And the winner is.....

Recognitions and Fines: 

• There were no recognitions nor fines this week.

Program for the May 1st Meeting:

The May 1st meeting was dedicated to awarding scholarships to Salem seniors.

Scholarship Committee Co-chairs, Viktoria Talebian and Jeff Holloran, presented the scholarships.  In addition, Beth Alexander presented the Buck Alexander scholarship to Molly Gachignard and Evan Buso Jamis.

The Vance M. Smith scholarship was presented to Carmen Pena.

Other scholarships were presented to 51 seniors:  Matthew Abramo, Marci Arrigo, Jon Arrington, Robert Bouchard, Benjamin Cabrera, Jessica Comeau, Samantha Cote, Meghan Czarcecki, Tami DeLorenzo, Benjamin Delossantos, Nathaniel Dibble, Melissa Fraczek, Kevin Frasca, Christopher Gordon, Brigitte Guaicha-Smith, Josh Halstead, Gabrielle Hayes, Sara Holden, Edward Keenan, Emily Koen, Marissa Konstadt, Alexandra Lacey, Alyssa Leonardo, George LeVasseur, Kelsey Lobie, Elisa Logush, Cindy Medrano, Daniel Murray, Jennifer Olnejik, Wilson Phu, Kelly Roub, Yiscleini Santos, Margaret Somerset, Megan Staples, Katrina Stephanides, Brendon Sullivan, Caitlyn Townsend, Emily Verette, and Kristin Zukowski.

A total of $53,750 in scholarships were awarded - with more than $20,000 of that coming from the Salem Rotary Foundation.

Bill Lundregan explained that it was the vision of two Rotarians, Vance "Salty" Smith and Robert "Buck" Alexander, that created the Rotary Foundation.  The Foundation now has over $400,000, and as a result this Club has been able to provide as many scholarships as we do.

Unfortunately, we lost both Salty Smith and Buck Alexander to heart attacks on the very same week several years ago.  In recognition of Buck's devotion to Salem Rotary, the Alexander family made a sizeable donation to the Rotary Foundation.

Mark Shaw then informed the Club that the Board has voted to make Beth Alexander an Honorary Member of the Club.  Beth joins a very select group - William Bursaw, Brian Cranney, Deborah McNulty and Peter Zaharis. 

John Fisher then presented Beth with a Paul Harris Fellowship.

In accepting both the Honorary Membership and Paul Harris Fellowship, Beth remarked that "you can step up to the plate when it's the right thing to do."

Events to be aware of -- Save the Dates!!

• Calling all Dictionary Project volunteers!  Your principals are eagerly awaiting your call to set up a short time to deliver the Rotary stickers to your students.  The good news is that the books have all been dropped shipped to the schools.  If you haven't already done so, please contact your school at your earliest convenience.  Please contact Denise at dlflynn@partners.org or Sandy at MHPENT@aol.com with questions.  Many thanks to the volunteers!  And don’t forget that the principals and students will attend lunch on May 8^th.

• District Conference, May 11th and 12th in Bermuda.  See Juli Lederhaus if you're interested in attending.

• The next Board of Directors meeting will be on May 17th at 7:30 a.m. at the Hawthorne Hotel. 

•  The Interact Club will be holding their Job Fair at Salem High School on May 17th between 1:45 and 3:00 p.m.  Anyone interested in participating should seecontact Liz Bradt by email - docliz@creaturehealth.com.  Put the words "Job Fair" in the subject line.

• New president swearing-in celebration - June 8th - Winter Island.

• Salem Rotary Golf Tournament - June 18th - save the date!  More info. to come.

• We need host families for our inbound Youth Exchange student.  Please see John Neely is you know anyone would might be interested. He is Alejo from Argentina.

• It's Rotary Softball time!  Here is this year's schedule:

MARBLEHEAD/SALEM ROTARY SOFTBALL

                                    2007 SCHEDULE

            DATE                          TEAM                         LOCATION

           May 9, 2007                 @ Lawrence                Lawrence Regional                                                      

           May 15, 2007               Danvers                       Castle Hill                                            

           May 23, 2007               @ Chelsea                   Chelsea High School    

           May 29, 2007               @ Beverly                    Dix Park                                                          

            June 6, 2007                @ Woburn                   Library Park

            June 12, 2007              Beverly             Castle Hill                    

            June 20, 2007              @ Danvers                   Rotary Field

            June 26, 2007              Woburn                       Castle Hill

            July 10, 2007               Lawrence                    Castle Hill        

            July 18, 2007               Chelsea                        Rotary Field

            This is the annual picnic at Danvers.  Our game will probably be at 6:15.           

****If there is rain on game day, assume the game is on.  We will call you if the           

        game is cancelled.**** 

****If you cannot make a game, please give us advance notice so we can make sure

        we have enough players at the field.****

All games start at 6:00.  Arrive at field around 5:30 for warm up and BP.

                        Mark Shaw                                          Mitch Michaud

Work #         978-744-4540                                        617-884-5600

Cell #           508-341-7628                                         978-758-0287

Upcoming programs for April, May & June:

5/8 Literacy & Education Committee                      Annual School Dictionary Project

5/15 Civil War Stories      Dave Gendall        Well known and lesser known facts of the Civil War…

5/22     Salem Maritime            Patricia Trap                             Future Seas

5/29 Wealth Management         Rob Lutts               Past, Present and New Perspectives

6/5  Retired Judge           Samuel Zoll          Current Events & Past Years on the Bench

6/12     NSMC                                                                Current Plans for Cancer Walk

6/19     East Coast Trekker      Jim Haskell               Appalachian Trail Adventures

Menus for March and April - For the next two months all meals will be Chef's Choice buffets.  We're doing this on a trial basis.

There will no longer be any "special" meals.  There will always be a green salad on the buffet.

Lost and Found:

Found:  A Paul Harris fellowship pin found at the Lyceum Restaurant around Christmastime.  If you know whose it might be - contact Bruce Whear.

Stumpers  

This week's stumper:

What will happen twice on May 6th that will not happen again for 100 years?

(Thanks to Ray Hodge for providing this week's Stumper)

Answer to last week's stumper:

What do the seven members of the Uniendo America's board of directors have in common?

Answer:  They're all Rotarians (this was an easy one)

(Editor's note:  anyone interested in posing a stumper - please email jthaskell@consultant.org. with both the question and the answer.  Thank you!)

Happy Birthday to:      Kathie Strout (1st), Jeff Holloran (4th), Keith Linares (7th).

(Editor's note:  If you see a mis-print or error in the Spoke, please send an email to the Editor at jthaskell@consultant.com.  We can send out an "email blast" to all members correcting the error prior to the Club meeting.)

Please email all announcements to be added to the Spoke  and/or feedback to salem_rotary@yahoo.com by Noon on Wednesday.  Also, feel free to contact any of the committee members listed below.

Committee Chair:  Jim Haskell

Editors:  Jim Haskell

Photos: Juli Lederhaus, John Quinn (Jay Cue) and File.

Graphics and Photo Editing: Dana McIntyre and Rich Eisner

Members:  Frank Addonizio, Leah Weston, Bob Anthony and Carl Wathne