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Westborough Rotary E-Bulletin

September 17, 2018
 

Fall Family Festival October 13!
Welcome Heather, Ross & Eileen 
Since our last newsletter update, our Club has had the good fortune to induct three new members. Heather Abraham lives in Westborough with her husband Steve and three children. She works as a Business Development Manager at ServPro in Framingham. Heather joined Rotary to serve as a role model for her children and to demonstrate that "service is just what we do." Ross Amato recently moved to Westborough with his wife Erin and two daughters. Ross is a sales executive at the Integrated Insurance Agency in Framingham and can be seen occasionally crafting cocktails behind the bar at Sapporo's. Ross enjoys golf, has an interest in fundraising, and supports his daughters'activities at the Fales school. Eileen Turcotte comes to us from Grafton and is passionate about international charitable causes, having made several trips to Uganda. Eileen works as a business development manager at Expert Staffing in Worcester and is also experienced with forensic computer investigations. We welcome Heather, Ross, and Eileen to the Westborough Rotary family and look forward to working with them to make a difference.
 
Rotarians Distribute Reusable Shopping Bags

What do you do with hundreds of Rotary branded cloth bags left over from Westborough's 300th Celebration? You give them away! And on Saturday, September 8, Club members gathered in front of Roche Brothers Supermarket at Bay State Commons to do just that. As town merchants prepare to comply with a ban on disposable plastic shopping bags, Club Service Chair Shelby Marshall realized that this was an opportunity to recycle the leftover novelty bags purchased for last year's celebration. In a four hour period, members gave away more than 300 reusable bags to customers visiting the Roche Brothers store. Additional bags will be delivered to the senior center for distribution. Eileen Turcotte and Ron Goodenow, pictured here at left, were among the Rotarians who joined in to help reduce, reuse and recycle. 

Lakeside Tree Planting and Installation
Having been frustrated by bad weather several times this year, our hearty club defied high heat and humidity by holding its weekly meeting on the shores of Lake Chauncy to plant trees provided by Rotary International’s Plant a Tree Project. The trees were planted on grounds of the former Westborough State Hospital now owned by the town of Westborough. The opportunity was also taken to install new Rotarian Eileen Turcotte, a Grafton resident with strong international service involvement. Club members enjoyed food provided by Chick-fil-A and an event which addressed beautification, environmental improvement, and membership. 
 
 
 
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Congratulations Maureen Ambrosino

With thanks to the Community Advocate

Congratulations to the July 2018 Westborough Employee Excellence Award Winner Library Director (and Rotarian) Maureen Ambrosino! For those of you who had not seen the news, we wanted to recognize Maureen for the amazing contributions she makes to our town, as well as our Club. "The Employee Excellence Award committee is pleased to present this award to Maureen. Nominations received expressed that she ‘…embodies the definition of teamwork as no task is too small (e.g. swirling cotton candy on the front lawn) and no job is too large (e.g. a high level collection development project) for her to tackle’, that she constantly devotes enormous amounts of her personal time to Library sponsored events, and that she brings innovative ideas to serve public interests and engage them in library involvement such as Girl Scout sleepovers in the library, "last day of school ice cream service out front, Movies on the Green and more.

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Special Needs & The Four Way Test

As a Rotarian with a lifelong polio-related mobility issue that varies in its intensity now that I am "chronologically advantaged" I have been thrilled to work with my local club, municipal authorities and area businesses to meet Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) requirements. Our driveways are clearer in the winter, and our public events now have special needs parking. I’ve had wonderful assistant from fellow club members to help me remain active as I face down some new medical issues. So, why this commentary?

As I thought about attending the RI Toronto conference in June I looked to see how accessibility issues were being addressed. What would I confront in terms of getting around and other mobility issues? The short answer is that I could find nothing except welcome comments from some hotels on their in-house accessibility features like grab bars in bathrooms. Rotary was totally silent. I therefore decided to stay home. Some fellow Rotarians repeated what I was told after a multidistrict conference in Providence last year. “You would not have been comfortable there, Ron. Just too much walking that was never described in advance.”

