Stories

May 4th Board Meeting ReCap

We were excited to be joined once again by Rotarians Sheri Major, who was back after a grueling tax season, and Gil Barnes, who was back after a not-so-grueling winter in sunny Florida.

Tim reported out on activities from the May Board Meeting:

From our Treasurer, our Club account is in good shape, with not a lot of activity, although funds are starting to come in for the golf tournament. As far as the Foundation account, investments are down roughly 13% as the market is not so great at the moment, however we are reminded that we are playing the long game and should not be overly concerned. Tim, Jeff, and Frank will be meeting to put together a proposed budget for next year.

Gil provided a recap of the Spring Community Grant cycle detailing $65K in requests received by the Club. The Grant committee met on Monday and provided a recommendation to the Board which approved $13,676 in funding along with a multi-year commitment to a local organization which will total $25,000 over 5 years. Organizations will be notified about awards later this week.

The Membership Committee will be meeting on May 12th at 4 pm at Ed's house. The topics planned for discussion are recruitment, retention, and membership guidelines.

The Scholarship Committee is beginning to receive applications. Tim reminded the Club that we are growing our scholarship giving which has increased from $1,000 to $1,500/year and from 4 to 6 scholarships awarded annually. He also reminded the Club that unlike most scholarships, the Chariho Rotary Scholarships follow students for all 4 years of their undergraduate education.

Frank is continuing to work with the URI Master Gardeners on the Courtyard. We may do a service project in advance of a planned ceremony at the school to memorialize the library in memory of Barry Ricci.

The Little Libraries project moves forward with Interact. The Club has purchased 10 little libraries which the students will be painting. Each of the 4 elementary schools has agreed to receive a library and we are currently looking for locations for the other 6.

Plans for the golf tournament on June 10th are coming together. The tournament is now SOLD OUT with all 144 golfer spots filled. Rotarians are encouraged to follow up with their assigned sponsors and raffle items. Rotarians can also bring in their contributions to the liquor and wine baskets at any upcoming meeting. Finally, there will be a Million Dollar Meal at Ed's house to stuff golf bags on June 7th.

Other upcoming dates of note:

May 31st: Community Giving Night

July 12th: Directors and Officers Installation & Interact Installation Night

July 26th: Scholarship Night

Chikumbuso

International Service with Chikumbuso

Our friends at Chikumbso shared this great photo with gratitude for sustained support from our Club. Chikumbuso, a grassroots project in Ng'ombe, Zambia, provides an alternative lifestyle to the most vulnerable women and children in the township. The organization provides free schooling for children as well as adult training and capacity building, income generating activities and community building programs.

Applications Open for RYLA

RYLA APPLICATIONS NOW OPEN!

The District 7950 RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Awards) program is a life-changing leadership program for tomorrow's leaders to gain hands-on experience in developing leadership skills with a focus on community service. The conference is open to high school sophomores and juniors from Rhode Island and Massachusetts with lasting opportunities for RYLA Alumni to step forward and work with Rotarians and other organizations to put their leadership skills into action through coordination of leadership seminars and community projects throughout the year.

Chariho HS Courtyard Spruces Up for Fall

CHS Courtyard Spruces-up for Fall

On the first Saturday of November, a team of 25 volunteers from the Chariho Rotary Club and Chariho High School Interact Club joined forces for three hours to clear leaves, weeds, and yard debris from the Chariho HS Courtyard. The Courtyard, which was a gift from the Rotary Club to the High School more than a decade ago, has been used by students to study or enjoy lunch outdoors, as well as by the school for events, receptions, and recitals. COVID-19 has only made the Courtyard more valuable to the school, serving at times as both an outdoor classroom and meeting space.

Chariho Rotary Pitches in during COVID-19 Pandemic

Chariho Rotary Pitches in During COVID-19 Pandemic

Chariho Rotary is supporting Southern Rhode Island Volunteers as they staff a call center at the Wakefield Belmont Market in response to the COVID-19 Pandemic. The call center is operation on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 7:30 am to Noon and open to Southern Rhode Island Seniors who are home bound. Seniors can call the Senior Services Hotline: 401-783-4664, place an order for groceries, and provide payment information. Groceries will be delivered SAME DAY and FREE of charge. Anyone interested in volunteering for this program and making a difference for the most vulnerable in our community is encouraged to contact Southern Rhode Island Volunteers directly!

Thanks for Joining Us!

Thank you to everyone who joined us for our annual pasta dinner. As one of Rotary's signature annual events, this was a great night to support the good work our Club does, while surrounded by our favorite neighbors!

Go to our Event listing for more.

Cow Chip BINGO Raises $2,500 for Hasbro Children's Hospital

Mistletoe and Cassie have done the deed! Three plops dropped and three prizes awarded!!

