Charlotte-Shelburne Rotary - Newsletter

President Steve Dates welcomed guests: George and Linda Schiavone’s grandson, Daniel McKay; Eric Thompson of St. George who is interested in Rotary, Peter Carmoli of the Colchester Milton Club who reminded members of their annual fund raising auction on Saturday at Colchester High School cafeteria with previews beginning at 9 a.m., and Gary Marcotte’s son Jimmy.

Rotary Foundation Thought

This week’s Rotary Foundation Thought is an inspiring quote from Paul Harris that can be assimilated to the challenge to eradicate Polio worldwide:

"I like to think that the pioneering days of Rotary have just begun. What's 40 years in the life of a great Movement? There are just as many new things to be done as ever there were. Rotary must simply continue to pioneer or be left in the rear of progress." Over 60 years later, Paul Harris' words are just as meaningful. There are still so many new things to achieve and promises to keep. If every district allocates 10% of its available District Designated Funds (DDF) this year to the PolioPlus Partners Program, we can reach the $5 million goal needed to fund National Immunization Days in India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria and fulfill our commitment. Remember what Paul Harris said -we must all strive to be PIONEERS on the long road to PEACE.

Announcements

Five members of the club attended the District Training last Saturday, Steve and Elaine Dates, John Beal, Judy Christensen and Jim Spadacinni who was one of the featured speakers.
Adam Bartsch is leading a regular meeting on the second Thursday of the month at Cucina Antica to discuss changes in the estate tax law.
Sympathy to Michael Clapp whose father died last week in Texas
Elaine Dates explained that under the new District Simplified Grants system, we should plan to find a project that we can ask for a grant for – John Dupee’s committee will discuss this
Speaker at the Feb. 11 meeting will be Michael Dupee on “Social Responsibility at Green Mountain Coffee.”
Charlotte Shelburne Rotary will prepare and serve the lunch at the Charlotte Senior Center on March 25 at noon. Terrell Titus is in charge and a sign-up sheet was circulated.
Tamie-Jo Dickenson hs asked for judges for the Future Business Leaders of American Confeence on April 2 and 3. A sign-up sheet was circulated.
A new ad hoc group of Rotarians from Chittenden Rotary Clubs has been meeting at the Bearded Frog Restaurant. Ask Steve for details.
14 of the 20 possible cash match slots have been filled and 14 of the 18 points match opportunities
The District is offering grants for public relations outreach by clubs with $500 from the District and $1,500 from Rotary International. It is suggested that we apply for a grant to publicize Hands to Honduras
At the board meeting on January 29, the board supported the District’s plan to apply to be a Pilot District for the new Foundation Vision program. They also approved Barry Carris as an honorary member.

Sergeant at Arms

Kris Engstrom levied an anniversary fine on John Hancock who celebrated his 60^th anniversary last week. When asked if he had advice for others based on his years of experience, he said, “Yes, dear.”

Happy fines:

Sharon Beal – a pin fine and a late fine and for John being back on the ski slopes (and with apologies for the Icy Hot fragrance resulting from her ski adventures – and for Trafton encouraging her to get to Rotary meetings – and for Linda Gilbert’s impeccable leading of the Hands to Honduras project
Eric Hanley – Debbie and Megan are back from their great trip with Hands to Honduras
Robert Maynes – overshadowed by John Hancock with his 15 grandchildren but happy to announce the arrival of his first grandchild
Trafton Crandall – his second daughter is getting married
Michele Lash – her twins celebrated their birthday and her sister had a baby – all on the same day
Joyce Errecart – a scoot fine – and a great visit to her grandson
Alan Hathaway – celebrating his anniversary in the Arizona desert
Dennis Delaney – honoring the memory of Senator George Little who died this week –for having had the privilege of sitting next to him in the senate
Jimmy Fayette – for his special guest Jimmy Marcotte
Terrell Titus – for getting stuck in Maine and missing the meeting last week – and looking forward to next week when she will be in Sanibel, Florida
Ric Flood – spending time with Larry Williams in Florida
Steve Dates – absent the week of Feb. 17 while Elaine judges a flower show in Rhode Island – and prepayment for their upcoming anniversary

Lucky draw: Sharon Beal’s ticket was drawn but she chose the wrong the card and didn’t get the $68.50 pot.

Guest Speaker

Steve Dates and Jack McMullen

Jack McMullen, whose background includes financial advising, teaching at Harvard, being on the boards of several tech companies, advising Senate committees, and earning an MBA as well as a law degree from Harvard, gave a lively presentation designed to demystify derivatives, the cause of much of the current economic crisis. He said derivatives are contracts between any two financial institutions to hedge economic risks, incredibly complex agreements over which there was no oversight – no clearing house, no central reporting and no disclosure.

These contracts were written on mortgage securities, credit default swaps, currency trading and interest rate swaps, and although they could be described as similar to insurance policies, because the word insurance isn’t in their name, they are not subject to any of the controls that would apply to insurance.

At the end of 2008, according to McMullen, there were $1000 trillion in derivatives, representing perhaps 90% of the world’s financial worth – and with complex international connectivity. “There are just not enough dollars to fill such a hole,” McMullen said.

His analysis of the prospects: “Financially induced recessions are long and deep.” His opinion of stimulus proposals: stimulus is good if it is designed to support future growth.