The Rote – April 14, 2022
Miami Yacht Club and Zoom
Scribe: Marcia Brod

President Noreen Timoney welcomed everyone to the meeting.

Marcia Brod wanted to keep Club members up to date, so since April is O Miami Poetry Mouth and their goal is to have everyone in Miami-Dade County exposed to a poem during April, she shared a poem as today’s invocation. Cory Gittner led everyone in the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.

President Noreen shared the historical facts associated with the assassination of President Lincoln. The original plan was to abduct the President and several other members of the administration during the Civil War. When the South surrendered the plot changed into one of assassination. Several conspirators were involved in this conspiracy.

Several members attended a zoom meeting with one of the Rotary Clubs in Ukraine. Their situation is dire and Rotary International, our District and the Rotary Club of Miami are all doing their best to help with humanitarian relief.

President Noreen was proud to present a Paul Harris +2 pin to Marcia Brod. Diane Stieber received her first Paul Harris pin and certificate. Thank you both for your generosity to the Rotary Foundation.

A future lunch meeting will be held at Miami Senior High School to celebrate our continued sponsorship of the Miami High Interact Club. It is always rewarding to meet with such dedicated young people. When the date is announced, do your best to attend!

Environmental Efforts

Robert Bull took time to talk about the many environmental projects of our club and others in Rotary. His interest in saving our environment began with just walking around his neighborhood and collecting trash. Robert has now been presented with a certificate of appreciation from the Pinecrest City Mayor. He has carried over his enthusiasm for saving our planet to initiating Rotary Club of Miami projects.

ESRAG is a Rotary International interest group, and our Club has created ESMAG for those interested in environmental issues. It’s free for members to join our ESMAG group, so please sign up. We have partnered with End Plastic Soup – originated by the Rotary Clubs in Amsterdam – in an effort to eliminate plastic in the ocean.

Earth Day is April 22. Make your own plan to contribute to saving the planet. Take a picture of your efforts and send them on to Robert. Of course, there will be prizes for the best projects.

Miami-Dade County’s Baynanza beach cleanup event will be Saturday, April 23. It will be a fun day and our environment will benefit. Please check the website to see available locations. Our Club has already registered a good number of our members for this event, which has been ongoing for many decades.

Saturday, May 14, we will be planting 400 trees on Key Biscayne. This will be joint effort with other area Rotary Clubs. Be sure to participate.

Plans are ongoing to organize Coral Reef Restoration trips, one in the Keys and the other with the University of Miami on Key Biscayne. Details will be forthcoming.

For Robert’s presentation today, Diane Landsberg presented Robert with his own shovel.

Club Finances

Club Treasurer Phil Seipp gave an update on the TBM Matching Gifts project. A 1983 recipient decided to take advantage of the 50/50 match and contributed $10,000 – Thank you!!! As of today, we have received $26,284 in contributions being matched for this year. We are ¼ of the way to our $100,000 matching goal.

Phil shared that dues will be $350 for the next Rotary year. This helps cover the Club’s many administrative costs. Over the past couple of years, dues were reduced in recognition of hardships caused by Covid. He encouraged everyone to contribute to making our upcoming 106^th year another memorable one. “You get back what you put in!”

Committees

Diane Landsberg passed around a signup sheet for club members. There are so many opportunities to participate in the Club…..make your membership that much more meaningful by being active in what the Club has to offer.

There will be a fundraising yard sale at Diane’s house on Saturday, April 30. Help is needed on Wednesday, April 27 to tag and get set up and on Saturday, April 30 for the actual event. Sign up today.

Community Service

Dave Skinner encouraged folks to bring canned goods and non-perishable items to meetings so that they can be distributed to local non-profits. We will be working with Safe Space and Lotus House in the near future.

Membership

It is everyone’s responsibility to be on the membership committee. Bring friends to meetings, projects and events and expose them to the wonderful fellowship and service Rotary has to offer. Norby Rudel will be focusing on membership in the next Rotary year.

Speakers

Keep an eye out or check with your current contacts…. we’re sure there are many people we know who have important and interesting things to share with the Club. We are always looking for quality speakers.

President Noreen expressed the importance of involvement in our committees, projects, events, and fellowship. She reviewed the different needs of each and explained that in order to have membership be valuable, involvement and action are necessary, “Individually we care; together we make a difference and change our community and our world.”

 

Guests at today’s Meeting

Arriving a bit late for the meeting, we welcomed and exchanged banners with Cornell Smith and Brendan Penn, visiting Rotarians from the Rotary Club of Howard West in Elliot City, Maryland. Glad you made it!

Robin Shelley was happy to be at today’s meeting and reminded us all that every Rotarian is a member of the Membership Committee – share Rotary with those you meet.

Marcia Brod was happy to share well wishes to the club from Bunny Uriarte. She is doing well in Arizona. Marcia was also looking forward to tonight’s home opener for the Miami Marlins – hope springs eternal.

Guest Brandon Penn was happy to have made it to the meeting – better late than never!

Noreen Timoney was happy to see everyone back in person and is looking forward to more service projects and fellowship together.

President Noreen shared some inspirational quotes to take with us today and for the rest of our lives.

 

President Noreen thanked members, volunteers, and guests who were present at the meeting or joined online.

 

Robin Shelley led everyone in the Four Way Test to close the meeting. Happy Easter and Passover to all!