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Important Message!!!
Bahamas Disaster Relief
President Bob Cruz and Donna Vignali
Fellow Rotarians,
My daughter Alicia is working along side, with Andrew Sharpe, Executive Director of the Caribbean Foundation in Boston, in collecting urgent items needed for the people of the Bahamas. Andrew spoke with the Ambassador from the Bahamas today and he listed the following items as some of the most needed at this time.
Flashlights
Batteries
Insect repellent
Plastic tarps
Water purification kits
First aid kits
Portable lights
Andrew will collect the items from Alicia and he will drive all donations to the Embassy in New York. Everything is going to the Bahamas Disaster Relief Fund coordinated through the Embassy of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas. Please consider donating one or several of these items. Alicia and I will be at the picnic if you would like to bring them at that time or maybe to next weeks meeting where I will collect them. Your help is appreciated.
Yours in Rotary,
Donna Vignali
Club Business and Announcements
Sandra Wilhock, Fran’s sister, is being proposed as a new member.
Fred Frostic is resigning because he is moving to Washington, DC. Best wishes, Fred!
Beth announced that October is Polio month. Please contribute via the club birdhouse.
The date of the Beach Bumper Ball Challenge has been changed to November 16. Please solicit companies and organizations to sponsor teams. Use the video to get people interested.
Donna is preparing a Power Point presentation about the work of the club to show at the beach event. If you have any photos of past service projects, please send them to her at dvignali@outlook.com.
Nancy and Donna will represent the club at the District’s New Member Orientation on Sept. 28.
Happy Bucks
Nancy is taking her first OLLI course and will go to Boston to hear Caroline Kennedy speak at Emmanuel College’s 100th anniversary.
Betsy noted that the date is 9/19/19.
Fran’s husband is having open heart surgery on Oct. 17.
Judy has a new grand-nephew, Alec.
Dick told a joke he couldn’t tell last week.
PROGRAM
Program: Maury Klein, “Monumental Decisions, from the Civil War to the Statue of Liberty,” introduced by Beth Leconte
Maury Klein is a retired professor of U. S. History at URI and the author of 18 books. Beth said his OLLI classes are very popular.
The thesis of Prof. Klein’s talk is that all monuments reflect the context in which they were created and should be preserved as part of the historical record. Monuments have meaning for those who created them, and subsequent generations should try to understand the context surrounding their origins.
Monuments to soldiers killed in the Civil War are found in nearly every town in the South, often inscribed, “Lest We Forget.” The context is that in the mid-1800s, people believed in self-determination and they were more loyal to their home states than to the relatively new nation. Even Robert E. Lee received the offer of a commission in the Union Army but felt his loyalty was to his home state of Virginia. Self-determination was more important than slavery, which many Southerners would have given up if they felt they could have.
Maury pointed out that if subsequent groups disagree with the meaning of a monument that is not a valid reason to remove it. He gave the example of the Statue of Liberty, which represents the value of inclusiveness. He asked what would be the reaction if anti-immigration groups wanted to tear it down. His point is that destroying monuments or removing someone’s name from a building does not change the history of what the monument represented to the people who built it or what the person whose name was removed from the building accomplished.
Professor Klein’s talk was followed by a lively discussion. At the closing he shared with us that he and his wife will be leaving Rhode Island for Scottsdale, AZ, this fall, after having lived here since 1964.
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