Newton, New Jersey January 6, 2021 Carolyn Ottenbreit, Editor
This Week (January 6th): Eleanor Wagner, author of two books: Sussex County Hauntings and other Strange Phenomena and Sussex County Hauntings and other Strange Phenomena Part II, will join us.
Next Meeting, January 23, 2021: T/B/A
December 16th: Jean Cable, daughter of Alex Cable and the new President of ThorLabs, gave us an update from ThorLabs world headquarters in Newton. Jean has a graduate degree in public health and worked for Blue Cross/Blue Shield supporting the CEO with population health information before joining Thorlabs.
Jean talked first about the history of the company. Her father formerly worked at Bell Labs and saw an opportunity to provide materials to set-up labs in smaller settings than the few dominant national and international research laboratories of the time. Today, Thorlabs is organized into 5 business units: mechanics, optics, fiber optics (they “draw” their own fiber in the tall tower building), advanced systems technology and lasers. In response to questions, we learned that ThorLabs’ name comes from a childhood pet Labrador, named Thor, the company has no plans for an IPO at this time, Thorlabs partners with SCCC in training technicians for jobs at Thorlabs, and that Alex is an avid runner and cyclist.
Happy $: N/A
Announcements:
The Board voted to distribute $75,000 from the Newton Rotary Club segregated endowment account at Newton Medical Center to help fund the recently constructed cardio lab at MMC. The funds will be distributed over the next 3 years with $25,000 distributed in each of 2020, 2021, and 2022.
Jim Porter announced that the Annual Gift of Life raffle will fund a SuperBowl party at the winner’s home, including a wide-screen TV, Jerseys, and catered food. Raffle tickets are $20 each and can be obtained by sending a check payable to “Gift of Life NJ, Inc.) to Jim at his home at 24 Center Street, Branchville, NJ 07826. Please include the information you would like included on the raffle stubs (your name and phone number, at a minimum) and a stamped, self-addressed envelope so that Jim can return the tickets.
The 100th Anniversary of Newton Rotary is approaching in 2023. See President Jim if you would like to Chair or Co-Chair the planning committee.
The Homeless Project is on hold while we await a response as to whether the District matching program will waive the requirement that Rotarians contribute in person to the project, during the COVID crisis.
Funding for the landscaping project at the Farm & Horse Show booth is complete except for $100, entirely raised through donations. Thank you everyone!
