The Spoke - Archive  Jun 29, 2010

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 Rotary International Theme

2009-2010

"AND THE WINNER IS" - 50-50 RAFFLE

VISITING ROTARIANS AND GUESTS

Ornella Sementa, Rinus Oosthoek

Cindy Frank (Sister), Bob Conley

Joan Thompson (Sister), Bob Conley

Ginny Conley (Mother), Bob Conley

Sherill Moulton, Bob Conley

FINES & RECOGNITIONS

PRESIDENT JOHN HALL

Anyone wearing shorts to today's meeting will pay a $2.00 fine.

JOHN NEELY

He was a judge at the Regatta. He commented on how nice our meal is each week at the Hawthorne Hotel.

BRUCE WHEAR

Spent 5 days at a conference in San Antonio with this Dad. Unfortunately his wife became ill while he was away. She is doing better thankfully.

JULI LEDERHAUS

Would like to recognize the kitchen staff at the Hotel for their dedication to the Rotary meal.

DICK MOORE

Went to New York with his wife.

MIKE MCLAUGHLIN

Also went to San Antonio for a conference. He also helped out with the Regatta and enjoyed President Bill's Installation Dinner.

VIKTORIA TALEBIAN

Is paying a fine for missing next weeks meeting. She will heading to Lake George with the family next week.

RICH EISNER

Commented on how Brenda Smith took charge of the team at the Regatta.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

President John is pleased to announce that Troy Wilson received his permanent badge and is an official member of the club. Troy was proposed by Bob Conley and is a Chiropractor in Salem. Please congratulate Troy and welcome him as an official member.

The Swampscott Rotary Club Duct Tape Regatta was a huge success. We had a great showing. President Bill Kielbasa (Team Leader) John Neely (Regatta Judge), Bart Hoskins (Crew), Rich Eisner (Crew), Brenda Smith (Crew), Mike McLaughlin (Crew), Bruce Whear (Pit Crew), Liz Bradt (Pit Crew), Andrew Barnes (Pit Crew), Bob Anthony (Photographer & Pit Crew Chief). We came in 4th place and won an award for Best Design. John Neely thought the award should have been for Most Unique Design. Thanks to all Rotarian's who attended this fun event.

We are pleased to announce that Team Salem Rotary raised over $1,400.00 for the 1st NSMC Cancer Run on June 20th. Co-Rotarian of the Year Viktoria Talebian, James Lister, Frank Campbell, Denise Flynn, President-Elect Tim Clarke, Brenda Smith, Troy Wilson, Andrew Barnes, and Sean Stellato all participated in the run. Some Rotarian's also had love ones join them as well.

The Installation Dinner for President Bill Kielbasa was held last Thursday June 24th on the lawn at the Hawthorne Hotel. President Bill had his family present with a great turn out from Rotarian's. It was a great night with food prepared by Ken Rothwell. Thanks Ken for your help and the food was fantastic as usual. Congratulations Bill and best of luck this upcoming year.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank President John Hall for his dedication to the club during his presidency. As you will read in his final remarks we had a tremendous year.

President John would like to announce that Viktoria Talebian and Ken Rothwell have been chosen as Rotarian of the Year. This is a special award which goes out to members who go above and beyond. Congratulations Viktoria and Ken on this wonderful achievement.

President John introduced Mark Shaw to give out our club's highest award. Bob Conley has been chosen as this year's Paul Harris award winner. Bob is a partner with Ryan & Coscia and has been a Salem Rotarian since 1999. He is co-chair of the Golf Committee and very active in other club events. Please congratulate Bob for being the 65th recipient of the Paul Harris award.

We are sad to announce that Carl Wathne has resigned from the club due to health reasons. Carl has been a member since 2004 and was a pleasure to have as a Rotarian. Please wish Carl the best of luck with hopes he feels better soon.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SALEM ROTARIANS

Gerald McCarthy - June 30th

SPEAKER/PRESENTER OF THE WEEK

President John Hall - Final Presidential Address & Award Ceremony

At my very first meeting on July 7th I detailed the following goals for the club.

1. Raise more money for scholarships

2. Establish hunger as my second most important initiative

3. Raise $2,000.00 for Polio Plus

4. Have fun and reach out to the community

5. Requested that all complaints be directed to me to ensure that the proper chain of command be used for solutions.

My accomplishments as President.

