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Bulletin Editor
Ruth Lundin
(If you have any comments or questions, please contact the editor)
Speakers
Dec 06, 2021 11:30 AM
JHS A ‘Capella
JHS A ‘Capella
Dec 13, 2021 12:00 PM
Club Annual Meeting
Club Annual Meeting
Dec 20, 2021
No Noon Meeting
Christmas Party
Dec 27, 2021
No Noon Meeting
Social Event TBD
Jan 03, 2022
No Noon Meeting
New Year’s Observed
View entire list
 
 
Make Up Opportunities 
 
AM CLUB —
Meets in a hybrid format and meeting the 2nd and 4th Wednesdays of each month from 7:30 - 8:30 a.m. at Venue 31 - Jamestown
 
FALCONER — 1st and 3rd Thursday of month, 7 a.m., Roger Tory Peterson Institute, Falconer
 
WESTFIELD / MAYVILLE — Tuesday, 12:15 p.m., UM Church, Westfield
 
FREDONIA/DUNKIRK —
Thursdays at 12:00 PM
Zoom Teleconference Meetings
Effective until further notice
dunkirkfredoniarotaryclub@gmail.com
 
 
Committee meetings or social events can also be used as make-ups.
 
 
Russell Hampton
ClubRunner
ClubRunner Mobile
Note:  Missed the meeting?   Please visit the following link to watch all up to date Rotary Meetings:  https://jamestownnyrotary.org/page/zoom-meetings
 
Today's Chair: President Elect John Healy
 
Weather: Cool and sunny
 
Invocation: Sharon Hamilton on the passing seasons.
 
Visiting Rotarians and Guests: Our guests today helped celebrate our Paul Harris Fellows. Doug Conroe’s guests: his wife Jane, Joy Geraci, Michael Conroe, and Debbie Moore. Vicki McGraw’s guest: her mother, Ginnie Bremer.
 
Announcements:
Next week’s meeting will be 100% virtual-no in person meeting. DG Anne Bermingham will be holding a joint meeting with our club and the Kenmore Club so that we can have joint breakout sessions. The following week, October 4, we will be back to our normal format with in-person and zoom participation.
 
This year’s John D. Hamilton Community Service Award will go to former Rotarian Mike Metzger on Friday, September 24.
 
OctoberFest social gathering and fundraiser will be Monday, October 11 from 5-8 pm at Southern Tier Brewing. This will be a family friendly event. Food, beverage, music by Bill Ward and games for the young people are all included for $25. Please invite friends and prospective Rotarians. If you need tickets or have a donation for a gift basket, let Michelle Jones know.
 
Pedal for Polio is October 2nd. Jake Shrantz will again cycle for us. Joni Blackman will send out an e-mail asking all Rotarians to donate. Our goal is to raise $1,500 from our club members. If each club in the district reaches its goal the District will reach its goal of $60,000. If District 7090 reaches its goal, it will be matched.
 
AM Rotary will be doing their Pedal for Polio on October 16 and 23. Let Joni know if you would like to join their pedal around the lake.
 
AM Rotary is hosting their annual football fundraiser October 10.
 
RCJCSF will hold a quick meeting after today’s meeting.
 
Vision Committee will be meeting Friday, October 1st at noon at the Rotary Office at 2020 Allen St Ext. in Falconer (this is a change in the date). Anyone interested, ask Ruth.
 
Hands on Jamestown Neighborhoods. We will be sponsoring the October 16th cleanup. The funds we raise in Rotary are used to support projects locally and internationally. When we support local projects, we prefer to have a service aspect for Rotarians to participate. Please join us on October 16 from 8 am to noon. Ruth Lundin can provide details about where to meet, etc.
 
Do you have a shirt or hat that identifies you as a Rotarian? When we do service projects in the community, we would like to be recognizable as Rotarians. This is a way to increase our visibility in the community and also to attract like minded people to Rotary. Watch for an e-mail with information about ordering Rotary shirts or hats.
 
Diana Meckley gave a big shout out to all the Rotarians who participated in the LEAP reading program at Love School this summer. Rotarians and friends provided 27 ½ hours of reading, 17 Rotarians, 2 interns from the Jackson Center, an incoming Rotary member and a Rotary family member participated.
 
September is Literacy Month. RI has provided a list of books for children that support Rotary values of friendship, inclusion, and kindness. The committee will visit local libraries and bookstores to make a Rotary display of the books they have. If you can contact a library or bookstore, please let Diana know.
 
Highway Cleanup Mag Magnuson. October 9. 9:30 am meet at the Park and Ride. Should be done by 11:30.
 
50/50 Winner Sharon. $36 plus 2 tickets to the Comedy Center. Irene Dobies won the $36.  Melissa won the 2 tickets to the Comedy Center.
 
Sergeant At Arms Doug Conroe.
*Chair of Jamestown Community Chamber-Vickie McGraw was fined.
*Denise Jones has been named one of Western NY 200 powerful women.  Chris paid for Denise, Tory paid for Journey.
 
Trivia: Andy Goodell successfully guessed that, in 1814 on this day – star spangled banner was first published.
*In 1968 on this date Mickey Mantle hit his final home run--536.
*5 ways to help stop COVID 19 in your community: Educate people on importance of vaccination, Mask, Fair and Equal vaccination distribution, Share accurate and fact based information, Support health agency distribution effort.
 
