Salem Rotary - The Spoke - Archive (Dec 30, 2008)

Salem Rotary Club

David A. Wescott, President

(978) 744-9070

www.SalemRotary.com

Rotary International

Dong Kurn Lee, President

www.rotary.org

District 7930

Thomas Elliott, DG

www.rotary7930.org

50-50 Pot:

The pot was $673, and Mark Shaw won. He donated half of his winnings back to the Club – thanks Mark!

Mary Ann – you need to buy a new deck of cards! (she asked me to remind her, so what better way to do it than in the Spoke)

John Neely thanked Mark Shaw for singing happy birthday to him at the Holiday Party.

Dick Lutts told a joke about a sleeper car, bunk beds, blankets and being married – you had to be there.

John Hooper said that the Rotarian magazine is now the greatest that it’s ever been, and then told a joke about how baby Jesus got his name – you had to be there again (or maybe it was better if you weren’t).

Dave Benson spent 5 days in North Carolina, and his wife will be singing in a jazz band on New Year’s Eve.

Rich Eisner’s father-in-law is making his annual visit to the Eisner’s, and a branch fell in Rich’s yard (however, 15 minutes before that his car was parked where the branch landed).

Liz Bradt introduced four of this year’s students in the Interact Club they are:

Scarlett – a sophomore who is going to participate in next year’s Youth Exchange program.

Leuncie – a senior who has been involved with Interact since she was a freshman, and this year will be leading an assembly to support Feed the Children.

Miguelina – who has been involved in Interact since her sophomore year, and also is very involved with Feed the Children.

John Neely introduced another Youth Exchange participant, Stan, who is hoping to go to Japan.

Anita is the Executive Director of the House of the Seven Gables. She moved to the Salem in March of ’08, having originally been born and raised in the Detroit area but then having spent many years in central Pennsylvania.

Anita majored in Arts Education and taught in Germany for 2 years in the ‘70’s. She quickly realized that teaching wasn’t what she wanted to do and she transitioned into museum administration. Initially she worked for a museum in Detroit, and then in 1984 started working at the Mercer Museum in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. After leaving there, she did consulting work for the Council on American Revolutionary Sites at the same time that her son was born. She then became the director of two sites in western Pennsylvania, then oversaw 13 sites in the Harrisburg area, and then became the director of the Pennsylvania State Museum – a position she held for 15 years.

During this time, she married Tom Dexter – and their blended families raised 4 boys. All of the boys are now in college at Drexel, Dickinson, Lehigh and California College of Arts.

With the boys in college, and their ties to Pennsylvania not as strong as they had been, Anita began seeing if there were other career opportunities available. She interviewed for the Gables job several times, and was drawn to the Gables dual mission of using the proceeds from the museum to fund its settlement house activities – such as a pre-school, summer camp, after school programs and a lunch for elders. The Gables serves 150 families annually – of whom 70% are low income.

The Gables has both a national and international “brand” that is simply incredible, and in 2010 the Gables will be celebrating its 100^th anniversary. Anita believes, however, that the Gables can do better in its connections with the local community, and in her brief tenure she has been working on developing partnerships with other organizations to try to knit it back into the community as a whole.

Beth Ann is is the Special Assistant to the President for External Affairs at Salem State College. Beth was born and raised in the Philadelphia area, however her mother was from the Boston area and she spent a lot of time in this area as a child. She went to Simmons College, and hasn’t left the area since. She is married and currently lives in Stoneham where she is very much involved in the Mission Committee of her church.

What we probably don’t know about Beth Ann is that she spent 25 years as an archeologist. The digs she has been involved with include the African Meetinghouse in Boston, and then being the Archeologist for the Big Dig in the 80’s and 90’s.

About 10 years ago, she turned her focus to being an archivist, and has been involved as the archivist for the Joe Moakley papers and Suffolk University.

Her job with Salem State is to keep the college connected to the community, and she especially sees the goals of the college and Rotary as being complementary. She noted the Rotary’s involvement with scholarships for Salem students, and thanked the club for helping so many students. She also noted that the college is attended by 400 international students from 65 countries, and that the college is now starting a program with China where students attend a Chinese university for one year, SSC for 2 years and then finish up their studies in China.

