Charlie called the meeting to order, Frank lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance, Rennie lead us in the prayer and Dean collected the happy and sad fines.
Christine won the raffle, but no Joker was pulled. The deck is getting smaller and smaller!
The calendar raffle winner was Mark Milano, sold by Jen Stacey.
Our guests were Karen Gaffney, Tina McAndrew from the Leominster Library, and our speaker David Kaiser of the RLI (Rotary Leadership Institute).
MEETING CANCELLATIONS - Please note - No meetings on June 17 or July 1.
MEMBERSHIP UPDATES
Frank is working on a proposal to bring in new members
Christine, Johnnie, Ruby and Julie met as the newest club members, to discuss what brought us to Rotary, and how to entice new members.
Findings will be sent to Frank to incorporate into his document.
At our meeting, we viewed the Rotary video "What do you get out of Rotary?". We should look at members as customers, make it clear what the benefits are, including meeting new people, personal growth, continuing ed, public speaking skills, etc, and serving our community.
GENERAL TOPICS
Charlie is filing our club corporation documents, and will finalize at the June 10th Forum meeting
The Revolution tailgate event is scheduled for July 17th. Charlie will send one last email to sign up to attend.
The annual Summer Stroll is scheduled for June 8th 3-7 pm and we have several volunteers scheduled to attend the event and represent as a club. We bagged 400+ bags of penny candy as give-aways for this fun event.
Charlie was interviewed on 6/5 on WLPZ. A Radio Star is Born!
The flower boxes are planted! The boxes in front of Rye and Thyme were planted two weeks ago, and this week the half-whiskey barrels were done. They are beautiful; nice work team!
RLI, Rotary "Learning" Institute as David likes to call it, is a grass roots training opportunity not formally run by Rotary International, although it is offered internationally. It is comprehensive Rotary training in an adult learning setting. The 3-part sessions are offered annually, and the next local class will be held in Marlboro on 1/25/20. The sessions are in particular valuable for onboarding new members. Go to rlinea.org for more information.
FUN FACTS
Leominster "Villages"
The city is divided into several small "villages" such as French Hill, a large hill covered in planned blocks of "triple decker" apartment houses located from 1st Street to 12th Street. It is called French Hill because this is where the large immigrant French population took root. In the early 20th century, on Lincoln Terrace, immigrating Italian families began to arrive in the area and built a semi-closed society which existed for many years. The French population built a new church and moved closer to it. Other areas include Morse Hollow, North Leominster, Rice Hill, the Flats, the Bowery, the West Side, and the Car Barn area, located along the Fitchburg border, so-called because the Fitchburg & Leominster Railway trolley cars were stored and maintained in this area. It now has buses. A granite marker showing the birthplace of Johnny Appleseed can be found on Johnny Appleseed Lane.
