January 29, 2025 Breakfast Meeting Notes

 

The 50/50 was won by Ken Williamson, who donated the money to Tom.

 

Ken also won the chance to draw in the card game but selected the 9 of diamonds. There are 18 cards remaining in the deck.

 

Our scheduled speaker today was Kelli Brown of the Girl Scouts of the Green and White Mountains; however, we had technical difficulties with the Zoom and so had to reschedule.

 

Cary is here today for her fireside chat.

 

Tony presented his famous NH trivia, Hold Your Water Edition (NH Lakes and Ponds) Part 2.

 

Thank you ads have been placed in the Laconia Sun, Record Enterprise, and the Penny Saver for those who sponsored our fundraisers last year.

 

Mike spoke about Rotary’s Polio Plus initiative. One of our partner agencies is the World Health Organization. Rotary issued a statement commenting on the recent news that the USA is withdrawing from the WHO. Rotary has been a member of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative for decades, reducing the number of children with polio by 99%. Rotary will continue to work with partners to eradicate polio throughout the world. 

 

Alicia gave an update on Super Bowl squares. Next week she will draw the numbers. We have 58 squares left but half of the club has not paid yet. Alicia will take cash, check, or Venmo (@Alicia-leducouer).

 

Alicia also sent out an email about Trade Tuesdays and the technical trade scholarships. If you have any contacts who can speak to the students, let her know. There should also be a Rotary representative at each Trade Talk; please volunteer if you can. Alicia is trying to get a couple of members to help review the student applications for technical training grants. Greg volunteered to get a representative from EMS and the fire department to attend the trade talks.. 

 

Holderness School has reached out to us for their freshman student give-back week. They are looking to help us take down the Christmas decorations in March again this year. We will need to be doing this during the work week to allow the students to participate. 

 

Rabies clinic will be held on Saturday the 29th of March at 1 pm at the Police Dept. The cost will be $15 this year. Sue Fitzgerald is printing up new flyers and they are ready now.  

 

Speech contest is Wednesday, February 12.  

 

Beth noted that we are thinking of doing something different for the changeover dinner. Attendance has been declining and we have had trouble breaking even. Please reach out to Tony, Mike, Alicia or Beth with your ideas. It is usually held the third Wednesday in June which would be June 18 this year.

 

We will be doing a citizen of the year award again this year. Tony will collect nominations. The Citizen of the Year is a person who makes a difference in the community. The person must not be a Rotarian at the time of the award and the charitable efforts cannot be related to their job. The person should be a resident of one of the schools covered in SEU 48. Tony will send out a summary of qualifications for the nominees and send it out next week; please let him know if you would like to nominate someone..

 

Steve noted that Holderness School is sending 4 students to Ukraine; they will go to Zakopane, Poland where the Comman Man for Ukraine camp is located. There will also be Circle mentors/mentees setting up a pen pal relationship with Ukrainian students. He also noted that the USA has done away with USAID, which puts more pressure on NGOs such as the Common Man for Ukraine to compensate. 

 

Happy dollars were shared by Mike, Tony, and Beth.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

Lora Miller, secretary