District Governor, Doug Detweiler, visited our club!


 

Before beginning his talk, DG Detweiler handed out dual flag pins to us that had both the American flag and the Rotary flag with our district 7910 under both flags.  Doug began his talk by telling us that Rotary membership has been flat during the past ten years.  He described this situation as being similar to pushing on a rope.  Rotarians do important work, however.  “We are giving back to the community by changing lives,” Doug told us.

          There are three areas we can improve upon as Rotarians.  First, we need to attract new members.  Rotarians need to speak about Rotary to attract new members but some members are reluctant to do this because they feel they do not know everything about Rotary.  To learn more about Rotary, we should attend RLI, the Rotary Leadership Institute, which is being held on October 26 in Boxborough.

          Second, the Rotary Foundation has the power to multiply our donations.  For every dollar donated to the Rotary Foundation, our district gets over $2 back to do local projects.  We need all Rotarians to donate to Foundation.

          Third, we can improve the perception of our brand by talking about our projects more in the community.  Doug told us about District 7910’s goal of donating one million meals to the hungry.  This district-wide project will generate enthusiasm when people learn about it.  To learn more about this project go to www.stophungernow.org.

          In closing, Doug told us to be proud of Rotary because it is a means of changing lives.  He also gave us a flag for our club that said, “Rotary Engage/Change Lives.”

 

Next meeting on September 19 at Colonial Candies at 7:15 a.m., Mary Ann, owner of Reflections, will describe her business

 

Guests:

  • DG, Doug Detweiler, speaker
  • Ingrid Detweiler
  • District Governor Elect, Val Callaghan

 

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

  • Tickets to U.N. Day, which takes place on November 2, are now available.  Sign up at http://riunday.org.
  • Billerica Rotary Club 5K road race: 9/15 – for Merrimac Valley Food Bank https://millenniumreg.com/billerica-rotary-club-5k-road-race
  • September 21 the Concord Rotary Club is sponsoring a Gloucester Harbor Cruise from 5 to 7 p.m.   Tickets are $100.  Go to http://www.concordmarotary.org for more information.
  • The Wayland/Weston Rotary Club is hosting the Weston Antique and Classic Car Show from 8–4 p.m. at Town House Road on September 28.
  • Women in Rotary event at Nanci’s house on October 1.  Contact Nanci for more information.
  • SOCIAL MEDIA SEMINAR at Holiday Inn Boxborough on October 9 from 6–9 p.m.  There are three levels offered for learning about social media: beginning, intermediate, and advanced.
  • On October 12 the Maynard Rotary Club is having Oktoberfest from 3–8 p.m.  The rain date is October 13.
  • FOUNDATION FORUM will be held on October 15 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
  • Attend a Providence Bruins game for End Polio Now on October 18.  Contact Laura for more information.
  • ROTARY LEADERSHIP INSTITUTE at the Boxborough Holiday Inn will be held on October 26 from 7:30-3:30 p.m.  Laura announced that the club will pay half the cost for members to attend this event.  There are three levels of classes that must be taken in order.
  • The Littleton and Acton-Boxborough Rotary clubs are having a Masquerade Ball on October 26 at the Holiday Inn Boxborough to benefit ShelterBox.  For more information and tickets go to http://www.actonboxboroughrotary.org/2013/07/15/masquerade-ball-2/
  • Sometime in October there will be a Habitat for Humanity Build Day in Westford.  More information about this event will be provided later.      Dues are due!  Contact Jim for more information.
  • Laura has posted the Best Club award criteria and the updated 2013-2014 Calendar of Activities on our website www.nashobarotary.org.
  • Rotary International’s new website requires a new user account.  Go to http://www.rotary.org/myrotary/en/home to register for a new user account.
  • Laura gave us an update about our fundraising projects.  We reached our fundraising goal for our We Are One project (which also brought us to our goal of Every Rotarian Every Year donating to Rotary International). Thanks to RichardS for his work on this project!  Spirit of Hudson event raised $9,000 for our club.  Thanks to Nanci for her work on this project!  Tonight is the final night of Wings & Wheels.  We expect to raise approximately $4,000 for our club from these events.  Special thanks to Dana for his tireless work on this project!
  • Laura passed out our revised budget for 2013-2014. We expect to have $14,000 of income and $10,300 of expenses.
  • At the September 3 board meeting, the following announcements were made.  Beginning September 19, the location for Thursday morning meetings is Colonial Candies.  Our new club brochure and expense policy are posted on the club website.
  • Laura announced that volunteers are needed for the Dictionary project and the DVSN event that takes place on October 24.  Contact Laura for more information.

 
Happy and sad fines:

  • Laura was happy that she was not wearing a blue t-shirt for Wings & Wheels tonight.
  • Barbara was happy to be at the meeting.
  • Natascha was happy that both of her kids had moved out of the house.
  • Jim was happy that he got his job promotion and more work to do.
  • ChrisS was happy that he rode 115 miles in NYC and didn’t get hit by a car.
  • Don was happy that he lost 25 pounds.
  • NancyM was happy even though it was a Thursday and it was not raining.  She had four things to be happy about: (1) that an article about her appears in the Fall 2013 issue of edibleBOSTON, (2) soon she will be on the Chronicle TV program, (3) she was happy about Don losing 25 pounds, and (4) she has lost 35 pounds sweating over the pizza oven this summer!
  • NanciB was thrilled that we had a successful Membership Forum.
  • Kelly was happy that her husband bought a new car.  She was also happy that the garage where it was parked and couldn’t find the keys, did find the keys the next day.
  • Carol was happy that this was her 6th Rotary meeting of the week.  Next week she is going to a Zone Institute and two club meetings.
  • Val was happy because two weeks ago her daughter got married to a fabulous guy.
  • Cyndi was happy that even though she and husband ChrisT got pulled over for driving at night with no lights on in their classic Porsche, the officer was dispatched to another call and did not give them a ticket.
  • Doug was happy that he went to three Rotary meetings this week.  He has visited 43 clubs so far and has 10 clubs left to visit.  He was also happy to be with last year’s best club!

 

Birthdays:

  • Dan – September 16
  • Natascha – September 21
  • Barbara – September 30

 

 Nonclub/public announcements:

  • Bolton is having a talk about domestic violence on September 21 at the Public Safety Building.
  • The Bolton Fair is having a blues event on September 21.
  • The Communities for Restorative Justice is having new volunteer training on October 4 and 5.  To learn more contact C4RJ.
  • The Brain Injury Association of Mass. Is having its 30th anniversary celebration in Boston on October 9.  For tickets go to http://www.biama.org/30thcelebration.html.