Past President Donna Johnson received her Paul Harris Fellow recognition from District Governor Julie Carney during our last meeting. It was a busy meeting with another presentation from Julie, Salvation Army collection, and a presentation from the Red Cross.
Opening and Invocation led by Ken George - inspiring thoughts on choosing joy.
Wellness Report – Doug Forgue’s brother Michael experienced a heart attack and in Geneva General; Josh McCrossen’s younger brother passed away; Adam O’s sister-in-law is still recuperating- hopefully will be back at work next Monday.
Guests: Luis Alonso Barbosa, our exchange student; DG Julie Carney (and her 3 year old grandson) Guest Speakers – Kate Hout and Ken Lee of the Red Cross
Snapple Facts:
- The pupils in goats eyes are rectangular
- A fifteen year old boy invented earmuffs in 1873
- Dairy cows drink up to 50 gallons of water per day
- The strike note of the Liberty Bell is E flat
- It is against the law to put pretzels in bags in Philadelphia
- A pelican can hold more food in its beak than in its belly
Announcements:
- Salvation Army bell ringing on Black Friday and Saturday $980.00. There were 21 Rotarians who rang — we rang for 12 hours. It’s not too late to donate if you haven’t already. Make checks payable to The Salvation Army and give to Dave Doebler. Last year we raised $1,300 – let’s outdo ourselves!
- Our District is looking for families to host visiting District Governor’s Elect from 1/15 – 1/19
- Thank you letter from Hannelora and Helmuth — both are doing well and recovering, but still have health challenges ahead of them.
- Doug Doebler will match up to $2,000 for any donations we make to Called to Care Canandaigua – helping relocate refugee families. They have helped families from Ukraine, Guatemala and Haiti to date.
- 101 food bags for the Newark Food Closet have been donated so far. If you haven’t done so already, please bring your filled bag to the 12/7 meeting.
- Luis Barbosa, our exchange student, would like to attend the Rotary Exchange student trip to Hawaii. If anyone has any odd jobs that he can do, please contact him. He’s trying to raise some money to pay for this Rotary sponsored Youth Exchange trip.
DG Julie Carney's grandson help collect money for the Salvation Army during our meeting.
Paul Harris Fellowship presentation to Donna Johnson, thank you very much for your dedication and support of Rotary.
DG Julie Carney - recognized our club for our Polio Plus Donations during Past President Mitch Ruffalo’s term.
Happy Moments:
- Chrissy Kent reported that her daughter, Natalie, is doing great at Vanderbilt in Nashville. She’s doing great with her bowling as well
- Karen Hoad - new grandmother on Thanksgiving Day. Baby Girl.
- Steve Hallagan - very sad that the Steve Mooney Santa is not on the roof on East Avenue! The Santa has relocated to Victor at Steve’s son.
- Jean and Bob Bendix purchased the exempt button and shared all of the great news about her grandson, Ames. See them to see pictures.
- Adam paid $50 for the exempt button for next week. (It’s his 50th birthday next week!)
Birthdays: Lynne Mooney (11/21), Steve Mooney (12/1)
Club Anniversaries: Frank Russell (17 yrs), Marty Wemett (33 yrs), Braxton Guy (1 yr)
Queen of Hearts. Ken George did not pick the Queen - the pot continues to grow. The deck is down to 25 cards!
Program: Karen Hoad introduced Kate Hout our speaker from the American Red Cross. Kate has been with the Red Cross in bio-services for just over 6 years. She supports the blood drive programs in Wayne, Ontario, and Eastern Monroe Counties and is responsible for approximately 8,500 units of blood annually. Kate resides in Macedon with her husband, two middle school age boys and her dog.
The American Red Cross not only does lifesaving blood drives, but they also provide disaster relief, training and certification, provide support for military families and international services.
A quick overview of her presentation:
- In the United States someone needs blood every 2 seconds
- 4.5 million people will need transfusions
- Only 37% of the U.S. population is eligible to donate blood (due to medical conditions, weight prohibitions, illness, among other reasons)
- Of that 37% only about 3% give blood.
- The American Red Cross collects about 40% of the U.S. blood supply
- Approximately 32,000 pints of blood are used each day in the U.S.
- The average red blood cell transfusion is 3.4 pints of blood
- There is no substitute for human blood – it is truly life saving.
Blood drives in Newark: There are 12 per year at the American Legion on East Union Street, 6 drives at the Newark Wayne Community Hospital, and 3 at Creation Technologies.
American Red Cross activity in Wayne County:
- There were 130 blood drives across the County in 2022 collecting 2,801 units of blood.
- Responded to 41 households in need due to fires
- Provided services to 97 individuals in areas such as: sheltering, food, health services, mental health, spiritual care, casework and distribution of emergency supplies.
- Gave over $33,000 directly to help families
How can you help:
Remember, 90% of the work done by the American Red Cross is done by volunteers
- The average person who donates blood, donates 1.6 times per year - if everyone donated twice that would greatly appreciated.
- If you’ve never donated blood – consider doing it.
- Monetary donations are always welcome and appreciated.
Questions:
- Is Red Cross only organization that supplies blood? No, Red Cross supplies about 40% of the blood. In our area it is only Red Cross that supplies blood to the hospital systems.
- How can we encourage others to donate? Just share the facts, let your friends and families know. Help others be aware how each donation supports our fellow human beings.
Thank you Kate Hout and Ken Lee for a wonderful presentation.
Closing thought: You can’t cross the sea merely by standing there and staring at the water. Rabindranath Tagore
