Newburyport Rotary - Newburyport Clipper

We opened the meeting on September 21 with John Budzyna singing "America the Beautiful" acapella, directed by Zack Longley. The invocation was given by Capt. John and Zack tried to lead us in singing "California Here I Come" but it was s-o-o-o bad! Ted, where are you?

Guests and Visiting Rotarians

Guests today were Cal Williams from United Way, along with Arelis Abreu; David Shaw from Haverhill Rotary; and Cliff Allen, a Rotarian visiting from Andover-Anton, England. He said Newburyport had a special place in his heart because he lived here a number of years ago and always wanted to come to one of our Rotary meetings for a make-up. A club flag was presented to Geri and she in turn gaver him one of ours.

Birthdays and Anniversaries

Happy Birthday to Mary Larnard (9/7) and Bruce Bear (next week). Since Bruce is headed for Florida this weekend, Pres. Geri presented him with a gift. It was a group picture of the chicken barbecue volunteers. Nice touch, Geri. Anniversary wishes to Ted Atkinson and Mark Audette.

Badges

If you need a new badge, let Sue Christ know. Members are getting much better about remembering to wear their badges. Fines were collected from those those who forgot.

Announcements

Pres. Geri announced that Cindy Johnson was passing around a sign-up sheet for student transportation. We need volunteers to pick up the high school students each week.
Geri announced that Liz Cullen has been nominated to be Assistant District Governor for the remainder of the year. At just that moment, Liz walked through the door.
Pres. Geri thanked Claudia Harris for hosting the Fireside Chat for our newest members who will be inducted next week...Liz Jutras, Wendy Smith, and Karl Gray.
There will be a Board Meeting tonight at 6:00 p.m. at Geri's house on Plum Island.

Happy Dollars

Norm Jutras had two happy dollars... he said that Karl Gray was his assistant manager at Grant City years ago, and the other dollar was because his daughter Liz was becoming a Rotary member. George had his usual happy dollars for Holy Cross even though they have lost their last three games. John Salter was happy to report that he's been transporting 10,000 kids since the beginning of school and hasn't lost one yet. Mark O'Brien was proud to announce that Tom Ambrosi won the Senior Club Championship at Ipswich Country Club...that must be worth at least a $20.00 fine.

Program

Our speakers today were from the United Way. Cal Williams, Campaign Manager for the organization, had just retired from UPS after 36 years when he was asked to be Campaign Manager for the United Way. He accepted and is happy in his new position. He finds the organization to be one of "people helping people."

Some of the initiatives of the Merrimack Chapter are directed towards adult education and employment skills, parenting skills, and youth and the American family - programs dealing with teen pregnancy.

Arlene Santa Fe, Director of the YWCA, thanked the United Fund for their help, as the YWCA is a recipient.

President Geri presented Cal Williams with our Rotary mug of candy to thank him for his presentation.

Raffle

$22 was won by Karl Gray