November 26, 2025 Breakfast Meeting Notes
The 50/50 was won by Ken W, who donated it to Tom.
Erica tried for the ace of spades but was unsuccessful. The game continues.
Rotary Weekly Highlights: The Hometown Holiday Celebration is the only thing on the agenda. Bill passed around the signup sheet; please check and make sure that you’ve signed up. He brought some posters; please pick them up and help distribute them around town. The college will deliver the stage the Friday before the parade. Everyone just needs to show up! The Senior Center has room for people to set up on Saturday December 6 between 2 and 3 and it would be helpful if some members could come and help to do this. We have our announcer lined up and his son will be taking over his duties next year. New caroling brochures have been printed. The Pemi Youth Center has not given us a definitive date for caroling; Denise will reach out to get the date confirmed. Food prep will be at Newbury’s starting at 2 pm.
Foundation financials: Phil reports that the balance for the club part of the Foundation is about $26,000 plus $73,000 in Vanguard so probably about $80,000 total. Steve just sent $160,000 to Poland but we still have $200,000 in the Common Man for Ukraine part of the account. In addition, after two years of trying, the Common Man for Ukraine did get a global grant for $162,000 from Rotary. It will go directly to the district in Poland and will fund about 3 1/2 months of our trauma camps.
Ken Evans reports we have $2000 in the club account at the bank.We owe $150 on the card game. Dues invoices will go out early to mid December and then we will pay our Rotary International and District dues. Current semi-annual club dues are adequate to support these payments.
Beth has requested a leave of absence due to family issues. She will still pay dues but will not be expected to participate in activities. She hopes for the situation to be resolved in 6 months but she can take up to a year off per our bylaws.
Denise spoke about Rotary International’s literacy program, which the board has discussed. The program involves providing coloring books and other materials to the elementary school classes. She will be contacting the SAU to see if they are interested in participating. There are several potential levels of financial support, ranging from $300 to $1200. We may also want to purchase a paper dictionary for each school classroom. She will get more information and report back to us.Denise also noted that the GED program is back in action at Whole Village and they do sometimes have openings for volunteers there.
Club Runner training will be done in January at our club forum. Mike and Sharon will lead the session; please bring your smartphone or computer so that you can follow along. Phil suggested pairing experienced members with those who are not comfortable using ClubRunner to facilitate training.
Denise is lining up information and deadlines for the speech contest and will set it up after Hometown Holiday Celebration. The final will be be in Canada this year so we need to be sure that the local finalists have a passport!
Tony shared some president’s thoughts. Next year is our centennial; he is thinking of putting together a centennial book that would contain club history and trivia. The club expressed interest in resuming regular trivia sessions. Sharon, Erica and Bill volunteered to form a trivia committee. The president’s role is to serve the club members, and he only has the job until June. If anyone is interested in getting into the leadership pipeline, please let the board know.
Other announcements: Erica noted that our Rotary sign on Route 93 is very faded. Can we do something about this? Sharon noted that some years ago we put new signs coming into town and out on Tenney Mountain and we reused the old ones on the highway. Perhaps it is time for us to buy some new ones and also get a sign for the amphitheater. We have $1300 invested in the cast iron plaque for the amphitheater but the paint has come off and it can’t be repainted. Bill suggested that there is a new business coming into town that may be able to help (they do powder coating and this might be able to stick to the background and not to the gold lettering). Sharon also has a couple of older Rotary signs in her office that might be in better shape.
Denise noted that the Bridge House Cookie Walk is the same day as the Hometown Holiday Celebration from 11-2 or until they run out of cookies. You buy an empty box and fill it with cookies. Please let Denise know if you can bake cookies (drop off the day before, Friday night, or Saturday morning from 9-11). All proceeds benefit their veterans.
Happy dollars were shared by Tony, Erica, Mike, Denise, and Alex.
Erica noted that there will be a Turkey Trot tomorrow morning. Register tonight at the Dam Brew House from 4-7. Fee is $30 for the run or $10 for the walk.
Denise announced that today is the 17th annual Turkey Bowl at Mt Prospect, where students play against their instructors.
Kudos to Alex and the Common Man! They held a Thanksgiving feast yesterday in Nashua that fed over 300 people.
Happy Thanksgiving to all!
Respectfully submitted,
Lora Miller, secretary