INSPIRATION
Rob Black presented a video of his friend and former co-worker Akwasi Okyere reading an inspiration in his native language in Ghana. Here it is in English:
Heavenly Father, we give you endless praise. We glorify your holy name. May your name be blessed. May your name be adored. Kind and imparted God, you are the god who rained food on your children
when they were in the desert. Father, you have done it again. You have set a table before us. We pray O Lord that come and sanctify this table and all the food you have put on it. We pray lord that you come and dine with us. And we also pray Lord that anything we get out of this may be used for your service and your honor. We ask for all of this in the mighty name of Jesus our Lord and King. Amen.
ANNOUNCEMENTS, ETC.
Randy Dittmar sends word that he’s doing “incredibly well” – his doctors say he’s 90% cured and he expects to be back with us in May.
To mark International Women's Day, Pres. Holly showed a video documenting how women came into Rotary and some of their many accomplishments.
Mary Brewster reported that a meeting is being scheduled to get the Pen Pal program up and running.
Anthony Hollingshead introduced prospective member Kim Martell, director of communications at San Miguel School.
HAPPY BUCKS
- Pete Brock was happy the snow had melted.
- Richard Applebaum was hoping for no more snow in Rochester.
- Bill Applegate enjoyed visiting family in London and a side trip to see a friend in Denmark.
- Don Saracen was proud that son Scott and daughter-in-law Maria have been nominated for Telly and Emmy awards for their documentary on the Gorham Company.
- Wendy Marcus was happy to support a Zoom concert by Caroline Cotter (Walter’s daughter) to benefit Ukraine.
- Margaret Kane was happy that Pete was handling Happy Bucks, that Rotary’s admission of women proved the organization was “educable”, and to support Ukraine.
- Jim Gilcreast had a buck for being happy and another to warn us that he’ll be telling Irish jokes for St Patrick’s Day at the next meeting.
- Barry Fain was happy to be back in person, to have worked with the RI Foundation on the proposed hospital merger, and to be leaving soon for ten days with family in California.
- Steve Hug was happy to have attended the President Elect Training Seminar; he feels better prepared to assume the presidency in July.
- Richard Applebaum was happy to have installed Zoom on his computer.
- Art Norwalk was happy to remember Elaine Carroll, his sponsor and the club’s first woman president.
Speaker
The Rhode Island Foundation:
Pro-Actively meeting the needs of the people of Rhode Island
Guest speaker Bruce Keeler, senior philanthropy advisor at the Rhode Island Foundation, began by noting with gratitude the many years of charitable and volunteer support the foundation has received from Pres. Holly’s family.
He said the tasks of the foundation are informally described as “Three Gs: Get, Grow, Give”:
- Get money through fundraising
- Grow money through prudent diversified investing
- Give money to support critical needs
Assets of the foundation currently total $1.4 billion, comprised of 2,000 individual funds and the endowments of 300 local non-profit organizations. It distributed $76 million to ~2300 nonprofits in the most recent year, including more than $8 million to help hundreds of nonprofits continue their work through the COVID-19 pandemic.
In addition to financial support, the foundation provides research and convenes community leaders to recommend solutions to key public issues. The foundation is particularly proud of its work to maximize the number of Rhode Islanders filling out census forms in 2020; they believe they can take some of the credit for preventing the loss of one of our Congressional seats.
We were pleased to have Kim Martel -