Newburyport Rotary - Newburyport Clipper

Geri opened the meeting on July 20 by asking Russ Johnson to lead us in singing "God Bless America". The invocation was given by Bruce Bear followed by a lunch of roast pork or chicken pot pie. Our song today was led by Zack Longley and Ted Shepard. We gave tribute to Evanston by singing "R-O-T-A-R-Y".

Guests and Visiting Rotarians

The guest book was read by Sheila Johnson. Our visitors were David Shaw from Haverhill Rotary and Sgt. Gagnon of the Newburyport Police Department.

Birthdays and Anniversaries

Happy Birthday to Don Beliveau (7/17) and Sheila Johnson (7/21). Anniversaries were celebrated by George Cashman (7/24), Gerald Hirsch (7/25), and Mike Strem (7/22).

Happy Dollars

John Budzyna announced that Forever Plaid is playing at the Firehouse, and following that will be Cinderella. Anne Marie said her husband is a teacher in Amherst, NH and the Amherst Rotary contributed $1800 to a community service project the children were involved in. Arlene Santa fe paid two happy dollars. One was for first time on the job as Sgt. at Arms, and the other was to say that 400 runners participated in the Pat Poletta Road Race, and YWCA made $8,000.

Announcements

Sue Christ has the sign-up sheet for the Chicken BBQ and we need cookers. It would be great if every single Rotarian would show up that day to volunteer.
Kate Kelly said everyone should turn in their Canoe Raffle money by next Tuesday. The canoe will be on display at Banknorth next week. Tickets will also be sold at the Chicken BBQ.
Geri is passing around a "Badge List". She wants to know who has a name badge and who does not. Starting August 1 she will be fining everyone who does not wear a badge.

New Members

We had two more inductees today. Liz Cullen introduced Jean Francis Barre who works at RE Max. Jean Francis was born in Quebec City, has lived in Newburyport for two years, and has three children. He looks forward to serving Rotary.

Kathleen Miller introduced John Budzyna and presented him with his Rotary pin. She and John worked together for 2 1/2 years at the Firehouse. John has a degree in theater and a masters in business. He and his wife have lived in Newburyport for 13 years and have three children.

Program

George Cashman, in his flowered shirt, spoke today as Membership Chairman. Since this is Rotary's 100th Anniversary, George finds it appropriate to increase our membership to 100 people. In today's fast and busy world, many organizations are losing members; but Rotary is increasing in numbers.

Liz Cullen, who is District Membership Chairman, says that our District has started a new club called the Breakwater Daybreak Club in Maine, with Shirley Mooers as President. We currently have 2,392 members in District 7780. There are two clubs forming in China, two in Afghanistan, and coming soon, one in Baghdad.

With only two categories now - Active and Honorary - the process of inducting a new member should take less than 30 days. Some clubs do it in two weeks. People are finding Rotary to be a good way to serve the community and the world.

Raffle

Zack won the split - the - pot today with $16.