Caitlin O’Reilly, President of the Rotary Club of Jamestown, NY, called the noon meeting to order and led the assembled in the Pledge of Allegiance and the Star-Spangled Banner. Diana Meckley gave the invocation which she found at the Lakota Sioux, Crazy Horse monument.
President-Elect Zach Agett introduced two guests: prospective member Dr. Tim Restrepo and Dunkirk-Fredonia Rotarian Leslie Wille, who is a new employee of the United Way.
President Caitlin then inducted Mike Roberts as a Director of the Board of Directors for 2025-2028.
Caitlin reminded everyone that there will be no Noon meeting on August 31. Instead, the Club will gather for a miniature golf social to welcome Max, our new exchange student from Germany and other new members. (More information will follow.)
Max is expected to arrive on August 19. He is 15 or 16 and expected to have a good command of English. Max will stay with the Camas and Chris Anderson is his counselor. The Camas daughter Sophia will be leaving soon for her exchange year in France.
Caitlin then reminded everyone to read and take with them the brochure on every table that the membership committee has put together. Each of us can use this letter to invite someone who may be interested in joining our Rotary Club and treat them to a free lunch while we introduce them to the wonders of Rotary.
Foundation chairman Joni Blackman introduced the members celebrating August birthdays.
Happy Birthday to:
Amy Rohler August 5
David Troxell August 6
Dewey Jones August 9
Dick Johnson August 18
Joanna Dahlbeck August 27
Marion Beckerink August 28
Emily Cama August 28
Dan Overcash August 29 (who has NEVER missed a meeting)
Jen Swan Leutz August 31
Amy Rohler won the FREE Birthday lunch!
Kathy Burch awarded $26.00 the 50/50 prize to Sally Martinez.
Doug Conroe returned to fining duties today and assessed the following members:
Max Eimiller for his company’s sponsorship of the very successful BPU fund raiser for St. Susan’s Soup Kitchen.
The Resource Center was noted in Business First as on of Southwestern New York’s largest employers and fines were paid by Chris Anderson and Diana Meckley.
Faces included in the Community Foundations Annual Report included – Frances Lapinski, Dan Heitzenrater, Amy Rohler, Ruth Lundine, Diana Meckley, Sue Jones and Pat Kinney.
Happy Bucks were shared by the following:
Amy Rohler paid for her new employee, Leslie Wille, who oversees United Way’s Growth and Engagement. Leslie is the immediate Past President of the Dunkirk-Fredonia Rotary Club.
Jim Smith paid for his family’s 32-year relationship with their exchange student Drew from Turkey. Drew didn’t get on the plane to return home when his exchange year was over. Instead, he stayed as a counselor at a private school in Buffalo and after college (returning as a counselor each subsequent summer). After medical school he returned to teaching at the school.
He married and had two sons and moved to Washington, DC.
This past week, Jim had a reunion with Drew and then came to tell us this wonderful story of how this Turkish exchange student “left footprints on his heart.”
Dan Heitzenrater paid for the 1 or 5 delicious meals he will have at the Gerry Rodeo this coming week – his favorite meals of all.
Patti Johnson paid for the engagement of her son Tullis to his fiancé Sara at the Burchfield-Penney Art Center in Buffalo. Tullis is the Charles Cary Rumsey Curator at the Center. The couple were delighted to pass on a special sailing/yachting banner with their names on it to the Chautauqua Lake Yacht Club where the Johnsons are present members and Tullis’ grandfather Norman (a former member of our Rotary Club) was an avid member.
Diana Meckley paid for a huge, delightful box of very nice children’s books donated to our Club’s Laundromat Libraries by a teacher from LOVE School where Diana is once again volunteering to read to students through the LEAP program.
David Troxell reminded everyone to attend our Rotary meeting on August 17 where he and Marissa will tell us all about the STEM lab that we have sponsored in Katmandu!
Ruth Lundin reports that our DEI Committee is proposing to change their name to the DEIAB Committee, standing for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Access and Belonging. In the future, in addition to DEI, they hope to encourage people of different ethnicities and walks of life.
They plan to encourage youth in civic engagement as well as continuing with our Voter Registration tables at Jamestown Community College on 9/16, 9/30 and 10/21.
They will also continue to foster Patricia Graves’ project on the history of blacks in Jamestown; recommend speakers and encourage awareness and understanding of others through the Chautauqua Reads book each year AND support the efforts of the underrepresented in our community.
And of course, they hope to continue to improve the North Main street corridor into the city.
This committee meets on the first Wednesday of each month.
Joni Blackman reported on the Foundation Committee and encouraged us all to participate in the Rotary Direct -online giving program. Only 3 of our 61 members presently do this.
She has five more Paul Harris Awards to distribute and admits she may have dropped the ball this past year due to returning to her former job and moving three times. Somewhere along the way, over 20 Paul Harris pins have been misplaced.
Joni will be assisted in the process by Kathy Burch, Patti Johnson, Sue and Greg Jones and several others.
Caitlin thanked the four people who responded to her request for input on membership.
The committee intends to have a panel on “How Rotary can help your career” for students at JCC and hopefully a facilitator from District 7090.
Caitlin also has plans for a very ambitious year working towards Lighthouse Awards, and a Prism Award. She also plans a challenge for the membership to foster involvement with our exchange student Jan.
Patti Johnson suggested we all get involved in Community Helping Days happening this week through many organizations such as United Way and several churches.
Something coming from the railroad trestle, etc. We also have retained a beautiful
David proposed we publicize ANNUALLY a request inviting proposals for projects from community organizations, in April for example. These requests would then follow the regular channels of any project proposal – probably utilizing the established Vision Committee.
Mike Roberts commented that our welcome to Jamestown sign has nothing on it to show that it was funded by our Club. He would like to see that rectified. There is also nothing that signifies where the various elements of the sign came from, such as the wooden beams salvaged from the railroad trestle, etc. We salvaged another very old metal Rotary wheel sign that hung for many years on a telephone pole along with the time and place of our meetings. Someone mentioned the sign needs a cleanup which should be the responsibility of City (needs investigating).
Mike also mentioned we could continue involvement in attractive signage for downtown or perhaps even a big mural, which will require a suitable location and then sponsors.
District 7090 will hold a Human Trafficking Training Opportunity in Lockport at the Cornell Cooperative Extension of Niagara County’s Training Center on Saturday, September 12. Doors open at 11AM, free lunch provided and training will be completed before 2:30 PM. Caitlin is planning to attend and welcomes anyone who might like to carpool with her.
A different organization, Project Mona’s House, is also offering to spread knowledge about this insidious problem and information can be obtained by a direct call to Paul Lehman, Chr. Of the Steering Committee to obtain more information. (716-984-5128)
The meeting closed with the recitation of the Four-Way Test and Caitlin reminded us all to GO FORTH AND CREATE LASTING IMPACT!
