Newburyport Rotary - Newburyport Clipper

Prior to todays meeting, December 21, Zack, John and Ted delighted us by singing Christmas music. Very nice. George Cashman then gave the invocation and we had lunch of macaroni and cheese or stuffed sole. The club then sang "America the Beautiful".

Guests and Visiting Rotarians

John Budzyna read the list of guests today... Pat LaForte, Newburyport Housing Authority; Rick Atwood, Haverhill Rotary; Chuck Withee, Hampton; Pete Johnson and Jeff Morrill, Hampton Rotary; and Elias Thomas, PDG.

After lunch, our guests, Elias and Jeff Morrill joined John Budzyna and Ted at the piano to sing "I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas".

Student Guests

The student guests were introduced by John Salter ... Wayne Altavilla an Jeanette Pastrana from Triton.

Jeanette is a member of the National Honor Society and plays indoor and outdoor track. She works as a personal care attendant and volunteers at the library. She hopes to attend Northeastern University majoring in architecture.

Wayne is a member of Ignite, a student mentor club, and runs track. He is busy working for his parents in the Byfield General Store and doing construction for his architecture teacher. Wayne is planning on enlisting in the military and then attending college to earn a degree in law.

Announcements

Bob Moore made a plea for people to get their raffle money in. The drawing will be next week at the meeting.
The basket was passed for Chuck, our devoted waiter extraordinaire.

Happy Dollars

Tom Howard said that he met the nicest people while ringing the bells for the Salvation Army. Kate Kelly even brought him a cup of hot chocolate. Zack's daughter called her dad to let him know she arrived in Japan and is enjoying it. John Salter's son is attending grad school and he thought it would be better to buy him a new car rather than fix up the old one.

Badge Fines

The usual collection was made by Arlene.

Fines

Pres. Geri levied some fines today. One to Larry Olney for special seating at Table #1. Larry is leaving and heading south and Mark O'Brien said we are really going to miss Barbara. Jonathan Woodman was fined for his special hat. Chuck Withee was fined for a "look-alike" to Al Gore.

Program

Liz Cullen introduced Elias Thomas, Past District Governor, who spoke on the Rotary Foundation. He said he has been given the gift of time and told us how this relates to his life in Rotary International. He spoke of fellowship and enthusiasm and his activities, both locally and globally. He reiterated about inoculating 200 million children under the age of five in one day in India ... and Liz was there as part of the team. He finished his program by awarding Anne Marie Clancy a Paul Harris Fellowship.

Raffle was won by Scott Vandersall.