October 16, 2024 Breakfast Meeting Notes
Tony began with his famous NH Trivia. It’s hard to believe, but March 2021 was when he started to do his weekly trivia.
The 50/50 was won by Walter, who donated the money to support the pets at the Voices against Violence shelter (one of only 2 shelters in the state that allow victims to bring their pets).
Card game draw was won by Beth, who selected the 5 of diamonds.
Mike gave us a styrofoam update. The system is working beautifully. Toni meets a volunteer from 8:15-8:30 at the Bridge House on Saturdays and she and the volunteer go around and collect the foam from each location, take it to Gilford, and return by 11:30. Ken Evans and Mike have traded as volunteers on Saturday for many weeks now and they are looking for other people to volunteer to handle this job. Ken Williamson volunteered.
Sharon thanked all who have given a donation to hurricane relief. So far we have raised $1050 from our the membership. This money will go to a Rotary foundation in the Carolinas to provide hurricane relief. Our foundation will match this check. She will accept donations for another week.
Tony gave a Penny Sale update. Thanks to Steve for ordering the tickets. Some of us have put up posters (a list is being generated, so if you put one up, let Tony know). A press release will be put up in the Laconia Sun and the Record Enterprise shortly and will be repeated once more before the event.Lora has arranged for flyers to be sent to parents at Campton, Thornton, and Plymouth Elementary schools. There will also be a spot on PemiBaker TV and on NH Public Radio.
The DJ has been lined up. We are ok to do the setup tonight, starting at 5 pm. We have lots of storage space but you should probably leave large or heavy items at home until the night of the event…just bring the perforated sheets. We will need a couple of tables set up with 4 chairs for tonight. We will have custodial support on the night of the event. Culinary students will take care of the food. We have runners from the National Honor Society and National Technical Honor societies, though we can always use more runners. We also need lots of people to tear tickets. Tony also suggested starting the setup on November 3 at 2 pm.
Grand Prize ticket sales went well this past weekend. We sold a lot of tickets to visitors. Everyone should take at least 2 time slots for selling.
Tina Mulleavey of Voices Against Violence speaks to the club.
Our speaker today is Tina Mulleavey from Voices against Violence. She is the new executive directorthere (since January) though she has been win Voices for almost 20 years. The organization is the local domestic violence and sexual violence coordinator in the area. They work with the domestic and sexual violence as well as human trafficking, elder abuse, and child abuse. They operate 24-7, providing emergency shelter in undisclosed locations for survivors fleeing difficult situations. They also help to find long term shelter, provide transportation, legal assistance, hospital accompaniment, and law enforcement support to victims. They have a 24 hr hotline.
Voices operates with only 6 full time staff members. They are struggling to find help; low wages are a problem but they need to find a way to pay a livable wage. They require a 20 minute response time, so employees must live within a 20 minute drive of Plymouth, and Plymouth is an expensive place to live. For example, they typically pay survivors $1700-$2200 per month for a 2 bedroom in town. They have 3 openings: a family violence prevention specialist (part time with DCF), a child advocate position (forensic interviews with children, go to court with them), and a part-time services advocate.
October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Voices worked with 132 survivors just in the town of Plymouth in the last year; they took 138 hotline calls, and provided 239 cases of financial assistance. Not all survivors provided a location. Domestic violence is not limited to people of any specific race, religion, ethnicity, or socioeconomic status. NH law was recently amended to prohibit marriage for anyone under the age of 18.
Voices provides educational resources (prevention training) for students in the schools. They recently purchased 2 new curricula to help teach healthy relationships, healthy boundaries, and sexual abuse prevention. They are also trying to get funding for new initiatives to work with schools on mental health education and allow students to access mental health services.
NH has a mandatory child abuse reporting law for any individual over the age of 18. This is very subjective but if you suspect child abuse, you shall report. There is a statewide 24 hour call center…there may be a link on their website.
There will be a board meeting this Friday.
Steve is celebrating a big birthday! If you would like, you can give $8,80 or $80.80 to the Common Man for Ukraine in his honor.
Phi and Mike shared happy dollars.
Respectfully submitted,
Lora Miller, secretary