Hi, Fellow Rotarians,
Our next meeting of the Jaffrey-Rindge Rotary Club will be held at Franklin Pierce University on Thursday, May 2nd, at 7:15am. Professor of Political Science Frank Cohen, PhD, will be our speaker this week, and he will focus on the war in Ukraine.
We would like to thank the one dozen Rotarians who participated in the Community Supper at the United Church of Jaffrey this past Thursday. After a lot of potato and carrot cleaning, and turkey cooking, we were ready for what ended up as a full house of attendees. It was great to have everyone so positive, and the work turned into a fun time for all.
Richard Feldman’s speech on gun safety two weeks ago was compelling. Richard has volunteered to help Rotary coordinate a gun safety program for our local schools. I will be sharing this at the next Board meeting.
This past weekend found Co-President Bill Coleman, Assistant Governor Bob Schaumann, and our international exchange student, Moritz, at the District 7870 PETS meeting in White River Junction, Vermont. On Saturday afternoon, Moritz and eight other exchange students shared their positive ongoing exchange experiences over the past eight months. They will remain in the United States for another two months and then return home, filled with memories. Rotary-sponsored students represented countries that included Japan, Romania, Croatia, Paraguay, Brazil, Germany, and Norway, among others. I was very impressed with the program sponsors, and the students gave me hope for the future.
John McCarthy just got back from his trip to the Dominican Republic with the Interactors, and he shared that it was a great trip. The eleven Conant Interact students represented us in a manner that should make us all feel proud. On May 9th, a group of these students and their chaperones will make a presentation to our club about their experiences while working on behalf of a school for Haitian immigrants.
For those that are participating in the Sneaker program, we will be meeting at the Rindge Memorial School on Wednesday, May 1st, at 9:00am. This will be my first time, and I am very excited to work with the kids. A half-dozen Rotarians volunteered to participate in this program that will provide free sneakers to student at both the Rindge and Jaffrey grade schools.
Looking towards the future, we will move our weekly meetings to the Cathedral of the Pines, effective May 16th, at which time Franklin Pierce University will have ended their on-campus school year. Our weekly bulletin will update Rotarians as we draw closer to each meeting date.
Gavel Night is scheduled for Thursday evening, June 27th, at the Cathedral of the Pines, so please mark your calendars for this enjoyable social!
Yours in Service,
Bill/John