President Mersevey has created a Center for Civic Engagement that acts as a conduit for students to become involved in volunteer activities providing community service projects throughout the area. She also mentioned that Salem State employees can provide one day of community service per month under the Mass Serve program.

Today we had two more classification speeches. The first speaker was Mark Cote, the Executive Director of the Salem Mission.

Mark started his speech by cautioning members to beware of bidding on items through Ebay. He said he bid on something, and this morning found out that he’s the new senator from Illinois. That he started out his classification speech with a joke shouldn’t surprise any of us, since at one time Mark had a brief career as a stand-up comic.

In addition to his stand-up career, he has also been a reporter, a politician, and a chef – having cooked for President Ford, Prince Charles and Norman Mailer.

Mark likes to travel, and has traveled extensively in Asia – South Korea, Cambodia, and Vietnam. He has also been to Cuba, but never to Europe.

Mark is also a husband, a father and a grandfather – having had 3 kids – 2 girls and a boy; and 3 grandkids – a girl and 2 boys. He lives in Lowell – which is the 4^th largest city in Massachusetts and is also the 3^rd largest Cambodian city in the world (after Phnom Penh and Long Beach, CA).

For the past two-and-a-half years, Mark has worked at the Salem Mission – the last year as the Executive Director. He also teaches sociology at North Shore Community College. Mark came to the Salem Mission through his prior work at a shelter in Lowell where they converted an 1830’s boarding house into a shelter – raising $5 million in the process.

The Salem Mission has developed a 22-unit property on Margin Street which provides permanent housing for guests, and runs the 34-bed shelter year-round. During the winter months, 18 additional beds are added to ensure that everyone has a place to sleep at night.

Mark said that a person doesn’t typically become homeless overnight, and also doesn’t get out of homelessness overnight, but that his clinical staff works closely with each guest to ensure that each has a plan so that they can progress back to stability. He said that 85-90% of individuals have the capacity to take care of themselves independently – as long as they’re given the appropriate supports. He also noted that about 60% of his guests are employed – many of whom have been hired by member Rotarians.

Mark has reached out to many segments of the Salem community – police, city officials and businesses, and he welcomes any member to take a tour with him. Mark also noted that the work of the shelter is done by a very dedicated and competent staff, many of whom are clinicians, and that they truly are the front line serving their guests.

The second classifications speech was given by John Stueve. John was born and raised in Missouri, and he recalls working beginning to work with metal when he was twelve. However, rather than working with his hands, John was initially focused on entering into the priesthood – having attended both high school and college at a seminary. At the end of college, John decided to take a break from his studies, and he never came back from the break to complete his seminary education. Instead, John became the campus minister at Salem State. After doing that for a couple of years, John started working as a carpenter in 1986. In 1988 he married his wife Trish – and they have gone on to have 5 kids – 3 girls and 2 boys.

John is extremely proud of the work that he does, but to him his faith and family is paramount.

John’s company was the first on the North Shore to join the National Association of the Remodeling Industry, and all of the lead carpenters in John’s company are certified by NARI. John believes in building a trusting relationships with his customers, and he’s proud that he usually does multiple projects for his clients. He related stories about when one client, who was coming back to live in the US from abroad, basically had John remodel his home sight unseen. To the other extreme – John had another client who operated a dairy farm, and John twice has helped to deliver a calf (note to Liz Bradt – we don’t think John’s trying to muscle into your classification).

John decided to join Rotary because of our commitment to service, and John has very much done the same thing – always making sure that he’s giving back to his community, his church and his industry.

President Dave announced that the 100^th annual Rotary International convention will be held in Birmingham (UK) on June 21^st through the 24^th.

The District World Peace Dinner will be held on February 5^th at the Danversports Yacht Club.

President Dave reminded everyone to keep on selling calendars – it’s critical to our ability to raise funds for scholarships.

Also, there will be a district RYLA meeting on January 3^rd between 10 and 12:30 at Danversport Yacht Club – hopefully a member will be able to attend.

Extra calendars are available from Dick Lutts. He will have them at next week's meeting.

: “Youth is when you’re allowed to stay up late on New Year’s Eve. Middle age is where you’re forced to.” - Bill Vaughn

How many vistors can the International House of Friendship hold at this year's Rotary convention?

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.