Would two hundred burgers, two hundred hot dogs, and twenty extra-large pizzas be enough to satisfy your requirements for your barbecue? What if we added forty pounds of potato salad, three bean salad, hundreds of bags of crisps, more desserts than countable, and twelve watermelons? Let’s not forget music!Photo: Rotarian, Paul, pictured working the line.
This year, Watertown Rotary’s annual senior citizen’s cook out exceeded the abovementioned list with the addition of approximately $810.00 worth of gift cards generously donated by local businesses and individuals for the free raffle, gift-bags filled to the brim with goodies donated by local businesses, dance routines performed by student dancers from Mass Motion School of Dance, and a DJ. All it took to execute was fifteen Rotarians and six student volunteers. Well, that’s not quite true.
Our Rotary chapter dedicated numerous meetings to achieving our concrete goal of hosting the 2024 edition of this annual event. We dedicated a committee to planning, we dedicated board meetings to planning, and we dedicated weekly lunch meetings to planning. Additionally, we engaged in promotion, securing the venue, and even obtaining a fire permit!
I would like to specifically thank each of our generous sponsors and donors, but regrettably I have neither space here nor the time. Many individuals went far beyond the call of duty. Please know you are valued, and we would not have succeeded without your help and support.
Enough about the brass tacks. Let’s switch gears. Let’s discuss what truly matters. Me! Lately, I have felt undervalued, underappreciated, and overextended. I will spare the reader the specifics.
Going into this event, some of my friends questioned my judgment regarding my time spent this past week, “You helped fill bags on Tuesday, went to a board meeting Thursday, and now you’re losing most of your Sunday? Are you ok?” I also got the ever popular, “why do you do this?”
“Why do you do this is” a much more interesting question than someone condemning me for failing to dedicate my life to billable hours, the NFL, or whatever else people do on a Sunday. I don’t believe I will be rewarded or punished by a higher power for volunteering, I don’t believe it will be “good for business,” I don’t believe it makes me a better person than someone who demurs, and I don’t have a sponsor in a 12-step group directing me.
I do it because I can, and I prefer to improve my local community. After all, the term “local community” makes implicit that it is the community wherein I reside. Or I’m lying to myself and I’m still outrunning a lifetime of karmic momentum.
In either event, the annual senior cookout was a success. Our six high school student volunteers were great. I didn’t know anyone under eighteen even knew how disconnect from a mobile phone for greater than six minutes. I heard good things about the Mass Motion School of Dance’s exhibition, which I missed, because I was helping clean up the kitchen. Most of the work I put in this year was setup and “back of house,” whereas last year, my time was spent in setup and “front of house.”
As Watertown Rotary approaches its centennial anniversary in January 2025, it is more important than ever to gain new membership, and continue throwing events, if we are to exist for another hundred years. Through events such as this, the upcoming annual Dancing with the Stars fundraiser, and the student lecture series, there is no reason to believe that Rotary is ending anytime soon.
As long as they bus them in, I’ll be there with the rest of our Rotary team to feed the seniors. Catch us next year at the annual Senior Citizens Cookout 2025 edition!
Written and edited by Raphael B. Hirsch.
For more information on Rotary, questions, or comments Raphael may be reached at:
Phone: 857.500.7400
Email: Rhirsch@Rbhlawgroup.com
Our Rotary chapter dedicated numerous meetings to achieving our concrete goal of hosting the 2024 edition of this annual event. We dedicated a committee to planning, we dedicated board meetings to planning, and we dedicated weekly lunch meetings to planning. Additionally, we engaged in promotion, securing the venue, and even obtaining a fire permit!
I would like to specifically thank each of our generous sponsors and donors, but regrettably I have neither space here nor the time. Many individuals went far beyond the call of duty. Please know you are valued, and we would not have succeeded without your help and support.
Enough about the brass tacks. Let’s switch gears. Let’s discuss what truly matters. Me! Lately, I have felt undervalued, underappreciated, and overextended. I will spare the reader the specifics.
Going into this event, some of my friends questioned my judgment regarding my time spent this past week, “You helped fill bags on Tuesday, went to a board meeting Thursday, and now you’re losing most of your Sunday? Are you ok?” I also got the ever popular, “why do you do this?”
“Why do you do this is” a much more interesting question than someone condemning me for failing to dedicate my life to billable hours, the NFL, or whatever else people do on a Sunday. I don’t believe I will be rewarded or punished by a higher power for volunteering, I don’t believe it will be “good for business,” I don’t believe it makes me a better person than someone who demurs, and I don’t have a sponsor in a 12-step group directing me.
I do it because I can, and I prefer to improve my local community. After all, the term “local community” makes implicit that it is the community wherein I reside. Or I’m lying to myself and I’m still outrunning a lifetime of karmic momentum.
In either event, the annual senior cookout was a success. Our six high school student volunteers were great. I didn’t know anyone under eighteen even knew how disconnect from a mobile phone for greater than six minutes. I heard good things about the Mass Motion School of Dance’s exhibition, which I missed, because I was helping clean up the kitchen. Most of the work I put in this year was setup and “back of house,” whereas last year, my time was spent in setup and “front of house.”
As Watertown Rotary approaches its centennial anniversary in January 2025, it is more important than ever to gain new membership, and continue throwing events, if we are to exist for another hundred years. Through events such as this, the upcoming annual Dancing with the Stars fundraiser, and the student lecture series, there is no reason to believe that Rotary is ending anytime soon.
As long as they bus them in, I’ll be there with the rest of our Rotary team to feed the seniors. Catch us next year at the annual Senior Citizens Cookout 2025 edition!
Written and edited by Raphael B. Hirsch.
For more information on Rotary, questions, or comments Raphael may be reached at:
Phone: 857.500.7400
Email: Rhirsch@Rbhlawgroup.com