1st PLOP and $1,000 cash prize goes to Deed #1256, Kristy Armstrong.

2nd PLOP and $500 cash prize goes to Deed #0849, Mikel Nicolo.

3rd PLOP and $250 cash prize goes to Deed #0749, R. Ziegler of Plainville, CT.

We want to thank everyone who participated in Cow Chip BINGO and helped us raise funds for Hasbro Children's Hospital. We sold a total of 1,632 deeds and are happy to kick in a few extra bucks and round event proceeds up to an even $2,500 for such a great Rhode Island cause!

Thank you to the Pomona Grange for allowing us to host today’s event and RI Representative Blake Filippi for R.I. House District 36 for volunteering as our event MC. And of course, thank you to Mike Camacho from Briar Berry Farm for sending over the very sweet Mistletoe and Cassie!

Chariho Rotary Recognizes Youth Service

Congratulations to this year’s recipients of the Rotary Club of Chariho Memorial Scholarships. These scholarships are awarded based on the student’s demonstration of community service. Students from Chariho and Exeter West-Greenwich High Schools received college scholarships for their College Freshman year during a special evening ceremony at Richmond Country Club during a recent Rotary Club Meeting on July 9^th. Along with the 4 High School Seniors receiving awards, there were 12 additional recipients of The Rotary Club of Chariho Memorial Scholarships for renewals as they enter into their sophomore, junior and senior years at their respective colleges.

Dentistry from the Heart

Image may contain: 2 people, people smiling Dentistry from the Heart is a day of free dental care provided by volunteers at Arrowhead Dental, taking place this year on Sat., Sept. 29 starting at 7:30 a.m. Alex Prevey, Arrowhead's marketing coordinator, visited this week to give us the background on the program.

Celebrating its 10th year, the free care day has grown from an average of 100-120 patients to a high point last year of 250 patients. The Arrowhead staff are joined by an increasing number of volunteers from other dental programs from around the state.

Individuals and entire families who could not afford a dentist on their own come for care to the event. Treatments can include anything from basic cleaning, x-rays and exam to some basic surgery and extractions. Follow-up visits are provided when necessary.

Chariho Rotary is supporting Dentistry from the Heart with a $200 donation.

For more info, go to https://www.arrowhead-dental.com/ .

Rotary Meeting Notes - March 22, 2016

Posted by Pres. Frank Hopkins on Mar 27, 2016

Notes from Nov. 24 meeting

Posted by Francis (Frank) Hopkins

Special Thanksgiving Wishes to all of you and your families.

winter schedule:

With the closure of RCC at the end of December, we will be making the rounds.

January - Breachway Grill & Restaurant http://www.breachwaygrill.com/

February - The Cove Restaurant http://www.thecoveri.com/about.php

March - Wood River Inn http://thewoodriverinn.com/

Black and White Masquerade a success!

Posted on Mar 29, 2015

With a sold-out house, plenty of generous auction donations, and generous guests on hand to bid on them, the only problems at the Black and White were those of abundance.

Feeding 240 people, it turns out, requires more than one buffet line! Who'd a thunk it?

But everyone seemed to be having a great time, whether they were sitting at the front of the house, where the food and entertainment was, or the back, where much shushing was happening whenever a good auction item came up for bids.

The venue and decorations were outstanding, the penguins and birds of prey were huge hits, and the live model animals roaming the floor and pausing for photo ops were amazing.

And while some accounting was still taking place at last report, it looks like the three organizations, Chariho Rotary, Chariho Community 2000 and Westerly College Club, will be splitting about $21,000 for their scholarship accounts.

Not too bad for our first attempt at such a large and complex event!

Thank you to Liz Pasquilini and Kim Kelley for their leadership on this one!

Black & White gala coming up quick!

Posted on Mar 07, 2015

Journey with us for a fabulous evening of decadence and adventure benefiting the scholarship funds of The Rotary Club of Chariho, Community 2000 Education Foundation, and the Westerly College Club. Enjoy a chef prepared dinner at the newly renovated Preserve at Boulder Hills, live music from the Atlantic Ave Band, both a live and silent auction, and a few EXOTIC surprises. Tickets are $75/person. Black and White cocktail attire is encouraged - and don't forget your mask!

For tickets, please click on the image at right.

To see the Facebook event page, click here.

Joint District Conference registration open

The joint District 7950 and 7255 (Long Island) Conference will be held April 23 - 26 at the Marriot Mystic Hotel, just down the road from us. The shared conference promises to allow Rotarians in both Districts to network and make new friends.

Tickets for the full weekend will cost $800 for a single or $1200 for a couple, and include three nights lodging, all sessions, access to the Hospitality Room, dinner on Thursday and Governor's Banquet on Saturday, plus breakfast on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

A one-day ticket is available for Saturday for $125 that includes sessions plus breakfast and the Governor's Banquet.

