Continuing its tradition of unity, the Milford Rotary Club hosted a combined meeting this week of the Milford Rotary, the Uxbridge Rotary Club and the Franklin Rotary Club . Milford Rotarian David Irwin was the program chair and introduced our Guest Speaker Chris Farrand, Director of Emergency Disaster Services for the Boston Office of the Salvation Army.  Chris gave us a riveting and empassioned presentation of the Salvation Army's efforts during the recent bombings at the Boston Marathon and response by the various volunteers who donated their time and efforts.  Citing their motto of "Meeting people at their greatest point of need", Chris explained how The Salvation Army, in conjunction with other organizations aided and assisted the first repsponders by providing services such as food, grief counseling, emotional and spiritual care to affected families and children.  Actual numbers from April 15 thru 24 included the following:  18,924 meals provided, 550 runners who received their belongings and a meal at an improvised finish line, emotional and spiritual care offered to survivors, families and first responders, 501 hours of service provided by volunteers, staff and officers.  Choking back tears during a point in his presentation, Chris made a very deep connection to the audience. Anyone wishing to learn about volunteer opportunities, programs and services can can contact the Salvation Army at www.SalvationArmyMA.org

Last weeks guest speaker was Maddy Hennessey M. ED. Adminsistrator of the Worcester Catholic Charities.  Maddy is the project director for teaching US citizenship classes. Her organization is one of only a handful of groups who have received a grant from Homeland Security.  The grant is being used to expand geographically Maddy's organization.  As a result, Milford has been targeted as a viable area to expand their services.  Maddy explained the citizenship application and process. 

Maddy's organization is offering free classes in English, US History and Government, citizenship interview preparation and immigration counseling and application assistance.  The classes are free but there is a $30 materials cost which includes textbook, CD and other study materials. For further information please contact Maddy at 508-860-2261. (www.ccworc.org). If you would like more details or know someone who might like to pursue citizenship, you can email Maddy at mhennessy@ccworc.org  (Text by Dennis LaPlante) 

Hail -Hail ­The Gang is all here. Recently, Jeanne Reimonn, our great Rotary supporter and past host family leader,spearheaded a trip to Boston for three Rotary ESSEX exchange students including our own exchange student Jenny, who is attending Milford High School. From left:  Ben from Chili, Jenny from Germany, Jeanne from Hopkinton and Mai from Taiwan. Ben is the Rotary exchange student from Chili who is Jeanne's son's host brother. Ben is spending his year in Pennsylvania and came to Massachusetts for a visit with the Reimonn family and to join the other exchange students in an exciting trip to Boston. Thanks, Jeanne, for all your dedication and hard work.

Twas a busy meeting this week as the special event committee went over all details to make sure all hands were on deck and ready to excel at our grand fundraiser and social event this Saturday night at 7 pm at the Portuguese Club in Milford- see you there- more details on our FB page

Laura Ingemi, School to Career Coordinator at Hopedale High School was pumped up and ready to share all the details about Hopedale's Internship Program when she visited Rotary this week as a guest of Rotarian Josh Lioce. You can get all the exciting details and see how you can get involved by visiting http://www.hopedale.k12.ma.us/page/1791. Pictured with Laura is another one of our pumped up and always smiling Rotarians, Courtney Derderian.  

Great photo and cutline in the recent Milford Town Crier featuring the Ellis Family receiving the Butch Moore "You Touched My Life Award" from WMRC radio. Left-right" Dick Ferucci, WMRC; Rotarian, Club Past President and Paul Harris Fellow, Steve Ellis and his lovely wife Lynne; Steve's mother Janet and his dad Peter; Tom McAuliffe, WMRC. (Marilyn Holman photo)

The Rotary Club of Milford announced today that it has awarded scholarships to five area high school sophomores who have been selected by the high school educators and the Milford Rotary Club to attend this years Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) Conference being held at Worcester State University in June.

Awards were given to Roma Gujarathi ,Nipmuc Regional High School; Ella Dehestani, Blackstone Valley Regional Vocational; Alexa DaFonte and Madeleine Mulroney, Hopedale High School and Kara DiGregono, Milford High School.

