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Today, Rob presided over our hybrid meeting from Cafe Spiga, with 7 people attending in-person and 7 attending via Zoom. Rob thanked Bob H. and Sal who obtained and then distributed to a number of our members 5,000 masks from the District, enabling us take part in Rotary's Million Mask Challenge. These masks eventually ended up in the hands of colleagues at work and/or friends/acquaintances within the community. Thank you to all who took part in this noble effort! Our club sent a floral bouquet to Judi, who is still convalescing. We hope she returns to full wellness soon. Dennis announced that he will deliver your donated goods to The Open Cupboard on February 2nd. See the list of items needed by the pantry on our web site. Cindy, who took the duty of Sergeant today, came well-prepared with questions that caused us to learn a lot about a number of different subjects- and also raised much money via fines and happy/sad donations. Rob is keeping track of the fines, and members owing them (totaling $5 or more) will be billed at the end of the month. Good job, Cindy! Today's guest speaker, Archana Gautam, Chair of the club's Donations Committee, presented her Committee members ( including Dennis, Sharon, and Bob H.) and explained the process used by the Committee to disperse funds to deserving causes. Requests for funds are received throughout the year. The Committee sets up a budget. Applications are sent via email to organizations requesting funds. Certain annual donations (ie., for scholarships, Village non-profits, groups that have applied in the past, etc.) get first priority for our funds. Extra requests are reviewed if, by year's end, money is left over; and most of what is left will be spent via donations to these causes. All submissions must be in by March 1st. In March, the Committee will create a new budget, present and explain it to membership, and request approval. Whatever monies remain in the Donations Fund must be paid out by June; however a small "cushion" is kept for emergency requests/decisions. The new Rotary year will begin July 1, 2021. Monies still left in the fund will roll over to the new year's list of funds to be dispersed (ie., 2021-22). The Committee's rules require that donations go to tax exempt organizations only (not individuals). Recipients of our donations will be required to attend one of our meetings and speak to the our members about what they do/where the money goes. Archana will be sending out to our members the Donations Committee information she presented today. She also welcomes new members to her Committee. Kudos, Archana and Committee, for a job well done! |
