ROTARY CLUB OF KENMORE
KEN: MONDAY MARCH 7, 2022
Table Attendance/Split Club: Cameron Kukla
Fine Master: Sue Jandzinski
Invocation: BobChuck Patterson
The Ken: Larry Coon
We were called to order at 12:27 p.m. by President Dick, with a Pledge to the Flag and another warm prayer by BobChuck Patterson.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Sue Jandzinski informed us that free Narcan training at Kenmore United Methodist Church will be available THIS SATURDAY 3/12 from 10am to noon. Call Leann for info 830-0585.
Steve Blass announced upcoming speakers: March 14 is Junior Achievement of WNY, then Walter Ludwig from Kenmore Mercy on March 21. March 28 and beyond are open. Let Steve Blass know if you can help with bookings.
Dick and Larry vowed to clarify the upcoming events on the Niagara River Greenway Trail. The update is that The Waterkeepers org will be doing a cleanup of our Isleview Park section while we’re all hard at work at SHRED IT on April 23rd. (Yes please plan to help from 9:30 to 2pm!). THEN, TWO WEEKS LATER, the UB Rotaract Club needs our help with work on a new Pollinator Garden (that our Foundation funded) on Sat May 7th from 10am to noon. We have no obligation on April 30 date at this point.
Split Club was won by Larry’s student guest Dan Bauman from UB Rotaract and Steve missed pulling the Ace of Spades.
Finemaster Sue J asked for confessions: Mike Ford was fined for recent trips to NC and NJ. Appropriate amounts of abuse were dished out to confirm that we missed him! Sue quizzed us on college basketball trivia as March Madness is quickly approaching. She rounded out the take for the club with appropriate trivia teasers.
Larry was happy to introduce Rotaractor, Dan Bauman, a sophomore from UB who shared a well put-together power point about the many projects that his Club is performing. He wants to keep the momentum going on our two clubs collaborating on projects. He promises to come back on monthly basis or so, as he lives here in WNY all year.
The UB Rotaract has about 30 very active members. Some of their projects focus on solving food insecurity for the needy in Buffalo. One of their initiatives: two evenings per week, using their own vehicles, they caravan a load of 70 to 100 boxes of leftover UB cafeteria food down to the city mission in Buffalo. Through ours and Grand Island’s Club, they have been and will continue to support environmental cleanups and plantings for healthy pollination. Currently they are collecting household items to help an Afghan refugee family get set up in an apartment in our area on March 28th. Donations requested and accepted! Lastly, Dan asked each of us to consider becoming mentors to his fellow club members for career advice. He shared a comprehensive list with Larry that includes their members’ majors, career goals and contact info. We Rotarians are encouraged to also get our friends involved with appropriate career specialties. Watch for an email with a mentoring form to volunteer. Dan did a fine job and we finished by 1:25.
As a side note, kudos to Chairman, Cameron Kukla who held a committee meeting this week. With help from the former wine tasting crew, he is looking for support on a new fundraising event. Proposed is an outdoor “KEN-toberfest Bier Garten” event in the Village of Kenmore with a tentative date of Sept 24th. An initial proposal will be sent asap to Mayor Patrick Mang.
Have a good weekend everyone! L Coon