Rotary Alumni: Where Are They Now?
Congratulations to Honore Johnson (shown), a former Youth Exchange student, on being selected to be a Fulbright Scholar. She graduated from Cornell University in May 2016. While at Cornell, she was a member of the Rotaract Club. Honore's studies will be in the area of conflict resolution in Taiwan.
Paul Dumouchel Inducted As Newest Needham Member
Shown, left to right: Paul Dumouchel and District Governors Pat and Skip Doyle
Shiks Dhiyani Inducted As Newest Framingham Member
Shown, left to right: District Governors Skip and Pat Doyle, Shiks Dhiyani, Framingham President Lindsey Morris, and Assistant Governor Steve Sager
Brad Morse Inducted As Newest Westborough Member
Shown, left to right: District Governors Skip and Pat Doyle and Brad Morse
Newton Rotarian Bert Martinson, 106, Visited by Newton Rotarians
Some members of the Rotary Club of Newton visited our oldest member, Bert Martinson, for dinner last week. Bert is 106 and has been a Rotarian since 1940! Thanks to Jim Means for arranging the occasion.
Shown, are Bert Martinson and his girlfriend, Ellie Shuman
Shown, left to right, are Newton Rotarians Bill Lowry, Debbie Bowen, Linda Means, Dick Bowen and Bert Martinson, Bert's girlfriend Ellie Shuman, and Newton Rotarian Helen Lowry. Not pictured (and taking the photo) is Newton Rotarian Chris Chu.
District Public Relations Committee Holds Quarterly Meeting
Shown, left to right: June Grace (Concord), Ron Trembly (Southbridge), Elliott Rittenberg (Westborough), Jason Camuti (Westborough), Peter Colgan (Bedford), Linda Cargiuolo (Bedford), Paul Johnson (Newton), District Governors Pat and Skip Doyle, Frank Doherty (Worcester), Elmond Hendrickson (Brookline), Peggie Thorsen (Marlborough), Brian Bullock (Wachusett Area), Immediate Past District Governor Jim Fusco (Montachusett Area), photo by Steve Kirk (Concord). Also in attendance and not shown: Chair Laura Spear (Nashoba Valley), Chris Spear (Nashoba Valley), and Steve Jones-D'Agostino (Auburn).

Shrewsbury Update On Haiti Battery Grant
This past Rotary year, the Rotary Club of Shrewsbury partnered with a Rotary club in Minnesota to provide improvements to the maternity center of Heartline Ministries in Haiti. Our part of the project was to provide funds—along with a District Matching Grant—to purchase an inverter and batteries for the center’s power system.
Elizabeth Thompson, of the Heartline Foundation, reports, "... The generator, batteries, and inverter were purchased and installed earlier this spring, making a significant difference for the staff and women served at the maternity center. Because electrical power from Port au Prince is only on for several hours a day and never reliable, having these backup power sources has made a tremendous difference in the quality of care provided to women - especially, in the middle of the night, when women often labor and give birth. The kitchen renovation is also complete, and the bathroom construction is nearly completion.”
Sturbridge Golf Tournament a Huge Success
Meet the Winners, left to right: Austin Jenkins, Dave Tetzel, Howard Mosher, and Joe Mahaney.
Leominster Helps Send Message Of Thanks, Support To Leominster Police
August 26 Sentinel & Enterprise article by Peter Jasinski:
Political yard signs have popped up along roads across the country this year, but the newest ones coming to Leominster won't have anything to do with candidates running for office.
The Leominster Rotary Club kicked off a campaign of their own on Thursday to show their support for local police.
With some of the signs, from left, are Rotary members Frank Ardinger, Nikki Paglieroni, John Souza, past President Claire Freda, current President Jennifer Stacy and Bharti Bhakta, with Police Officers Michael Booth, Eric Craig, John Bouchard and Billy Taylor, and Rotary members Mary Dean and Victor Bhakta. Photo/John Love
Marlborough Rotary Partners With Local Groups On Mental-Health Crisis Intervention
The Rotary Club of Marlborough, Employment Options and the MetroWest chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness have partnered to conduct an event on mental-health crisis intervention, Many Hands, Many Partnerships, on Thursday, September 29, 2016 from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. at Employment Options, 82 Brigham St., Marlborough. Networking will start at 5:30 p.m., with food and beverages served. The partnering organizations invite all members of the community to attend and join the conversation.
Many Hands, Many Partnerships will be a community dialogue on how we can better work together to help individuals and families in a mental-health crisis get the support they need. It takes a community to manage a mental-health crisis. All too often, we rely entirely on the police to manage such a crisis. Although our local police departments play a valuable role in a crisis, emergency first-responders, mental-health clinicians, individuals with lived experience, and family members all play equally valuable roles.
