Linda Hennessey introduced our three guests - Fran Alexakos' husband and our guest speaker's father Britt Bell; the guest speaker, Ana Bess Moyer Bell; and her grandmother Mary Burchard.
Pam Ancheta talked about "incubator" committees under Harv Whitley's Community Service chairmanship. Like the support that a business incubator gives to an entrepreneurial concept or a startup company, the incubator committees will be where our club's Rotarians can get the support to pursue a service project to address underserved needs in our community.
Along with new ideas, the development of a service project could be an expansion of something the club has done before or continues to do. For example the group that maintains the club's garden plot on the bike trail on Main Street could also volunteer to plant sea grass or other vegetation along waterways in and around South County. Perhaps a couple Rotarians could work to expand Betsy Wisehart's annual collection of toiletries given to patients at the veterans hospital and think of other ways to support veterans and their families. A few Rotarians may want to think of a project to address the opioid epidemic in our community (see today's speaker). Harv and Pam are eager to support your ideas.
Next week, Harry Cesario will present the Rotary Minute.
--Wednesday, September 27th -- Board of Director's meeting -- 5:30pm @ Navatek conference room (1080 Kingstown Road, Building 5, Peace Dale, RI 02879)
--Monday, October 2nd-- District Governor Visit! DG Steve Certa will be meeting with the Board of Directors @ 4:30pm ahead of the weekly meeting and will be the guest speaker at the regular meeting.
--Monday, October 9th -- NO MEETING -- Columbus Day observed in Rhode Island
--Tuesday, October 10th -- Balloon Festival Committee meeting, 6:00pm @ Navatek conference room (1080 Kingstown Road, Building 5, Peace Dale, RI 02879)
--Monday, October 9th -- Jamestown Rotary Club's 42nd Annual Jamestown Classic Bike Race, Registration @ 7:00AM /Start @8:30AM, More info, click here
--WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 11TH -- 5:00 - 7:00PM -- WHALERS BREWING COMPANY (1174 Kingstown Road, South Kingstown, RI 02879) The first of monthly second-Wednesday gatherings that will be held instead of the week's regular meeting. It is a relaxed time to hang out with fellow Rotarians to get to know each other and invited guests (colleagues, spouses, partners, friends, neighbors, etc.).
--Thursday, November 9th -- Rotary Foundation Dinner @ at the Venus de Milo restaurant (75 Grand Army Highway, Swansea, MA 02777). The featured speaker will be our own Razia Jan an inspiring Rotarian who opened a girls school in Afghanistan. Registration is $46.50 per person / $465 for a table of 10. Click here for flyer.
IMPORTANT CORRECTION concerning the change for regular meetings:
At the special Board of Directors' session on Sept 14th, a consensus was reached based on the data compiled and reviewed from the May 2017 survey of club membership and from an availability-review of a variety of venues in our area:
--Thursday lunchtime for regular club meetings would be the most favorable meeting-time to a majority of club members.
--Three (3) venues - the Holiday Inn; Arturo Joe's (140 Point Judith Rd, Narragansett, RI 02882), and Camden's Bar & Grill (756 Kingstown Rd, Wakefield, RI 02879) were the most suitable locations to hold our meeting based on a variety of criteria detailed in a handout distributed at the meeting of September 18th.
-- THE CORRECTION: At the regular meeting of Monday, Oct 16th, the selected venue for Thursday lunch meetings will be announced along with the start date in January 2018. Until that January start date, our club will continue to meet on Monday nights at the Holiday Inn on Route 1.
Hurricane Disaster Relief Ad Hoc Committee:
Marion Humphrey announced that Rotarians are still invited to give donations to this committee (Jay Shartenberg, Joe Dziobek, Doug Wardwell, and Marion) to contribute to Rotary's Disaster USA program (click here for website)
Social Committee - Introduction of Second Wednesday Socials:
Mary Roda announced a new idea intended to boost club morale and encourage more personal interaction among membership. The plan is to REPLACE one meeting a month with a purely social activity – a gathering that isn't at the usual meeting location, better yet, at a different location each time.
So instead of holding the regular meeting on the second week of the month, a social gathering will be scheduled from 5 -7pm on the second Wednesday of the month. Again, it's an opportunity for club members and their invited guests to relax and enjoy each others' company at a setting that is NOT a regular meeting.
