1/22/2018 The Ken
Attendance: Audrey Meyers
Split Club: Chuck Patterson
Invocation: John Coogan
Fine Master: Paul Chisholm
The Ken: Donna DiFrancesco
Mike Austin filled in for Tom, and led us in the Pledge, followed by an off-key rendition of God Bless America led by Chuck. Guests today were our speaker, Amy Moritz, Buffalo News sportswriter/athlete, Dawn Kane a friend of Mike Austin's, Jerry from The Delaware and Ted's new colleague, Kathy .
Mike asked for announcements and Dawn announced the wine committee had their first meeting on Jan. 16. The Wine Tasting will be held on May 9 at Banchetti's Restaurant again. Discussions were held on the basket gathering party, contributions of baskets by club members, along with donations of bottles of wine for the wine refrigerator. There may be a few additions to this year's tasting. Stay tuned. Dawn also announced an open house at the old Roosevelt School (now Stanley G Falk School) on Thursday from 5-7. It has been converted into a special education school. If you plan on attending, tell them you're a guest of Dawn's. Larry made an announcement about the Purple Pinky dates, 23rd and 24th, at area schools. Several Rotarians have already volunteered but he could use more. He explained to our guests what this project is all about and how successful Kenmore Rotary has been with raising money. Last year we collected $2,000 over 2 days. Let's do better this year. Thank you, Larry, for all your time and effort! Rick will present some foundation checks next week. He is waiting on some responses.
Paul took to the podium to access fines. Larry confessed to being out to dinner with Char at the Buffalo Roadhouse and seeing Ted and Janell. Larry proceeded to get Ted's attention by lobbing peanuts at him. Mike Ford confessed to Channel 7 being at Elderwood regarding flu prevention. No further confessions so Paul proceeded to quiz the group on January facts. Those who were already on Larry's list of volunteers for Purple Pinky were exempt. Whew! We found out that the creation of the CIA was on January 22, 1946, and that the famous Roe v. Wade was in January of 1973. One more week as Finemaster for Paul!
Mike announced our speaker, Amy Moritz, who has been a sportswriter for 20 years and at the Buffalo News for 18 of those. She got into sports not through playing them herself, although she tried as a middle schooler, but because of the love of sports by her mother and grandmother. Even though she didn't make it as a young athlete, she still had the desire in her early 30s, so she went on to participate in triathlons, even though she didn't know how to swim. Her first one was in 2008. She has since written a book, "I Thought You'd Be Faster: The Quest To Become An Athlete". She was very upbeat and a pleasure to listen to. Her charity of choice is Carolyn's House, a housing and homeless shelter in NIagara Falls. Another great speaker! Meeting adjourned.