The Rote
By Diane Lansdberg
RCM Zoom Meeting Luncheon April 9th
Our virtual meeting room opened at noon and a few members joined in early to casually visit with one another prior to the official start. Kinda like our good ‘ol regular meetings at the MYC!
Also like our regular meetings, President Norby kept the ZOOM connection open after the meeting to allow anyone to continue to visit with one another.
President Norby opened the meeting promptly at 12:30. We had a total of 32 members and 10 Visitors and Guests. Attendance is always taken and recorded.
Past President Oliver Ruiz gave an inspirational invocation.
Noreen Timoney led us with a spirited Pledge of Allegiance while a virtual American Flag waved in the background on everyone’s screen. Very cool. 100%
Visitors and Guests:
- Commander Tony Regueira – City of Miami Police Department
- Hans Hesselberg - Former member of or club
- Regine Joly - Pres. Elect of Palmetto – Cutler Bay Rotary Club
- Priscilla Dames – Honorary Member
- Glenda Puente- Architect & Instructor at UM
- Michael Harwin – Attorney, from Tallahassee
- Tim Schmand - Lincoln Rd., Business Improvement
- Sergey Gordienko – Local, well-known Artist
- Shlomi Ron – Visual Story Teller
- Mark Lee (apologies-surname may not be correct)
Each Zoom meeting has had new challenges, and this was no exception. The good news is that it is getting better! It’s important to acknowledge that President Norby is doing a great job managing a screen with 42 people, switching back and forth, muting and un-muting and running the meeting. If he had any hair at all before all this started it’s definitely gone by now.
Tidbits
Community Service Chair, Robert Bull spoke briefly about our support of the Miami Rescue Mission. The homeless shelters and food banks are facing problems with this Coronavirus Pandemic. The demand for assistance has spiked, while donors are at home, following orders and trying to stay safe. He has sent an email with a donor link to make a donation easy.
Steve Dutton explained about an FIU project he and Norby are working on with Dr. Schneider and Medical students from our FIU Rotaract Club, who reached out to them for help. He and Norby have been working hard to create volunteer opportunities for Rotarians to interview Homeless people in conjunction with a rigorous telehealth screening program that would follow. They even conducted a mock interview to demonstrate how to have a phone interview with a homeless person. We’ll have to see how things develop but there was a high interest level and thank you for volunteering.
Commander Tony Regueira of the City of Miami Police Department was our speaker. It was a little challenging with the technology at the beginning, but it was resolved. It was interesting to hear about how the police department is dealing with the homeless population that chooses to not go to a shelter and remains on the street. He answered several questions from the members.
President Norby invited the Commander to join us at the Miami Yacht Club when we return to our regular meetings. He also informed him that we would be making a donation of dictionaries to a 3rd grade class in his name when students return to school. He loved it!!
Noreen Timoney and Tim Ryan will continue to seek interesting speakers that can share an interesting topic for a short presentation during our weekly Zoom meeting. If anyone has someone to suggest, please forward their name, phone and email to Noreen and/or Tim to be properly vetted and scheduled.
Steve Dutton led us in the Four Way Test of the Things We Think Say or Do
Please take a few minutes to respond to the survey that will be sent for your input.
The next meeting will be on Thursday, April 16th. Log in details will be emailed the day before.
We will not have a speaker but we will hear from the usual suspects and we plan to hear from everyone present about a positive, happy moment they have had during this difficult time.
Remember:
Be Kinder than Necessary!
Honorary Rotary Club of Miami member, Priscilla Dames in Belize
