April 16, 2025 Breakfast Meeting Notes
Dan and Raisa were our guests this morning.
The 50/50 was won by Phil.
The chance to draw in the card game was won by Sharon, who drew the 7 of hearts.
Tony started with his famous NH Trivia, Rotary Retro edition #3.
Citizen of the Year nominations are now open. The honoree must be a local citizen, not a Rotarian, who has made significant contributions to our community.
Denise announced that she and Mike went to Linwood this past weekend for the district assembly. A bottle of wine was awarded but sadly she did not win it!
The upcoming district conference will be a two day event, with Friday reserved for Putt-Putt for Polio; we already have one team but Alicia is willing to start a second team. Go to Rotary 7850.org for more information on the district conference. You can register for it there, as well as for RYLA (click on the youth tab) and other youth oriented activities. Mike noted that if you work with young people for Rotary, you will need to have a background check done every year. You can find a link under the youth tab for “youth protection” where you can sign up for this background check.
The White Mountain Pickleball group has invited our club, plus the Lincoln and Bristol clubs, to come up for an intro to pickleball.
Denise is collecting items for summer camps: towels, sunscreen, lunch boxes, water bottles, bug spray and sunscreen.
Denise also reminded us of the good work done by Shelterbox. We can have a talk on Shelterbox for one of our breakfast meetings if we ask. We have donated to the organization in the past.
Mike followed up on the 3 young men who want to do a local cleanup. They have permission to clean up under the Holderness Plymouth bridge on Sunday, April 27th at 1 pm.
Bill went to the high school yesterday for trade talks. The speakers work for AES electrical and graduated from PRHS a couple of years ago. There were 30 or so kids, and the speakers gave good advice: show up early, stay late, ask questions, be nice, and do not hang on your phone! There are speakers lined up for the next 2 months, including an attorney and an accountant, so the program is really taking off.
Phil spoke today about his trip to Ukraine with the Common Man for Ukraine. On the first day they went to Zakopane, Poland, which is a resort area and where we hold our camps. All of the children have lost at least 1 parent and they stay for 3 weeks, dong activities, getting counseling, and going on field trips. Every child is given a pair of shoes when they arrive, as some don’t hav much clothing. We also gave out Common Man coats and a beanie baby to each child. On this trip they were also joined by 6 students form the Holderness school on their spring break. The Holderness students formed an amazing connection with the children.
The Common Man crew arrived in Zamosc, Poland, a historical walled city, the next day. They met up with the Polish Rotarians and 9 trucks. The trucks are all old but serviced well and they are stuffed with materials. There were two convoys, one after the other. Communication was a bit of a challenge, as none of our team spoke Polish and only some of the drivers spoke English. Google translate was helpful. The logistics were also challenging: arranging to buy food, arrange points of contact, get drivers, rent the vans; it is an amazing job. A lot of the people receiving food were mothers with young children; there were almost no men and few teenage boys.
Phil showed a movie in Polish with scenes from the trips. This latest trip was further east than they had gone before; while they were in Kharkiv, there were numerous air raid warnings. Several of the towns were within 30 miles of Russian-held territory. At the end of the trip, they met in Rivne with mothers of children who had been to the camps. They asked for feedback about what they can do better for the children and what they can do for the mothers. They also met with a wounded Ukrainian soldier who had been a POW. He said that the Russian soldiers in the camp were accusing the Ukrainians of attacking Russian territory.
Happy dollars were shared by Mike, Alicia, and Denise.
Raisa announced a Hubbard Brook flower tour, looking at the spring woodland flowers. The date is Saturday May 10 at 10 am. You Cana register by emailing Raisa at rkochmaruk@hubbardbrookfoundation.org or texting her at 484-951-6559.
There will be a board meeting on Friday at 7 am.
Next week after the meting anyone who is interested can take a walk through the proposed multi-use trail. We will explore the area and take photographs.
Respectfully submitted,
Lora Miller, secretary
