Inspiration
March 22nd is World Water Day and Jan Feyler explained that WASH to the Rotary signifies Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene. Since 2013 The Rotary International Foundation has invested $130 million in over 2000 water related projects in communities, schools, and healthcare facilities, all while protecting and conserving water resources. She suggested that the next time you drink a glass of water, we think about how lucky we are!
Announcements
Club Assembly will be held next week where we will be voting on the proposed by-law changes; Jim Gilcreast explained the procedure. A quorum must be present, 22 members will need to be present to vote on changes. Two-thirds of that group must approve the motion to accept the changes. Please plan to be in attendance. Proposed changes have been sent to all members for review via email and was attached to last week's newsletter.
Our April 11th meeting will be held at India Restaurant at 5:30pm. Cost is $15. This meeting is in lieu of the regular 12pm meeting held at the Marriott.
Attending on zoom
Mary Brewster, PJ Fox, Richard Applebaum, Raymond Hull, Ben Hadsell
Visitors
Walter Cotter introduced his daughter Caroline Cotter, who is here on the east coast for a music tour. She is a singer/songwriter.
Sunshine
Get well wishes go to Margaret Kane, Herb Altman, and Reverend Barlow.
Happy Bucks
- Pete Brock - he’s happy as it feels like Spring today!
- Emily Bernstein gave a happy buck in honor of the first day of Spring, the beginning of Ramadan and to celebrate the Iranian New Year
- Barry Fain gave 12 Happy Bucks, ten from him and 2 from Wendy Marcus. In honor of his birthday, his wife Elaine took him away for a surprise mini vacation. They visited Charleston, SC and spent some time with Rotarian Wendy Marcus and family. She sends greetings to us all.
- Jim Gilcreast was happy to share an Irish pub story.
- Kevin Oakes was happy spending time in Florida, going again in April, will zoom in from there.
- Don Saracen is happy for spring and for Betty Galligan and her butterflies.
- Betty Galligan gave a happy buck to thank Kris David for the invitation to come speak, and for all the familiar faces she saw in our audience.
- Art gave a conditional happy buck to Barry Fain to tell us what birthday he is celebrating.
- Richard was happy to welcome the Equinox, and to welcome Betty Galligan to our club.
- Steve Hug gave a happy buck to suggest that Barry Fain buy the Providence Journal.
Speaker
Operation Pollination
Elisabeth "Betty" Galligan is President of Newberry Public Relations and Marketing, Inc. Betty is Past President of the East Providence-Seekonk Rotary Club and currently serves the district as an Assistant Governor. She shared her club's project, "Operation Pollination" to increase the butterfly population and help the environment.
In honor of her late mother who loved butterflies, she decided to get involved in Operation Butterfly through the Rotary. Butterflies make a migration in the fall to Mexico and to Canada into the spring which takes them through New England. The monarch butterfly is in decline and many do not realize the importance of butterflies in the food chain. Thirty percent of the food in the grocery store would not be there without the pollination from butterflies.
Loss of habitat, use of pesticides and urban sprawl have contributed to the decline of the Monarch Butterfly. Butterflies need milkweed to help breed and wildflowers for nourishment. Crops and flowers depend on pollination to reproduce. This is a focus of the Rotary for the environment - to replenish what the butterflies need to survive.
Betty is a belly dancer as a hobby and she went to her group of belly dancers to see how they could help the Rotary promote this issue. They dressed up as butterflies and passed out information on the Rotary and on Operation Butterfly and gave away wildflower seeds at the East Providence/Riverside parade.
Volunteers are needed for the upcoming parade; butterfly costumes are available on Amazon. She suggested that our rotary club consider participating in Operation Butterfly and encouraged us to come up with other options for promoting planting to keep the Monarch butterfly a viable contributor to our food chain.
Book Club Meeting
March 20, 2023
Marion Avarista reported
Attended by Maury, Maxine, Avram, Matt, Walter, Barry, and Marion
Demon Copperhead
This book was loosely based on the David Copperfield novel.
The members of the club thought it was a very good read but slightly too long. There was an extremely long list of characters in the book that took the main character from a young boy to adulthood. He experienced a very difficult life including a drug addicted mother, abusive adults and poverty.
His ability as a high school football player provided a brief time of self worth but that ended when he injured his leg. The ending seem to allow Demon the opportunity to move forward.
