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Bob Huttemeyer hosted today's meeting at Cafe Spiga and was joined by 11 other members. (We hope that this number will grow as more of us feel comfortable with attending in-person meetings. ) We also welcomed two guests: Vicki Rybak (Infant Jesus R.C. Church's Dir. of Social Ministries & The Open Cupboard) and her husband/our guest speaker Stefan Rybak. Yvette again offered an opportunity to help both Hope Children's Fund and oneself by purchasing a "No Give Back 50/50 Raffle" for $5 per ticket or a book of 5 tickets for $20. The drawing will take place at the Hope Children's Fund Gala on July 24th at the East Wind in Wading River, and the winner need not be present. A number of raffle books were sold to potential winners. Debbie followed up by reporting that our club's table at the Hope Children's Fund Gala has been filled but that other seats and tables are still available. Check out hopechildrensfund.org for the HCF Gala information. Debbie, who is on the HCF Gala Committee, also passed around last year's Gala Journal and invited our members to buy an advertisement in the 2021 Journal, as some of our members already have done. Contact her for more info. Nancy reminds you that club dues for 2021-22 are now due. Bob reported that our generous members have donated $13,275 to The Open Cupboard so far. BRAVO! Dennis noted that our club sponsors "The Can Do Award" at Infant Jesus, and that this year's winners, former clients of the church's social services department, are a young woman named Trudy, who recently received her B.S. Degree in Nursing, and another female, Martha, who just earned her Masters Degree in Social Work. Vicki Rybak reminded us that The Open Cupboard continued to service its clientele throughout the pandemic- it never closed, never missed a day. She also reported that vaccinated people are no longer required to wear masks there. While her pantry shelves are rather bare these days, Vicky says that there are plenty of other food sources/providers throughout our area for people in need. When funds are available, they are used to buy toiletries and like necessities, as well as boxes of mac & cheese, and items like those listed on our Open Cupboard List. She also reminded us that we'll soon be preparing for our Back To School Project (backpacks/school supplies). Debbie announced that her library (Comsewogue Public Library) is awaiting imminent State approval to work thru LI Cares and hand out bagged food from 11 AM to 1 PM to its clientele. Bob called on Dennis & Yvette to present a club check to Vicki for the The Open Cupboard's use. Reminder: Our Golf Outing will take place throughout the Village on 9/12. Mike S. will be holding a Zoom meeting for the Golf Committee and other interested members tomorrow, Wednesday, 6/23, via Zoom at 8 AM. Contact Mike S. to attend, and he'll send you the link. How many ROTARY RAFFLE TICKETS have you sold? Have you turned in the ticket stubs and money to Jen yet? Cindy was our excellent Sergeant today and collected many dollars by stumping our members with questions about Juneteenth, the NYC Election, Hong Kong happenings, famous actors/actresses, etc. Cindy also collected Happy Dollars and chose to have Sharon sing "Happy Birthday" to her. Sharon, of course, gave a most impressive performance! Bob introduced again our speaker, Stefan Rybak, an experienced, successful multi-media management professional, whose background includes public speaking, advertising, marketing, sales, management consulting, writing, and much more. His just-printed book, "The Shadow On My Heart", which is on the Top 10 Amazon List, was the subject of today's talk. Stefan began with "a tip of the hat" to his wife and The Open Cupboard. He started his public speaking career at age 19 as a radio DJ, "Stef in the Nighttime", in Bridgeport, CT., working in that city, but living with his mother in Waterbury. He eventually became a workaholic, seeking to maintain his 40-year-long success in the entertainment industry. Stefan told us that he now follows these 3 "Rules for Public Speaking": 1. Don't be boring; 2. don't talk too long; 3. My name is not Mr. Vicki Rybak. Stefan jumped to the near present, and spoke about the 1st time when, at age 58, he experienced a sudden, scary late night heart episode, and he had to be rushed to Mather's ER. He learned after much testing that he wasn't suffering a heart attack. Instead, he was suddenly having heart valve spasms due to a very rare congenital heart defect that apparently had existed undetected prior to his birth. At NYC's Mt. Sinai Hospital, Stefan was ultimately treated by a leading surgeon who would operate on him, performing the necessary valve replacement and aortic valve repair that saved his life. Following the operation and during his long convalescence, Stefan felt consumed with the need to write a book and spent much time deciding what to write about. His eventual decision: to write about surviving adversity. He wrote about his dad's history in Poland- a POW survivor of Nazi oppression during WWII. He also wrote about his Polish mother, who was sent to a Concentration Camp, where she served as a slave laborer from the ages of 16 to 20. She, too, was a survivor. He next spoke of his childhood memories of his father as an abusive parent and husband, and of his mother, an abused wife and alcoholic. The book he found himself writing was a book about truth: memories of growing up in a dysfunctional family. This was also a book about faith (derived from his mother). Stefan had 3 goals: to write a story he could be proud of; to work with a publisher who would respect his story; and to have his writing make an impact on one person. Publishing the completed work took 5 years. The results of his writing: a book where the author shows compassion for his parents, flawed though they were. Summing up, Stefan told us that "this is a book about faith, family, and forgiveness". When Judi asked where we could get a signed copy of the book, Stefan answered that it can be purchased through Amazon. Or, we could receive free copies from him- he had brought copies with him to our meeting- provided that we make a donation to Jane's Home (www.JanesHome.org), a place in Waterbury, CT, originally founded by his family for his developmentally-disabled sister. It is now a home for senior-age developmentally-disabled adults who live there and receive support services, private housing in the community, 24-hour supervised care, and assistance with daily living. This is a 501c3 non-profit organization. Donations are tax deductible. We thanked Stefan for his moving story and accepted his book offer. (And Judi got him to sign her copy!) |
