January 23, 2008

Pictured: Sponsoring Rotarian Tina Strong, new Rotarian Sandra Davis, and Club President Harry Dilello

It began like any other pleasant and enjoyable Deposit Rotary Club meeting on Wednesday, January 17, 2008. After Joy Felber's wonderful lasagna for lunch, the meeting began as usual with the Pledge of Allegiance and the introduction of our guests from the Sidney Rotary Club, Bill Davidson and Gilbert Malerk, who spoke about the Rotary District Conference to be held in Owego in May. It was a particularly special day because we inducted a new member, Sandra Davis, who I am very proud to say is my assistant teacher at my dance studio. Sandra was warmly welcomed into the club by all the Rotarians present. There was absolutely no indication of the riotous hysteria that was to follow.

The day had been set aside as a Rotary Trivia game hosted by our own Stan and Sue Elinsky. Teams were formed and it was clear from the beginning that Team #1, under the leadership of Bob Clemens and including Nancy Zacharias, Tina Strong, Jim Ficurilli, Shelly Ward, Brenda Lee (who had printed out cheat sheets with answers), and the new Rotarian Sandra Davis, would stop at nothing until victory was theirs, resorting to desperate tactics of cheating, intimidation, and all around unsportsmanlike conduct. Team #2, led by Pete Hempstead, was made up of Bonnie Hauber, Leo Cook, Bill Waldron, Joe Esteves, and Frank Verdon largely behaved themselves, but didn't seem to know much about Rotary Trivia, unlike Team #3, led by Rick Zacharias, which included President Harry Dilello, Carol Newman, Ray Cornwell, and myself, who really deserved to win the contest, all things considered. However, it was difficult to tell who knew their Rotary Trivia best, since despite the noble of efforts of exchange-student-turned-scorekeeper Paula Mazepa to maintain an accurate count, mass corruption precluded any sense of fairness and justice. While we were thankful to the Elinskys for organizing the game, the couple ran Rotary Trivia like the Marcoses ran the Philippines, maintaining complete control with their power to haphazardly levy fines and capriciously changing the rules whenever they felt like it, preventing our poor team from the win we justly deserved.

Things quickly escalated into an out-of-control riot when Team #1, burned by one of the dictators' whims, mounted a full scale insurrection led by Nancy Zacharias, a normally lovely person, who unfortunately turns into an unusually vociferous, competitive, and down-right hostile combatant when Rotary Trivia doesn't go her way. Despite a panicked attempt to hold onto power in which demagogue Stan commandeered the clock, we all realized it was one o'clock. We were spared what seemed to be an inevitable display of gross carnage when the Rotarians left the meeting to once again resume their roles as responsible citizens of the community. Until next week . . .

January 16, 2008

It was great to see everyone again in the new year as Rotary resumed its weekly meetings on January 9 following a holiday hiatus.  During this first meeting of 2008, it was announced that the December Lottery tickets sold by members of our club earned $872.33 for the Deposit Rotary Club charities.  A big thank you goes out to everyone who sold or purchased tickets; we appreciate your support!

 

In other club news, it's that time of year to select new officers and board members for the next Rotary year.  Brenda Lee was elected Vice President, Rick Zacharias was reelected as club secretary and Nancy Zacharias will also retain her job as club treasurer.  Elected to the Rotary board were Brenda Lee, Tina Strong, and myself.  The club presidency is going to be run a little differently as we are going to have a different president for each month of the Rotary year.  Many club members volunteered to serve as President for a month.

 

I was also happy to announce that I've started an online blog for our club where all my columns published in The Deposit Courier will be posted and archived.  Feel free to log onto http://depositrotary.blogspot.com, where you will be able to not only read all the postings of my column, but to post your own comments and feedback on them.  Check it out and I look forward to hearing from you!

December 19, 2007

At our weekly lunch on December 12, several of the many rewarding aspects of being a Rotarian made themselves clear. First of all, we had as our guests several members of the Hancock Rotary Club who came to share lunch and thank our club for inviting them to our Christmas party, which benefited the Food Pantries of each community. The presence of our Hancock friends was yet another reminder of the fact that the Rotary spirit of community service extends beyond our own club and is shared by Rotary members in virtually every community, in our own region, across the United States and throughout the globe.

