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A District 7910 sponsored International Service project in collaboration with D-7910 and Guatemala Rotary Clubs
Date: March 23 -30, 2019
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In cooperation with Helps International, Inc., volunteer Rotarians will install stoves in homes where currently an open fire in the center of the house is used for cooking. This practice predisposes the residents to respiratory diseases, burn injuries, and increased use of wood for cooking. The stove will improve the ventilation, prevent injuries, and will decrease wood consumption by at least 50%. We are seeking volunteer Rotarians from District 7910 to join the Westborough Rotary Club in this endeavor.
What do you do with hundreds of Rotary branded cloth bags left over from Westborough's 300th Celebration? You give them away! And on Saturday, September 8, Club members gathered in front of Roche Brothers Supermarket at Bay State Commons to do just that. As town merchants prepare to comply with a ban on disposable plastic shopping bags, Club Service Chair Shelby Marshall realized that this was an opportunity to recycle the leftover novelty bags purchased for last year's celebration. In a four hour period, members gave away more than 300 reusable bags to customers visiting the Roche Brothers store. Additional bags will be delivered to the senior center for distribution. Eileen Turcotte and Ron Goodenow, pictured here at left, were among the Rotarians who joined in to help reduce, reuse and recycle. .png)
Jeff Calnan was scheduled to present at our meeting on 9/12 but was unable to attend due to unforeseen circumstances. We thought we'd use this space to help deliver his message. Best Buddies Massachusetts is looking for caring and compassionate adults who are looking to connect with others. Best Buddies Citizens Program pairs adults with intellectual and development disabilities (IDD) with adults without IDD in one-to-one friendships!
As a Rotarian with a lifelong polio-related mobility issue that varies in its intensity now that I am "chronologically advantaged" I have been thrilled to work with my local club, municipal authorities and area businesses to meet Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) requirements. Our driveways are clearer in the winter, and our public events now have special needs parking. I’ve had wonderful assistant from fellow club members to help me remain active as I face down some new medical issues. So, why this commentary?
Dave Kaiser, shown here at right with President-elect Elliott Rittenberg, received a multiple Paul Harris Fellowship award at our meeting on August 15. The Paul Harris Fellow is an award given to those who have given $1000 dollars to the Rotary Foundation. Recognition is provided each time a member's aggregate donations reach an increment of $1,000. It is one of the most prestigious awards in Rotary and thereby named after the founder of Rotary, Paul Harris. Donations to the Foundation support the many programs in which Rotary engages for doing good in the world. Foundation dollars are returned to our District, and ultimately to the Club in the form of grants to fund both local and international projects. Thank you, Dave, for being the inspiration!
Congratulations to the July 2018 Westborough Employee Excellence Award Winner Library Director (and Rotarian) Maureen Ambrosino! For those of you who had not seen the news, we wanted to recognize Maureen for the amazing contributions she makes to our town, as well as our Club. "The Employee Excellence Award committee is pleased to present this award to Maureen. Nominations received expressed that she ‘…embodies the definition of teamwork as no task is too small (e.g. swirling cotton candy on the front lawn) and no job is too large (e.g. a high level collection development project) for her to tackle’, that she constantly devotes enormous amounts of her personal time to Library sponsored events, and that she brings innovative ideas to serve public interests and engage them in library involvement such as Girl Scout sleepovers in the library, "last day of school ice cream service out front, Movies on the Green and more.
Approximately 20 Rotarians met for food, fellowship, and beverages at the Westborough House of Pizza on the evening of September 5. In the words of club Rotarian Ron Goodenow, who took the photos of our gathering, "As a jazz fan, I thought of Miles Davis when I entered the restaurant. It was blisteringly hot in the parking lot, where they could have cooked pies on the pavement. Why Miles? It was "The Birth of the Cool" inside. A pleasant refreshingly semi-dark room with a large group of Rotarians talking and listening to each other. Some in groups, some at tables and a few at the bar. Some new faces in the crowd. Kudos to House staff, membership chair Gary Kelley for a fine time." Join us for our next evening social on Wednesday, October 3 at the Central House. 
