Salem Rotary - The Spoke - Archive (Feb 10, 2009)

John Hooper had previously reported that Joan and he would be holding a showing at the Kensington Hobert Gallery to benefit the Foundation, however the showing has been postponed since Sandy Heaphy’s husband has been ill. However, Hoop presented a check to the Foundation anyway.

Denise Flynn spent a few days in Florida, where it was 40 degrees as well. While she was there, her son won the NEC swimming championship in the 500 meter race. Denise also thanked Juli for rounding up a lot of auction items.

Dick Lutts told a joke about an ill-fitting suit – enough said.

Program for the February 10th Meeting:

President Dave introduced our new Assistant Governor, Jack Donaldson. Jack had a long speech that he had prepared, but didn’t give any of it. He just said “hi”, was glad that we had such a good turnout, and that he’d be back periodically.

Today’s speaker was Adam Knowles from the Salem Mediation Service.

Originally Salem Mediation was a state program run through the courts, however when it lost its funding 17 years ago it became an all-volunteer program. For 15 years, the program was run entirely by volunteers; however, a couple of years ago they were able to secure some state funding and have hired Adam as the Program Manager.

Despite having a staff person, the mediation services are mainly provided by volunteers.

There are three fundamental components to mediation –

· The mediator plays a neutral role in the process. They facilitate the dialogue, but the parties need to work out the solution between themselves.

· It is a confidential process – in fact, the mediator can’t be asked to testify in court about the process.

· It must be voluntary. Even if mediation is “mandated” by the court, the mediators will determine whether both parties are there of their own volition.

The Salem Mediation Service uses a co-mediation model (2 mediators on each case), and currently provides mediation at Salem and Peabody District Courts and the Essex County Juvenile Court. They also run a large youth program where they train peer mediators at area schools, and then they do mediation training for adults – many of whom end up becoming mediators themselves.

The types of cases that the Service typically hears are neighborhood disputes, family disputes (including divorce settlements and parent/child issues), a consumer program (for which they have received funding from the Attorney General’s office), and business disputes. They typically hear 300-350 cases per year, and about 65% of those reach settlement.

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

Upcoming Speakers

2/24 Roast for John Hooper
3/3/ Middle School Leadership Awards

Please visit the calendar section of our web site

for additional important dates.

And now a few announcements....

Board meeting – February 17^th.

The Phoenix School is selling items for Valentine’s Day. Proceeds to benefit the Early Act Club.

Auction is March 6^th – make sure to donate items or take out an ad in the program book.

If you still have any calendars or calendar money out, please bring it in as soon as you can.

Viktoria Talebian will be bringing in the Gates Pillowcase so that spare change can be donated to help with the matching fund for the Gates challenge grant.

Quote of the Week:

Stumpers

This week's stumper:

Who is a featured entertainer at the 2009 Rotary Convention in Birmingham, England? (hint*the cover of the newest Rotary magazine)

Last week's stumper:

In Rotary Speak, what does PETS stand for?

Answer to last week's stumper:

President Elect Training Seminar

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: Brenda Smith

Editors: Brenda Smith

Photos: John Quinn (Jay Cue), Trip Mason and File

Graphics and Photo Editing: Rich Eisner

Members: Denise Flynn, Jim Haskell and Sandy Heaphy