April 4, 2008 Meeting

Pledge, Song & Invocation

The filled-to-capacity room quieted down as our President Helene Michel led the Pledge of Allegiance. In honor of Bill Buck, and the Beverly School of Kenya, Maestress Marie Stultz led us in Kumbayah. The aforementioned Mr. Buck gave a short but eloquent invocation in thanks for April showers bringing the anticipated May flowers and our future good works.

Guests & Visitors

Rotarian Dick Harrington from the Lawrence club was with us once again. Bill Buck brought his Merrimack College mentee, Joseph Bonanno (which thrilled Jim Greeley no-end). Prospective member Kerry Ellen Enright was with us again, as were the usual contingent of Spencers, Felipe Silva, and the pajama-clad Buck girls. Guest speaker Steve Stapinski rounded out the list of welcomed outsiders.

Special Recognitions

President Helene read a heart-felt thank you note from Donna-Lee Rubin, who recently received a Distinguished Humanitarian Service Award from Rotary in Califorina. D-L thanked our club for the surprise gift of long-stem roses and for our continued support of her Rotary mission.

Bill Buck then told of the excitement he feels at having been able to gain the support of a shepherding organization in the guise of a local Kenyan Rotary Club for the Beverly School of Kenya. Both of these recognitions prove how far Andover's influence travels in the outside world. Congratulations to Donna-Lee and Bill!

On another note, Bill also reminded us that he needs a few volunteers for next Sunday, April 13, 12-4, to assist in a packing party for books and items being sent to the Beverly School. Contact Bill if you can lend a hand.

Rotary Minute

The ever-creative Bob Troiano spoke today about next year's Rotary theme of "Make Dreams Real" as it applied to Robert Frost in his "Road Less Traveled" and in Yogi Berra's interpretation of it as "When you come to a fork in the road...take it!" Which all boils down to something like, Make your dreams make a difference!

Slate of Officers for 2008-2009

President-Elect David Lindsay was pleased to present the following slate of officers for the upcoming year:

President-Elect: Peter Cotch; Membership: Richard Brenner; Treasurer: Paul Mercandetti; Secretary: (no surprise) Paul Brown; Foundation: Brian Dauphin; Communications & Webmaster: Bob Troiano; Community Service: Bill Buck. There is still an opening for Public Relations Chair. Contact David if you can step up to the plate.

Raffle

With the pot at $309 and half up for locating the joker, Cole Spencer pulled the 8 of spades. Steve Druth stepped up and turned up the winning card, thereby profiting $155 and making a little boy very sad, until, in the spirit of sharing, he opened his wallet and peeled off a ten-spot and handed it Cole.

Sergeant-at-Arms

This month's bag-filler is David Lindsay, who began by hitting up all the happy people who avoided the flu this year. Fortunately for health and wealth that turned out to be most of the crowd. He then asked for stories by those who have had their Rotary pin noticed and remarked upon by others. Dave Sollars was confused with a Teamster by an obviously oblivious pin-spotter. Peter Caruso probably won a case by having his noticed in court; Alan Michel met a New Orleans Katrina volunteer who was a fellow Rotarian.

Those who won't have the opportunity today to be recognized by their pin were Brian Dauphin, Steve Druth, Deborah Degalla, Deedee O'Brien, and Richard Brenner. Jim Greeley was $20 worth of happy for the soup kitchen volunteers, for today's speaker (MC class of 1974) and Bill Buck's guest (MC class of 2011), as well as Justin Littlefield's yet-to-arrive twins, whom he designated MC class of 2030.

Deborah was happy that her daughter has narrowed down her college choices to two; Paul Brown recalled the time when Merrimack College was held in a quonset hut (which proves once again that he's older than Methuselah!); Dave Sollars praised Justin for his "Womb-erack College" students; Kathleen Buck was happy for Pajama Day at school today; Helen Nicolopoulos will be walking to bring in her bank's pledge of $1,000 to the March of Babies (renamed from 'March of Dimes') on April 26.

Bill Buck was happy about the Rotary shepherding organization in Kenya which will be helping with the Beverly School and also for having his mentee present today; Donna-Lee was grateful for her Humanitarian Award and to Mark for her photo, an extra copy of which pleased her parents on their 64th year of marriage.

Marie congratulated Bill and talked about the seeds we sow; Peter Cotch thought Joan's outfit made her look like a spring tulip; Mark tossed in a couple in honor of Donna-Lee and Bill's awards, and for Dave Sollars relieving the pain in Felipe's shoulder. He also spent a bit of time this week atop a bucket truck while photographing Main Street. His precaution for anyone following suit is "bring clean underwear!" With that the happy bucks came to a resounding close.

Guest Speaker

Peter Caruso, this month's program chair, introduced our guest speaker, Steve Stapinski, known to many in town as a civil engineer and real estate developer and illustrious Merrimack College graduate. But Steve answers to a number of other titles, among them Thespian.

Steve is a member of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and chose acting as a hobby to allow him to do something totally different from his everyday life. It is a calling that is totally non-tech yet in some ways closely related to his day job. He used the analogies of: idea - scriptwriter; general contractor - director; developer - producer; cameraman - foundation layer; interior decorator - finish carpenter; marketing - real estate broker. He said that the camera sees 1,000 times more than the eye, it sees what's inside the actor, which makes the job very difficult.

One of his first roles was as an extra in the film "The Crucible" by Arthur Miller. He almost didn't get the job due to his size being larger than any of the costumes available in wardrobe. Apparently they wanted him badly enough to send to England and have a special costume made for him. He then learned that his one-day assignment was going to develop into 30-40 days due to the fact that he was appearing in the courtroom scene and had to be visible throughout the shoot.

He told about auditioning for a part in the film "In Dreams," starring Annette Bening, in which he didn't get the job despite an excellent audition, because he hadn't been to acting school. He then began five years of night and weekend coaching by Peter Kelley in Boston. It must have been worthwhile, because he is now appearing as a security guard in the film "The Lonely Maiden" with Christopher Walken, due out in October.

In addition to acting, Steve has also produced the films "Six Ways to Sunday" and "Sporting Dog," the latter of which was nominated for an Academy Award.

Should any of our number choose to follow in his footsteps, Steve cautioned that it isn't all fun and games - there's a lot of time standing around waiting for your turn, but apparently it's fulfilling enough to keep Steve enthusiastically returning for more.