The Rote – January 14, 2021
Midday Meeting via ZOOM
We had an absolutely fantastic meeting and a record-breaking Happy Hour. There were thirty-nine participants, including nine guests.
President Robert Bull welcomed everyone to the meeting. He Welcome to our January 21st Meeting. Robert was speaking in a low voice because he was on the other side of the World, in a COVID Quarantine room, in the middle of the night and needed to be respectful of the people around him who are sleeping. He thanked Jay Almeida for his help in showing the slides. Thanks, Jay!
Robin Shelley read the invocation using
President George Washington’s inaugural prayer. Immediately afterwards, Susan Shelley recited the Pledge of Allegiance.
National Granola Day is January 14
th, so enjoy. Robert showed everyone Carman’s Granola bar that are imported to Thailand from Australia.
Announcements:
For Anniversaries. This Saturday, January 23rd is the 1st year Rotary anniversary for Steve Dutton and Bjorn Hansen. Congratulations to both of you.
Phil Seipp told us that TBM application process ended on January 15
th. This year we had fewer applicants as compared to prior years. We are still determining how we will conduct the interview process. Since it will probably be on a ZOOM platform our new Members will be able to participate easily.
Cardon Park Tree Planting Project: We reminded everyone about our upcoming Tree Planting Project at Crandon Park. We will be planting Green Buttonwoods that are salt resistant and will help preserve the shoreline. This is so needed with the higher tides we have seen. Please consider dedicating a tree.
ESRAG Video Competition: Last week we mentioned that the Club has submitted a video to the
ESRAG competition. We are still in first place and we need your votes and support to continue strong. Please invite your friends, family & colleagues to vote for us. Please visit:
www.ifixtheplanet.org/the-videos to vote.
Rotary Club of Miami and Environmental Sustainability: Talking about ESRAG, we have been trying to see if we could set up a chapter in our Club. Well, ESRAG is not setup for that kind of structure. They do recommend that Clubs set up an Environmentally Sustainability Committee. That does not work for us because our environmental programs are part of our Community Service Committee. So, the Board has approved that we may set up our own
Environmental Sustainability Miami Action Group. ESMAG! ESMAG will be part of the Community Service Committee that is chaired by
Noreen Timoney.
ESMAG will be a member of ESRAG and membership to ESMAG is open to any of our Members who want to participate. ESMAG will also be open to Interactor, Rotaractor, Children & Grandchildren of our Members and also Other interested parties who may eventually become Members of our Club.
Phil Seipp then introduced our keynote speakers from the Grand Bahama Rotary Clubs,
Christine van der Linde,
David MacKey and
Lisbeth Rutzou, They attended our meeting to give us a review and update of the Grand Bahama Island from the bay of the impact of Hurricane Dorian until today. Most importantly, they want to express their gratitude to
Phil Seipp and our Club for the support we are providing to project
GBI Rx. The Rand Hospital, the only hospital on the island was severely damaged during the Hurricane and still is not functioning. We are helping with the purchase of needed medical equipment. There presentation included videos, slides and heartfelt testimonials. It was a very interesting and moving presentation.
Phil Seipp than proceeded to tell us about all of the support we have received for this GBI Rx project. We have received donations from Clubs and individuals in the District and just received a $100,000 donation from a Danish Electricity company. Phil was emotionally overjoyed. President Robert Bull then told our keynote speakers that instead of sending them a Certificate of Appreciation, today’s Happy Dollars would be dedicate to the GBI Rx project.
Carnival Raffle: After the emotional and interesting presentation, we then had the fun part of the meeting.
The Carnival 2021 Raffle ticket sale for a Bottle of Rhum Barbancourt. The winner will be selected on February 4
th based on the spin of the Picker Wheel. The proceeds of the Raffle will go towards a beautification and tree planting project with
Little Haiti Rotary Club.
The President-Elect of the Little Haiti Club,
Jean Dorcelien was present at our meeting. In case you do not know, our Club sponsored the founding of that Club. Diane Landsberg and Noel Renel were key in getting this accomplished.
Happy Dollars: At this meeting a Rotary Happy Hours was met and will probably not be exceeded for many years to come. All of the funds raised will go to the
GBI Rx project.
OVER $4,500 WERE PLEDGED BY THE PARTICIPANTS!!! Happy Dollar donations were received from:
Robert Bull, Diane Landsberg, Jens Neumann (visitor from Germany),
Patty Urban, Susi & Robin Shelley, Phil Seipp, Tim Ryan, Frank Voytek, Marcia Brod, Norby Rudel, Shirley Pardon, Scott Richey, Norys Figuera, David McManus, Ada Dana, Noreen Timoney, Bunny Uriarte, Randy Lichtman and Steve Dutton. By that point we were passed $1,250 and an anonymous donor sent
Phil Seipp a text saying that they would complete the amount needed to reach $2,000. Everyone guessed that the anonymous donor was
Cathy Cahill. She just smiled. Once we reached the $2,000 level,
Jay Almeida stepped up and said that he would match that $2,000, and we reached the $4,000 mark. Following the meeting,
David McManus advised that he had spoken with the CEO of
Sun Trust Bank, where he works, and the bank will donate $500. This brought the total donations to $4,500. We thank everyone for their generosity.
To end our exciting meeting Scott Richey led us in the Four-Way Test
