President Robert Bull welcomed everyone to our March 11^th meeting.  This was our 37^th meeting of this fiscal year.

 

Shirley Pardon gave the invocation and Robin Shelley led us in the Pledge of Allegiance.

 

March is also Rotary Water & Sanitation Month.  As you know, this is one of Rotary’s Key areas of Focus.  Given that Water & Sanitation are a key focus of Rotary, I want to encourage you to join WASHRAG.  Washrag is a Rotarian Action Group.  Action Group are not part of Rotary, but follow Rotary guidelines and support their specific goals.  In the case of wasrag, it supports Water & Sanitation.  Several members of our Club of Members of wasrag.  Robin Shelley and I are members.  Please visit. www.wasrag.org or https://wash-rag.org and sign up.

 

March 11^th is Johnny Appleseed Day. Apples are not native to North America, they are a European fruit.  Many do not know, but Johnny was a real person, he was born John Chapman on Sept. 26, 1774 in Massachusetts, His father, Nathaniel served as a Minuteman and fought at Bunker Hill.  He started propagating apple seeds in 1797 and steadily planted apple tree in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and into the frontier of West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa and even  Michigan and Wisconsin.  He was often shoeless and traveled mostly by foot.  So if you think about that saying: “As American as apple pie”.  Thank Johnny Appleseed. 

 

Birthdays/Announcements: Agathe Padovani, one of our newer Members is celebrating her birthday on March 15^th.  Maria Van Orsdel, wife of Don Van Orsdel, is having her birthday on March 16^th. Jimmy Smiley’s first year Rotary Anniversary is tomorrow, while Renel Noel’s eighth Rotary anniversary is on March 14^th.  Congratulations to all.

 

Tree Planing at Crandon Park: This Saturday, March 13 at Crandon Park is our tree planting.  Everyone is welcome.  This is a family project, so bring your children/grandchildren and friends.  We are going to plant two hundred (200) green buttonwood trees.  A map, directions and instructions were distributed via email.

 

Matzvah Mitvah: Registration is open for this event.  We will be distributing Passover foods to homebound elderly senior citizens and holocaust survivors.  It is on March 21^st and an email blast went out earlier in the week.  Just click on the link and sign up.  Details will be forthcoming.

 

Virtual Walk-A-Thon: Amelia Bonilla updated us on this event. FIU’s Medical Students are conducting a fundraiser with the goal of helping underserved in their HELP project with transportation insecurity.  Bus passes provide a means to going to receive medical care and getting groceries from the Supermarket.  Please support their initiative. 

 

Other Community Service Projects: Noreen Timoney updated us on other Service projects and explained the details for this program. 

 

End Polio Now: RI President, Holgar Knaack, made a presentation earlier this fiscal year on the global polio situation.  He said that it is more important than ever to support Polio Plus, Rotary’s polio eradication program.  There lessons from the program that can be shared to fight the COVID pandemic.

Keynote Speaker:  Diane Landsberg then introduced our keynote speaker, Mr. Mike K. McGovern.   Mr. McGovern is Rotary International’s Chair for the Polio Plus Worldwide program. He updated us on THE LAST MILE IN THE WAR AGAINST POLIO. 

Immediately after his presentation, we had a virtual banner exchange with Mr. McGovern’s Rotary Club of South Portland, Cape Elizabeth.  This was followed with Mr. McGovern receiving a Certificate of Appreciation.

 

Happy Dollars were dedicated to purchasing feminine hygiene products for women at risk in shelters.  Donors were: 

 

St. Patrick’s Day Happy Hour:  Next week, we will not have a midday ZOOM meeting on Thursday; instead, we will have a St. Patrick’s Day Happy Hour on WEDNESDAY, MARCH 17 from 5:30 to 6:30 PM.

 

Daylight Savings Time: This Sunday night before going to sleep please, remember to advance your clocks forward by one hour. At 2:00 AM it will magically become 3:00 AM, so you will be waking up an hour earlier and going to work an hour earlier. 

 

Four-Way Test: Angela Deggs ended the meeting by leading us in the Four-Way Test.