April 1, 2008

This week's club meeting will be devoted to organizing for the Auction. It is now just 8 weeks away. It is our largest fundraiser. Frank Novak and Darlene Beal will provide us with a list of working teams and their membership. If club members want to work on a different team, just let Frank know.

The keys to a successful auction are many, but most important are good items for both nights and ticket sales to the live silent event. We will all really need to pitch in to make this a success. John and Pam need donated items and the accompanying completed donation sheets ASAP in order to organize them for the two nights of action and to produce a nicely laid out and error-free auction catalog.  Please don't wait until the last minute!

Can anyone represent the club at the Northern Essex Community College Donor Recogniotion Luncheon? It's one of our regular charities. The luncheon is Wednesday, April 16th from Noon - 1:30 pm at the Technology Center on NECC's Haverhill Campus. We need to RSVP by this Friday. Please let Vin Bonanno or John Cuneo know if you can go and represent the club.

Recently we heard briefly from Lucas, our high school exchange student from Italy, about how he's doing here in Haverhill and at Haverhill High School. We'll soon hear from him again: we'll see pictures as he tells us about his life and home in Italy. This week, before we break up into auction teams, we'll introduce Haverhill's member of the District's Group Study Exchange Team that goes off to Brazil next month. Her name is Joanna Rheaume-Clement and she is an early childhood teacher in Community Action, Inc.'s Head Start program at the Fox Education Center. See more about both the outgoing and the incoming GSE teams at the bottom of the Rotary District 7930 home web page.

This is our most important fund raiser of the year and everyone's support is needed. We are requesting that you deliver auction items by May 2nd. Download a PDF copy of the auction form or you may pick one up at Thursday's meeting.

On Tuesday afternoon March 18th, four members of The HHS Interact Club challenged the Excel Club to a race at Checkered Flag Indoor Karting in Ward Hill. Participating in the race for the Interact Club were from left to right Michelle Abate, Nick Martinez, Anne Schramm, Mike Ferragamo, Tatianna Wablek, and club adviser Phil Brown.  Mike Ferragamo won the race by less than a third of a second over an Excel Club member. All of the students had a great time and hope to challenge another club next year.

There is an "Interact Rally" scheduled for Sunday, April 6th at the Woburn Boys and Girls Club from 3-9 pm. If you are intrigued by the high school level of Rotary, this will be a great way to learn about it and watch and listen to youth and adults from all over District 7930 who are involved in or thinking about getting involved in Interact, Rotary Youth Exchange and Leadership Awards, Group Study Exchange, Rotaract (college-level Interact), Ambassadorial Scholarships and other youth and young adult oriented Rotary programming. This event is free and includes a pizza party and use of the indoor swimming pool at the Boys and Girls Club. For more info you may download their flyer.

Jim is the owner of Clean Machine Car Wash located next to Evenfall. Remember to welcome Jim into our club and sign his book.

Ira & John represented our club at last week's district conference as "The Smith Brothers". To their right are William "Trade" Smith, and Andrew "Mark" Smith.

Keep up with what's happening in Rotary District 7930.
You may download a copy of the February/March Newsletter or visit the web site:http://www.rotary7930.org

Rotary Club of Haverhill is part of Rotary International, a worldwide association of Rotary clubs, whose mission is to provide service to others, to promote high ethical standards, and to advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace through its fellowship of business, professional, and community leaders. Each year, the Rotary Club of Haverhill raises and distributes more than $50,000.00 annually to local community charities that work to make our community a better place in which to live. Rotary Club of Haverhill places a high emphasis on serving the needs in the community of Haverhill. The application deadline is June 1st of each year. If you know somebody who would like to apply for a grant download the form and return it to one of the club's officers.

As Rotarians we try to make every event we support the best it can be. Planning is an important part of having a successful evening serving community meals. We need people to bring desserts, help serve and help clean up. Please contact Bernie Clohisy and let him know if you plan to help. Thank you

Coleen Sullivan spoke to us last week about how the Haverhill Sports Foundation is trying to eliminate user fees for all Haverhill athletes. Learn more about the Haverhill Sports Foundation from their web site.

April 10 - Charlene Bauer and Juan Gallegos, Chelsea Rotary's Columbian Medical Facility
April 24 - Jim Edholm, Every Rotarian Every Year District 7930
May 1 - Bob Carr, Manager of Government Affairs for Comcast's North Region
May 8 - Masaru Komura, Ambassadorial Scholar from Japan, studying at the JFK School of Govt., Harvard University Project.
We are looking for a club member willing to pick Masaru up in Cambridge the morning of May 8th and a club member to return him after the meeting.
May 15 - Brendan Neagle and Andrew Reed, Borrego Solar Systems, Inc.
June 5 - Reverend Paul H. Dionne, Atkinson Congregational Church
June 12 - Colonel Jackson "Randy" Dobbins, USAF Commander of the 66th Medical Group
June 19 - Stanley Usovicz, Verizon Regional Director of External Relations
See John Cuneo if you have an interesting speaker for our meetings.