President Robert Bull welcomed everyone to our June 17^th ZOOM Meeting. This was our 52^nd   meeting of this fiscal year and Robert’s last meeting as President of the Rotary Club of Miami. We had about 47 in attendance with international visitors from Germany, Spain, from several Clubs India and Pakistan.

 

Patti Urban gave the invocation.  Marcos Menendez led us in the Pledge of Allegiance.

 

 

Birthdays: Tim Ryan (6/20), Virgilie Aliu-Otokiti (6/24) and Natacha Metayer (6/27). Tomorrow is Syd Andrews’s first year anniversary.  If anyone knows how to reach her, please give her our heartfelt regards.

 

Today is Global Garbage Man Day:  Robert thought it was very coincidental that today is Global Garbage Man Day as he has spent over a year picking up litter around his neighborhood.  He has picked up over five hundred (500) bags of litter. He was recognized by the Village of Pinecrest for his efforts.

 

Despite the Pandemic, the 2020 – 2021 fiscal year has been a year of Excellence.  Attendance at our meetings has been outstanding. Part of the reason for that has been the excellent speakers we have had at our meetings. 

 

Happy Hours: We also held several virtual Happy Hour events on ZOOM.  One of the more popular ones was the Hispanic Heritage Celebration when Dunia Miranda was able to have a beautiful bartender show us how to make some mixed beverages.  We also had a great time at our OKTOBERFEST and most recently in our first in-person event in a very long time at the Cinco de Mayo Happy Hour.

 

We also held several contests and raffles, which everyone enjoyed.  Dunia Miranda provided a bottle of Zacapa Rum for our raffles. She will be awarded the Above & Beyond certificate.  We ran the Picker Wheel for a raffle to win a Father's Day Basket.  Carlos Bonadies won the prize.

 

Banner Exchanges: Despite the Pandemic we had fifteen banner exchanges with Clubs from Israel, Bangkok, Warburg, Paris Champs Elysees, Stuttgart, Madras, Portland, Beirut, Vishrambag, Amsterdam, Bled (Slovenia), San Miguel de Allende, Yerevan, Trenton and Guayaquil. We also had visitors from Guatemala, Colombia, Peru, Philippines, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhuttan and Malaysia.

 

Griffitts Award: Norm Kassoff told us about the history of the Griffitts Award.  He is involved in the selection of the City of Miami Police Officer of the Year.  This year’s awardee was Detective Erica Socarras.  Our Club also honored Patrol Dog Kano with a Paul Harris Award.  First time our Club has awarded a dog this honor. Norman Kassoff will be presented with a Certificate of Appreciation.

 

Rotary – Serve to Change Lives: While this may the theme for the 2021 – 2022 fiscal year, this year our Club Served to Save Lives. Patti Urban explained how she helped a young boy in Peru, Santiago Chavez who needed a portable oxygen concentrator for his mobility.  We also distributed mosquito nets in Iquitos Peru.  We also shipped oxygen regulators to Huancayo, Peru to help the hospitals attending COVID patients. Patti Urban will be awarded the Above & Beyond certificate for her efforts to save lives. Most recently, we sent funds to India to the Vishrambag Rotary Club where oxygen condensers and other supplies were purchased. 

 

Miami Rescue Mission & Children’s Home Society: The Miami Rescue Mission and the Children’s Home Society were provided with backpack for students at the beginning of the school year. We provided further support to the Miami Rescue Mission through other programs such as Socktober, Christmas Toy Drive and Thanksgiving in Easter.

 

Diapers and Feminine Hygiene Products: Noreen Timoney told us how we delivered thousands of diapers, baby wipes and feminine hygiene products to the Miami Rescue Mission, Camillus House and the YWCA.

 

Bringing Smiles to Senior Citizens: Linda Singer explained how gratifying it was for her and Dave Skinner to deliver fold items to Holocaust survivors and senior citizens. 

 

Walk to End Alzheimer’s & Heart Walk: Arlene Terrinoni said the even though these “walks” were different this year because of the Pandemic, she and her team of Miami Beach walkers, Norys Figuera and Stephanie Seemann did walk around their neighborhood creating awareness about the Alzheimer’s fund raising importance to all.

 

End Polio Now Campaign: As part of the End Polio Now campaign, the Club donated $2,920 in honor of Norm Kassoff. At the time, Norm was also recognized with a Lifetime Award.

 

Beach Cleanups were held in October 2020 at Matheson Hammock and Miami Beach: Photos of the event was shown. Cory Gittner told us some interesting stories about the Miami Beach Cleanup.

Tree Planting: We had the most participants at the Tree Planting at Crandon Park on March 13, 2021. Over sixty people attended that event with Members from other Clubs, Interact, Rotaract and friends/family.

Matheson Hammock Cleanup Again: In May, we returned to Matheson Hammock with a good turnout of Members of our Club, Rotaract and Interact students.

