Todd Watkins: “I've missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times I've been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed." From Michael Jordan

 

In law enforcement, so many things can – and regularly do go wrong, and yet police officers press on in their mission to serve to protect. Cases get tossed, criminals walk free, victims are re-victimized, and yet every day, police set out on the streets in a constant effort to keep their communities safe. Rarely, they are thanked for their efforts. They seek thanks nor praise, but the feeling of achievement from a job.

 

- Introduced by Todd Watkins was Sean Egan. 

 

 

- Our club operates on a fiscal year basis,

- We invested in the community about $80k last year,

- Starting the new fiscal year with about $50k in the bank,

- Financial report is posted on the clubrunner,

- It is remarkable that we were able to raise and invest this much money in the community during this pandemic time,

- At the District level, our club is the second-largest contributor to the Rotary Foundation,

- A reminder to wear our name badges,

- A big thank you to the DeMar committee and sponsors who were able to assist our club to raise money.

 

- Compared to 2019, right now we're about 30% ahead of where we were in 2019, in terms of registrations,

- Bill Rogers will be this year's DeMar keynote speaker at the pasta dinner. Bill has also agreed to speak to the super seniors at their pasta dinner before the main pasta dinner,

- Everything is on track, and please block off that last weekend in September and if you know friends or neighbors who may want to volunteer, please direct them to Sue Simonds and Ann Heffernon.

 

- Ken and Cheryl Belair met with Mark Bodin (President of SBW) and Danielle Ruffo (Danny) as the SBW is a prime sponsor of the DeMar race. Mr. Bodin mentioned that SBW is more interested in our mission. This is a great thing for our continued sponsorship relation with SBW. SBW will be a sponsor for this year's DeMar event.

- We are at 16K in DeMar Sponsorship now and compared to 2018 where we were at 60K during this time of the year. We have a big gap to close and let’s not make Cheryl cry!!

- A reminder that if sponsors want to be on the Discovery map for the DeMar race, they sponsor $1000 or more, and the deadline to sponsor is July 31. So reach out to your organizations to see if there is an interest. 

 

- A reminder that our meetings start at 7:15 am and not 7:30 am. This will allow us to finish the meeting on time

- Request a motion to approve our club officials as following: Yves Gakunde as President, Ann Looney as President-Elect, Phil Wyzik as Vice President-Elect, Ann Heffernon as Secretary, and Phil Hueber as Treasurer. Dr. Bob Englund moved the motion, seconded by Inga Hansen, and the motion passed unanimously. 

- District Golf tournament email was sent out last week.

- Pins at the table from our District President and this year theme is “Serve to Change Lives”

 

- Missed last week’s meeting as he was on a family vacation at lake Ogunquit. Nice time with family and friends who stopped by.

- A thank you for a quick response fundraising in February towards feeding the troops and volunteers who were working at the vaccination and site. 

- Two very active golden retrievers enjoy running at the golf course. Discovered that if Jack goes out for a 2.5 mile run at the golf course he sure knows his route. Recently, he found a big turtle and bought it home and after a while, he dropped the turtle on the ground

- Keep Rod in prayers as he will be going to Lebanon to get a stent put into his heart.

 

- Were expecting only one of the four kids to visit for Monday labor day dinner and a few hours before dinner, all the four kids, their spouses, and seven grandchildren joined for dinner with minimum prior notice! But all worked out well

- Didn’t run the Four on the 4th but enjoyed spending time with interact at one of the water stations and it was so fun to see all the people were participating,

- Proud of the interact club as they made donations to local non-profits and are also planning to do some fundraising to cover expenses for an international trip to Puerto Rico. This helps them to understand the culture of giving,

- Happy to be at the meeting.

- Judith has pictures of new additions to the family to be checked out!

- A few months ago a microburst took down several trees in Nelson. Sculptures of bears climbing trees are being made. 

