Avram Cohen quoted Vince Lombardi: “It’s not whether you got knocked down. It’s whether you got back up.”

 

The Legends of Literacy Gala fundraising drive is off to a fantastic start with sponsorship pledges of $5,000 each from George Babcock and Susan Kearney Kaplan. In a word: WOW!

 

PP Anthony Hollingshead gave a brief recap of the recent Boston Pops concert and then presented gifts to Paul Segal and Walter Adamowicz for their many years of organizing the annual concert trip.

 

Kevin Kernan was awarded the mini trashcan of virtue for his help in providing storage for the club material recently moved out of the Dryden Lane HQ.

 

Notable visitors included Rotary Club of Providence 1^st Lady Mary Norwalk as well as District Governor Bill Tenant and his administrative assistant/fiancée, Deb Zukowski.

 

Ron Hoak collected from:

 

Holly Applegate-$1 for the wonderful evening at the Pops.

 

Jim Gilcreast-$1 in recognition of D-Day and as thanks to all of our military veterans for their service.

 

Paul Segal--$1 thanks to Holly and Bill Applegate for stepping up to continue the tradition by organizing future Pops concert trips.

 

PP Don Saracen-$2 for a great year by President Art and for his grandson’s role in an upcoming film.

 

Rob Black--$1 for Pres. Art and $1 for his daughter’s wedding.

 

Kris David--$$ for Pres. Art and for DG Bill Tennant.

 

DG Bill--$$ for Pres. Art and for PDG Kris David’s work as district chair for The Rotary Foundation.

 

Patricia Ogera--$5 for a successful adult orchestra concert.

 

PP Anthony H.--$5 for a great year under Pres. Art.

 

P.J. Fox--$$ for the communications team that kept him informed as he’s been unable to make some recent meetings and for happiness to be back.

 

Christy Clausen--$$ for her 16^th wedding anniversary and for successful treatment for a recent bout with kidney stones.

 

Richard Applebaum--$$$ for DG Bill, Pres. Art, and the pops concert.

 

Barry Fain--$$ pops concert and Pres. Art.

 

Bryan Cook--$5 for those who helped deliver books to Kizirian.

 

District Governor Bill Tennant presented a number of awards won by our club. These have traditionally been presented at the district conference but DG Bill decided to shake things up a bit and present the awards at club meetings.

 

President Art noted that he began his year with two main thoughts:

 

1. Don’t try to do everything.

2. The club will not crash and burn on my watch

 

He was successful at both. During a year of significant change, Art led the club as we transitioned our philanthropy from smaller, more widely distributed donations to an approach focused on literacy at the elementary school level in the City of Providence. Instead of relying heavily on those outside the club to put donations to work, we will be relying on actions from those within the club to accomplish our mission.

 

We also said goodbye to the Street Painting Festival and hello to our gala, Legends for Literacy where we hope to have more participation from outside the club.

 

Finally, Pres. Art thanked the officers, directors and all members for their dedication and support throughout the year.