This week at Rotary, Natalie Blue gave her Classification Speech.  Natalie is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor, Expressive Arts Therapist and the Co-Founder and Chief Mission Officer of The Artful Life Counseling Center and Studio in Salem. The Artful Life is a mental health group practice and dynamic, welcoming studio for community workshops and creative exploration. She is an expressive arts therapist which allows patients to express themselves in non-verbal ways. Both founders of the Artful Life lack a business background, yet they have found a way to keep growing since opening their doors in 2012. They leaned on the Enterprise Center to help them run and grow business. They now have 30 therapists at the Artful Life. 

 

As a therapist, she is much more comfortable listening to others than speaking but was able to survive telling us about her life. Like Jennifer Lopez, Natalie will always be a Jersey Girl. She was born in the USA and raised in her hometown of Hoboken. She grew up in a neighborhood built on working class values, just like the streets of Philadelphia, which informs how she operates today as a business owner. Hoboken back then was tougher than the rest of New York suburbs. Not necessarily born to run, she eventually moved to the North Shore following her glory days in New Jersey and never looked back. She explored various ways to involve art in her career, settling on expressive art therapy and studying at Lesley University. She has worked mostly with children and adolescents. She is helping people heal from trauma and take control of their lives.  

 

She had been considering joining Rotary for years. Recent positive changes have allowed her the opportunity to join us at the Salem Rotary. 

 

Congratulations! Your club has earned the Rotary Citation, the most significant award a Rotary club can achieve, for 2023-24. This past year, your club demonstrated a commitment to achieve its goals, which ultimately helps strengthen Rotary and shape our future.

 

District Governor Tom is pleased to announce that we have secured the sponsorship for the next Rotaplast Mission to Cebu in the Philippines.  We will be departing on March 8, 2025, and returning on March 23, 2025. Rotaplast is a Rotary adjacent organization, started and supported by Rotarians worldwide.  Their mission is to alleviate the suffering of children with facial deformities in low-income countries through free corrective plastic surgeries (cleft lip and palate). This is a great opportunity for clubs to be part of an international service mission.  We hope that all clubs will contribute to raising our goal of $85K.  We also need volunteers to come with us.  Contact PDG Terry Curran at TerryCurran7930@gmail.com or call at 617-501-3521 if you are interested or have any questions.

 

The DCF Picnic is coming up soon. With construction ongoing at the Plummer Home, we are looking at hosting the event at the Salem Willows once again while also working with the Manchester Essex Rotary Club. Rumors are that there will be a petting zoo and bouncy there once again this year.

Dutch Drinks

September 6 at 5 pm

Location TBD

The Phoenix School's An Evening at the Gables

September 13

The House of the Seven Gables