Rotary Log August 23, 2018
Our effervescent Greeter was Marie Brownell, who is terrific in that role! President Cleo, a natural at the mike, opened the meeting with the Pledge. Al Lantinen led the song, followed by Marie with the Four-Way Test. Cleo asked for a moment of silence in honor of the passing of Dave Underhill’s brother, and Dan Hoefle’s mother. This was followed by a fitting invocation from John Rice (and on his birthday) on the theme: Life is short; be kind to one another.
Announcements
Sara Treacy let us know that she needs two more volunteers at the Salvation Army Soup Kitchen on September 18. Sara has, with humility, done a terrific job for many years leading our Club’s support of the kitchen. Thank you, Sara- and all of the loyal volunteers.
Past-President Ben presented Cleo with the original charter of our club. He only just recently noticed it was hanging on his office wall. The Portsmouth Rotary Club was chartered on March 28, 1923.
Joanie Dickinson, the imitable Interact Club Advisor, is still thanking people for taking their tops off, despite the recent cool early morning air. In truth, the tops are the little tabs on aluminum cans. Interactors convert these into hard cold cash to support their charitable activities.
Cleo asked for volunteers to go through and organize our venerable Club’s historical documents and artifacts. Our 100th anniversary is only a few blinks away.
Finally, there was a reminder that on September 6th, weather permitting, the meeting will be an outside BBQ with Club photo-shoot.
Happy Dollars
A few dollars were donated by happy members. Among them: Dave Holden was effusive about the return of cookies for dessert. He should have coughed up a Happy Fiver. And Judy Ringer celebrated her mother’s 92nd birthday!
New Member
It is always a joy to welcome a new member to our Christmas Tree Sales Team…er’ our club. Today Rich Ryzman welcomed Jessica Hamilton. Jess spoke with pride of her work at Southeastern New Hampshire Services. Her agency helps individuals struggling with alcohol or drug abuse on their road to recovery. Jess looks forward to getting to know more club members, and contributing to the community.
The 50/50 raffle
Angela Ferris collected $43, but alas, not the match.
Guest Speakers Emily Ramble and Nicole Jones
“RYLA stands for Rotary Youth Leadership Awards. The program is dedicated to developing the next generation of talented leaders. Rotary District 7780's RYLA serves rising juniors from Seacoast New Hampshire and southern Maine.” (ryla7780.org)
Our speakers were introduced by Past-President Ben, who shares the speakers’ unabashed passion for RYLA. Many in the audience recalled when our club sponsored a young Ben for the District 7780 RYLA camp program. Ben remained active with RYLA from 1996 to 2010, an experience that he recalls as positively life-formative. We know where that helped lead him! But enough about Ben...
Emily Rumble and Nicole Jones are RYLA graduates from nine and 10 years ago respectively. As RYLA staff members, their involvement and obvious enthusiasm continues to this day.
Quickly alternating one to the other, Emily and Nicole captured the essence of RYLA and source of their passion. RYLA, according to them, is a leadership and growth experience for any student finishing their sophomore year “who has an open mind.” The program is located at the Hinds Boy Scout facility in Raymond, Maine. It’s a three night/four-day opportunity for individuals to “figure out leadership through a group process.” This summer our club is sponsoring nine young people.
Students are guided through a variety of activities. These include a Low- and High-ropes course and Crash, a simulated plane crash and problem-solving exercise. They have fun, push themselves and each other, and practice teamwork. A period of reflection after each activity helps to develop critical thinking.
In addition to fun, problem-solving and critical thinking, RYLA emphasizes Ethics, Community Building, and Public Speaking. All characteristics of good leaders.
Our vibrant speakers (and their introducer) are proof-positive that the program is a raging success!
Respectfully submitted, Neal Ouellett
Photos by Sarah Treacy