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Fun & Fellowship at Westborough House of Pizza
Approximately 20 Rotarians met for food, fellowship, and beverages at the Westborough House of Pizza on the evening of September 5. In the words of club Rotarian Ron Goodenow, who took the photos of our gathering, "As a jazz fan, I thought of Miles Davis when I entered the restaurant. It was blisteringly hot in the parking lot, where they could have cooked pies on the pavement. Why Miles? It was "The Birth of the Cool" inside. A pleasant refreshingly semi-dark room with a large group of Rotarians talking and listening to each other. Some in groups, some at tables and a few at the bar. Some new faces in the crowd. Kudos to House staff, membership chair Gary Kelley for a fine time."  Join us for our next evening social on Wednesday, October 3 at the Central House. Click here to see more photos from our evening at WHoP.
Upcoming Meetings
Sep 19, 2018 12:15 PM
Gettysburg expert and author
Sep 26, 2018 12:15 PM
Fall Festival
Oct 03, 2018 5:00 PM
The Central House
View entire list
Upcoming Events
Board of Directors Meeting
The Chateau
Sep 19, 2018
11:00 AM – 12:15 PM
 
Repair Cafe
Westborough Public Library
Sep 22, 2018
9:00 AM – 12:00 PM
 
Monthly Evening Social
The Central House
Oct 03, 2018
5:00 PM – 7:00 PM
 
Fall Family Festival
Bay State Common
Oct 13, 2018
11:00 AM – 5:00 PM
 
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Best Buddies Citizens

Jeff Calnan was scheduled to present at our meeting on 9/12 but was unable to attend due to unforeseen circumstances. We thought we'd use this space to help deliver his message. Best Buddies Massachusetts is looking for caring and compassionate adults who are looking to connect with others.  Best Buddies Citizens Program pairs adults with intellectual and development disabilities (IDD) with adults without IDD in one-to-one friendships!

There are currently 5,778 Best Buddy Citizens! - watch this video to learn more
 
One to One Commitment - Each month buddy pairs have a commitment to regularly communicate and get together. Buddy pairs are expected to communicate with one another on a weekly basis. This can be done via phone, email, social media, etc. Buddy pairs are expected to get together twice a month during the first six months of being matched. After the initial six months, matches have the option to get together for a longer period (four hours or more) once a month. Each match is asked to commit to their friendship for at least a year. For more information, contact us at jeffcalnan@bestbuddies.org.
Dave Kaiser Receives Paul Harris Fellow
Dave Kaiser, shown here at right with President-elect Elliott Rittenberg, received a multiple Paul Harris Fellowship award at our meeting on August 15.  The Paul Harris Fellow is an award given to those who have given $1000 dollars to the Rotary Foundation. Recognition is provided each time a member's aggregate donations reach an increment of $1,000.  It is one of the most prestigious awards in Rotary and thereby named after the founder of Rotary, Paul Harris. Donations to the Foundation support the many programs in which Rotary engages for doing good in the world. Foundation dollars are returned to our District, and ultimately to the Club in the form of grants to fund both local and international projects. Thank you, Dave, for being the inspiration!
 
Going Up? Practicing Your Rotary Elevator Speech
Membership is always an important topic for any Club. When our September 12 speaker had to reschedule, membership chair Gary Kelley took the opportunity to address this topic by showing one of the new membership videos produced for Clubs in Zone 32 by Lawrence Furbish, Assistant Rotary Coordinator.  For those of you who didn't have the opportunity to see this short but informative video, you can watch it here. Following the video, Gary asked each table to create a Rotary elevator speech. Dave Kaiser stole the moment with a statement that most felt epitomized the essence of Rotary:  A place where friends come together to find ways to make a positive impact in our local, national and world community. 
Repair Cafe - September 22
Westborough Rotary & the Westborough Public Library are hosting another repair cafe event.  Bring in your broken items (small appliances, vacuum cleaners, lamps, jewelry, bikes, toys,  . . .) or your knives that need sharpening.  Volunteers will try to fix them for FREE!
 
Join Us for Lunch or Dinner!
Wednesdays at 12:15pm at the Chateau; 1st Wednesday each month at 5pm (location varies - check "Upcoming Meetings" on our website)
Chateau Restaurant
95 Turnpike Road
Rt 9 & Rt 30
Westborough, MA  01581
United States
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