We initiated monthly dinners and served them at the Salem Mission. We fed over 950 meals not counting seconds. The best part was every-time we asked for volunteers new members stepped up and reached out. Notably, all of the meals were paid for by Rotarian's most of which by Ken Rothwell. Thanks Ken for your generosity.

We sponsored Rotary Exchange Student Scarlet Gonzalezm to study in Romania.

Ken Rothwell stepped up and rejuvenated the Poker Tournament and along with Rob Lutts covered the cost of food and drinks. It raised over $3,000.00 for scholarships and $1,000.00 of which went to Polio Plus.

We held the first of two events for DSS Foster Children from all over the North Shore.

I initiated a Rotarian of the Month award to recognize important contributions to the club and the community.

The calendar committee once again designed a great calendar with efforts from Bill Kielbasa, Rinus Oosthoek and all members who worked hard to sell the calendars. Especially Dick Lutts who was the top seller.

I initiated the Change to Change Lives program. We were able to raise over $3,500.00 in donations from the club and the Phoenix School Early Act Club to help St. Joseph's Food Pantry fight hunger in the community. $3,500.00 translates into $14,000.00 in buying power for the food pantry. We fed hundreds of families over the holidays. Our Royal Order of Turkeys led by Bruce Whear, Jeff Hollaran and Dave Wescott.

We sponsored a spaghetti dinner at the Boys and Girls Club. We also supported their major raffle fundraiser.

Jim Robinson collected over $700.00 for turkeys for the Salvation Army.

At Christmas, Rotarian's became Angel gift donors for the Salvation Army to ensure unfortunate children has gifts to open at Christmas.

We donated $2,000.00 in Shelter Boxes for the Earth Quake in Haiti.

We continued to support Friends Forever with a $3,000.00.

The annual Scholarship Auction raised over $24,000.00.

The Literacy and Education Committee exceeded all expectations with a steady flow of student leadership awards and a program that allowed more of us to reach out by reading to elementary school children and donating wonderful books to each school library.

We funded a bus and lunch for 25 members of the Salem High School Interact Club to travel to the State House to visit with our member State Representative John Keenan.

Our club was selected to host the GSE team from London.

Co-Rotarian of the Year Viktoria Talebian came to me and asked if we could take a shot at another Celebrity Bartending Event and bring it to new heights. Thanks to Viktoria and her committee we had over 125 people attend and we raised over $3,400.00. A special thanks to the bartenders and the people who made this special event happen.

The board kindly supported my favorite charitable organizations. The Casa San Jose in Colima Mexico is an Orphanage with 100 children living there. Their oven broke which made it difficult to serve hot food to the children. Thanks to our club we donated a new commercial oven which is being installed this week. A plaque will be put up at the Orphanage to recognize our gift.

I am proud to say that we supported the Phoenix School Early Act Club. Children are our future leaders and and these programs develop leaders.

The club raised $43,000.00 for scholarships. We were able to help 23 deserving students start on the path of higher education and a better life.

We have added several new members this year and will end the year with +5 new members. It was my goal to exceed expectations of new membership to ensure we are a healthy club for years to come.

In closing, I hope you will agree that we have had lots of fun at the meetings, special events, on the golf course, and softball field. But more importantly we had fun as we practiced "SERVICE ABOVE SELF" in this great city. My deepest thanks to the club officers, board of directors, committee chairs and every single member for a year that, in my mind, was an example of exemplary teamwork.

FUTURE SPEAKERS/PRESENTERS

NO SPEAKERS SCHEDULED FOR THE SUMMER......

UPCOMING EVENTS - SAVE THE DATE

Please visit the calendar section of our web site

  for additional important dates.

NOTHING SCHEDULED AT THIS TIME......

"QUOTE OF THE WEEK"

"Man was made at the end of the week's work when God was tired."

Mark Twain

STUMPER OF THE WEEK

Approximately,how many people attended this years Rotary International Convention in Montreal Canada?

LAST WEEKS STUMPER

Name the Rotarian who owns this tattoo?

ANSWER TO LAST WEEKS STUMPER

The famous Ken Rothwell

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 Chairman:  Brenda Smith

Acting Newsletter Editor:  Bob Dionne

Photographer: John Quinn & Juli Lederhaus

Graphics and Photo Editing:  Rich Eisner

Committee Members:  Denise Flynn, Jim Haskell and Sandy Heaphy

Salem Rotary Club

PO Box 608

Salem, MA 01970

(978) 744-9070