BRIARCLIFF MANOR ROTARY CLUB MEETING
June 12th, 2009
THIS DAY IN HISTORY
On June 12th, in the year 1962, three convicts used spoons to dig their way out of Alcatraz.
(Now I ask you, where else can you gather valuable information like this?)
TODAY’S QUOTE
If we do nothing to make a difference, the world will never change.
--A very wise anonymous gentleman
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OPENING OF THE MEETING: Our meeting was official opened at 12:19 pm on the dot, to the sound of trumpets and glockenspiel..
THE OPENING CEREMONIES: The Salute to Our Flag was led by brother Sy Yuter.
Mr. Yuter also led the assembled members in the singing of our National Anthem. Bishop John put the capper on things with a glorious appeal to Our Maker for His blessings on our Club.
PRESIDENT’S REMARKS, HAPPY THOUGHTS, AND MEMBERS’ INSIGHTFUL OBSERVATIONS: Our meeting got off to a roaring start when newly-elected President
Seiden urged each of us to bring into our Club a new, worthy member or members. To aid us in this endeavor, he handed out cards outlining the purpose and goals of Rotary,
and asked us to leave the cards with those persons we thought deserving of membership in our Club. Mr. Seiden then went on to warmly welcome Dean Dykeman into the Briarcliff Rotary
It is obvious that we will thrive under President Seiden’s leadership. Bravo, Mark!
NEXT WEEK: Our speaker next week will be the afore-mentioned Sav-A-Tree’s Dean Dykeman, who will fill us in on the solution to “Good Tree Problems.”
THIS WEEK’S SPEAKER: Today we had not one, but two guest speakers: Phelps Hospital nurse, Veronica Molina and Patricia Flood Griffin, Coordinator of the Nursing
Promise Scholarship Program at the hospital.
Their subject: “How Rotary Helped Me.”
First up, was Nurse Veronica Molina, who thanked us for the financial aid we provided her and then lunched into a description of the Nursing Program and her duties in the Phelps Emergency Room.
Needless to say, they are enormous. And, even though she was too modest to say so, she obviously performs each of them with professionalism and humanity.
Ms. Molina was followed to the podium by Patricia Flood Griffin, Coordinator of the Nursing Promise Scholarship Program, who also thanked us for our financial aid. Ms. Griffin spoke about the nursing shortage in the United States and particularly in Westchester County (In 10 years, N.Y. State will need 100,000 nurses!) But she has high hopes: young women with a dream are increasingly interested in nursing as a profession. Young men are, too. Both sexes, she pointed out, are recruited through personal contacts, word-of-mouth appeals and advertisements in newspapers.
Ms. Molina was particularly concerned about the increasing age of hospital nurses; the average age today is a troubling fifty-five. The base pay: about $50,000.
There was an interesting question from the audience. Bob Amsterdam, who has a dentistry connection to Phelps, asked why, if there was a nursing shortage, Phelps nurses were being laid off. Ms. Griffin provided him with an explanation.
Altogether, it was a most satisfying program. Thank you, Ms. Molina and Ms. Griffin!
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THE DRAWING: The first lottery winner was Reverend Lee Carozzi; the second winner-
I shudder to tell you—was Bishop John. With winners Reverend Carozzi and Reverend Herzog it had the appearance of an All-Christian affair..
You will be pleased to learn that the matter is currently under investigation by the N.Y. State District Attorney’s office.
MEETING CONCLUSION: The meeting was adjourned at 1:32 pm and was celebrated
by Ernie Pacchiana’s offer to wrestle any female in the club, best two-out-of-three falls.
Submitted by
Recording Secretary, Don Wilde
6/12/09 Attendance - Robert Amsterdam, Lee Carrozzi, Frances Chu, Zachary Cosentino, Dean Dykeman, Rodney Ertischek Marie Fusey, John Herzog, Rachel Leihbacher, Shelley Lotter, Ernest Pacchiana, Vladimir Portnoy, Paul Rosen, Mark Seiden, Donald Wilde, Elinor Yuter, Sy Yuter
Posted by Frances Chu from Bolton, MA
