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Jun 02, 2022
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Jul 11, 2022
 
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Stories
Speaking of Serbia
Always thinking, President-Elect Alex Reczkowski began his featured speaker segment with shots of rakija (traditional Serbian cherry brandy) for the assembled masses. With the libation in hand, the group settled into a very interesting presentation about his recent trip to Serbia.
 
Alex summarizes his trip below:
The host club for the project was Bor, with the project led by Vladan Mijailovic and Marko Ratkov. The current president of the Bor club is Jelena Ristic.
(there was a video of her singing, and she's in the news clip). While there, I visited kindergartens (preschools) in Bor, Negotin, Zajecar, and Subotica.
I also attended the 25th Anniversary party for the Subotica Rotary Club.
I met with Rotarians from the following Rotary Clubs:  Belgrade City, Cukarica, Senta, Subotica, (and later Szeged, Hungary), as well as from the Savannah, Georgia club (they were doing a site visit for another Global Grant). Sites that I saw were: Belgrade tour (including Kalemegdan, the Belgrade park where the Danube & Sava Rivers have their confluence), Oplenac (the royal mausoleum with the amazing mosaics), the Royal winery, the Matalj winery (in Negotin), the home of Stevan Stojanovic Mokranjac (in Negotin, he is a composer who was on the currency I showed), and the gold and copper mines of Bor.
In Bor I met with the mayor Alexander Milikic, and we got some great press:
 
Thanks Alex for the shots and the great report of your Serbian mission.
Membership Challenge Reminder
An important Club initiative going forward is membership enhancement. To that end, the Club is still entertaining the membership challenge proposed last year where any Club member that brings a prospective member to a luncheon meeting will have that guest's meal paid for by Eric Schaffer, and when/if that guest attends a second meeting, the meal will be covered by the Club. Can you think of someone to bring to Rotary?
Notes & Asides
Somber Start: President Elect Alex Reczkowski opened the meeting by reading the names of those lost in the recent Uvalde, TX school shooting, followed by a moment of silence for the victims. 
 
Guest of Honor: Randy Johnson was accompanied by his significant other, Jackie.
 
Literal Revolution?: Dave Hall, perhaps jacked up by his new found fortune, proposed a hostile takeover of the Richmond Library by the Berkshire Athenaeum; director Reczkowski was rather noncommittal concerning the proposal. As of press time, we haven't learned of new developments in this potential power grab by Pittsfield.
 
New Marketing Slogan: Dery Funeral Homes went all out with their new marketing slogan we are told, expect to see, "When you're dead, better call Fred" billboards plastered throughout the region.

Invocation Duties

John O'Brien 6/2
Donna Palma 6/9
Ben Parhizgar 06/16
John Perreault 06/23
Janet Brennan 07/07
Eric Schaffer 07/14

Birthdays & Anniversaries

Two birthdays this week, happy happy to Joel Greenberg (May 31) & Randy Johnson (June 02)
 
No club anniversaries this week
Club Lottery
Well, it happened again! We wasted another perfectly good deck with an instant win, two in a row. Adding intrigue to latest contest, the lucky winner was once again a Sergeant At Arms. This time the massive $23 haul was brought in by Dave Hall. Dave will chose the target card this week. Should we assume Messrs. O'Brien and Latham are next in line? Good luck all.