The Rote - December 8, 2022

The Miami Yacht Club and on Zoom

Scribe: Linda Singer

President Brian Tschirhart presided.

Invocation: Jay Almeida

Pledge of Allegiance: Scott Richey

 

Introduction of Visitors and Guests: Phil Seipp

• Maria Giovanna Fusla, a visiting Rotarian and Past President from the Rotary Club of Hipponian – Vibo Valentia District

• Eddie Alicea, a Miami Dade College Department Chair, invited by Randy Lichtman

• John Falcon, a visiting Rotarian of the Ybor City Rotary Club.

 

Vote to Amend Club By-laws:

There was a quorum present to vote on the proposed by-law amendment to change Section 5 of the By-laws to allow a past president of the Rotary Club of Miami to serve again as President within a minimum of two years following the end of that past president’s term. This was proposed due to our club’s smaller size with fewer qualified members who could even serve on the board of directors. The amendment was passed unanimously by all 26 members in attendance.

 

• On December 2, 2022, we had our Griffitts award presentation for the outstanding City of Miami police officer of the year, Sgt. Isaac Chavez, who coordinated with ATF, FBI, and undercover officers to remove over a hundred guns and captured the criminal who was converting some of them into automatic weapons. Many people are alive today because of what Sgt. Chavez did. The assistant chief of police, Armando Aguilar, reported that homicidal crime in the City of Miami this year is down to the lowest it has been in many years, in contrast to many urban areas in the rest of the U.S.

• December 6, 2022 was the day our member, Amelia Bonilla, joined by her husband, Julian, and son, Bradley, welcomed Emily Grace into their loving family.

• December 17 is time to celebrate! Our holiday party will be held at party central (the home of Diane Landsberg) at 7:00 p.m. Please RSVP to Diane and let her know what you are bringing in the way of an appetizer, wine or dessert. Paella will be provided.

• January 5, 2023 is the date of the next Rotary Club of Miami meeting.

• Our past president from 1979-1980, Arthur C. Bivins, lost his wife, Shelley. A number of Rotarians from our club attended the celebration of her life. President Brian noted that Art was president when Norm Kassoff, Don Van Orsdel, Phil Seipp and he joined.

• President Brian bestowed recognition and gratitude to Marcia Brod for finding and keeping up with the past recipients of the TBM scholarship and composing and distributing the TBM newsletter to TBM Alumni. So far, $36,000 has been donated by past TBM scholars in the past 6 months due to her efforts. These contributions will be matched 100% by The Rotary Club of Miami, Florida Foundation, Inc.

• Buy District 6990 golf ball drop tickets, which will benefit the RI Foundation and will count towards EREY.

• Please check your account balance with Phil Seipp and make sure you have at least $50 in your account to cover happy dollars and lunches. The money can be sent by Zelle to admin@miamirotary.org.

 

Speaker:

Today’s speaker is our very own Randy Lichtman, Program Manager for the School of Continuing Education and Professional Development at the Wolfson Campus. Randy is passionate about education and gave an informative and interesting presentation.

There are grants available to help people be more successful in their careers or to study new careers.

For example the Professional Property Management Program is a 142 hour program with Community Association Manager licensing paid by Miami Dade College. Noreen Timoney and Robert Bull are professors in this program.

There is a Digital Adoption Initiative to train nonprofits in digital literacy. If you know of any nonprofits that could use these services, let Randy know.

A completely free program, Miami Dade College Technology, is limited to City of Miami residents who want to develop workforce skill and knowledge in technology. If you know of anyone who could benefit from this free program, let Randy know.

 

Happy $$$ - were collected by Diane Landsberg

 

Maria Giovanna Fusla, our visiting Rotarian from Italy.

Marcia Brod thanked modern science and TBM Alumni physician Dr. Stephen Fein for controlling a rare lymphoma. Thanks to monoclonal antibody infusions things are now within normal range. Yay, Marcia!

Past President Diane Landsberg was happy to report that we received three Little Libraries for free and that a children’s hospital contributed 23 boxes of books help stock them. She also was thrilled that Miami Senior High’s Interact Club made a huge donation to our food drive to help Feed Miami by collecting items from all the students at Miami Senior High.

Past President Norby Rudel was happy to have a quorum for the club vote today.

Past President Phil Seipp was happy that the TBM Trust received $2,000 on donations from past TBM scholars in just the last two weeks since Marcia Brod’s newsletter was mailed.

Tina Moore was so very happy to be able to drive again after a hard fought recovery from a serious accident she had some time ago.

Past President Jay Almeida is very pleased that Norby Rudel has agreed to become President-elect this year.

Visitor Eddie Alicea was very impressed by our members.

 

50-50

Diane Landsberg sold the tickets, including the winning ticket she purchased but picked the wrong card. Sorry, Diane! Dave Skinner won a bottle of wine.

 

4-Way Test was led by Past President Linda Singer.