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April 7, 2009  Rick Labell is an expert at overcoming adversity. An at-risk kid himself, he was the product of a violent alcoholic family, a survivor of child sexual assault and a high school drop-out. With no parental guidance, education or positive role models in his life, the odds for success were stacked against himhe went on to beat those odds. Despite his shattered childhood, Rick persevered and enjoyed a brilliant 25-year career in law enforcement. He has taken his unique perspective of never becoming involved with drugs or alcohol and combined that view with his personal and professional experiences to demonstrate to teenagers, that despite your circumstances anything in life is possible if you are willing to take responsibility, make the right choices and never give up. Rick will be our guest speaker this Thursday.  Last week I reported that at this week's meeting I would auction off a New Hampshire Fisher Cats Luxury Box Suite for the Wed. April 15th game. This great donation came to Haverhill Rotary from the Fisher Cats when their representatives presented to us in early February. Have a great family, company, employee, or friends night and help Haverhill Rotary at the same time! It's great to be back in Haverhill! It was a long trip to South Africa. We, my four team members and I, had a great time and shared great experiences. We were well-cared for by many, many Rotarians. JUST Kris, a cinematographer on our team, alone took over 3000 pictures. The team members are all sorting through their pictures and we hope to come "on the road" to Haverhill and many other Rotary venues over the next few months to show a select portion of the pictures and tell about our experiences. In less than two weeks, our counterpart team of four South Africans and their team leader arrive on Patriot's Day in Boston. Brezi, Nthabi, Lucky, Shereen and team leader Ian are wonderful people. As a thank you to District 9300 Johannesburg area, President-elect Ira, with my full agreement accepted an invitation to host the South African team on Monday, May 11th. What does this mean? It means showing the team some aspect of New England or even just America for a day. It can, but does not necessarily, mean showing them some sites in Haverhill. If visiting the Lowell Textile Museum would be great and somebody has an "in" there, please tell let me or Ira know ASAP. Going to a Red Sox/Bruins/Celtics game (anybody have tickets?) is a great part of experiencing the culture of New England and of America! It can mean sharing great American food and good conversation over lunch. It can mean helping fulfill their desire and a Rotary requirement to spend some time visiting vocational sites that relate to what they do in their work. We found in our visit to South Africa that sometimes this requirement is seen too narrowly. While it's helpful for a data manager to interview and tour a data management site, it can get rather redundant after awhile. Not exactly "you've seen one server and you've seen 'em all," but something like that. Similarly, Sindia, our team's AIDS/HIV worker, toured lots of hospicesmaybe too many. She really enjoyed the one TB training she sat in on. She would have loved to join me in some meetings with government officials about social policy. The vocational interests of this team of South Africans include: journalism and publishing; music, acoustics and sound recording; chemical engineering and project management, including relevant higher education; entrepreneurial enterprises, specifically think of higher education, retail spaces (seeing how they are designed and laid out in America), environmental recycling businesses and household management (e.g., Clean Harbors and their CleanPack laboratory chemical packing services --- here's a link to the duck race, since Clean Harbors, based in Boston, provides containment booms for a price to several duck races across the USA. They used to do it for free until they started doing as many as they do. Anybody have an "in" to EnPro in Newburyport that also does similar work? Maybe they'll show Shereen their business and we can see whether they can help our duck race and get some great advertising and public support alongthe way!). So if you have some interest in sharing New England / America / Haverhill with five people from some 10,000 miles away. Or if you are just willing to help transport them on Monday May 11th, please talk with Ira or I ASAP! Finally, Rebuilding Together Greater Haverhill is participating in National Rebuilding Day on Saturday, April 25th. Over 400 local volunteers provide home repair, accessibility, modification, and energy conservation services for low-income greater Haverhill homeowners. Volunteer skill levels range from trades people to weekend warriors. Right now, Rebuilding Together Greater Haverhill, knows of 14 homes that have leaking roofs and are in need of either a completely new roof or extensive gutter repairs caused by water damage. There are 16 other homes in the area awaiting other much needed home repairs or access modifications. Our volunteers committees are in the process of assessing the priorities, including 8 grab bar/handrail projects, and 3 wheelchair ramps. They would like to include as many projects as possible. Interested in being part of a Haverhill Rotary team? Let me know this week! See you Thursday! John Luxury Suite Auction Tomorrow Be prepared to bid on a luxury suite to see the NH Fisher Cats vs. the CT Defenders (NY Giants AAA Team) on Wednesday April 15th at 6:35 PM at Merchantsauto.com Stadium, 1 Line Drive, Manchester, NH. The game can be seen in style and comfort from inside the furnished, climate-controlled suite, or outside on a private balcony with premier stadium seating. Each suite comes with 18 tickets and the ability to purchase up to eight additional tickets. Other benefits include: District News Check out the March district newsletter. Two important District events are coming up: The Rotary District Conference is all day Friday and Saturday night, May 1st and 2nd. For a link to the program, click here. Please think about attending some or all of the conference! There is a nice mix of food, fun, fellowship and Rotary in historic Salem, Mass., including mystery dinner at any of eight excellent restaurants. Tell Bill Klueber or John Cuneo if interested in going with fellow Haverhill Rotarians to either of these events.  When I was an installer at the telephone company I went to the Pentucket Bank then known as The Pentucket Savings Bank. Their only office at this time was at Washington Street in Haverhill, Massachusetts. I was doing a job at the desk of one of the bank officers.
His desk was beside one of the outside walls on the main bank floor.
I happened to look at the little ledge on this wall and saw a small business type card. It said: Who says that bankers don't have a sense of humor?  Proposed for Membership Welcome Our Newest Members April 9 - Detective Rick Labell, Labell Presentations Attendance An attendance record of 50 percent is required to remain an active Rotarian. Any missed meeting must be made up within 14 days before or after the regular meeting. To accommodate busy schedules, there are various opportunities to make up missed meetings:
Monday 12:15PM Danversport Yacht Club |
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