Kathy Tobin from The Friends of the Homeless emergency shelter on Worthington Street will address our Club this Friday. The FoH Shelter will be full again this year, especially as the weather grows colder. Our Club has a special relationship with Kathy's organization, as we monthly volunteer to serve their kitchen's evening meal. Member Amy Scott has also organized a Holiday Gift Bag collection for mean living in the FoH Shelter over this holiday season.
Members wishing to support this effort may bring one or more donated gift bags to this week's meeting.
Membership Dues Deadline Looms
New Rotary International rules being enforced this year for the first time require our Club to pay full annual dues on each member on our roster as of January 1st, 2015. In the past Clubs were able to appeal to Rotary International to delay payment as they "caught up" with slow paying members.
While the vast majority of our members have paid their dues as of this writing, I'm disappointed to say a few still remain unpaid. Despite two printed notices from Gale, reminder phone calls from Jim and appeals from me at the meeting podium, a small handful of members remain on our roles who have not yet paid their annual dues which were due July 1, 2014. I urge these last remaining members to make their payments soon.
As of December 31st I will remove unpaid members from our Club roster.
More than 400 people filled Center Court at the Basketball Hall of Fame to honor three recipients of the Rotary "Service Above Self Award" on December 5, 2014.
Local community service icon York Mayo and Bob Perry were celebrated for their community accomplishment supporting education and affordable housing through their long and storied careers of public service. Both count the local Habitat For Humanity organization at the top of their list of important local causes to which they have lent their personal and financial support.
Former New Jersey State Police trooper and retired NBA referee Bob Delaney was honored for his work with military and police post traumatic stress disorder victims in the United States and in forward deployed locations like Iraq and Afghanistan. Bob told the assembled audience that he advocated the use of the term "operational stress" rather than "post-traumatic stress" since PTSD carries a stigma that prevents some military and public safety professionals from talking about their situation, often delaying their treatment and recovery.
The event is part of the annual Holiday Showcase weekend for the Hall of Fame, culminating in a UMass basketball game on Sunday at the MassMutual Center. Coach and Springfield native son Derek Kellogg urged attendees to turn out for the Sunday game in downtown Springfield. (5200 attended the exciting game against Florida Gulf Coast University, won by the visitors 84-75.)
Laurie Rosner, Chair of our Operations Committee has set her group's meeting schedule for the coming new year, with the first meeting set for 10:30-12 noon, Friday January 9th.
The Operations Team is responsible for the weekly lunch assembly operations and programming. The objective is to maintain an infrastructure and serve as the support structure for the club.
"We are the 'Front of the House' experience, as Jenn calls it," Laurie said in an email this week to her team, "to ensure our audience experiences a great show---our meetings and socials. Our audience is members, guest speakers & guests. Guest speakers and guests are also potential new members for our club."
Operations Committee meetings will also occur April 10, August 14 and November 13, 2015.
Eighteen members of our Club, or just under one-third of our members, have made their annual gift to the Rotary Foundation, which underwrites Rotary clean water, health, education and peace programs worldwide.
Dene Kimball, our Club Foundation Chair, reports the effort has passed the $1200 mark, on its way toward the $4,000 plus target. Gifts to either the Polio Plus effort, or the Foundation, count in the annual "Every Rotarian Every Year" national campaign. Under Dene's leadership last year the Rotary Club of Springfield was recognized by Rotary District 7890 for having the highest percentage growth in this vital effort.
Gifts may be made out to either "Rotary Foundation" or "Polio Plus" and given to Dene or our Club Treasurer Gales Gates at our regular Friday luncheon meeting. Thanks for your support of this important effort!
Kathy Tobin
More than 400 people filled Center Court at the Basketball Hall of Fame to honor three recipients of the Rotary "Service Above Self Award" on December 5, 2014.
Eighteen members of our Club, or just under one-third of our members, have made their annual gift to the Rotary Foundation, which underwrites Rotary clean water, health, education and peace programs worldwide.