The Rote – January 14, 2021
Midday Meeting via ZOOM
President Robert Bull welcome to our January 14th Meeting. We have a full agenda and a special guest who will tell a lot about our mid-level history as a Club. So much has changed, and yet so much remains the same. We had thirty people in attendance, including three guests.
Oliver Ruiz led us with the invocation, and Shirley Pardon who arrived as an immigrant to this country and was nationalized as US citizen recited the Pledge of Allegiance.
Today is RATIFICATION DAY. This was the day when the USA was officially established and recognized by the United Kingdom 1787. While the revolutionary war ended in 1786, the final ratification was not until this day in 1787.
Announcements:
For birthdays Clara Arena’s birthday is coming up on the 15th. If anyone has seen her please wish her a Happy Birthday. Rosa Carroll’s birthday is on the 16th and she been enjoying her retirement with travels across the USA with her husband, John Carroll. Happy Birthday, ladies. Two days ago was Bunny Uriarte’s Rotary Anniversary. Congratulations
Phil Seipp updated us on the GBI Rx project. He has championed this project and is amazed at the results of the campaign. We are raising funds and have received donations from several Members, and donations from many individuals and other Rotary Clubs. It looks like we will exceed our goal of raising $100,000, that with our match and having exceeded our goal will probably reach near to $250,000. Congratulations to Phil on a job very well done.
The Rotary Foundation. Rotary’s goal amongst the Membership is for Every Rotarian to contribute Every Year. EREY. Water and Sanitation is one of Rotary’s Areas of Focus. Access to clean water, which to in the USA, we take for granted, but in other countries that may not be the case. Thousands of children needless die every year due to lack of clean water. Rotary is addressing this issue.
Every year our District conducts a golf ball drop event. Each golf ball costs $25 and on the day of the Golf Ball drop at the Biltmore Golf Course a helicopter will fly over and drop all of the purchased golf balls. The ones nearest the pin win. You may get your golf balls from Robbin Shelley. You may also let us know later in the meeting during Happy Dollars. This week is the last opportunity to purchase golf balls for the drop.
Noreen Timoney updated us on the Community Service Committee activities. We have a Tree Planting project with Million Trees Miami. You may dedicate a tree for just $10 or multiples of two tree for $18. Allison Chin, President of the FIU Rotaract Club and John Fulton, Assistant District Governor and a member of the Brickell Club immediately donated funds to have trees planted. We will be sending out Certificate to those who dedicate a tree. The Community Service Committee is holding its regular fortnightly meetings.
Club By-Laws: We emailed everyone a copy of the By-Laws that were recently approved by the Board of Directors. Since we have NOT received any comments or questions, we proceeded to ask for the Membership’s approval. All those in agreement, please said: Yes, or gave a thumbs up. The news By-Laws were approved on a unanimous basis.
Phil Seipp introduced our speaker, Past President Arthur C. Bivins, who was the 62nd President of our Club in 1979-1980. Arthur C. Bivins spoke to us about the history of our Club and the many great Presidents that the Club had. Some had tremendous foresight, such as setting up the Rotary Club of Miami Foundation. Our Club was so big that it used to meet twice a week, on Tuesday’s and Thursday’s at the Columbus Hotel, which was the swankiest hotel at the time. He ended by saying that while many do not believe that they are extraordinary, but through Rotary there are so many ways to be extraordinary. After Mr. Bivins’ presentation, Phil Seipp let him know that he will be recognized as one of the Club’s Honorary Members. Arthur Bivins was delighted.
ESRAG Video Competition : Our Club is competing in the ESRAG #IFixthePlanet video competition. We submitted our video and we are now in first place. There is still plenty of time left, so please vote, and ask your friends to vote. Jay Almeida then showed everyone the video that was submitted. The top prizes, of which there are seven, is for the Rotary International President, Holgar Knaack to attend one of their Club meetings. So please get out there and vote.
Upcoming Carnival Rhum Barbancourt Raffle: Many of you may not know that Carnival is coming up. Here are some photos of the Carnival Parade in Rio de Janeiro. The photo on the right is of the Portela Samba School.
Our President,
Robert Bull and his wife,
Stephanie Bull used to parade in this school. In a future meeting, we will show you some photos of them in costume. The reason for showing these Carnival photos, is that we are going to raffle of a bottle of Rhum Barbancourt. This famous rum sells for over $50 in most liquor stores that provide high quality products. The raffle will be on February 11
th, a few days before the start of Carnival or even better yet, three days before Valentine’s Day.
The funds raised from this Raffle will be used to support a Haitian project. Tickets (also known as names of the Picker Wheel) are $2.00 for One, $5.00 for Three, or $10.00 for Seven. You may pay for your tickets by using any prepaid debit account you have with the Club; or Zelle to Robert Bull at 305.733.3704, or PayPal which is on our webpage, or mail a check to Phil.
Happy Dollars: All of the Happy Dollars were to honor our speaker, Arthur Bivens. Happy Dollars were donated by: Robin Shelley, Diane Landsberg, Norm Kassoff, Noreen Timoney, Phil Siepp, Oliver Ruiz, Marcia Brod, John Fulton, Brian Tschirhart and Robert Bull.
The Four-Way Test was led by Norby Rudel and that ended our meeting.
