Rob Black gave the following inspiration.
Here's to a bright New Year and a farewell to the old; here's to the things that are yet to come, and to the memories that we hold.
Announcements
President Holly spoke with George Babcock. He is feeling better and will be back soon. Randy Dittmar is receiving treatment and will be back with the club in 3 to 4 months.
District President Billy Roberts warned that Rotarians are receiving messages asking for money. The source of the emails is unknown and haven’t been sent by Rotary. Be careful.
There are new rotary signs around Providence (South Main Street, Smith Street and North Main Street) thanks to a project spearheaded by Art Norwalk with the sign fabrication and installation done by Mike Kelly and his sons.
Good Works Committee
Mary Brewster reported that the next project will be a food drive. She is looking for someone to be the public face of the drive.
Also, the Pen Pal program could still use volunteers, especially men. Training is on Zoom. Contact Mary for details. It is clear that children have lost ground during the pandemic. This is an important support for developing literacy skills.
Happy Birthday to Rotarians
Wendy Marcus enlightened us to who is celebrating January birthdays. They are: Erica Busillo-Adams, Rob Gessman, Geoff Gaunt, Walter Adamowicz, Steve Hug, Cap Willey and Wendy.
Little Library Project
The Little Library has been repaired and installed at the Brown Street Park. It is not filled with books yet, donations of books or money to purchase books will help. Wendy shops for them at local booksellers.
Rotary After Dark
Holly reported for Anthony Landi that he is working on the District Bruins February 11 event that will benefit Polio Plus. San Miguel students will be invited to a Providence College game on February 23 at the Dunk. More information to follow about purchasing tickets for students.
Liz Messier reported that the Rotary After Dark game night in January has been postponed because of the virus and will be rescheduled as soon as it is safe to do so.
Happy Bucks
- Margaret Kane $10 as she remembered her mother’s comment about the new year, “ a whole new year to screw up.” And, for the Patriots, of course!
- Alex David in memory of Betty White, an inspiration to us all!
- Jim Gilcreast thanks to Mike Kelly for putting up Rotary signs and in memory of Harry Baker who organized the first Rotary signs for Providence.
- Richard Applebaum $5 for the holidays in Rochester where they went nowhere because of cancelled parties. He has accepted a challenge from his granddaughters to grow a goatee!
- Pete Brock $5 for the happy and joyous holidays, his growing pup, and the Patriots in the playoffs.
- Holly $22 for 2022 and hopes for a great year
Speaker
President Elect Steve Hug introduced Sara Corben, who spoke about the podcast she created,
Weird Island.
The weekly podcast focuses on quirky and unusual stories about Rhode Island. The idea came to her as she was exploring the state by taking car rides during the initial pandemic lockdown. She traveled the state like a tourist, fascinated by the many historical sites and buildings she saw. She was curious to know the history of what she saw.
Sara shared some of her favorite stories including a tale about
Roger Williams, who’s grave was reopened 177 years after his death.The plan was to remove his remains to the a new memorial, but when the grave was opened there were no bones or other evidence of a body. There was, however, a twisted apple tree root in the grave that some say contain the remains of the body.
Fish raining from the sky is based on an occurrence in Olneyville in May, 1900. That day the temperature rose to an unusual high of 93 degrees. A sudden plunge in temperature caused a fierce wind storm where bystanders saw fish actually falling from the sky …. Maybe the result of a water sprout??
The landmark Apex building in Pawtucket was built during a time of optimism for the future development of the downtown area. The architect topped the building with a ziggurat roof that takes advantage of the prime location on Route 95 while meeting signage design standards of the day.
The 8th drive-in theatre in America, EM Lowe’s, was built on North Main Street in Providence. While Lowe’s is long gone, the Rustic Drive In in North Smithfield survived the lack of interest in drive-ins by showing adult movies for 18 years! It is still open, but now showing family friendly movies.
Sara also mentioned that the podcast is not just for local Rhode Islanders to view, but is opened by many in different locations around the globe. You can hear it
here.
