Good attendance, today. Twenty-three Rotarians and a guest, Mike McGovern, who has done so much in Rotary, he counts as five more. Great to see Dick McCarthy back with us, great to see the Collins unmute their phone, and great to have President Elect Alex Wisz join us late in the session. Jack Martin took so much grief for his handsome hairless pate from Marc Glass, he eventually donned a BoSox hat. Not an improvement.
Anwar Hossain offered the invocation today, reading a poem that spoke to the Covic-19 aftermath. Nicely done.
Announcements were few, to wit:
The Golf Tournament is still on, but it is a box lunch and no dinner. Appropriate written appeals for players and sponsors are being printed and will be distributed soon. Hole the Sept 21, 2020 date.
No progress on the Electronic Payments issue yet. Summit meeting scheduled next Wednesday among the knowledgeable partners.
Secret Santa will be limited to 10 this year due to available funds.
Coats for Kids – working with Social Services and the Burlington Coat Factory to structure the event to meet Covid guidelines.
The Turkey drive may be on hold this year.
There will be a virtual membership Zoom meeting on August 12 at 7 p.m. Kate Sims is hosting. Contact President Bob for meeting numbers if interested.
One of our scholarship recipients has asked to postpone her award for a year and the Board has agreed.
Reminder: Next week’s meeting is at the East Hartford Golf Course at 9 a.m. Zoom attendance is also available. Seating is limited to 15 so contact Wes Willett at Weston.willett@gmail.com to reserve a seat. Among the agenda items, we will be honoring our Paul Harris recipients who missed out on the traditional April dinner this year. Come by or tune in to congratulate Anwar Hossain, Laura Floyd, and Wes Willett. In person attendance has a $15 charge for breakfast sandwich.
Rotary International has directed Clubs to forego in-person meetings for the rest of the calendar year, so this is your last chance to greet your fellow and sister Rotarians in person for a while.
Marc Glass introduced Rotarian Mike McGovern from Cape Elizabeth, Maine. Mike is currently serving as Rotary International Polio Plus Chairman as well as leading the Rotary Leadership Institute program. He has a long history in Rotary and has served as both a Foundation Trustee and on the Rotary International Board of Directors.
He has been instrumental in raising more than $100,000,000 for Polio Plus each year to eradicate Polio. Polio Plus started in 1988 with 125 countries recording polio cases. Thanks to Rotary efforts and the support of the Gates Foundation, this is down to two countries today – Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Mike worked for the town of Cape Elizabeth for almost 39 years, serving as Town Manager from 1985 to 2016.
Mike has been involved with the RLI since its inception and has championed curriculum designs that shifted it from a lecture type program to today’s discussion-based model. RLI consists of 3 sessions and is designed to develop Rotary leadership skills in general. It increases participants knowledge of Rotary and helps them shape a vision of what Rotary can mean to a community.
Mike emphasized the line from the Object of Rotary: “it’s all about acquaintance as an opportunity for service.” Very enjoyable presentation and a challenge to each Rotarian to deepen our commitment to Rotary.
One more week to go for this scribe, tune in.
Doug Willett