This all starts next month: Wednesday, October 11 @ Whalers Brewing Company, 5:00 – 7:00pm. See more in calendar highlights section of this newsletter or click on the club calendar icon in the right-column. The next and future “Second Wednesday Socials” will be posted in THE WHEEL newsletter & the club's website calendar. Contact Mary Roda for questions or comments.
Treasurers' Mystery Deposits still unsolved: Betsy Wisehart is still asking club members for help in identifying the "mystery deposits" she mentioned at last week's meeting. So if you can help her out, Betsy's email is <betsy@wisehart.biz>. Here are the four (4) deposit amounts:
Spencer Seitz reminded the club about Karl Midunsky's condition as he continues to recuperate from his hiking injuries. He may be out of commission for several weeks if not months so please email him your positive thoughts and prayers and let him know that while he's away he's not forgotten. Karl's email <karl-heinz@midunsky.com>
Elizabeth Candas updated the club on her husband's, Sezgin Candas, condition as he continues to recover from his eye surgeries.
Pam Ancheta -- forgetting to wear her badge last week.
Linda Hennessey -- is driving a rental truck because she recently had an auto accident in the parking lot of Benny's.
Betsy Wisehart -- bragged about the Patriot's win, the Red Sox's win....and the Yankee's lost
Robin McGuigan -- talked about visiting his daughter & how before today's meeting started, the discussion at his table over healthcare in our country got "a bit heated" but he's reassured about the fellowship of Rotary even in the midst of major disagreements
Herb Mansfield -- talked about his softball team's losses at a recent tournament, but he's thankful to have been able to participate
Jim Buchanan -- talked about his fourth grandchild
Dave Kring -- returned from a trip to Ireland (and the Cliffs of Moher where many shows & movies scenes are shot) and a visit with his youngest daughter during freshman-year parents' weekend
Marion Humphrey -- thanks to the Rotarians who attended the fundraiser the Julia Yang performed in to raise funds for South Kingstown's "A Community Together" and she requested Elizabeth speak about Sezgin's eye surgeries
Spencer Seitz -- told the story of how he once crashed a newly purchased car he got for his lovely wife as he was leaving the dealership parking lot....Linda Hennessey's car accident story for happy bucks was similar to his own.
Ana Bess Moyer Bell the founder of COAAST a RI based non-profit organization that offers arts-based education and therapeutic programing to eradicate the opioid epidemic, aid in prevention education for teens, and provides continuing medical education to healthcare providers working in addiction/behavioral health fields.
Her two-act play "Four Legs to Stand On" will be performed at the Contemporary Theatre Company (327 Main St, South Kingstown, RI 02879) on Sunday, October 8, 2017 @ 7pm. Admission is a "suggested donation." Click here for a Boston Globe article about Ana's work. Click here for a Rhode Island Monthly article about the play.
Ana Bess Moyer Bell won best oral form presentation from NYU for her master’s thesis, which used arts-based-research to examine how therapeutic theater created social change in communities ravaged by the opioid epidemic. She sat on the board of the North American Drama Therapy Association’s student committee and was the Editor and Chief of the student newsletter. She currently works as a Drama Therapy consultant for The BETES Organization creating and implementing programs and generating research for families of children diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. She previously worked as a drama therapist at Access Community Health Center in Manhattan, NY an outpatient substance abuse clinic. She also held a position as a drama therapist at the VA Hospital in West Haven, CT working with patients in hospice, cancer treatment, and PTSD diagnoses. From 2013-2014 she volunteered in San Quentin Prison where she co-facilitated group talk therapy with inmates. She worked for the Siren Theatre Project in Oakland, CA as the community liaison, where she helped collect and perform local women’s issues. California Institute of Integral Studies BA, Interdisciplinary Studies ’13, New York University ’16 MA, Drama Therapy.
IF you need further information please let me know, I may be reached by email alexakos249@gmail.com, text, or phone. 401-474-6560
Note: Regular Club meetings will continue to be Monday nights 5:30pm at the Holiday Inn on Route 1 until the date of the new meeting location. This announcement is on the agenda for Monday, Oct. 16th.
