Newton, New Jersey                          April 8, 2020                   Carolyn Ottenbreit, Editor

• Jim Taylor is happy to have attended his first Zoom meeting (the Newton Rotary Board meeting on 4/8)
• Helen is also happy to have experienced a Zoom meeting

• Dawn is happy for the Zoom feature that permits no screen image – so that she could attend in her PJs
• Chris is happy for his wife, who is home schooling their older child while also looking after their two-year-old
• Bill is still happy for Frank’s return to NJ
• Kurt is happy for 8 AM meetings
• Todd is happy for “the most excellent worship team I have and the brilliant and hard work they have done to help me put together vibrant online worship. This new territory for us, and I am thrilled to be serving alongside each of them.”

• Newton Rotary lunch meetings have been suspended through the end of April.
• Thank you to Larry, Mary Anne, and their daughter, who volunteered at Manna House this week.  Please contact Pam if you wish to be added to the on call list to volunteer at Manna House.
• Ad solicitations have gone out for the Pancake Breakfast.  While the breakfast is expected to be rescheduled from May 2^nd, your placemat ad will help to keep the event on track and provide needed revenue.  If you did not receive a letter, please contact Todd Lattig, our Pancake Breakfast Chair, at pastor.toddlattig@gmail.com .  Please renew your support! 
• We expect to receive $73,000 of matching funds from the District and Rotary International this week to fully fund Newton Rotary’s $100,000 Global Grant to provide 50 lifesaving pediatric heart surgeries in Sri Lanka.  While non-COVID surgeries are currently on hold in Sri Lanka, the three participating hospitals will begin to identify children so that we can proceed quickly once the moratorium is lifted.
• The Scholarship Committee is proceeding to select this year’s scholarship recipients by working directly with the Guidance offices at each school.  Each Guidance office will recommend one or more students based on (1) community service, (2) academic achievement, and (3) need.
• President Carolyn has requested that the Sussex County Hunger Coalition be considered as a recipient of bulk food originally intended for the End Hunger project.  Since End Hunger is no longer planning mass volunteer events to repackage shelf stable food into smaller portions, the food (which is already on order) will now be redirected to food pantries.  Newton Rotary is one of 28 Clubs in our District to request an allocation of food.
• The Rotary Foundation Trustees recently approved placing $1 million in our Disaster Response Fund to make grants immediately available for applications related to COVID-19. To make sure these grants can remain available, they are asking for personal contributions to the Disaster Response Fund. These contributions will support the work Rotarians do as they help care for and protect people in their local communities and around the world. Make a gift to the Disaster Response Fund here.
• DG Ray Freaney has asked that Clubs consider the following projects during the Coronavirus pandemic: (1) Donate excess Personal Protective Equipment (masks, gloves, etc) that you may have stored at your business to local healthcare facilities., (2) Donate to local food pantries or the Community Food Bank of New Jersey, and (3) make an appointment with the Red Cross to give blood. 
• The District is running a district-wide 50/50, with 50% of sales distributed to the clubs.  If you are interested in selling, or buying, tickets, please contact President Carolyn at carolyn_ottenbreit@gmail.com.