Happy Bucks
*Sue Jones for Rochelle Mole’ being honored by the Chamber of Commerce.
*Paulette Kline asked for a moment of silence for those who distribute vaccine around the world. A security guard was murdered this week in Pakistan. Remember the people who do this important work.
 
Greg Jones and Joni Blackman presented four Paul Harris Fellowship Awards.
First, Greg noted that Africa has been free from polio for 1 year!
 
Then he recognized Journey Gunderson who received a PHF in 2018.
 
Virginia Bremer was presented a Paul Harris Fellow for a donation by Vicki McGraw.
 
Vicki McGraw was sponsored by Stacey Hannon in 2003 and is a 2-time PHF. Rotary has been a huge part of their lives. Vicki’s uncle was a Rotarian. Vicki became a Rotarian so she could help, be a part of service organization, and follow an example from her family.
The next PHF is a graduate of Maple Grove, where he was on the NY State Championship basketball team. He now has his own firm, ELEV8 Architecture and is none other than Doug and Jane Conroe’s son Michael.
 
Finally, Doug was given his PHF. He joined the club in 1981 and is the current Sargent at Arms. Doug is the Executive Director of the CLA. His service includes Chief of Maple Springs Fire Department. He and Jane have been doing lake assessments since 1987. Doug noted that he is very pleased to share his PHF with his children. He had the opportunity to work with his father, and has worked with both children, side by side. They now are both PH Fellows. Michael expressed his appreciation and noted that, as a child he focused on sports, then fell in love with architecture. What a great vocational story!
 
 
Stories
Journey Gunderson - Executive Director of the National Comedy Center
President Elect John Healy greets Journey Gunderson, Executive Director of the National Comedy Center
 
Tory Irgang introduced Journey Gunderson, Executive Director of the National Comedy Center, the United States’ official cultural institution dedicated to the art of comedy. A native of the area, Journey has been named to the “Business First” top 40 under 40.
Running the NCC during the pandemic and keeping it not just afloat but thriving has required a dedicated team effort.
 
The milestones since the pandemic.
Two weeks after being announced the best new museum in the country, the pandemic shut everything down. There was so much momentum and 2020 was to be the 1st real season.
 
The staff continued to promote the Center, even while closed. They went online with a Virtual Comedy Festival, which won a Telly award for the best online series, and got 960,000,000 media impressions, each mentioning Jamestown.
 
In October it was announced that NCC would be the new preservation home for the Johnny Carson archives, and that a new exhibit would open in 2022, “30 years of late night 30 years later”.
 
Carl Reiner was a founding advisor. When he passed, the preservation and archive department was named after him.
 
Journey talked about her talented staff by highlighting Gary Hahn, VP of marketing and communications. He came from Graceland and has brought a level of expertise at the national level to the Comedy Center. He and his family now live in Fredonia.
 
Gary’s expertise at developing relationships, garnering support and achieving national publicity has been critical. He worked with the Reiner family to bring Carl’s archives to the Comedy Center and was able to orchestrate the public announcement on Reiner’s 99th birthday in February when Mel Brooks and Rob Reiner were featured on the Today Show to make the announcement.
 
Another kudo is the award the NCC received for “Laugh Safe,” which was an effort with major epidemiologists to make the museum safe, and then to brand it. It was ground-breaking and received nationwide attention.
 
Journey was quick to note that the community made it all possible. The staff started 2020 knowing NCC needed to be 20% better than 2019 to break even. And then they had to close down. The community stepped in and made it possible to continue to go forward. The foundations all gave. The Comedy Center did not pause, and did not lose the talented team.  
 
The Summer of 2021 saw “Summer fun weeks”. The publicity of these activities brought more people to the museum than projected. It motivated people to make the day trip. Each week culminated in Riverside Saturdays at the Waterfront which featured Comedy Center Park. As people passed through the railroad crossing into the Park they could read the plaque recognizing that Jamestown Rotary funded it.
 
The first Riverside Saturday attendance was about 500. That number almost doubled over the weeks. These events didn’t cost anything and about ½ of the participants were locals. The Comedy Center also actively recruited restaurants to deliver to the Waterfront, supporting local businesses. During the Summer Fun Weeks there were 9 interns, 20 volunteers, staff and board all working to make it happen.
 
The joint Comedy week with Chautauqua Institution was a mutual success. It brought people from CHQ, which is difficult to do. Journey heard many compliments from Chautauquans both about the Comedy Center and about the City of Jamestown.
 
Most recently, on August 6, Lucille Ball’s birthday, it was announced that Tiffany Hadish has joined the advisory board. She is an Emmy and Grammy award winner. This was featured by Variety Magazine, once again bringing the Comedy Center and Jamestown into the headlines.
 
Looking forward, the expansion that was planned before the pandemic is back on track. NetFlix will be doing a show featuring the new hall that will now take place in May. Also in 2022, Carl Reiner and Johnny Carson exhibits are already announced.
 
Journey says recently Amy Poehler was in town because she is doing a documentary on Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. She held interviews at the Lucy/Desi Museum.
 
The next phase is about bringing outside funders in. There was a plan for an Los Angeles-based fund raiser just before the pandemic.
 
Journey is proud to point out that all these milestones, even in these difficult times, show that this was the right investment for Jamestown. It is reaching fruition, just delayed.
 
Russ thanked the National Comedy Center for welcoming the Jamestown Babe Ruth families who really enjoyed the museum.