Image                                                                       NEEDHAM ROTARY NEWSLETTER  7-1-14

This weeks meeting of Rotary was opened by President Glen, who led us in the Pleadge
of Allegiance,Bob Cocks who led us in 'God Bless America' and Reverend Darrell who
delivered the Invocation.

VISITORS: We welcomed Ben Sockol, grandson of Lois and  Sockol. Bob Cocks let us in
a round of the welcome song!

HAPPY DOLLARS: Bill Paulson-Ellen off to camp; Chuck for Ben Sockol visiting; Lois for
Grandson Ben and Lois and Ron's 60th wedding anniversary regardless of what else
you've been told!); A number of Happy Dollars for our new members!Marty for new members
and requesting prayers for his brother who is undergoing cancer treatment;Tom Savino-
proud to be an American!

ANNOUNCEMENTS: -Annual Rotary Cookout on Tuesday July 8th at Claxton field at 6 pm Tuesday
(No meeting next Tuesday noon).
-The Garden at Memorial Park needs to be weeded by Thursday night. The 3 Sockols
and Rich Forte volunteered to do it, and as of Thursday Morning, it looks great! Well done:
thanks!

Image
-The 4th of July float appears to be rideless:: the truck has hydraulic issues. So, come prepared to walk!

INDUCTION OF 2 NEW MEMBERS: Libby Pero and Andy Wining were both dutifully inducted into
the club. With a little luck, you'll now see a picture of them. We will put their
Bio's at the bottom of this Newsletter for you to read. They are both great people, and we look forward to them being good solid members of the club. Welcome!!

 

 

50/50: Scotti had the correct number 297, but did not pull the winning card. $379 in the pot!

GUEST SPEAKER: Our guest speaker today was Chris Hartzell, General Manager of the Sheraton
Hotel where we meet. Chris graduated from Johnson & Wales University in Providence, and
has worked at a number of Starwood/Sheraton properties around the country. He returned
to Needham as the GM last year, and stated here 12 years ago as Front Office Manager.
A lot of the people who are here now, he actually hired then. He was hired by Coleen Keating who
was a Needham Rotarian and now has a job as Senior VP of Full Service Franchises for all of Starwood.

Chris talked about how the hotel just underwent a $14 million upgrade here in Needham,
with another $1 million planned for next year.

Sheraton started with their first hotel in Springfield MA in 1938, and now has 470 hotels,
with a goal of 1500 by 2015.

Chris had a gift of a keychain for everyone and cooupons for a drink and appetizer for
all members as well. Not to be out done by Colleen, Chris said he would like to join our
Rotary Club, so we look forward to him joining us.

Image


LIBBY PERO'S BIO:
Libby was born in Greenfield MA, and raised in Needham. She graduated from Needham High
School and has taken accounting classes at Mass. Bay Community College.  Despite living
in Walpole with her husband Roger and daughter Lisa, she really considers herself a
Needham girl, through and through.

Roger works at Babson College, Lisa works at the Needham Driving School, and  Libby works
at Capron Lighting and has been for 4 years, and her parents still live on John Street.
So, Needham it is!

Libby became involved in Girl Scouts as a leader after having been a girl scout for many
years.  This was at the time that Louise Condon was also involved in scouting and they
ften worked together on scouting events.It was at this time that a position for “Park Ranger”
became available at Ridge Hill Reservation.  Libby and Roger interviewed and were hired.
They co-managed the park with another couple for 4 years.  Then a job opened up at another
conservation area in Canton and they were then chosen for that job and worked there for 7 years.
Their daughter Lisa was born in 1984 while they were living in Canton at Pequitside Farm.  After
7 years they went to work at Bird Park in Walpole for  over 15 years serving as their park manager.
The property was given to the Trustees of Reservations and Libby and Roger then bought their first
home and settled in Walpole where they have lived for the last 11 years. 
Libby has always been active in her church, first in Needham then Canton and now at the Church of
Emmanuel in Foxboro.  Her interests lie in working with the homeless and disenfranchised through
outreach and service.  Libby has also been involved in the Needham Rotary/Needham Community Council
Thanksgiving dinners for over 30 years thanks to Jerry Goodman.  Jerry was one of Libby’s clients
while she owned her own bookkeeping service which primarily handled small businesses.
Libby worked diligently for the Needham Rotary Music Night this past winter, and was ‘instrumental’
in facilitating Capron Lighting’s large donation of the lighting and sound  services  for the event,
well before becoming a member.
Libby has already set a record for the ‘Most Time Spent As a Prospective Member’, through no fault
of her own, while our Club ‘processed’ the paperwork.
Libby is a great contributor to the community, and we are delighted she has stayed the course and
 are all looking forward to her becoming a member!

ANDY WINIG'S BIO:
Andrew was born in Brookline, MA, and graduated from Yale University with a BS in Computer
Science. His second favorite city in the world is London, and before starting his family
he used to travel there frequently to enjoy Shakespearean theater. He still considers himself
a die-hard, long-suffering Red Sox fan, though the long-suffering part is harder to justify
since that glorious day in October 2004 (2007, 2013!). Andrew loves downhill skiing.
His favorite mountain is Whistler in British Columbia, his favorite snow is at Alta in Utah,
and his favorite (finally conquered) double black diamond trail is Kachina at Attitash in
New Hampshire. During the summer he enjoys spending as much time as possible with his family
at their house on Cape Cod.
Andrew Winig and his wife, Carol, moved from Boston’s Back Bay to Needham two years ago.
They always knew that all roads led to Needham, because Andrew’s brother Steve, and Carol’s sister
Mary both live in Needham with their respective families. This sounds like a true random small
world story, until you learn that Steve and Mary are friends, and are in fact the ones who
introduced Andrew and Carol in 2006. This fall, their daughter Emily (5) starts Kindergarten
at Newman, and their daughter Allison (4) starts Preschool at Carter.

About 12 years ago, Andrew, who is trained as a software engineer, got laid off from his last
computer programming job and started two (non-computer related) businesses. In an attempt to get
better known in his community, he happened upon the Arlington Rotary Club, where his now over
10 years of service include being Club President, Club Board Officer, Active Member for the Paul
Harris Dinner, Arlington Town Day, and St. Patrick’s Day programs, and 9 years Co-Chairing RYLA,
District 7930’s yearly youth leadership program for 100 high school juniors and seniors. 
His Rotary classification has been "Elevator Pitch Coaching" and he wants people to get better
results from their business networking efforts. It took Andrew over 10 years to transition from
a cold call salesman to a trusted advisor, and now he helps people achieve the same results in a
fraction of the time. He shares his unique and effective techniques through email newsletters,
webinars, 1-on-1 coaching, and keynote speeches.

Andrew has had a rich experience in Rotary, and we are delighted to be able to welcome
him to our Club!