The meeting was called to order about 12:30 pm by President Jeff Kruck.
Bob Murphy served as our greeter, and meal and attendance taker.
Thank you, Bob
Visiting Rotarians and Guests:
There were 15 members in attendance today.
There were no visiting Rotarian or guests.
Make Ups:
Oscar Padjen made up at
If you missed today's meeting, you have until March 3, 2010 to complete a makeup.
If your days are full, consider a make up at eClub One. Log on to www.rotaryeclubone.org/ and follow the instructions for a make up. You should spend 30 minutes on the site.
Click for
where our members have made up recently.
Announcements:
Pres. Jeff let us know that Joe Long has tickets for the comedy night. "We have to sell these tickets."
Joanne Travers gave us an update on PID. PID has a relationship with a leather company in Newburyport that will be shipping supplies to Haiti. PID is packing pallets full of supplies now that will be shipped through the leather company.
Raffle:
Oscar Padgen's number was pulled 1st.....We are looking for the Ace of Diamonds. No luck for Oscar
John Plate was next, no luck for John either.
Sorry guys!
Tiny Twins Report
Just to bring everyone up to date regarding the newest potential Rotarians, We've heard from the twins.
Their names are Ethan and Evan Silvano. Ethan was 4lb, 7oz. Evan was 3lb, 14oz.
Both will be in NICU for a couple weeks and are doing great.
They’ve been breathing on their own since day #2 and are alert and happy little kids.
Bob Alert
All Bob's were present and accounted for today.
Fines and Happy Dollars:
The only fine today was to SAA Peter McAllister for skipping right over Brad Swanson. As you know, Brad's a big guy and generally hard to miss. In addition, Brad was eagerly waiving his dollars in the air and Peter just moved on to the next table. To soften the blow to poor Brad, the table decided that Peter should be fined.
Steve Mooney had a happy dollar. Harry Martin coaxed Steve into attending the World Peace and Understanding dinner and it turned out to be a great experience. He enjoyed the company of Harry's wife, Linde Martin.
Bob Luszinski apologized for being late today, he had some gardening to finish up.
Getting To Know You:
Joanne Travers was telling us that at The World Peace and Understanding Dinner she discovered there are currently about 160 counties at war. She wished John Plate was at the dinner, being the knowledgeable gentleman he is she knew he would have further insight on this topic. John informed us today there are 154 countries currently at war.
Joanne also told us a little bit about the Interact Group at Masco. She met with them a couple weeks ago. They seem like a good group of about 15 students. They seem eager and excited to be a part of this.
Program:
Brad introduced our speaker today...then he realizes the speaker had stepped out of the room. Oops..
Let's try that again, Brad introduced our speaker, Pike Messanger, He is a recently retired Conservation agent for the Town of Middleton as well as a former school teacher. Brad said Pike "Has a great knowledge of all things Conservation."
Pike is now a member of the Middleton Stream Team. The Stream Team was started in 1998. It has grown from 4-5 people to about 20 people.
The Stream Team is a group of volunteers dedicated to protecting and improving the quality of ponds, streams and wetlands in Middleton for the benefit of the environment and all of its occupants.
The Stream Team leads a lot of walks and paddles over the streams.
Pike mostly focused on the dam's that are built by the beavers and the effects they have on the surrounding environments.
The beavers' purpose in making the dam's is to create an entrance way to their lodge. This helps to keep free flowing water in the winter to allow them to swim their lodges.
Beavers are strictly vegetarians.
Due to these dams's about 150 acres of trees have died. Middleton has lost a lot of Red Maples. The White Pines have split open creating the perfect nesting spot for the Blue Herrons.
The Stream Team has put Marking Posts on every area where a road crosses a stream or Pond. When they began this project they had a hard time finding the actual names of all of the streams and ponds.
Pike was very knowledgeable on these subjects. He was able to hold our interest for quite awhile.
Everyone stayed, in rapt attention, until about 1:42 pm.
Membership Moment:
A strong membership is so important to the overall success of any organization. Growth and retention have to be in the spotlight constantly. As membership chair I have been charged with heading the largest committee in the Club...each and everyone of us. Collectively we can make TBM stronger, more involved in the communities we serve and fun.
When was the last time you asked a friend, a neighbor or business associate to come to a TBM meeting? I admit, it's been a while since I put out an invitation and I have a goal to find one person to join our ranks during this Rotary year.
I ask everyone to please share your thoughts and ideas as to how we can grow the ranks of TBM.
