Members Present:  Alix, Barbara, Peggy, Harvey, Sundra, Bina, Mahbub, Shahid, Jeffrey, Loren, Lou, Frank.

 

Guests Present:  Elda Perez, Principal Eugenio Maria de Hostos Microsociety School – Speaker;   Marc Winter (Prospective Member)

 

Alix opened the Meeting at 12:35 with the Pledge, a Prayer for Rotary and the community, the recitation of the Four-Way Test, and the Rotary song led by Harvey.  The Meeting adjourned at 1:50 pm

 

Happy Bucks in the amount of $20 was collected.

 

Minutes of the 16 August Meeting were not considered due to a delay in it’s production.

 

Alix introduced today’s guests - Elda Perez, Principal, Eugenio Maria de Hostos Microsociety School and Marc Winter of David Lerner Associates (prospective member).

 

Alix reminded members of the Kinship Support Field Day (Rotary Day) on 31 August from 11 AM to 1 PM at the Macy Park off Saw Mill River Rd in Ardsley.  Sundra will be doing an Art Project there with grandparents. Please let Peggy and Alix know if you will be participating.

 

Alix requested members to complete and send in the Membership survey.  Alix inquired if the form could be made available on the website.  Mahbub suggested that since the survey is an internal one, it could be uploaded to the website with members being required to login before seeing the survey.  That would considerably reduce the number of members responding.  As an alternative, he suggested it could be sent out again via email as a fillable pdf file.  He will prepare the file and send to members.

 

Alix reminded members of the District Planning Discussion Dinner with Jeffry Cadorette, which will be held at the DoubleTree Hotel in Tarrytown on 19 September at 6 PM.  The registration cost of $45 includes Dinner.  To register, visit the District website rotary7230.org and follow the link from the main page.

 

Speaker Elda Perez has been Principal Eugenio Maria de Hostos Microsociety School for the past 7 years.  She has been working with Greg the last few years.  Greg had introduced her to Alix.  The school is an elementary School from Grades 1 to 6.  It has predominantly a Latino and African-American student body and 92% are on the free/subsidized School lunch program.  Elda has spent the last 25 years as an educator in Yonkers and in 2013-14, she was honored as the Administrator of the Year.  The School is the only Micro-Society School in New York State, and 7 years ago was on the NYS failing Schools list and was to be closed.  Elda together with Suzanne Downing, Rotarian from Michigan have been instrumental in turning the school around and while it is no longer on the failing schools list, the pass rate has improved to 20% from the low of 3%.  Click here for Elda’s PowerPoint presentation on our website.

 

Prospective member Marc Winter moved to the area from Indiana last October.  He works for David Lerner Associates and has been in the financial field for 30 years.

 

Lou Cole spoke about the mudslide disaster in Sierra Leone.  He has started a GoFundMe page to provide assistance to schools and young people.  Elda offered to provide books and supplies from her school.  Lou will submit a proposal for discussion at the next Board meeting.  Earlier, Bina had submitted to Alix a proposal to join with the Rotary Club of Uttara to assist the victims of unprecedented floods in Bangladesh.  A third of the country is under water and tens of millions of people are affected.  The Rotary Club of Uttara is working to provide assistance to the victims and has reached out to our Club for help.

 

Sundra reported that she, Greg, Bina, Barbara and Mahbub participated in the Queen’s Daughters Day Care Center’s Get Moving, Get Fit Field Day on Friday, 18 August.  As it had been raining, the event was moved indoors.  With Y-EY grant money from the Community Service Grant, they purchased tricycles, hoola-hoops, basketballs and soccer balls.  The kids there range from 18 months to 5 years and are provided with a full-day of learning, rest and 2 and half meals every day.  Director Barbara Berrios was on hand to share her first-hand knowledge and experience and gave the members a tour of the classrooms, gym, kitchen and play areas. There is a story with a photo album on the visit on our website.

 

The Club Meeting next week will be held at 6:15 pm at Dolphin Restaurant located at 1 Van Der Donck St., Yonkers NY 10701. Members and Guests can order off the menu and eat whatever they like, paying the restaurant directly.  Drinks will be 30% off at the bar.  Valet parking is available.  For those able to walk, free parking is available at Beczak at 35 Alexander St., a few blocks away. Invite friends who are interested in Rotary to join us.