Rotary Spoke
The warmth and camaraderie were welcome distractions from the freezing night outside the Knights of Columbus Heritage Hall this past Tuesday. The Lions Club was gracious enough to invite us to dinner for another year and it was nice to spend the evening with old friends and new acquaintances alike.
Lions Club President Stacy Sheehan rang the bell and Dick Michelson led us in the Pledge of Allegiance. John Lucente carried the tune of God Bless America and Bill Carlson spoke eloquently in his invocation.
It was like Thanksgiving all over again as Nellio’s laid out a full spread with delicious turkey, mashed potatoes, squash, stuffing, green beans, gravy and cranberry sauce. Nothing beats the chill quite like a dinner like that!
Dick Michelson stood up and let us know about the two addition town club signs that will be going up at the Marrett Road and Lincoln Street Rotary, and in front of the Scottish Rights property on Mass Avenue. They will join the really terrific looking ones that already stand in front of the Parker School and at Countryside. He also made us aware of a very big change to the normal Patriots Day schedule that will occur because of the 300th Celebration. As you know, the Patriots Day Parade is on Sunday instead of Monday this year. This disrupts the White Hat, Cane and Youth awards ceremonies that usually take place Monday morning. So this year they will be presented at Town Meeting on Wednesday April 10th at 7:00PM. This way the award winners with still have their rightful spots being honored in the parade.
Lions President Stacy Sheehan gave us a run down of the great success the Lions Club had with their fundraisers this past year. They raised $42,000 at the Carnival and $18,000 at the Road Race, respectively. They delivered turkey dinners and cookies to families and had an iced cream party for seniors in Lexington. 3000 pairs of eyeglasses and 150 winter coats were collected and distributed. The Lions also hosted their annual scholarship and sports dinners.
Second VP Domenic S. stood up for the Rotary Club as President David S, President Elect Jim S and First VP Dave S were unable to attend. Domenic let us know that Jim Shaw thanked everyone for the gift basket he received wishing him a fast recovery from his hip surgery. Domenic went on to tell of our successful philanthropic ventures including Comedy Night and the Cash Raffle. We also had great responses from the Country Fair, the ice cream social at the Veteran’s Hospital, the senior cookouts, the scholarship luncheon and the Veteran’s breakfast that we helped to reestablish at Saint Bridgids. We told the Lion’s about our float plans for the 300th and challenged them to try to out-float us. They arguably have a head start seeing that they could just strap that huge, gold Lion on the top of car and call it a float!
The speaker for the meeting was long time Lion, Eric Carlson. He explained in detail about the joint venture of a permanent display that the clubs have been eager to provide to the town for many years now. Finally the town has approved the donation and erection of 12 foot, 3 faced clock that will forever stand as a landmark in Depot Square. It will also mark the spot where the 300th Time Capsule will be housed in a burial vault below ground. Hopefully, Lexington residents will be able make a donation to have a picture of their families put into the vault which will be opened in 50 years. If I’m lucky I’ll be there to witness the spectacle and I’ll tell you all about it when I see you upstairs J.
The clock will be dedicated on Memorial Day afternoon during the 300th celebration closing ceremony.
PDG Jack M won the 50/50 raffle and donated it right back as usual. The $100 was split between the Lions and Rotary Clubs.
All in all it was fun night and we look forward to hosting the Lions Club again next year.