The Spoke - Archive  Mar 10, 2009

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And the winner is.....

Recognitions and Fines: 

Dave Benson paid a fine for having his picture in the Salem News at the Auction.

Frank Campbell was celebrating his birthday – number 52.  Frank’s son had flown in from San Diego, and his granddaughter is 4 weeks old.

Juli Lederhaus spent a week in California visiting her daughter.

Bruce Whear had a low-key, relaxing Saturday after the Auction (where it is reported he was anything but low-key).

John Neely congratulated the Auction Committee and Kenny for putting on a great auction.  He also suggested that whomever bought the South African fruit basket see him before eating the fruit.

Mary Ann Lyons had distributed pledge cards for the Walk for HAWC, and asked members to sponsor her.   She will be representing the Rotary at the walk.

President Dave reported on the auction, saying that the tally was being tabulated.  He thanked the Auction Committee for all of their efforts.

Dave also had the pleasure of auctioning off one item that had “fallen through the cracks”.  A gift certificate to American Beauty by Rose that could only be used by men.  Let’s just say, the very mention of it left the crowd feeling all tingly.  Malia Griffin was the high bidder.

John Neely gave his report as chair of the Rotary Foundation Committee.  The Rotary Foundation provides about $125 million in grants annually – about half of those are in the U.S. and half are foreign.  This year, our Club was successful in obtaining a District Simplified Grant for work at Mary Jane Lee Park, and we have also received a matching commitment for a project in northern Nigeria.

Rotary International has established a goal that every Rotarian, every year (EREY) should contribute at least $100 to RF.  Last year our club had about a 40% donation rate, and John’s goal is that this goal will be increased to 50% of the club this year.

Program for the March 10th Meeting:

Today’s speaker was Dick Moody of Operation Troop Support.  Dick started his presentation by noting that it had been 7 ½ years since the tragic events of 9/11, and 6 years ago that his daughter had been deployed as a nurse working in Iraq.  While she was there, she told her parents that the soldier had very little to keep their minds of their pain while they were in recovery.  Since then, the Moody family has made it their calling to support our troops both while they’re deployed and when they come back, and to support their families while they are in harm’s way.

Dick noted that Salem has provided tremendous support to the troops.  He noted how the staff at the courthouse recently pulled together a fundraiser, how both Salem State College and the Collins Middle School have been involved, and how E-Z Self Storage on Highland Ave. has provided them with free space to hold supplies.  He also thanked Malia Griffin and the rest of the power plant for all of their efforts.

One time when Dick was visiting a hospital in Iraq, a care package came in – and he got to see how the troops respond when the packages arrive.  He said it was like Christmas.

Operation Troop Support’s efforts have expanded to provide support to families who have loved ones overseas.  Between 70-75 people show up every month, and they can share their stress and anxiety with others in their situation.  What makes this group unique is that the families can come from all branches and extends beyond immediate relatives to anyone affected by a deployment.  Since most of the other family support groups are both branch-specific and also occur on base, the family members who can participate in them is limited.

Dick related a number of stories where Operation Troop Support was instrumental in providing assistance.  He told about their ability to save “Johnny”, a bomb-sniffing dog who was at risk of being put down after having had an accident.  He also talked about working with school systems to educate them about the trauma that children go through knowing that they have a parent who is in a combat zone.

For their efforts, Operation Troop Support has received a number of awards and recognitions.  One of those recognitions got their picture on boxes of Frosted Flakes.

If any member is interested in learning more about Operation Troop Support, you can contact Dick and Christine Moody at their email, operationtroopsupport@gmail.com , or their phone – 978-774-5983.  Their website is www.operationtroopsupport.org.

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

And now a few announcements....  

**Editors Note**

In last week's sparse Spoke, the literary awards were mentioned, but no names given.  The following students were recipients of the literary awards at the March 3, 2009 meeting.  Congratulations to each of these talented students.

    Sydney Smith: St. Joseph's School
    Olivia Hanna: The Phoenix School
    Kimberly Barzola: Nathanial Bowditch School
    Kate Schoelle: Salem Academy
    Dejardin Baez: Saltonstall School
    Katie Panneton: Collins Middle School
    Lishbeht Ramos: Collins Middle School

North Shore Star 3 sponsored by the Beverly Rotary will be held on Saturday, March 14^th at Danversport Yacht Club.

Celebrity Bartending will be held on April 7^th between 5 and 7 p.m at Finz in Salem.

The HAWC walk will be Sunday, April 26^th; and the NSMC Cancer Walk will be Sunday, June 21^st.

Quote of the Week:

“The only reason we ask other people how their weekend was is so we can tell about our weekend” – Chuck Palahniuk

Stumpers  

This week's stumper:

Who will be the Keynote Speaker at this year's Rotary Convention?  Hint*  Look at the cover of the Rotarian Magazine.

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