Top to bottom: Lisa speaks to the club; Ken Evans is honored for being a Paul Harris +7; the club meets for breakfast.

 

January 3, 2024 Breakfast Meeting Notes

 

Guests: Dawn, Ted Baumiser, Ralph Aiken

 

The 50/50 was won by  Russ, who donated the money to Alicia for relief for the Camptpn families displaced by fire.

 

Nancy won the chance play the card game but alas she did not draw the ace of spades, so the game continues.

 

In lieu of trivia,Tony presented a Rotary minute.The Rotarian year starts on July 1. This dates back to the early years of Rotary history, between 1905 and 1912; the first convention was held on July 1, 1910 in Chicago. For several years afterwards, the start of the year varied with the date of the convention. Finally it was agreed to start the new Rotary year annually on July 1.

 

Alicia updated us on the families in Campton affected by the fire. All have found at least temporary living quarters. There have been a lot of donations from the community. Our club has donated $500 per family, which includes $100 the cost of propane, while the others have received $400 gift cards for Walmart. Denise noted that Keep the Heat On does have some fuel available. No income verification is required. Those interested may call on Tuesday morning and Keep the Heath On will mail a check to their propane supplier. 

 

The Admin committee will review comments from the membership on the grant process and report back to the club at a future date.

 

At present no one has signed up to serve on the Foundation committee. If you are interested, see Alicia. The first order of business for this committee is the transition grant application.

 

Thanks to all who served on the technical grant and scholarship grant committees.

 

Alicia and Beth are working on next year’s officer’s slate and preparing the ballot. If you are interested in serving on the board or as an officer, see them.

 

Next Tuesday evening, Louisa Horne will do a Zoom on “Making your Club Irresistible to New Members.” An email also came out today from DG Caroline Earle today that contains the Zoom link for this meeting. If you did not receive this email, contact Lora for the information.

 

Next week’s speaker will be Susan Cherry, our DG.

 

Sharon will send out the new calendar next week. If you have something in mind, please contact her now while she is building out the schedule so that she can incorporate your preferred date.

 

Ken Evans was given an award for being a Paul Harris fellow +7. To become a Paul Harris Fellow, you must have made a total of $1000 in donations to the Rotary International Foundation. Each time you donate an additional $1000, you add a +1, so Ken has donated $8000 to the Foundation over the years. Congratulations! We would like to get the entire club into the Paul Harris foundation in the next year or so.

 

Our speakers today were our own Steve and Alex, as well as their partners Susan and Lisa. As you all know, one of the major projects of our club is the Common Man for Ukraine program for Ukrainian relief. The four of them have just returned from their 8th trip to Ukraine and they gave us a report on the program, passing out business cards and discussed going to the website. Content is added and changed frequently so check back often!

 

Steve spoke first. The Common Man for Ukraine has a publicity agent who has gotten them into USA Today, on television and major newspapers. The fund is trying to leverage the connections to Rotary; the founders will do a Zoom meeting with other Rotary clubs, if any of you have connections to those other clubs. Last year the fund took in $969,000 for the programs through GiveButter, which accepts a wide variety of payment forms. We have a lot of earned media, which is coverage which we did not have to pay for. We are getting a lot of coverage in Rotary Magazine, which goes to members in 220 countries. 

 

Alex spoke next. The Common Man for Ukraine runs on volunteers from Poland who take food and supplies to Ukraine. All items are purchased locally using money collected by our fund, thus supporting their economy…so far over $3 million has been spent. Their contact was Peter from the Warsaw club. It only took 3 days after Steve’s first contact with Peter for Steve Susan, Alex and Lisa to be on the ground in Poland, discussing how they could help. 

 

Susan stressed that so many people have helped, each doing what they can. Many of the donations are from small donors. A group of women from Laconia made peace dolls with happy greetings from the USA for the Ukrainian children. People continue to send them boxes of beanie babies to take to safe houses all over Ukraine. 

 

Lisa spoke next. The Polish rotarians have been incredibly helpful and dedicated to helping Ukraine. A former DG, Richard, has been extremely helpful. He suggested doing trauma retreats for children every month. He works with Ukrainian contacts to identify families who need such counseling. Children come from all other Ukraine to Poland to attend this camp. The counselors are Ukrainian and also speak Russian. They do art therapy, outdoor activities and speak to counselors to help them learn how to deal with the trauma they have experienced. Running these retreats costs $40,000 per month. The Common Man for Ukraine has also started to receive grants to support the program (the Pfizer foundation has funded several months’ worth of camps, and the Common Man for Ukraine has also prepared a global grant for the Rotary International Foundation. 

 

Susan noted that they are also reaching out to other foundations, including the Irwin Foundation, the Lego Foundation, SigSauer, and VAE Systems for financial support. Right now they have $400,00 in the bank and the retreats are the top priority. On August 24, they will host a fundraising concert in Poland with American and local participants, so consider a trip to Poland this summer! 

 

Mike noted that Northeast PETS will be held March 6-9 in Newton Mass. If you would like to get a table at this event, speak to Mike.

 

There were no happy dollars to present today.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

Lora Miller, secretary