• Upcoming Board Meeting
  The next board meeting will be on Tuesday, July 15, 5:00 p.m. at the Chamber of Commerce offices on East Shore Drive. Members are welcome and encouraged to attend.

• "Rotary Meets Here"
  President Jeff showed us a new "Rotary Meets Here" plaque that will be hung in the hotel lobby soon. The plaque will let all incoming guests and visitors know that Rotary meets at the Holiday Inn on Wednesdays at noon, so hopefully we will have some more visiting Rotarians at our meetings. It may come in handy for some of our own members as well, only time will tell!

• Rotary Special Guest
  Lauretta Dolch, one of our outbound Youth Exchange students, spoke to us about her upcoming adventure in Bolivia. Each of our three outbound students will be speaking to the club over the next few weeks and one of the things we are going to do this year is to keep in constant communication with our students via designated club pen pals. Anyone who would like to be a pen pal for any of the outbound students should contact Jeff True. Lauretta will actually be going to the same town that Ariel Arandes lives in. Many of you will remember Ariel from his recent stay here in Ithaca. Lauretta is looking forward to improving on her Spanish skills, learning to play a local musical instrument, and how to bargain properly and successfully in the markets. She is extremely grateful for this opportunity and thanked us all for making this possible. Thanks to Lauretta for her great talk and her enthusiasm. We all wish her the best and look forward to hearing about her adventures in Bolivia.

• Rotarians In Action at the Blood Drive
  Sue Munson presented Bettsie Park with a cute little squeezable blood drop and a blood drop pin for Bettsie's excellent work on our recent blood drive. Bettsie brought in the most donors to the drive - 6 - and for that she was rewarded and thanked by all. Thank you Bettsie!
  

• Ambassadors
  7/2: Gene Erickson (Ithaca-Cayuga)

• Visiting Rotarians
  Fred Coulter (DeLand, FL)
  Peter Brellochs (Ithaca Sunrise)
  Marty Meyer (Bethpage, NY)
  Allan Bruckner (Bend, OR)
  Barry Downing (Endwell, NY)

• Visiting Exchange Students
  Lauretta Dolch (Outbound)

• Dave Flinn (host) one for Siu-ling who made it back from Syracuse in time for the meeting, two for our District Governor who actually left our district for a time and then came back and now here he is, our District Governor!

• Jessie Ripple one for Ambassadorial Scholar Mauro Colderon who was one of six engineering students in his class who received special recognition at Cornell's graduation this year, and one for a wonderful Savage Club presentation at Cornell recently.

• Ross Lynch five to announce a free bus will be available for anyone interested in attending the Hill Cumorah Pageant. Anyone who would like to ride on the bus to the pageant should contact Ross as soon as possible. They will be attending the performance on July 18.

• June Losurdo five to thank all of the people in the room who are participating in the upcoming Relay for Life at the Ithaca High School track. Everyone is invited to come down to the track and participate in the Relay. It begins on Friday night at 7 and goes until Saturday noon.

• Joanne Florino one Jeffrey Jab Dollar - you need new jokes!

• John Vineyard one to announce that he will be performing a piano recital at Barnes Hall this Friday night, July 11, at 7:15 p.m. Anyone who would like is invited to attend this free performance. You'll have to way another five years or so for the next one!

• Beverly Baker ten for all the people who participated in the Pass the Gavel celebration and to announce that there are copies of the video of the event available for purchase at $10.00 each. If you would like a copy of the incriminating evidence, please see Beverly.
  

• Joe Cassiniti (guest) one to announce that he has a free Lester 1888 upright piano and if his back holds out, he'll even deliver it.

• PDG John Seeley two for having missed a lot of meetings recently and to hear what our current DG has to say. John was the DG some twenty years ago - give or take a few.

• Ted Hendricks one for all of our guests who helped get rid of the Cream of Mystery soup, one because it's not about the food, and one in honor of the head bloodsucker of Rotary -- no wonder she sold so many roses.

"District Governor Official Visit"

DG, Perry Berkowitz

The malaria project will be one of the most important programs that we will undertake this year as we look to Lend a Hand to our friends in Africa. The program involves the purchase of mosquito nets treated with insecticide that will help prevent the spread of this terrible disease. For $3 we will be able to purchase one net. For every 33 nets purchased, one life will be saved. It is an amazing thing to be able to save a life for less than $100! That does not take into account the increased productivity that will be realized from all of the people who will not contract malaria and not lose work time nor suffer from the debilitating effects of the disease. Our district is currently looking at involving all of the districts in zones 31 and 32 in this project, making it possible to create a matching grant that will approach a quarter of a million dollars! This is the power of Rotary.Next year's district conference will be held at the Binghamton Regency Hotel, making it possible for more Rotarians and for the families of Rotarians to participate in the conference. There will be a conference-only rate of $355 per couple which will cover all of the meals and the programs of the conference. There is also a special room rate of $85 per night available at the Regency for Rotarians who would prefer to stay at the hotel, bringing the total package to $525 for the weekend. The conference will be June 11 - 13, 2004 and all members of the district are encouraged to attend. All of the events will be based at the hotel and family members will be encouraged to participate.

Our sincere thanks to Perry and Lonalee for their commitment to Rotary, their service, their enthusiasm, and for speaking to our club. It is going to be another great year of Rotary!

• Please view the calendar posted on the main page of this website for the most up-to-date information. [View Rotary Calendar]

Program Chair: Jeff True
Kettle Watch: Jim Showacre
Greeter: Matt Braun
Thought: Paul Grennell
Introductions: Ted Hendricks
Happy Dollars: Dave Flinn
Music: Bill Cowdrey, Don Hinman, Tony Pesco, and Ross Lynch
Photography: John Ziegler
Setup: John Hays
Editor: Dale Flinn
Website Administrator: Matthew Dearing

• Please address all correspondence to the club to:
  Ithaca Rotary Club P.O. Box 306
  Ithaca, N.Y. 14851
  Attn.: Scott Russell, Secretary
  
  
• For eNewsletter comments, questions or corrections, and subscription requests please contact the Editor at bigd@starflinn.com.