- Four on the 4th race went well and was awesome to see so many people from the community

- Dog doing awesome,

- Enjoyed spending time with interact during the Four on the 4th race and it was good to see people of all ages, shapes participating in the race,

- Good to be at the meeting

- A $1 for Yves for a reminder of the starting time of the meeting 7:15 am instead of 7:30 am,

- Good to see everyone.

- A thank you to everyone for all the work to make this world a good one to live in,

- In need of a daycare!! Susan Newcomer wondering if there is something Joe is not telling us??!! One of the ladies at Joe’s office in need of daycare services.

- A $ for all the police/state officers in the world,

- Good thing that the car was taken to the shop to be fixed as she was one time away to have her tire off while driving. Feels lucky as she was on the road driving back from Maine the previous weekend.

- Thankful for the past 7.5 years spending much time with mom- walking and chatting and figuring out that if her mom can run the half marathon at 75 years old, what does she have as an excuse for not running or exercising? Very grateful to have her!

- Will be doing the half marathon and is currently at 10 miles runs.

- Good to be at the meeting as he was on vacation and missed the last meeting and missed the meeting

- Husband David doing well on his bicycle trip. Now with his team, they have done over halfway and are in Minnesota and will be on the Wisconsin border today. Only a few flat tires. 

- Enjoyed spending time with Laura Andrews during the Four on the 4th race event,

- Fun time spent at the pond,

- Husband Paul recovering well,

- Son Patrick turning 25 years old on July 12, 2021- Happy Birthday to Patrick!

- Thankful for the club’s donation to the Meals on Wheels Program,

- Had a good time at the Four on the 4th race event

- A $ for Phil Wyzik for accepting to be the Vice-President-elect,

- Received a call from mom that the gentleman Mr. Walier drove her back home!

- Family vacation last week went well,

- A possibility of another vacation coming soon,

- Our 2004-2005 exchange student Melvé (?) is now in the USA and will be visiting Keene at some point and will be good to catch up.

- You might want to stay away as someone here is not happy! The dog sitting duties end this Saturday and the dog will be missed,

- Has poison Ivy and probably came off the dog,

- Bad smell in the house for the last two to three days and it is probably because of a hole in the oil tank!

- It is Good to have ATM next door,

- Keene Public Library will be accepting book donations,

- Also a reminder that the club helps with moving books before and after the book sale.

- Saw Rich Littleton (?) in Las Vegas

- “If you were to have to circumcise a whale, how would you do that? …, well, you'd have to send four skin divers!”

  Dee Belanger

- Husband Paul starting a cleaning business. If anyone is looking, please feel free to call. Business cards coming soon.

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Raffle ticket: Lucky number owner was Joe Walier but with no further luck to pick the right card and win $331

 

 

- Law enforcement for over 20 years and over 14 years in the New Hampshire state police, patrol supervisor for five years, has served as a drug coordination expert, field training officer on the motorcycle unit, and has an associate degree in criminal justice

- A thank you to all the work being done by the Elm City Rotary Club including giving sneakers to all second graders. Daughters are among the recipients!

- Opportunity to introduce the club members to the State Police but in a good way, not the side of the road!

- Covers Cheshire County and Sullivan County, 38 communities between the two counties, and among those communities, the duties include primary law enforcement for 18 of them.

- Other responsibilities include investigations/detective, traffic control, support to the local agencies, riot control, search and rescue with SWAT members, and Internet Crimes against Children Task Force.

- Lately, mental health seems to be a big component in crimes recorded. As community members, we can collectively start to support some of these programs that deal with mental health in our communities. 

- Some of the proactive steps are being implemented by the state police to try to implement a crisis intervention team troopers. Some officers are going through a one-week training, sponsored.

- A few years ago, a Peer Support Unit was initiated, and some of the troopers on this unit received training. Very confidential program and people have to feel safe to reach out and get support for anything that they need. 

- While doing all this work, there is a challenge of recruitment and retention of troopers.