Needham Rotary Club
Tuesday, February 11, 2014
Location: Needham Sheraton Hotel
Our meeting was changed to the Sheraton at the last minute from the Senior Center (scheduling conflict at the center), and was called to order by President Glen Davis. He led us in the Pledge of Allegiance, we sang patriotically with gusto and prayed earnestly, but due to the sudden change of venue, we didn't have a program.
Instead, we enjoyed lively table talk, tossed some ribbing around the room, sang loudly for our birthday boys (see pic below), and had some important discussion about the upcoming leadership needs of the club since we no longer have a designated president for next year (2014-15).
Guest:
Libby Pero from Capron Lighting, a soon to be new member as soon as the Board acts on her submitted application.
Announcements:
1. The meeting on February 18th at the Sheraton is a really important meeting and we hope all our members will be present. We will be honoring the winners of the recent Needham Music Awards which we sponsored. They will be giving entertaining encore musical presentations for us. The room will be filled with lots of visitors and guests. It will be an excellent opportunity for us to make contact with non-Rotarians and friends and to tell our story of how we work in our community and around the world.
2. We need someone to quickly step up and volunteer to be next year's president! District training classes for new presidents begins next month and missing that opportunity is a loss for the new president and the club! Call or email Glen Davis as soon as possible. Our experienced Board and cadre of past presidents stands ready to help you and support the upcoming year's programs.
3. Rotary International announced the extraordinary gift of $1.1M from Rotarians Terry and Barbara Caster to the Polio Plus Fund (Couple’s $1.1 million gift boosts push to eradicate polio). Moreover, the couple's gift will be matched two to one by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. This comes as news from India that the country has now been polio free for three years! Thanks to each of you that has made a contribution to ending polio!
There's an excellent year-end report on the country by country status of the polio fight at http://www.polioeradication.org/Dataandmonitoring/Poliothisweek.aspx
Presidential Moment:
We remembered with fondness our founding father, George Washington, and observed that he was the only president to die in the 1700's and who never resided as president in Washington, D.C. (only New York and Philadelphia).
50/50
Marty Lindemann won the draw and blew the chance to win $72. The kitty swells next week!
Humor:
We had no humor for the day. Just kidding:
1. Three guys were talking in the pub. Two of them were discussing the amount of control they have over their wives, while the third remained silent.
After a while one of the first two turns to the third and asks “Well, what about you, what sort of control do you have over your wife?”
The third fellow says “I’ll tell you. Just the other night my wife came to me on her hands and knees.”
The first two guys were amazed. “What happened next?” they asked.
She said “Come out from under the bed and fight like a man.”
2. As a trucker stops at a red light, a blonde catches up. She jumps out of her car, runs up to his truck and knocks on the door. The trucker lowers the window, and she says, "Hi, my name is Heather and you're losing some of your trailer's load."
The trucker ignores her and proceeds down the street. When the truck stops for another red light, the woman catches up again. She jumps out of her car, runs up and knocks on the door. Again, the trucker rolls down the window. As if they've never spoken, the blonde says brightly, "Hi, my name is Heather, and you are losing some of your load!"
When the light turned green the trucker revs up and races to the next traffic light, stops, jumps out of his cab and runs back to the blonde's car before she can repeat her warning. He knocks on her window, and as she lowers it, he says, "Hi, my name is Kevin, it's winter in Boston, and I'm driving the salt truck!"