scholarship at Minuteman not happening this year because no applications from our towns
  • Thursday, April 5th, Red Sox Opening Day BBQ’s in Bolton and Stow
  • Thursday, April 5th, Reality Fair set up at Nashoba Regional High School
  • Friday, April 6th (morning), Reality Fair at NRHS
  • Friday, April 6th (evening), Dueling Piano’s fundraiser for Habitat For Humanity.  Our Club is hoping to have a table for 10
    • Ron auctioned off a ticket since he can not attend (Ray won!) and Club received proceeds
  • Saturday, April 7th, cleaning up along West Boylston Rd in Worcester to support Carl Gome’s the Weed Man of Worcester
  • Thursday, April 26th, Acton-Boxborough’s Annual Food & Wine Tasting at Boxborough Regency– this year the raffle will include a week at a house in Belize!  (Tickets $25)
  • Upcoming Repair Cafés include Stow on April 21st, Sudbury on May 19th, and on Bolton June 2nd
  • May 12th Annual food packaging event
Happy/Sad (only captured Nashoba Rotarians)
  • Ray has a scary moment driving back from CT with his wife after dozing off and swiped guardrail, no one was hurt, feeling very lucky and set up steps to ensure it doesn’t happen again
  • Howard thanked Mary and shared she is the most, “enthusiastic president” he has seen in years, had a wonderful 5.5 week trip to Hawaii with Ellen. Happy that the scholarships are going well and looking forward to Repair Café in Sudbury growing
  • Laura happy for Chris who went to Rotary meeting in North Shanghai (just he and the President), while Chris has been away Laura has been staying busy with book club, mahjong and rotary work.  Welcome to Clinton club!
  • Karin happy that Clinton is here tonight
  • Ray *disappointed* we didn’t get 3 feet of snow!  Shared a wonderful experience he and Mary had at Tower Hill to meet the author of Hidden Life of Trees, happy Clinton is here
  • Carol happy to have Howard back
  • Ron happy that his family had a great vacation to the Dominican Republic & *sad* he missed the snow
  • Bob spent a wonderful 3 days with granddaughter
  • Mary honored to have Karin, our member and DG, here.  Happy to be making new friends with Clinton Club

Guest Speaker, TJ King (12 years old) from Eat Give Live
TJ is an impressive young 6th grader who shared that everyone is able to play a role in ending hunger.  He started his organization in 4th grade through a school project to focus on raising awareness about the Greater Boston Food Bank through a video blog on youtube.  With a focus on kid-friendly restaurants, travel adventure, his reviews are positive and upbeat.

After each review, his family makes a donation to the GBFB in the amount of the meal check which has translated to 4,000 meals!
TJ shared that 1 in 6 children in America do not know where their next meal is coming from and explained the cost of food is prohibitive for many families.  Below is some data that was shared about the GBFB:
  • Helps 190 cites & towns across eastern MA
  • Serves 140,000+ people a month
  • Distributed over 57 million pounds of healthy food in 2017
  • For every $1 donated, 3 meals are provided