Newburyport Rotary - Newburyport Clipper

The January 18, 2005 meeting started with the singing of "My Country Tis of Thee" played by Ted Shepard, and a wonderful invocation by Jim Hughes. Then we sang our usual Rotary song..."Here We Are Again", which was recorded in a teddy bear to be given to Hack Pramberg who is in the hospital. Cards were passed around to sign for Hack and Maria Miles, who is home recouperating.

Lunch today was baked haddock or pasta with grilled tuna. John Budzyna then led us in singing

# 35 in honor of the weather..."In The Good Ole Summertime".

Guests and Visiting Rotarians

Our guests today were John Horne and his wife Joy from Dedham, Hans Ikier from Boston, Alex Paduchak from Boston, and Tom Farrell, City Councilor.

Birthdays and Anniversaries

Happy Birthday to Cindy Johnson (1/15) and Anne Marie Clancy (1/17).

Happy Dollars

Cindy gave a happy dollar because all her sisters came for the weekend to celebrate her birthday. Arlene Santa Fe gave $10 for the huge turnout for the Martin Luther King Jr. breakfast sponsored by the YWCA. Hans Ikier gave a happy dollar for the newly elected president in Ukraine. John Horne paid a happy dollar because his wife was with him today.

Fines

Pres. Geri held up a police surveillance picture taken on January 4 which showed a number of Rotarians waiting at Glenn's. A $2 fine was assessed to anyone admitting they were there.

Announcements

Pres. Geri said a bucket will be passed for donations to the Tsunami Relief Fund. All monies collected will be matched by our club and sent to the appropriate Rotary International Fund.

New Membership Proposals

This is the first reading of two proposed members. Peter Johnson, banker, Provident Bank; and Tom Farrell, financial planner.

New Member Induction

George Cashman inducted our newest member today. Please welcome John Horne. John spent many years in the Navy and is now retired.

Upcoming Events

Jean Francois gave a brief report on the Frigid Fiver (Feb. 6). We are looking for more runners and more volunteers.
Zack reported on the 100th Anniversary Dinner on February 23. Fifty people have signed up to date and next week the event will be advertised to the public.
Kate gave a report on Balloons for Valentine's Day - "Love on a String". For $10 you will get five balloons delivered to your loved one on Valentine's Day. The money raised from the event will go towards the purchase of a new BBQ grill and John Salter will match whatever we raise.

Program

Dean McLellan introduced Hans Ikier, a Rotarian from the Boston Club, who has been working on obtaining used computers. The computers are donated to the Link House where they are worked on and rebuilt to be sent to the Women's Crisis Center homes in the surrounding area and others will be sent to the Ukraine. It is hoped that he will be able to receive 400 computers from Harvard.

We thanked Hans for his talk and had a Q&A session. If anyone has a computer they wish to donate please get in touch with Dean McLellan.

Raffle

$18 went to Bob Keiver who donated it to the "bucket".