November 21, 2008 Meeting

Pledge Song Invocation

President Dave Lindsay led us in the Pledge of Allegiance, followed by Maestro Marie Stulz who in the spirit of Thanksgiving, conducted us in “Come Ye Faithful Come” which proved that our club can do the standards “God bless America” when the saints go marching in, etc. as well as anyone but when it comes to trickier/difficult songs we have a long way to go. However, Len Wilson’s invocation was splendid in both words and delivery. Can’t you envision Len being a televangelist, if he gives up his banking gig??

Guests

Guest speaker Jean Martino from the American Cancer Society, the man, the myth, the legend Richard Hart Harrington from the Lawrence Club; the “Fab Four” of Rotary children Kathleen and Caroline Buck, Cole and Jason Spencer and David Bryan, a guest of Len Wilson.

Announcements

Now pay close attention:

• Caroling at the Wingate Nursing Home will be December 15th beginning at 6 P.M.
• Holiday party at Marie’s Dec. 17th, 6pm.

Or we could just have a 4 day holiday party at Wingate! This will all be finalized at the December 5th Rotary meeting.

• Turkey Fundraiser- The good news we have raised $1100 to purchase 216 turkeys. The less than great news we need $800 more but Andover Rotarians always respond to those in need
  1. Packing party at Marland Place 10AM Saturday Nov. 22nd
  2. Turkey pick-up DeMoulas 8:30 AM Tuesday Nov. 25th
  3. Deliveries to SPCC, Bread and Roses, and Andover Housing Authority 11/25-in the A.M.
  4. Special thanks to all the volunteers who signed up for one or all of the above
• Christmas presents for the poorest of the poor children- Paula Evans has 65 kids who will not get any gifts without us. She will e-mail the wish list to all Rotarians who signed up.
• Dave Lindsay asked us all to review a potential fund raising appeal letter (link available on Rotary website) and give him feedback.
• After our phenomenal Salvation Army bell ringing publicity and record donations in December 2007, for some reason we have not been contacted this year I blame the “noise felon” Mark Spencer and overbearing “media hound” Peter Cotch for us getting cut from the bell ringing bucket squad.

Raffle

John Colbert won the $10 over Rick Stern (it seems like these 2 are always picking) but the joker lives another week and the pot grows.

Guest Speaker - Jean Martino

Jean spoke on the success of the fund raising initiative of the American Cancer Society to build Hope Lodge in Boston for families of cancer patients. Jean who, despite her modesty in public speaking skills) delivered a superb, lively, and informational presentation. The highlights included:

1. There are 32 winners of the Nobel Prize for Medicine who have added extensive time and commitment to the research efforts on behalf of the American Cancer Society.
2. The fund raising initiatives have a multi-pronged approach:
   1. Research grants
   2. Planned giving
   3. Estate Planning
3. Facts:
   1. 60% of cancer deaths preventable, with education programs
   2. Access to care remains a challenging issue
4. Also spoke about the following programs:
   1. Volunteer drivers to take individuals for cancer treatment
   2. Look good, feel better cosmetology program
   3. To find additional information and/or to volunteer call, 1-800-ACS-2345
5. Hope Lodge:
   1. 40 suites-which include quality of life centers which provide a healing community for patients families and caregivers
   2. Cost of construction $27million and the fundraising even in these trying times is going well.
   A superb presentation!

Fines and Happy Dollars

Paula Evans (a.k.a. Mrs. Santa Claus) was the Sgt-At-Arms and this warm and gracious gal is too kind to fine people with the exception of Mark Spencer because he always deserves a fine of some sort.

Happy dollars from Helene Michel in honor of hubby Alan’s outstanding work in teaching city youth audio visual production skills. There was a program on Nov. 20th developed and produced by these children that was a huge success. Tim Sutton for a survey on town services (Memorial hall Library did very well) that was conducted by a Merrimack professor and Merrimack students. Many Happy Dollars for our speaker and in recognition of our clubs generosity (another $470.00 was raised today so now we only need $330.00 for the “Turkey Bailout” program. Special thanks to the following for their efforts in the organization and delivery of the Thanksgiving meals.

Bill Buck
Caroline Buck
Kathleen Buck
Dave Lindsay
Jim Sutton
Vicki Sutton
Joan Johnson
Len Wilson
Jamie Lyman
Rick Downey
Alan Michel