Weekly Bulletin - April 3, 2014 Meeting

Posted by Barbara Myles 
on Apr 07, 2014
 
Rick Roth, The Creature Teacher, brought WILD critters for us to learn from!


 
Image Rick Roth started Creature Teachers about nine years ago.  Most of his advertising is by word of mouth.  His talks stress the importance of the environment.  He has many animals that go on visits to schools, libraries, senior centers, corporations, summer camps, and birthday parties.  Rick has about 80 different animals and he loves his work.  Last year business was up 25%!  Permits are required in order to own a wild animal. It was difficult to get a permit for his fisher because they are aggressive.  One stipulation was that Rick had to find a zoo that would take the fisher if Rick couldn’t use him any longer.  Rick was able to locate such a zoo and he uses the fisher in the “Nature of My Backyard” program.  The first critter Rick showed us was Sema (short for emphysema because she can imitate her prior owner’s emphysema cough).  Sema likes to see people and say, “Hi.”  She is about ten years old and is very intelligent.  The second animal we saw was a wood chuck named Vinnie.  He was very cute.  Rick remarked, “The older I get, the more I look like my animals.”  For more information about The Creature Teachers, see their website at: www.thecreatureteachers.com.

 

         

Next meeting on April 10 Nancy’s Air Field Café, 5:45 p.m., Bolton 5K Road Group will tell us about their upcoming road race.

 

Membership question for April 10: Name at least three officers of our club and their roles.  Hint: go to www.nashobarotary.org.

 

Guests:

  • Kathy Cataldo
  • Rick Roth, speaker

 

Club Announcements:

 

  • Local projects:

o    The Acton-Boxborough Club will have its first Reality Fair on April 4 at the Acton Boxborough High School at 8:15 a.m.  Contact Betsy Purcell (betsypurcell@gmail.com) to volunteer!

o    Red Sox opening day is on April 4.  Watch the game at the Stow COA!

o    Wine tasting fundraiser with the Acton-Boxborough Club is set for April 24 at the Holiday Inn Boxborough.  Contact Natascha for tickets.  Head over to the wine tasting right after our Rotary meeting which will also be at the Boxborough Holiday Inn! 

o    Stow Springfest is scheduled for May 17 rain or shine. This event is good for recruitment and service.

o    RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Awards) Conference: The Board approved funding RYLA Conference attendance in June for two students.  Applications were due on March 1.

o    Spirit of Hudson: Contact Nanci to help plan or volunteer at the event.

  • International projects:

o    The Westchester, PA Rotary Club gave $3,000 in addition to the $3,500 they already donated toward the mobile dental unit.  Their new donation will go towards purchasing a sensor.

  • Foundation Minute: RichardS gave us an update about our progress toward our goal of each member donating an average of $125 to Rotary’s Annual Fund.  We are at $115 per member and need to reach $125 per member to be eligible for district or global grants for 2014-2015.  Please make a donation to the annual fund today if you can!

  • Membership Corner: Nanci announced that she is asking each member to give a short talk about (1) what brought us to Rotary and (2) what keeps us in Rotary.  Nanci will also have questions for us to answer!  The questions will appear in the Weekly Bulletin and Weekly Meeting Reminder.

  • Membership Spotlight: Bob Johnson’s first Rotary experience was when he was attending high school in Ohio.  He visited a Rotary meeting and was required to wear a suit and tie!  He joined the Acton-Boxborough Rotary Club at the suggestion of an employment advisor when he was laid off.  She suggested networking would help Bob find a new job.  After being in the Acton-Boxborough Club for eight or nine years, he helped start the Nashoba Valley Club.

  • Activities galore!

o    Wings & Wheels planning is underway.  Contact Laura if you want to help.

o    Stow Lions Club Breakfast with the Easter Bunny: April 13

o    Springfest: May 17

o    Women in Rotary 25th anniversary bash planning (summer event): contact Natascha for more information.  Save April 26 for a planning meeting.

o    RYLA support: June 27-29.  Bob also needs help interviewing students during the day.  Contact Bob for more information.

o    Spirit of Hudson: August 16.  Contact Nanci for more information.

o    Health Fair this fall!  Contact Jim for more information.

Dues news:

o    H2 dues are due ($60) – you should have received an invoice. Please send your dues payment to Jim if you haven’t already!

o    To cover RI and district dues, we’ll be increasing dues to $150/year ($75 semi-annually) starting July 1, 2014.

  • Laura has posted the Best Club award criteria and the updated 2013-2014 Calendar of Activities on our website www.nashobarotary.org.

 

Other Club and General Rotary Announcements (Capitalized events earn points for our club!)

  • March 28: The DISTRICT PROJECT EXPO & PR Awards dinner was on Friday, March 28 at the Holiday Inn Boxborough.  Ten Club members attended the awards ceremony.  Our club won four of the eight awards!:

o    Unique and Innovative Use of PR in a Project, Program or Fundraiser

o    Best Use of the Elevator PR Toolkit

o    Best Internet Web Site (including Facebook)

o    Best Newsletter

  • First ever Zone 24-32 Avenues of Service - Zone Photo Contest – photos were due March 31, 2014.  Winners will be announced in mid-April.
  • April 5: Electronic recycling (Marlborough Club) at the Marlboro Whitcomb Middle School.
  • April 11: Concord Pops Concert 8 p.m., 51 Walden Street in Concord.  See Ron for tickets ($25 each).
  • April 17: DISTRICT TRAINING ASSEMBLY for next year’s club officers from 5:30 to 9:00 p.m. at the Royal Plaza in Marlborough.
  • May 16-18: DISTRICT CONFERENCE: includes a Stop Hunger Now event on Saturday morning.

 

Non-Rotary/public announcements:

  • Stow clean up is the weekend of April 5-6.  Yellow trash bags and gloves are available at the Lower Village Commons from 8 a.m. to noon on April 5.

  • Electronic recycling event on April 26 at Bose Corp., 688 Great Road, Stow from 9-2 p.m.

  • Bolton Road Race planned for June 14: Last year was an inaugural race to benefit the White family, victims of the Boston Marathon bombing.  Plans are underway for the second race.  Anyone interested in helping to plan, sponsor, volunteer, or participate should contact Mary Ann and Deb Kotlarz.  Jacky told us that they are applying for a Community Chest grant to support this event.  Proceeds will go to the RFK Center in Lancaster.

 

Birthdays:

  • April 24: Jim Stone

 

Happy/Sad Fines:

  • Chris was happy to welcome convertible weather.  He drove his convertible with its top down to today’s meeting.
  • Jim was happy that the Red Sox won.
  • Bob was happy that he is helping his daughter with a new ski camp.
  • Natascha was happy that her daughter can drink legally now.
  • RichG was happy that his daughter took him to The Book of Mormon play.  He was also looking forward to the Reality Fair at the Acton-Boxborough High School tomorrow.
  • Lisa was happy that a medical scan was OK.
  • Ron was sad that his dog had an eye injury.
  • Mary Ann was glad that a friend’s operation went OK.
  • RichardS was sad that his son in-law is off to Afghanistan.
  • Nanci was happy that Matt and Kathy are on the Membership Committee with her.
  • Matt was happy to be working on the Acton-Boxborough Reality Fair.
  • Bill was happy to be here.
  • Laura was sad that Kevin Frye’s (Acton-Boxborough Rotary Club) brother in-law, Firefighter Kennedy, was killed during the fire in Boston on March 26.  She was happy that ten people from our club went to the PR awards and that we did well!