Charlie called the meeting to order, Dean lead us in the Pledge and Rennie lead the Reflection
Claire won the 50/50, and won the pot! Congrats, Claire!
The calendar raffle winners were Domenic Dawson (Julie) and Anthony DiSando (Dean)
Our guest speaker was Ray Duffy from the American Red Cross
Membership Update
This week's membership video was about the Different Types of Memberships, Part 1. There are active and honorary options, as well as service, corporate, and family memberships available to include all who want to participate.
General Topics
The Bell Ringing participation was very successful with every time slot filled. Thank you to everyone who participated!
Raffle Calendars should be available for us to start selling within the next week or so
Breakfast for the Bands report - Louise has contacted most of the sponsors, but there is still approximately $2000 outstanding (mainly from Fitchburg Club sponsors)
Claire gave a thorough update on the Build-A-Bear project and contest. 400 3rd graders will create posters showing how Rotary is important to the community. 100 posters will be chosen as entries into the contest, and the final winner will receive a $100 gift card. Details will be on the Rotary website.
Our Club holiday party is this week, Dec 11 at 6 pm, at Brady's Restaurant. Can't wait to try out the new restaurant!
Our By-Laws are up for review at the Board Meeting after our club meeting
Next week, 12/16, please remember to bring a holiday gratuity for our server at Rye and Thyme $$$$
THE HISTORY OF THE TEDDY BEAR
The name teddybear comes from former United States PresidentTheodore Roosevelt, who was commonly known as "Teddy" (though he loathed being referred to as such). The name originated from an incident on a bear hunting trip in Mississippi in November 1902, to which Roosevelt was invited by Mississippi Governor Andrew H. Longino. There were several other hunters competing, and most of them had already killed an animal. A suite of Roosevelt's attendants cornered, clubbed, and tied an American black bear to a willow tree after a long exhausting chase with hounds. They called Roosevelt to the site and suggested that he should shoot it. He refused to shoot the bear himself, deeming this unsportsmanlike, but instructed that the bear be killed to put it out of its misery, and it became the topic of a political cartoon by Clifford Berryman in The Washington Post on November 16, 1902. While the initial cartoon of an adult black bear lassoed by a handler and a disgusted Roosevelt had symbolic overtones, later issues of that and other Berryman cartoons made the bear smaller and cuter.
Morris Michtom saw the drawing of Roosevelt and was inspired to create a teddy bear. He created a tiny soft bear cub and put it in the shop window with a sign "Teddy's bear", after sending a bear to Roosevelt and receiving permission to use his name. The toys were an immediate success and Michtom founded the Ideal Novelty and Toy Co.
GUEST SPEAKER
RAY DUFFY
AMERICAN RED CROSS
Clara Barton formed the American Red Cross in 1862. Soon thereafter, Henri Dunant of Switzerland founded the International Red Cross in 1863.
The Red Cross has 5 lines of service - blood drives, armed forces services, international, training, and disaster relief. They are always in search of volunteers, so please consider giving of your time to this worthy organization.