A link to the registration form is available in the Events section of the District 7950 website home page.

For more information, email rpicard1@cox.net.

Special Olympics, Falun Dafa among recent speakers

At the March 17 meeting, Jenny Wang of the Falun Dafa Association shared with us the background of the Shen Yun Performing Arts that her organization brings to Rhode Island each year.

Shen Yun, a celebration through dance, music, costume and story of ancient, nearly lost Chinese cultures, was founded by Falun Dafa (also known as Falun Gong) to counter attempts by the ruling Communist Party in China to destroy or discredit any religious or spiritual aspects of the country's culture.

When Falun Gong, a Buddhist discipline that includes aspects of Taoism, became so widely practiced in China that practioners requested recognition from the government in 1999, the practice was instead declared heretical and tens of thousands of practioners were imprisoned. To this day, Falun Gong can only be practiced outside China, and if any known practioners return to their homeland, they are immediately imprisoned and threratened with execution if they do not recant their beliefs.

Shen yun was created as a way to preserve aspects of the ancient, spiritual cultures of China, and incorporates graceful choreography, colorful, flowing costumes, and beautiful, uplifting music to maintain a spritual connection with the past.

Shen Yun Performing Arts will be appearing at PPAC in Providence April 17-18.

Dennis DeJesus of Special Olympics Rhode Island spoke at our March 10 meeting. He described how Special Olympics was founded by Eunice Kennedy Shriver in the early 60s when Shriver served on President Kennedy's Panel on Mental Retardation. Her interest in helping those with intellectual disabilities was a result of her and Pres. Kennedy's older sister, Rosemary, who suffered from what was then known as mental retardation, a term no longer used today.

Built on the concept of promoting physical activity and competition opportunities for people with intellectual disabilities, Special Olympics currently includes about 4 million athletes in 150 countries worldwide, including some 4,000 in RI, and now includes a number of health-related initiatives, such as Healthy Athletes, which provides free physical screenings, and fundraising and awareness initiatives, most notably the Law Enforcement Torch Run.

The RI Summer Games are held at the URI Athletic Fields in late May and last year attracted about 1,500 athletes to compete.

To learn more or to see how you can help, go to http://www.specialolympicsri.org

Welcoming New Year at Lucky House

Posted by David Henley on Jan 12, 2015

The first meeting of 2015 was hosted by "Cousin" Danny at Lucky House, with a good, strong turnout.

A board meeting was held earlier, making this a speaker-less Assembly meeting . President Jeanne reported out on the board meeting:

A $3,000 donation to the YMCA Reach Out to Youth campaign. This has been an annual donation to what the club has always regarded as a very worthy cause, providing Y scholarships to kids who would not be able to join otherwise.
A request from Stand Up For Animals was denied
A request to fund a Shelter Box was denied. It was felt that there is no immediate crisis, and our International Chair is working on a proposal for the near future. Rick will be working with Jorge on this.
Southern RI Volunteers 5K sponsorship was approved at last year;s level of $150.

Charlestown Seafood Festival has let us know that they have a booth available if we want to use it. They have one vender serving strawberry shortcake but would allow another. The festival, which is held the week before Washington County Fair, opens on Thursday evening and closes at the end of the day on Sunday. We will be kicking this around for a while.

A contract has been signed with the Preserve at Boulder Hills for our spring fundraiser. We have guaranteed them $5,000 income, so we will all need to put our best effort in to selling tickets. We are sharing the fundraiser this year with the Chariho Community 2000 Education Foundation, which should help a lot.

Next week and till the end of February we will be meeting at Wood River Inn. Make sure Kim knows your meal choice, and if you are going to miss, call her on Monday to let her know.

Club's winter home will be Wood River Inn

Posted by David Henley

Beginning Jan. 6, 2015, the club will be meeting at its new "winter home" for two months while Richmond Country Club closes up for the season.

The choice of the Wood River Inn as a more-or-less permanent meeting place for the winter is a change from previous years, where we have changed our location, sometimes weekly, to various restaurants in the area. The combination of the private room the Inn offers for our meeting and the opportunity to avoid the confusion resulting from becoming nomads in winter made the move seem like a good choice.

It had been the popular opinion in the past that we should show support to as many local restaurants as possible while 'on the road', but that has made keeping costs under control and engaging speakers for meetings both difficult. Also, because the Country Club is also closed in March, we will have opportunities then to move to other venues if we choose.

Quote of the Week - Who Said It?

Posted by Rita Casady on Sep 15, 2010

We could never learn to be brave and patient, if there were only joy in the world.

Integrated eBulletin for Easier Communication

Posted by Beth Krynicki

ClubRunner makes it easy to publish your weekly Club eBulletin, and send to all members and friends of the club, by incorporating home page stories and events with the push of a button.