Diane Burnette, Director of Johnny Appleseed Visitor Center


 

 

The Johnny Appleseed Visitor Center is part of the North Central Mass. Chamber of Commerce and is a Regional Tourist Center (RTC).  There are 26 towns, including Bolton and Lancaster, in the North Central Mass. area.  Diane runs the Johnny Appleseed Visitor Center and Appleseed Country Fair in Phillipston, MA.  The visitor center is open every day of the year.  Diane’s goal is to encourage people living approximately 50 miles away to visit places in North Central Mass.  A few of her primary target areas for marketing to prospective visitors are: Boston, RI, and CT.  Twice a year Diane and her staff make the “Guide to Johnny Appleseed Country” that publicizes upcoming events and places to visit.  She distributes 45,000 copies of this guide, including one to each of us at the meeting!

         

Next meeting on March 20 at Colonial Candies in Bolton, 7:15 a.m., Dr. Megan Ford tells us about Hearsmart and the latest in audiology.

 

Guests:

  • Diane Burnette, speaker

 

Club Announcements:

 

  • Local projects:

o    March 4: The Ethics in Business event with Nashoba Valley Chamber of Commerce at the MassDevelopment office in Devens, MA that RichardS, Jim, Ron, and Nanci worked on was a success!

o    Reality Fair 2014 is on Friday, March 14 at Nashoba Regional High School.

o    Stow Springfest is scheduled for May 17 rain or shine: Bill suggested we get a booth next time instead of locating our table in the parking lot to increase the number of people who visit us.  We could also have some give aways such as balloons or popcorn.  This event is good for recruitment and service.  We can help with getting cars parked, for example.

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    Natascha suggested we could make a donation to a woman in the Dominican Republic who finishes a project we have already agreed to fund.  Perhaps something related to attending college like a laptop would be appropriate.  (The two new projects we are supporting at Dr. Compere’s Rotary Club in the Dominican Republic are: $500 for a Public Health program and $500 for a Teen Pregnancy Prevention program.)  Contact Natascha to discuss ideas!

 

  • Foundation Minute: RichardS told us about the Rotary Foundation’s Annual Fund.  Contributions to the Annual Fund are used to fund local and international service projects, scholarships, and vocational training teams.  Half of the contributions go to Rotary’s World Fund and half go to the District Designated Fund (DDF).  Rotarians are encouraged to donate to the Annual Fund every year.  Our donations are tracked and the information is considered when determining which club wins the best club award.
To make donating to the Annual Fund easier, RichardS made envelopes for each of us to put our donations into.  He will fill out the Rotary forms and mail our checks to the Rotary Foundation.

o    Paul Harris Award – Ron received his plus 6 pin!

  • Membership Corner: Nanci has the following suggestions to keep ourselves informed about Rotary:

o    Questions? Contact Nanci with any questions.  If Nanci doesn’t know the answer, she’ll find out and you will learn together!

o    Meetings – Come to as many meetings as possible.  Besides listening to interesting speakers and enjoying the fellowship of Rotarians, you’ll be surprised how much our members know about our local and international projects and love to share!

o    Websites – bookmark our club’s website www.nashobarotary.org, our district website www.rotary7910.org, and Rotary International’s website www.rotary.org to access an abundance of information!

  • Member Spotlight: Jacky is a Bolton resident who recently joined Rotary.  She got into Rotary through her real estate business.  She is enthusiastically looking forward to helping with events.  Her company can provide resources and connections.
  • Sign ups galore!

o    Rotarian at Work T-shirt

o    Wings & Wheels planning support (kicked off this week)

o    Opening Day at the COA in Stow: April 4 at 1:30 p.m.

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)

o    RYLA support: June 27-29

o    Spirit of Hudson planning: August 16

  • 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!)

  • We donated $100 towards a Stop Hunger Now event at district conference in May.
  • March 28: Save the date! The DISTRICT PROJECT EXPO & PR Awards dinner will be on Friday, March 28 at the Holiday Inn Boxborough. 

o    5-6:30: Social time and the expo

o    6:30-9: Dinner, program, and awards

o    We’re shooting for the Make Your Mark award again!

 

  • First ever Zone 24-32 Avenues of Service - Zone Photo Contest – photos are due March 31, 2014

The most important rule of the contest is to “have fun.”

o    The photographer must be a member of a Rotary, Rotaract, or Interact club in Zone 24 or Zone 32 (our club is in Zone 24-32).

o    Photos submitted must be in JPEG file format with a maximum size of 3 MB and be submitted on or before March 31, 2014.

o    Each photographer may submit up to 3 photos that were taken between July 1, 2013 and March 31, 2014.

o    Each photo should represent one of the 5 Avenues of Service that the photo best illustrates: community service, international service, youth service, club service, and vocational service.

o    To enter the contest and upload a photo, click HERE.

o    For contest rules and small print, click HERE, and for the judging criteria, click HERE.

o    Rotary Zone 24-32 website - www.RotaryZones24-32.org

 

Non-Rotary/public announcements:

  • 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:

  • March 2: Deb Kotlarz
  • March 4: Don McPherson
  • March 5: Ashley Oulette
  • March 11: Lisa Trainor
  • March 17: Rob Cirillo

 

Happy/Sad Fines:

  • Ron was sad that he will miss the Reality Fair
  • RichG was happy that the steaks he won at last week’s Meat and Greet were fabulous!
  • Jim was happy for no particular reason
  • Bob was happy that he got a gift card from last week’s Meat and Greet
  • RichardS was happy about working with Ron, Nanci, Jim on the ethical business workshop.  He was also happy about his surprise birthday party and his upcoming PETS (presidents-elect training seminar) training.
  • Carl was happy about being part of PETS.  She was sad because Dr. Brown died.
  • Jacky was sad that she will be missing the reality fair.  Instead, she will be going to Paradise Island in the Bahamas.
  • Mary Ann was sad she missed the Meat and Greet.  She was happy about going to the Reality Fair.
  • Nanci was happy about the ethics workshop.  She will be having a membership forum on Tuesday afternoon, March 11.
  • Matt was happy to be going to the Reality Fair.  He was also about his daughter coming home from college next week for spring break.
  • Laura was sad about the bad week she had due to her computer dying.  Her data was backed up but it was a long process to get everything onto her new PC.