Rotary Club
of East Hartford
   High Gear

Volume 74 | Issue 31, January 27, 2021

  
12:15 President Bob opened today’s meeting by leading us in the pledge.
 The Invocation was Anwar’s inspired reading of a poem, “Unity in Diversity” by Peter Vector.
 
Unified in Diversity.
That's what people today should be.
Humans embracing harmony and happiness.
Hope that flowers from the seed,
That will allow us all to prosper.

Why does colour or race matter?
Why not join together, instead of being scrambled and scattered?
Why can't we just not plainly see,
The unity in diversity?

People will be people all the same,
And under the setting sun,
Nothing may ever change,

But I am here to take a stand,
To show the world how to finally be,

Unified in Diversity.
 
Club Foundation Chair, Sue Klock, spoke briefly about the importance of club members who have an interest in community projects registering for one of this year’s district grants webinars.  See below for links to registering for one of the webinars.
 
Unusual take on climate change presented
Anwar introduced today’s speaker, Harlow A. Hyde, author of Climate Change: A Brief History of the Last 50 Million Years
Born and educated in South Dakota, Mr. Hyde served in the Peace Corps in 2002, and was an administrator in Nebraska state government for over 30 years.   He is retired, living in Florida, and has been a member Rotary clubs in Nebraska and Florida.
 
Harlow stressed that his views are based on his study of statistics about both temperature changes and, more importantly, increases in precipitation.  He pointed out that for many in the center of our country slight increases in both temperature and precipitation can result in more profitable farms and in those areas “climate change” is welcome.
 
It was clear from the Q&A following his remarks that he did not convince everyone of his view that predictions of rising sea levels are overly apocalyptic and often self-serving but also that we were all listening intently and once again enjoying a thought-provoking program.  Thanks, Anwar, for that.
 
Now for club business
T
NOW FOR CLUB BUSINESS:
President Bob shared that the raffle committee has been busy and will have its final planning meeting this Friday night.  Raffle goes live on Feb 1st and will end April 30th. The drawing will occur May 5th.  We are urged to use email and all social media to reach out to family and friends.  Wes Willett, one of the raffle committee members, is available to help members “survive” promoting this new online raffle.
 
Treasurer George, Secretary Wes, and President Bob have agreed that the club will use Cash App and Venmo to pay club fines, dues etc.  Bob promises the 50\50 raffle and Sergeant at Arms will be coming back to our meetings.  Wes will prepare explanation about how to use these apps and share it with all of us.
Perhaps President Bob is looking forward to life post presidency? Today he mentioned two of our traditional fall events, the Hartford Marathon, about which Neal will keep us informed, and our club’s annual golf tournament, which is set for Sept 20, 2021.  In his words “Get your clubs ready!!”
 
President Bob and the usual suspects will be distributing masks this Thursday morning at Riverside and Intercommunity Health, then next Wednesday morning at 10 AM at the East Hartford Police Department on Burnside Avenue.  Bob encourages everyone to be there to show our club’s face.
 
President-elect Sue Klock mentioned that, with Wes’s help, she now has a very useful database to revive our club’s phone chain.  She will be discussing this with the board at its next meeting, then getting it up and running during February (hope we will not need it for a long time).
 
The next meeting of the Board will occur this Tuesday at 6 PM.  It is via Zoom with usual sign in meeting ID (8527463254) and code (9entuE). 
 
And, last but not least, next week, our speaker will be Ed Futa, currently RI Representative and formerly RI General Secretary.  Ed Futa is the most entertaining speaker I have had the privilege of enjoying in all my years in Rotary.  Do not miss this meeting!!!
2021-2022 grant-funded projects. There will also be basic information about The Rotary Foundation.  President-elect Sue encourages anyone who wants to be involved with projects next year, including Board members who vote to approve them, register for one of the webinars.
 
To Register for the February 25th session and receive the meeting link 
 
To Register for the March 30th session
The grants webinars will highlight changes made for
In prior years, the deadline for submitting a district grant application has been May 1 of the Rotary year preceding the grant year; so, we need to be planning now.
 
And that’s all for now.
Sue Klock, recorder for January.
 
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