The event will include a feature presentation and panel discussion. Audience questions and participation will be encouraged. Feature presenter, Chief Craig Davis of the Ashland Police Department, will speak on “Crisis Diversion and Linkages.” The topic of the panel will be “Crisis Intervention to Crisis Management to Family Need and Support to Recovery.” Chief Davis will join Chief Mark Leonard of the Marlborough Police Department and John Deronck of Emergency Services Advocates in the panel discussion.
The Many Hands, Many Partnerships event is part of a community mental-health-awareness campaign to draw attention to the needs of those with mental illness, change negative perceptions, and promote recovery and healthy communities. The partners’ objectives include finding innovative community-based solutions to mental-health needs, with a focus on helping young people, and developing clear steps for communities to address their mental-health needs in a way that complements existing local activities.
To register in advance, call 508-251-9595 or email namimetroWest@namimetrowest.org.
Rotary Leadership Institute of Northeast America Annual Meeting
The Rotary Leadership Institute is a multi-district, grassroots leadership-development program of member districts organized into regional divisions in various parts of the world. RLI is not an official program of Rotary International and is not under its control. For more information, click here.
Shown: Past District Governor Ed King of Northborough Rotary presents the Registrar's Report.
Next Nashoba Valley Rotary, Bolton Local Repair Café On September 24
What do you do with a broken toaster or lamp? Or with a shirt or blouse with a seam that is ripped out? Toss it? No way! Bring them to the Bolton Repair Café. The Rotary Club of Nashoba Valley, with help from Bolton Local, is hosting the next Bolton Repair Café on Saturday, September 24 from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. The event will be held in the cafeteria of the Florence Sawyer School, located at 100 Mechanic St. in Bolton. The school is located behind the Emerson School, which is on the same driveway/street.
Residents of Bolton and surrounding towns are invited to come and find out what a Repair Café is all about. At the Repair Café, sponsored by Nashoba Valley Rotary, everything centers on making repairs. Knowledgeable volunteers will help repair items such as clean, mendable clothing, lamps, small appliances, computers and other electronics, bikes, toys, outdoor power equipment, and jewelry. They can also sharpen knives, scissors, and garden tools. You only pay for needed parts. If you know what parts are needed, please get them ahead of time and bring them to the Repair Café to save time. Volunteers at the Repair Café will look at all items brought in and try to repair them. If the volunteers cannot repair something, they will offer suggestions about where you could go for repairs.
Unlike a “fix-it” shop, where people drop off items to be repaired and continue about their day, the Repair Café is meant to get people involved with the repair process and create connections with others in the community. People bringing in items for repair are asked to stay while your items are being fixed. You can just watch, help with the repair, fix the item yourself with help from volunteers, or just have a snack and visit with neighbors.
Promoting repairs will help reduce mountains of waste. According to organizer Ray Pfau, a Nashoba Valley Rotarian, “We throw away lots of things that often have
almost nothing wrong with them, things that could easily be used again after a simple repair. Unfortunately, many people have forgotten that they can fix things. Repair Café wants to change all that.” (Shown, right, is Ray Pfau addressing a recent Worcester Rotary meeting. Click here to view additional photos of that event by Worcester Rotarian Rich Prager.)
Repair Café is also meant to put neighbors in touch with each other in a new way. Neighbors may discover that a lot of know-how and practical skills can be found close to home. Pfau added, “If you repair a bike, a CD player, or a pair of trousers with previously unfamiliar neighbors, you look at them in a different light the next time you see them. Jointly making repairs can lead to connections in the community.” Making repairs can also save money and resources.
The Bolton Repair Café is sponsored by Nashoba Valley Rotary with support from Bolton Local and the Repair Café Foundation. The Foundation has been organizing Repair Cafés since 2010 in the Netherlands and has provided support since January 2011 to local groups in and outside the Netherlands wanting to start their own Repair Cafés.
Click here for a recent Boston Globe profile of the Bolton Repair Cafe.
Pat and Skip Doyle Installed As 2016-2017 District Governors
District 7910's 2016 Rotary Youth Leadership Awards were held on June 24 through 26 at Fitchburg State University, ending with the installation of longtime RYLA supporters Pat and Skip Doyle as district governors for 2016-2017. The three-day RYLA event was attended by 188 sophomores. To learn more about RYLA, visit http://www.ryla7910.org.
Click on the image, to view a video of the installation of Pat and Skip Doyle as '16-'17 DGs