Our regular Wednesday meeting was opened exactly at 12:23 PM with President Laura Camp presiding.  A prayer was offered by Jim Taylor, followed by a patriotic song led by Steve Wescott.  Today we had 21 of our members present, with 1 visitor.  Greetings were extended to our members and visitor, Ann Nussberger (Marge McCabe’s sister) by Denise Current.

 

President Laura asked if anyone knew the status of Matt Hannum.  Steve Wescott noted that Matt fell and broke his neck.  Since that day, Matt has been recovering with the use of a neck brace.  He has to continue to use the brace for another 6 to 8 weeks.  The doctors seem to be quite upbeat about his recovery.  A get-well card was sent around for every member to sign.

 

A happy dollar was given by President Laura, for simply being here at the meeting today.

President-elect Todd Lattig gave two bucks for his daughter who graduated from Kittatinny Regional High School.

Gerry Hanifan threw a dollar in the pot.  Like Laura, Gerry was happy to be able to be at the meeting today.

Bob Shankman handed in a dollar for the fact that he recently discovered he has been a Rotarian now for 23 years.  Apparently, he thought it had been a considerably shorter amount of time.

John Cuozzo ponied up a five-dollar bill, in part for the new Newton Rotary sign on the front of the podium at the entrance into the restaurant.

 

The club sang Happy Birthday to Kathy Shankman, Budd Luthman and his sister, and Todd Lattig’s daughter.

 

ROTARY QUILT – Denise said that next week will be the end of ticket sales and the drawing would be taking place shortly.  You can still buy your tickets at the Newton Rotary Garden Party this coming Saturday.  We have now taken in over $2,000 for this fund raiser.

 

UPDATED MEMBERSHIP BOOK – Laura announced that the books are complete and will be distributed at the Annual Garden Party at Denise’s house on Saturday.

 

GARDEN PARTY – Mike Hanifan reported that the tent will go up on Saturday morning, and that he has arranged for older scouts to help us with the setup of the tables and chairs.  The tent is being loaned to us by the Stillwater Fire Department.  There will also be younger scouts at the party to help in keeping the function running and cleaned up throughout the event.  Wayne McCabe announced that we are looking at roughly 40 people to be there – although there may be more depending on how many guests the members bring.

The Garden Party will be held on Saturday, June 25, from 4:00 to 7:00 pm, at the Denise Current farm at 955 Fairview Lake Road in Stillwater. The theme for the party this year will be WORLD PEACE.  Everyone is encouraged to bring food that represents their own particular ethnic background.  Todd Lattig has the tickets, which are $20 each. 

 

NEW NEWTON ROTARY SHIRTS - Alice once again spoke to us about the new Newton Rotary shirts that we have available.  The primary difference between the old shirts and the new ones is that they now include 1923 – 2023, for our 100^th anniversary.  The shirts are available now and cost $30.  It would be great to be able to wear them to the upcoming Garden Party.  She noted that we have sizes to fit everyone.  Please see Alice for your shirt.

 

ANNUAL NEWTON GOLF OUTING – Laura showed all of us the fliers for the 54^th Annual Newton Rotary Golf Outing, to be held on Wednesday, September 14^th at the Newton Country Club.  If you would do better using a pool cue instead of a gold club to drive a ball down the fairways, then consider simply coming to the evening dinner for the event.  This year’s honoree will be Denise Current. 

 

Laura asked Steve Wescott to step up to the microphone and discuss the status of our level of giving to the Rotary Foundation.  Steve reported that our annual giving goal for this Rotary year was established at $3,000.  We have surpassed that by having raised $4,820 during the last 12 months.

 

Steve also explained to us how the different levels of giving to the Foundation are officially recognized on a Paul Harris pin.  You are given the Paul Harris pin upon having donated a total of $1,000 to the Foundation.  There is an emerald that goes on your pin for every additional $1,000 donated, up to five emeralds.  Steve said that there are three members in our club who have donated more than $10,000 each to the Foundation.  Carolyn Ottenbreit was called forward to receive her ruby Paul Harris Fellow pin.

Over the lifetime of donations from the members of our club, we have been able to raise a total of $271,000 for the Foundation.  Not too bad for a Rotary Club from the rural northwestern corner of New Jersey that will be 100 years old next year!!!

 

The speaker who was scheduled to make a presentation to the club today had to bow out.  So, instead, today our speaker was our very own President Laura Camp.

Laura opened her presentation by saying that despite the ravages of the Covid virus, the Newton Rotary Club has been able to stabilize the number of members and reopen/encourage members to come back to our face-to-face weekly meetings.  Over the last three months, we have witnessed a slow but steady increase of members attending the weekly meetings.

Laura noted that despite having to cancel two of our events this year (the pancake breakfast being one of those), we very successfully undertook, or were a part of, the following programs, events, etc.:

 

Chilly Open                                                         Polio Plus District Raffle

 

Dictionary Program                                             An active Interact Club

 

Assistant for Afghan Refugees                             75^th Anniv. of the Denville Club

 

Annual Garden Party                                           Met Donation Goal for Rotary International

 

Sussex County Day at the Fair                              Support of the Annual County Fair

 

Support of the Veteran’s Programs                        A Sister Club in Shri Lanka

at the Fair

 

Scholarships to Students in 3 Schools                S.C. Historical Society will have a Permanent Display for the Club in the Historic Tully House

 

Newton Rotary Endowment Program                   Regular Donation to Manna House

 

A Regular Meeting Place with Good Food          Very Diverse Types of Weekly Programs

 

Barbara Miller was the winner this week and garnered a whopping $5 for her efforts.  Barbara pulled a card – which turned out to be the King of Hearts.  The main pot now continues its slow growth, again, and presently stands at $33.50.    CONGRATS TO BARBARA FOR HER WIN.

 

Next week’s program (June 29^TH) will be the installation of club officers and directors.

 

With no other business to come before the club, the meeting was formally adjourned by President Laura at 1:18 pm.

Respectfully submitted,

Wayne T. McCabe

Past President (’88 – ’89)