The newly-elected officers for the EarlyAct Club at the Phoenix School visited the Salem Rotary. This club was the first organized EarlyAct in New England and only the 24th in the world. Traditionally there are only four officers, but there was an election tie and we had five speakers this week instead! The Salem Rotary gave each officer a Rotary pin and a coin with the Four Way Test.
The officers this year are President Alice Peterson, Vice President Arlo Kinsey, Treasurer Liam Yarrington, and Co-Clerks Aine McAllister and Fiona Kinsey. They shared their visions for the EarlyAct year. These included the preservation of local historic buildings, fundraising for endangered species, a clean-up of the North River, and repurposing unused green space for pollinators.
A huge congratulations goes out to Kristen Armstrong. Kristen received the Paul Harris Award in recognition of her financial efforts that resulted in the Salem Rotary being a 100% Club last Rotary Year, meaning that all Rotarians donated to Rotary International. Way to go, Kristen!
We did receive a thank you note from Doug Brendel from New Thing thanking the Salem Rotary for our generous donation. The International Committee recognized Randy Burba's upcoming October trip to Jamaica. A signup for donations was passed around. There was also an update from the Salem High School CTE Department. First, CTE Director Mario Souza thanked the Salem Rotary for the large donation which will go to necessary items not covered by recent grants. Speaking of recent grants, the program will also be getting an additional $1 million from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Bill Henning announced that we will be experimenting with Square as a way to collect financial donations. Starting next week Rotarians will have the option of buying raffle tickets using credit cards for an additional fee. This can be expended in the future for Happy Dollars.
There were 20 Rotarians in attendance this week along with our Mark Shaw, Gerrit Bradley, and Jenn Close who joined us on Zoom. Unfortunately Gerrit tested positive for Covid and will also be missing an upcoming concert. Resident technology guru Jason Consalvo assisted in getting the webcam and microphone set up for our Zoom friends. The Spoke editorial staff noticed the return of the soft bell ringing to start the meeting, which we do hope will not continue to be the case.
This week the Hawthorne Hotel served a delicious grilled chicken with mashed potatoes, a chef's salad, and green beans. The Bob Anthony Appetizer of the Week was chocolate torte with freshly whipped cream. The hotel also treated our EarlyAct guests to ice cream sundays. No word on if Mr. Anthony was given a second appetizer.
Last week was Dutch Drinks at American Flatbread on Derby Street. President Claire Kallelis explained that a lot of pizza was eaten!
The Spoke editors are concerned that the club Treasurer has difficulty understanding basic numbers as Bill Henning was completely unaware that he had a winning ticket.
ROTARIAN NEWS
Bruce Whear recognized Rinus for his passion for the Salem High School CTE program and the impact it has had on Salem’s youth.
Jason Consalvo has been missing recently because he mysteriously had "something else" to do. He did tell the story of a trip to the golf course with his son Harrison. Harrison is quite the golfer, which Jason sees with both pride and trepidation as he sees a future of fun combined with rage and sadness in his son's future. Perhaps this is just Jason projecting though as Harrison clearly has gotten his athletic prowess from Kerri.
Tim Clarke had a great time at Dutch Drinks. His wife, son, and future daughter-in-law all came. The highlight for Tim though was meeting young Dylan Guilmartin who clearly got has massive strength from his father. The two year old grabbed Tim so hard that Tim thought he might cry.
Club Announcements
Mini-Grant Applications are now open. The purpose of this mini-grant is to encourage the Rotary clubs of District 7930 to do a project in one or more of the areas of the Environment, Membership, Public Image, or Diversity/ Equity/ Inclusion. Projects that touch multiple areas are encouraged. The grant is intended to reinvigorate the clubs.
DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION STATEMENT
At Rotary, we understand that cultivating a diverse, equitable, and inclusive culture is essential to realizing our vision of a world where people unite and take action to create lasting change.
We value diversity and celebrate the contributions of people of all backgrounds, across age, ethnicity, race, color, disability, learning style, religion, faith, socioeconomic status, culture, marital status, languages spoken, sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity as well as differences in ideas, thoughts, values, and beliefs.
Recognizing that individuals from certain groups have historically experienced barriers to membership, participation, and leadership, we commit to advancing equity in all aspects of Rotary, including in our community partnerships, so that each person has the necessary access to resources, opportunities, networks, and support to thrive.
We believe that all people hold visible and invisible qualities that inherently make them unique, and we strive to create an inclusive culture where each person knows they are valued and belong.
In line with our value of integrity, we are committed to being honest and transparent about where we are in our DEI journey as an organization, and to continuing to learn and do better.
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