Weekly Bulletin - September 10, 2015 Meeting

Posted by Richard Garcia 
on Sep 20, 2015
 
DG Jim Fusco Addresses Our Club During His Annual Club Visit
 
 
Guests
  • Jim Fusco, District Governor
  • Steve Glines, Assistant District Governor
  • Dr. Madhav Kashalikar, Mumbai Rotary
  • Gino Frattiloni, Visiting Rotarian
  • Dana Gray, Honorary Member
 
Announcements
  • Purple Pinkie Day this year will be on October 24; we will be collecting money on the 23rd from the Lancaster, Bolton, and Stow schools.
  • Our Sargent at Arms, Laura Spear, will be away for two weeks; a substitute is needed.
  • The Bandy Heffler program needs four hosts to provide food, lodging, and entertainment. In return, hosts will be eligible to visit England, with all expenses paid (except airfare, of course).
  • Stow Council on Aging will host a repair café on September 19. This is the first spin-off of the Bolton event. The repair café in Bolton will take place on October 17. Another spin-off is expected in Lancaster soon, and Ray has heard from the Rotary Club of Westborough about starting one.
  • Wings and Wheels: A clean-up session will be held Saturday, at 8:00 a.m. We need to remove things from the hangar. An hour should do it.
  • This year’s international project, malaria prevention in Malawi, has been approved by the board; we’re now waiting for a response from the partner club in Lilongwe, Malawi. A Visiting Rotarian from NY is coming to our next meeting who has contacts at the Rotary District level in Malawi.
  • Next week’s meeting will take place in the evening. This is a joint meeting with the Acton-Boxborough club, at the Virginia Thurston Healing Garden, in Harvard.
 
Happy/sad fines
  • Terry: happy to be with such wonderful people.
  • Fatima: happy to have met her future daughter-in-law.
  • Richard: glad that Jim, the District Governor, is here; and glad that the migrants from the Middle East are reaching their destination.
  • Ron: also happy that Jim can be with us; and happy that the Patriots are playing tonight.
  • Mary Ann: happy that the Bolton 5K organization received a donation from Nancy, for the Bolton Common project.
  • Gino: happy that Carol is getting better.
  • Carol: grateful for all the love and support she received.
  • Laura: glad for the club’s support of the PR forum (seven people, more than any other club); and to have given two Rotary club presentations, in Newton and the Brookfields.
  • Chris: begins the San Diego to Georgia bike ride tomorrow; and heard from the Northboro club about holding a Purple Pinkie Day.
  • Dana: celebrating his fourth wedding anniversary.
  • Mary: is having a wonderful school year; is glad of Dana and Karin’s anniversary; glad that Jim Fusco is here; and proud of Ray’s work and Chris’ accomplishments.
  • Don: was in Alexandria Bay, in the Thousand Islands area of New York, for a wedding, when he saw an enormous chessboard and shuffleboard in the center of town, sponsored by the Alexandria Bay Rotary; and reconnected with a college friend who lives in Alaska, and is also a Rotarian.
  • Nancy: is thrilled that it’s raining.
  • Madhav: is happy, while visiting his son, to attend this meeting.
  • Jim: is also glad that it’s raining.
 
Speaker:
Jim Fusco, District Governor, was introduced by Steve Glines, Assistant Governor.
 
He began with a summary of the amount of training he received in the job of a district governor: pre-PETS (President Elect Training Session), the PETS itself, then Zones 24 & 32 Institute seven-day training program (this year in Providence).  Sessions went from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. In January 2015, he attended the International Assembly in San Diego; 535 district governors were in attendance. All must be present; anyone not at a session is sought out; anyone without an excuse for absence may be excluded from the opportunity to serve as governor.
 
He then passed along the message at the International Assembly from K. R. Ravindran (Ravi), the president of Rotary International, from Sri Lanka:  We have one year to turn our potential into reality. Take all your gifts and talents, and give them to your district and the world. Be a gift to the world. Use this year to build monuments to service.
 
On the polio front: Polio has been eliminated from Nigeria this year, certified by the World Health Organization; Afghanistan and Pakistan, the only two countries where polio is still endemic, and they are on track to become polio-free by the end of the 2015-2016 year. Continuing immunization is needed, though, to keep the world free of polio.
 
There are now more Rotary clubs than ever before—about 35,000. But membership is stagnant. Let’s use the next year to build our own monuments.
 
Jim then spoke about changes instituted at the District level. Instead of single individuals, committees are now taking charge of important functions: membership, public relations, the Rotary Foundation, and youth services (with five new Interact clubs started). And the District Conference this year will be at the Plymouth Radisson Hotel, located half a mile from Plymouth Rock, and some 700 yards from the harbor. The date is May 20-22. Save the date, and plan to attend!
 
The meeting closed with Gino raising funds for the Rotary Foundation, through a 50/50 raffle. It turned out that Gino won! But he generously donated his winnings to Dr. Kashalikar.
 
Next meeting:
  • Special evening meeting held jointly with the Acton-Boxborough club.
  • Location: Virginia Thurston Healing Garden, 145 Bolton Road, Harvard, Mass.
  • Time: 5:45 to 7:00 p.m.