Radian Edition: June 28, 2018 (Jun 18, 2018)

Paramus Rotary Club Meeting of Thursday June 14, 2018

Lois Horowitz introduced her guests, Bill and Jackie Hayward, to the club all the way from Australia! Bill is currently the President Elect of his club in Melbourne, Australia. He joined Rotary in 2009 when he retired. He was a financial advisor for 42 years and now his 2 sons follow in his footsteps. One son taking over the company and his other son working for an international bank. His wife Jackie accompanied him on this trip to the US. This is the second marriage for both and combined they have 5 children and 7 grandchildren. In his free time he likes to ride horses, play table tennis, and he is a member of a choir as well! His Rotary club is only 19 active members but they are very active. One of their biggest events for their club is a Golf Day that is hosted by the Mayor. This is a free event to attend and has been going on for 30 years. The funds raised from donations and sponsorships go to Cerebral Palsy in the last 8 years. They typically raise over $70k a year! They also do raffle tickets that are sold community wide for $2 each. They end up selling over 200k tickets and the profits go to the group that runs the event. Every year it is a different group. He realizes, like every club worldwide, that membership is an issue and one way to tackle this problem is Corporate memberships. This is a goal of his for his upcoming presidency. He is now headed to Toronto for the International Conference!

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Ronald P. Weimar, ShelterBox Ambassador, ShelterBox Response Team was our guest speaker this week. Ronald Weimar is a member of the Palisades Rotary Club. He is Past President/Treasurer/Program Chair. He is also Past Assistant Governor and Shelter Box Ambassador since 2016. ShelterBox Disaster Relief provides emergency shelter and tools for displaced families. They transform despair into hope and they strive for a world where no family is left without shelter!

Each disaster is different, and so is every community. Shelter Box does not believe that one size fits all, so they make considered assessments to provide the exact support that gives people the hope and the power to transform their own lives. The aid supplied comes in the form of ShelterBoxes and ShelterKits (pictured below). The green ShelterBoxes contain family-sized tents specially designed to withstand the elements and provide people with temporary shelter until they are able to start the process of rebuilding a home. The ShelterKits contain all of the essential tools people need to start repairing and rebuilding homes straight away. The kits and boxes contain the items that help transform shelter into a home, like cooking sets, solar lights and activity sets for children.

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We also took part of Relay for Life on June 15th, which Ronald walked all night. Relay For Life is the signature fundraiser for the American Cancer Society. Relay is staffed and coordinated by volunteers in thousands of communities and 27 countries. Volunteers give of their time and effort because they believe it's time to take action against cancer. It is an event that runs from 6:00 pm to 6:00 am where teams walk laps to end Cancer! Here are some photos of this year'event.

The Bronze level got us 2 free pizza pies and an award!!!!!

~ ANNOUNCEMENTS ~

~ To honor the late Past Rotary International Director, Ray Wells, who has been a beacon of light in our clubs, districts, and around the world, we have obtained the permission from Paramus Mayor and related personnel to renovate and rededicate the current Paramus Rotary bandshell to “Raymond Wells Band Shell.” To do so, we have estimated the minimum cost of $5,300. Some initial donations have been made from Rotarians in the Paramus Rotary Club to start the project. Now, we would like to open the opportunity to other Rotarians in the district who love Ray Wells and desire to contribute to this memorial.
If you would like to participate, please make your donation check payable to:
Paramus Rotary Club
PO Box 1003
Paramus, NJ 07653-1003
If you have any question, please feel free to contact our Club Service Director, Len LoPinto, who has been working diligently on the project, at lopinto@paramus.bccls.org or 973-800-0168.

~ Diane Vasile-Falcone Reminds us that the Installation Dinner for our incoming president is scheduled for June 22nd!!!! Let's make this a night to remember!