 

Public Image: Jay Almeida is responsible for the Club’s Public Image, but everyone is part of the Public Image committee. He enjoys updating our Social Media presence, but what gives his the most pleasure is being our own “Steven Spielberg”.  Jay loves to shoot and edit videos, like the FEED MIAMI projects and Norm’s Birthday Celebration.

 

International Assistance: Stephanie Bull told us how we helped the villagers of Joya Verde in Guatemala.  We received an urgent SOS from the North Guatemala City Rotary Club.  Due to the tight lock down, the villagers of Joya Verde were stuck in their town.  Everything was shutdown, no transportation in or out of town, no work and the little money they had was gone. Food was becoming scarce and people were going hungry.  So we helped out. A few months later, Central America was hit with devastating hurricanes that caused severe flooding.  The Rotary Emergency Committee Guatemala sent aid where most needed. We were happy to help again.

We also contributed to the Global Grant of Ms. Jennifer Jones’ Club.  Ms. Jones will be Rotary International’s first female President.

We also provided aid to the survivors of the horrific explosion in the Port of Beirut, through their local Rotary Clubs.

 

GBI Rx: Phil Seipp reminded us of the amazing project to help with the refitting of the Rand Memorial Hospital on Grand Bahama Island. (Over $360,000 was raised.)  For this effort and his other activities, Phil was awarded Rotarian of the Year a few weeks ago.

 

 

Youth Services: Amelia Bonilla updated us on the activities of the FIU Rotaract Club, MDC Rotaract Club and the Miami Senior High School Interact Club.  FIU Rotaract Club made face masks and remotely tutored struggling high school students during the worst of the Pandemic.  While the Interact students packed toys for the Rescue Mission toy drive and wrote letters to be sent to support our troops. The MDC Rotaract Club, Wolfson Campus, was also very active during the Pandemic.

In October, a virtual conference, Leading Change in a COVID World, was conducted.  The originator of the idea was Randy Lichtman and Norby Rudel was a major academic contributor to the effort.  Randy Lichtman was also the MDC Rotaract advisor.  Randy received a Certificate of Appreciation. 

 

TBM Scholarships:  Diane Landsberg told us that this year’s scholarships total about $300,000.  This will be allocated to seventy-one scholars, who were interviewed by Diane and Phil Seipp. Since inception over $7,000,000 in scholarship have been awarded.

 

TBM Alumni News:  The latest TBM newsletter was recently issued and already some alumni have recently contributed to the TBM Fund.  Marcia Brod is the leader of the writer and editor of this newsletter.  She was issued a Certificate of Appreciation.

 

EREY: Robin Shelley let us know that our Club reached 100% compliant with the EREY goals.  Part of this goal was achieved through the Golf Ball Drop at the Biltmore Hotel, where Lenny Brod won a watch.  Robin and Susie Shelley were awarded a Lead by Example certificate to honor of their continuous counsel and generosity.

 

New Educational Award: David McManus’ dear friend, who passed away in January 2020, left a legacy in the Club’s Foundation, the Richard Pagliarulo Educational Award, in Honor of Leo Carreָño.

 

Dictionaries for Schools: Diane Stieber told us about our dictionary delivery program to third graders and this year we also had bilingual booklets for younger children. Diane and Cory Gittner delivered dictionaries to the Santa Clara Elementary School. The third graders were happy to receive these books. Stephanie & Robert Bull went to the Somerset Academy Palms school and the young students were thrilled with the bilingual booklets. Receiving these supplies is so important, that we received a nice thank you note from the G.W. Carver Elementary School.

 

Other Associations: Our Club established ESMAG this year, the Environmental Sustainability Miami Action Group. ESMAG was created based on the foundations of ESRAG, which is a Rotary Action Group.  Our Club also established an association with ENDPLASTICSOUP and over the past decades we have been a supported of the Miami Lighthouse for the Blind.

 

 

Membership: David Anderson, the Club’s Membership Chair has had a fantastic year.  We have twenty-seven (27) new Members and have six (6) more waiting to join our Club.  Also seven (7) of our Members received Paul Harris awards. David also established the Rotary Club of Miami Evening Satellite Club that meets twice a month. Dave also created the Alpha Generator Investment Club, LLC.  While not part of our Club, most of the investors in the Alpha Generator Investment Club are members of the Miami Rotary.  He also is working on a Honeybee project that will be implemented once the Pandemic social distancing regulations are further eased. He recognition for his tireless support to the Club and now as Membership Chair growing Membership by fifty percent, establishing a Satellite club, creating an Investment Club and developing the Honeybee project, Dave Anderson was recognized as the Distinguished Rotarian for the fiscal year 2020-2021.  Congratulations, David!

 

We have had many challenges and successes this year.  Next week, our 105^th President will be installed on Friday, June 25^th. We all must provide Noreen Timoney our support as we continue to build the Rotary Club of Miami to further heights.

 

Four-Way Test: We showed a video delivery of the Four-Way Test that Saji George was kind enough to send to us.