Rotary Spoke 05 15 17

Posted by Allan Azoff on May 15, 2017

Rotary Welcomes Our 2017 Scholarship Recipients.

The only good news about the weather today is that THE RAIN HAS STOPPED!  Still cold.  Still cloudy, but it’s a start. 
 
The Rotary Club of Lexington gathered for its weekly meeting and to make our annual scholarship presentations.  The room was packed with Rotarians, guests, the recipients and their families.   There were 17 Lexington Rotarians, 1 visiting Rotarian, 1 potential Rotarian, and 36 guests for a total of 55.
 
The luncheon was a great assortment of meatballs, ravioli, chicken, sandwich fixings, coleslaw, Caesar salad, hot soup, cut fruit, chocolate chip cookies, assorted beverages and WHOOPIE PIES!  (They were great!) 
 
  
The bell was rung by Pres. Susan and the room came to order.  The Pledge of Allegiance was led by Bob Cunningham.  The 1st verse of America was led by PSAA Charlie Vail and the invocation was led by PDG Jack Maloney.
President Susan had a Lexington Rotarian at each table introduce the parents of the scholarship recipients which went well, with the slight exception of Steve Kirkland’s group, but he finally did a great job.    
 
Raffle gifts were generously donated by:
Wagon Wheel Nursery & Farmstand
Patriot Community Bank
Walpole Cooperative Bank
(and 1 more that I didn’t hear…Sorry)
(The gifts today were all won by scholarship recipients)
 
 
Happy Dollars were offered by:
PP Spencer gave $50 Happy Dollars to bring the total take for Friday night to over 15.5K.  It was a great night. 
PP Dan gave $20 Happy Dollars for a successful Comedy Night.
PP Jim Freehling gave happy dollars for a successful Scholarship Day.
 
Fees, fines and taxes:
NONE, although there were a couple of questionable moments. 
 
Today’s Announcements were:
There was no speaker today and no announcements, but a talk was given by PP/SAA Don Martini for the benefit of our guests about the history and purpose of Rotary.  In my opinion, it was a great talk.  It was informative and heart felt.  I think it made a great impression on our guests and members. PP Jim Freehling thanked PP/SAA Don for saving him a lot of time with his informative talk.  He then went on to thank the scholarship committee for their hard work as well as Pres. Susan for all of her help.  He also encouraged the guests to keep Rotary in mind when it comes time for them to give back.  He then presented the scholarships to the students.  They were:
 
From Lexington Christian Academy:
Thomas Karanian, Melanie de Oliveria, Bethany Van Antwerp, Steven Wangquian
From Lexington High School:
Elise Santiago, Simone Goss, Samantha Camilo, Attiya Nurse, Walden NG, Christina Han, David Wong, Julian Dong, Alec Rodriguez.
From Minute Man:
Alison Nakhtigal, Alison Beucler.
 
The 50/50 raffle was finally won by someone other than PP Spencer.  It was won by Burlington / Honorary Lexington Rotarian, PP and retired Fire Chief Paul Thibault in the amount of $45. 
 
The bell was rung and the meeting came to a close.  Looking forward to much better weather for all future meetings.   
 
Presented by Allan Azoff