It was wonderful as well to hear news of our local club's recent achievements. Our Christmas party yielded more for the Food Pantries than had I had originally reported—we raised $533 for each the Deposit and Hancock organizations. Sue Elinsky also informed us that the total result of our efforts during this holiday season was that $2,374 was raised for the Food Pantry Turkey Celebration. It's really amazing that an organization that has such fun times also accomplishes so much good work.

It was also a great treat to learn about the nation of Iceland from Rotarian Jim Ficurilli, who, along with his wife Ellen, had visited the country on their way to the wedding of a former Rotary exchange student from Finland who had stayed in Deposit for a year. We saw several stunning pictures of the Icelandic countryside, formed by volcanoes, and heard interesting details about the country and the people who inhabit it. Everyone seemed particularly fascinated to learn that many of the hot springs and natural baths that are huge tourist attractions are most often visited without bathing suits!

I'll see you back next week for the latest Rotary news and gossip!

December 12, 2007

I write this having just returned home from the Rotary Christmas party held at the Chestnut Inn on Saturday, December 8. Rotarians and guests were greeted by the Inn's beautiful holiday décor that was made even more charming by the homey ambience offered by the Chestnut's picturesque setting on Oquaga Lake . Everyone seemed to be in gracious holiday spirit as they warmly greeted old friends and happily met new ones. It was wonderful to see a strong contingent of Hancock Rotarians joining us for the evening.

After our delicious meal, the fun of our Christmas auction began. Wrapped gifts brought by the attendees were sold off by our own auctioneer, Smitty Axtell. I am very happy to announce that by the end of the evening, both the Deposit and Hancock Rotary Clubs had each taken in $475, which will be given to each community's respective food pantry. Can you imagine a more fun and rewarding way to give back to the community? Many thanks to Mark Tucker for making this party a wonderful reality!

In other Rotary news, our club was treated to a performance by the sixth graders of the DCS Elementary School chorus at our weekly meeting. Under the direction of Mrs Rae Turner, the students performed "Festival Sanctus," "When Christmas Comes to Town," "I've Got Rhythm," and "One Candle." I was astonished by powerful quality of the students' voices, their ability to handle complex harmonies, and their excellent pronunciation of Latin in two of the pieces they performed. Solo parts highlighted the talents of the individual singers and by contrast, demonstrated the immense sound of the full chorus. This variation of intensities truly demonstrates the artistic sophistication Mrs Turner instills in her students. It was also amazing to see how many students are part of the chorus! We extend our gratitude to Tina Strong for arranging for the chorus to visit our weekly meeting. Stay tuned next week for more news from the world of Rotary!

December 5, 2007

Our club's lunch meeting on Wednesday, November 28 was a busy and exciting one. First of all, it was announced that our club has raised $1,617 for the Deposit Food Pantry to buy Christmas turkeys for families in the local community. We were very excited and proud of this accomplishment. Many thanks go to Sue Elinsky for all of her work in helping our club raise this money!

Rotary is also looking forward to our upcoming Christmas party and auction on December 8 at the Chestnut Inn. I'm especially looking forward to spending that time with my fellow Rotarians in such a beautiful setting. Thank you to Mark Tucker for making it happen!

We were also treated to a visit from the DCS Girls Field Hockey Team and their coach, Mrs. Heather Conklin, and the team statistician, Mrs. Margaret Blaho. After our lunch, Coach Conklin introduced each player, her interests, accomplishments, and future plans, many of which included challenging and exciting college and career ambitions. It's clear that their coach really cares about the girls and maintains high standards of them both on the field and in the classroom, thus encouraging them to develop not only into skilled athletes, but well-rounded individuals of limitless potential.

During the meeting, Coach Conklin made two significant announcements regarding her team this year. First, Lindsey Wagner and Emily Cecere were named First Team All Stars and received field hockey player figurines. Coach Conklin was also very proud to announce that Deposit's JV and Varsity Field Hockey Teams received the Sportsmanship Award out of all teams in New York State 's Section IV. Our club was very happy to have the team join us and it was wonderful to be able to congratulate all the girls on their accomplishments and great season!