Jim Gilcreast wished everyone a Happy Easter and Passover, then in honor of Patriots Day, he read an excerpt from Sir Walter Scott’s The Lay of the Last Minstrel, beginning with these famous lines:

Breathes there the man, with soul so dead,
Who never to himself hath said,
This is my own, my native land!

 

President Art announced that 28 Rotarians have contributed to The Rotary Foundation, up from 15 a month ago. He asked our members to consider donating online – www.rotary.org/donate -- or by giving a check to Kris David

 

Art welcomed Arthur Robbins and Christy Clausen back to our meetings after being away for a while.

 

Visitors and guests: Paul Segal’s guest was his wife, Roberta Segal, Anthony Hollingshead introduced two prospective members from The Big Brothers and Big Sisters. Also a returning guest and proposed new member, Herb Altman.

 

Christy Clausen announced our next alternate-time meeting at the Salem Roger’s Center, next to the Kizirian School on Thursday, April 23 at 5 pm. Our newest member, Amy Manchester, will be donating pizza from her Flat Bread Company. Activities such as arts and crafts will be planned. Please RSVP to Christy if you would like to come so she can plan accordingly.

 

Holly Applegate announced the upcoming Rotary After Dark event on Thursday, May 16 at 6:30 for reception on the patio and 7:30 pm performance of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum at Barker Playhouse, 400 Benefit Street, Providence. The cost is $35 per person. Pay online through ProvidenceRotary.org. Liz Messier is in the show and Art Norwalk is running the lights!

 

Pete Brock gave 3 Happy bucks in honor of the weather gods who gave us beautiful weather this past weekend!

 

Arthur Robbins gave 10 Happy Bucks to say he was happy to be back!

 

Major Stoops gave a Happy Buck for Jackie Robinson.

 

Terri Adelman gave a Happy Buck for Tiger Woods winning the Masters.

 

Bill David gave 5 Happy Bucks for the 5 wins for the San Miguel chess club.

 

Dan Hunter gave 3 Happy/Sad Bucks for UMASS’ loss in the finals.

 

Liz Messier gave a Happy Buck for her son, Dennis’ 37^th Birthday!

 

Taylor Millspaugh gave 5 Happy Bucks for making new friends at this Rotary meeting.

 

Don Saracen gave 50 Happy Bucks for his and Sherri’s 50^th Wedding Anniversary! They celebrated with a trip to Disney World with Johnny Blue Eyes, their 5-year-old grandson.

 

Our speakers, Jonathan Green, Director of the Hamilton School, and Janette Epstein, Director of Admissions at The Wheeler School, gave an overview of dyslexia and ADHD in grades one through eight.

The Hamilton School at Wheeler is a "school-within-a-school" serving children from Rhode Island and southeastern Massachusetts with language-based learning differences.

 

They said that 1 out of 5 children have dyslexia. Many brilliant, successful, and famous people have dyslexia such as Einstein and Richard Branson.

 

Early intervention is one of the most important strategies. Once they know who they are, they know what to do about it. Wheeler’s mission statement is “to learn our powers and be answerable for their use.” Hamilton School started as a very experimental school to provide early intervention.

 

A family history of dyslexia is important to know. This difficulty manipulating language on a continuum runs in families. All 70 children at the Hamilton School have family members who have dyslexia.