March 12, 2018
Greetings Monadnock Rotarians:
Weather forecasts are warning of blizzard conditions tomorrow morning so please check the WMUR website to determine if ConVal is in session before heading to the church. On March 6, Rick read one of Nelson Mandela’s favorite poems, Invictus written by William E. Henley. Rob Harris had “The Hat” and spoke about his experiences as a teaching fellow at Case Western Reserve University.
Guests included Roy Baldwin, Executive Director of Monadnock Christian Ministries. Francis May of Dublin. Harry Wolhandler and Pegg Monahan of Harrisville were also in attendance. I am pleased to report that Harry and Pegg have decided to become members of our Club. Welcome aboard!
Our speaker was Steve Reinhart of Rindge. Steve is the Founder and Chief Optimist of Optimism Plus, LLC. Steve gave an inspiring presentation about the importance of not being influenced by negative, pessimistic energy. And, the importance of not reacting or responding to negativity. He gave us worksheets and had us engage in activities to recognize our positive attributes.
Steve stressed the following:
- Set aspirations in the present time
- We are what we think
- We are what we say
- When meeting someone, find something positive to say about them
- Strive to make people feel good about themselves
- For more information, Steve can be reached at: steve@optimismplus.com
During announcements, we discussed the lack of students enrolled in the RYLA event scheduled for March 24. It was the sense of the meeting that we cancel RYLA and consider holding the event in early fall.
On March 13, the scheduled speaker will be Kathy Collinsworth, Executive Director of the Monadnock Humane Society . Jamie Hamilton has Opening Words and Adam Hamilton has “The Hat”. On March 20, Jim Guy has Opening Words and Bill has “The Hat”.
We received an email from Travis Krumph. Travis sends his regards to club members and reported that he has applied for a $35,000 Rotary district grant to upgrade school facilities in Nicaragua. More information from Travis will be forthcoming.
On March 9, I met with Nicole Peas of DCS. We discussed the Rotary park payments to the Harris Center, a trip to the Park being planned for the late spring and the birdhouse project to be scheduled in May before the birds need a new home. Nicole agreed to attend an upcoming Rotary meeting to give an update on the school and get feedback on future collaborations. We also spoke about opportunities to read with the children and to organize afternoon board game time. I’ll have a full report at our next meeting.
See you Tuesday!
Bill