SCUTTLEBUTT
March 5
Greeter: Ina Hoffman
ROTARIANS HAVE OPPORTUNITY
TO HELP FIGHT HOMELESSNESS
Chief Justice Sullivan with RCOMH members
Seyla Nehan, Linda Doliber and Don Doliber
(Courtesy Photo Seyla Nehan)
Rotarians have an opportunity to help fight homelessness by assisting “Housing Specialist Courts”. The announcement was made during the Peace and Understanding Dinner, hosted by District 7930.
Linda Doliber was in attendance and reports that “Seyla, Don and I learned much and came away with a new appreciation for the MA Housing Court system and its dedicated and forward-thinking Chief Justice and his staff.
“Keynote speaker The Honorable Timothy Sullivan, Chief Justice of the Mass Housing Court had some valuable words for Rotarians attending the World Peace and Understanding Dinner. Service organizations including Rotary, for which Judge Sullivan expressed specific admiration, can help combat the scourge of homelessness.
“Homelessness begins for many reasons including loss of job, physical or mental disability, behavior disorders, and neighborhood gentrification which brings corresponding higher rental rates. Statewide in the various housing court locations, over 39,000 petitions were heard last year from citizens facing homelessness and over 70% of those petitioners came to the Court proceedings with no legal representation!
“Why are service volunteers needed? The Court and its judges must rule strictly according to the law and must avoid sentimentality in decisions. It has become obvious that specialists in legal assistance, housing availability, and medical issues are desperately needed and must be made available to petitioners who have lost their cases. To that end, Judge Sullivan and his staff plan to open 53 Housing Specialist Courts throughout the state within the next two years. Petitioners who need those services can then be referred by the Court to specialists for further assistance. If you have expertise in those areas and want to volunteer, call Judge Sullivan's office, say you are a Rotarian who wants to help, and you will be gratefully directed to the right office. (617) 788-6500.
Thank you Linda, for this report.
SAVE A CHILD’S HEART
Lila Caplan with President-Elect Kathleen Murphy
(Photo by Luis Ribas)
Diane Barbour’s 2019 Holiday Pops talk is rescheduled for this week. She will offer thoughts and ask for ideas on planning this year’s Pops. As you know we need to start earlier than in previous years and will likely need a different venue this year. The raffle for dining at La Chanterelle will take place during this weeks' meeting.
Last week we were joined by Lila Caplan, and she impressed the room with her creativity, thoughtfulness, and dedication to helping others. Lila, a local high school student, is fundraising for Israel-based charity Save a Child’s Heart that provides pediatric cardiac care in poor countries regardless of religion, gender or nationality. She shared with us some fundraising techniques, such as light hearted pranks on her principal, or weaving braids for eight consecutive hours, along with her sister. The charity has helped 4 thousand children in more than 60 countries and the most common heart surgery performed costs $15,000. That is how much she is trying to raise If you would like to contribute, please click here for Lila’s fundraising page
ONLY 18 DAYS AWAY:
MAKE A SPLASH AGAINST POLIO
WITH THE BIG TOE PLUNGE
Devereux Beach
(Photo by Luis Ribas)
The Big Toe Plunge is only 18 days away. Please plan to participate in this RCOMH event. It’s a follow up to the Polar Plunge, designed to continue to raise money for polio eradication.
All you have to do is dip your big toe in the water at Devereux Beach and donate. Besides toe dippers we will also ask family, friends, and incautious passersby to donate. InterAct will join us but they will do the full plunge.
Date: March 23rd
Time: 10:00am
Location: Devereux Beach, Marblehead
Donations: Any amount
March Food Pantry Donation:
Pasta and Pasta Sauce
BOOKS, CLOTHING, AND BOOTS
NEEDED FOR NEPAL
Nancy DeMuth brings books to Nepal
(Courtesy Photo Tricia Sullivan)
Tricia Sullivan, and a physical therapy and Rotarian team, are going to Nepal in April. As in prior trips Tricia will be bringing donations of clothes, jackets, boots, sneakers, flip flops, children's books, portable solar panels etc. Age for clothing ranges from 6 month through adult. Gently used donations are welcome. Please bring your donations to Club meetings up until March 19th. If anyone has connections with L.L.Bean, REI, The North Face please check to see if they would consider donations of irregular items, especially L.L.Bean boots.
GREEN MOVIES
This Sunday Sustainable Marblehead and the Epstein Hillel School will host one more movie of a series dealing with current environmental challenges. It will show March 10th, at 3:00pm, 6 Community Road, in Marblehead. The next movie will be shown on April 7th. For more information, check the Sustainable Marblehead movie event page.
CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW?
Don’t miss out on the fun and the opportunity to help the hearing impaired while you have a cocktail, or dinner. Joan McCormack reports that the evening will be very rewarding because in addition to any donations, “The Landing will generously donate 20 percent of all food and drink purchased that evening to the North Shore Hearing Foundation. This event will feature great food, raffle and gift baskets and great company!”.
“The North Shore Hearing Foundation provides hearing aids to individuals who do not have the insurance or resources to obtain them. Help us give the gift of hearing to local children and adults by making a reservation for dinner at the Landing. If you are unable to join us, please consider making a donation by check or online at www.nshearingfoundation.com
NEW MEMBER ORIENTATION
The next District New Member Orientation event will be held on Thursday, April 11th, at the Four Points Sheraton in Wakefield. We wish to expose new members (those that joined within the past 2 years) to the big family of Rotary. The cost is just $10 and the member will get it refunded upon attendance. Click here now to register.
LEADERS GET READY
The Rotary Leadership Institute is 1) a great place for new Rotarians to learn about the organization; and 2) to help provide those who wish to be leaders with a quality education in Rotary knowledge and leadership skills so important in voluntary organizations.
The short story: Our own Linda Doliber will host a RLI on our area.
Date: Saturday, April 27th
Time: 7:30am - 3:30pm
Where: Four Points by Sheraton, 1 Audubon Road, Wakefield, MA
Click here to register.
Thank you Linda Doliber, Seyla Nehan and John Williams for contributing to this edition of Scuttlebutt. 
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