ROTARY CLUB OF VINELANDSeptember 26, 2006 Newsletter |
Editors: Ron McMahon & Linda Foster
Photos: Jay Parks
Website: www.vinelandrotary.com
Email: vinelandrotary@comcast.net
Flag Salute & Prayer
God Bless America, Flag Salute, Pledge of Allegiance and recitation of the 4 Way Test was led by Marty, assisted by Gail, Carl, Norm, Loren, Sherry, Dick P. and Ron M.The opening prayer was led by Cornell Brunson.
Guests
Florence Chatas and Melanie Druziako, were the guests of Charlie Loyle. Joel Cruz was guest of Lou Tramontana.Sergeant of Arms Bruce introduced our newest members, Gerry Dooley, Louann Ferrari-Brooks, and Dave Hanrahan
Announcements
President Mike read a letter from Dave Schweidenbach, founder and president of Pedals for Progress, thanking the club for collecting and donating 182 bikes and 8 sewing machines. Thanks to Henry Hansen for working so hard and doing a great job on this international service project!!The annual New Jersey Rotary Vocational Service award dinner will be held at The Pines, in Edison on October 11. R. I. President Bill Boyd will be the speaker. Our own Hugh McCaffrey has been chosen as the recipient of the District 7640 vocational Service Award, and will be honored at the ceremony. Congratulations Hugh!! Please let P. Mike know if you would like to attend.
The annual Dining with Rotary Chefs will take place at the Tavistock Country Club on November 19.
The next Adopt-a-Road cleanup will be on Saturday October 7. Meet at Larrys II for breakfast at 8:30AM. We need a good turnout for this project, because we’ll be joined by the Vineland Breakfast Club, and we’ll be policing our road and their road. Please plan to come and support this community service project.
The Mullica Hill Rotary Club will host its annual Veterans Picnic on Sept 30, 1:00-5:00PM at the Gloucester County 4H grounds, Rte. 77, Mullica Hill. All South Jersey veterans and their families are welcome to attend this free event. Call Bernadette Blackstock, 694-1355, for more information and directions.
Cumberland County College will be conducting the 7th annual “Leadership Cumberland County” course. Betsy Frank has registered for the program, representing Rotary.
Beth Israel Synagogue will be honoring Helen, Lilly and Sherry Kejzman for their community service on October 28. For tickets, contact Shaye Kotok.
Annual distribution of dictionaries to 3rd grade children has continued. 3rd graders at Winslow and D’Ippolito schools received theirs today. Next week, Bill Jannarone’s team will be distributing to schools on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. This is a great activity for new members to attend, and see the outreach of Rotary. Volunteers please go directly to the schools at the appointed times.
Annual flu shots will be available to members of the Greater Vineland Chamber of Commerce (includes all Rotarians) for $25.00 at the Chamber office on Wednesday, October 25th. Call Cathy at the Chamber office, 691-7400, for an appointment.
Diana Caraballo, provided much information about the annual collection of food for the Armando Rosenberg orphanage in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Our club donated funds for construction of the orphanage in 1985. Donations are requested for $45.00 cases of Beef Stew. We intend to send one pallet of Beef Stew from our club, and another pallet to be donated by District 7640. Aunt Kitty’s Foods, successor to Venice Maid Foods, will match our donations with pallets of spaghetti rings. In addition, donations of washing machines and lawnmowers are needed. Skip Mainiero of Mainiero’s Appliances has provided a washing machine at a substantial discount, and Bob Swanson of Swanson’s hardware has donated a lawn mower. Thanks to you both for your generosity. For even more information on the orphanage, and its life-long relationship with South Jersey Rotary, visit Orchidfoundation.org.
Only 15 cases are left to complete the pallet. If you know anyone (not just Rotarians) interested in sponsoring a case of food, please e-mail Dave Schad at daveschad@verizon.net. A thank you donation letter for their tax files will be provided.
The next Rotary blood drive will be at the Ramada Inn on Tuesday, October 24. Signups will start at next week’s meeting. Please make every effort to donate at this event. There is a constant and increasing shortage of blood supplies, and this is a great way for Rotarians, their families and coworkers to participate in a valuable, important community service.
Ken Dondero announced the availability of a new Guest Packet, for guests and prospective members. It was assembled by Ken, assisted by Scott McMahon, president of the Breakfast club.
Pat Proccacino entertained us with his “joke of the day”.
Finemaster
Substitute finemaster Ed Duffy did a yeoman’s job. We could see that he’s had a lot of experience. Many of us got hit with “creative” fines.Today’s Program
Program Chairman / President-elect Bill Dudley introduced New Jersey State Senator Nick Asselta. Nick spoke on many of the governmental issues of the day, and emphasized that our area is going to be profoundly affected by actions in Trenton in the coming months.Besides the overall efforts at property tax reform, the issues which will affect us directly are discussions on elimination of Abbott district schools, and changes to the Urban Enterprise Zone program. Smaller areas such as Millville, Vineland and Bridgeton are likely to suffer, because of the greater political clout of larger urban areas of North Jersey. It’s really important that our local school systems, and Urban Enterprise Zone, run tight ships and keep close control of spending and programs, to prove that the state programs are effective in our area.
Four committees have been formed to explore property tax reform. Consolidation of governmental services and school districts are being discussed. Strong desire for home rule is a major factor against consolidation.
It’s a known fact that New Jersey is not growing economically. Governor Corzine recognizes this, and has initiated several priorities for economic development.
Nick believes that it’s important to reduce the number of state government employees from the present 82,000. He pointed out that, in the recent gov’t shutdown over the “budget crisis”, only 36,000 were kept on as essential. The rest were deemed non-essential.
50-50 Winner
Lou Tramontana |
Upcoming Programs
- 10/3/06 First Tuesday - RYLA Program
- 10/10/06 Assemblyman Frank LoBiondo
- 10/17/06 Jane Galetto – The Wild and Scenic Maurice River
- 10/24/06 Becky Schad - Exchange Student Experience - Red Cross Blood Drive
- 10/31/06 Vocational Service with Mike Benson
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