 Michael Peterson, Rotarian and RYLA Committee Chairperson, said that the chosen students will be among the more than 100 area high school sophomores who will attend this years RYLA Conference.  Aimed at developing the leadership potential of young men and women, the conference will feature many thought-provoking events including interactive Leadership Labs, exciting guest speakers, and challenging mental and physical activities that will provide the participants with a chance to excel amongst and with their peers. Topics will include decision-making, critical thinking, communicating effectively, ethics, and public service.

To be chosen, the candidates needed to qualify by showing leadership potential and good citizenship characteristics, and showing a strong desire to attend and benefit from the conference.  Additionally, in their individual interviews, they needed to stand out from the other applicants.

 Anyone interested in obtaining further information should visit http://www.ryla7910.org/ or contact the Milford Rotary RYLA Chair or, any other member of the Milford Rotary Club.

 Milford’s own NFL expert Sean Glennon who is a member of the Professional Football Researchers Association and has written for the Boston Globe and the Hartford Courant was the keynote speaker at Tuesday's combined meeting of the Milford Rotary Club and the Milford Lions Club. 

 Glennon, the author of a book called “Tom Brady vs. the NFL” shared his many perspectives with everyone present.

 Milford Rotary was the host club for the meeting held at Restaurant 45 in Medway.  Rotarian Steve Ellis chaired the annual event which is always a fun filled evening for both clubs. Milford Rotarian and Club Treasurer Ralph Mastrioanni and guest speaker Sean Glennon are pictured with Glennon's book: TOM BRADY VS THE NFL.

  https://www.facebook.com/SeanGlennon.author

Milford’s own NFL expert Sean Glennon Twitter: @SeanGlennon who is a member of the Professional Football Researchers Association and has written for the Boston Globe and the Hartford Courant will be the keynote speaker at the combined meeting of the Milford Rotary Club and the Milford Lions Club on Tuesday March 12. Glennon is also the author of a book called Tom Brady vs.the NFL.  Milford Rotary is the host club and Rotarian Steve Ellis will chair the evening event.

All year long members of the Greenleaf Garden Club work to make Milford a "prettier place" with seasonal flower arrangements set up in pots throughout the town. The Milford Rotary recently made a donation to help the Garden Club with this on-going effort.
This years Garden Club officers and directors are , from left: Hazel Schroder, Nancy Wojick, Trish Hoey, Karen O'Brien, Sue Ellen Szymanski, Kathleen Trafton and Guru S. K. Khalsa-Bob

Our exchange Jenny is keeping herself busy as she recently took to the slopes in Gunstock, NH. From the left Tim Doyle, Eric Nunez, Jeanne Reimonn, Thomas Reimonn, David Frongillo, Andrew Frongillo, John Niro, Jenny at Gunstock, NH.

Just got this great incredible email from Marie DiCampo, my trustworthy and tireless assistant and friend for many years at the Milford Daily News- Think she knew it would make my day.

As a special "Thanks" to Dennis and Lori for their presentation, a book was donated to the Milford Public Library in Alternatives name. Learn more about this great organization by visiting their web site at www.alternativesnet.org

This year we will be offering many exciting auction items! Below are just some of the fantastic restaurants and caterers have been invited to bring their wonderful food to experience…Alicante  ~  Wanokura   ~   Oliva’s ~ 3 Restaurant   ~   Restaurant 45   ~   Prezo’s   ~   SKYE ~  Ray & Dick’s Bakery ~   J&L Catering~    Green Mountain Chocolate ~ The Alamo

Front row, left to right: Connor Maloney, student speaker; Josh Lioce, Rotarian and Career Day Chairman; Jill St. Martin, Guidance Counselor; Sarah Merchant, student speaker; Leah Wilson, class officer and Sharyn Mulvaney, guidance counselor. Back Row: left to right- Hopedale Police Officer John Gagnon (School Safety Officer), Nicholas Bertonazzi, student speaker; Matt Pool, class officer; Derek Atherton, principal and Al Holman, president Milford Rotary Club.

In the fall the Milford Rotary Club celebrates Vocational Services Month by inviting members of the Hopedale High School Junior Class to participate in its Career Day program. In response to that outreach program, juniors from Hopedale High School spent a morning on November 6^th with local businesses to observe and learn about their career interests. This year's program was organized and chaired by Rotarian and past president Josh Lioce.

The long anticipated arrival of Jenny Trapp, our Rotary Essex Exchange Student from Germany, resulted in a great exchange of cultural information at her first meeting with the Milford Rotary Club. Jenny will be attending Milford High as a sophomore. Jenny discussed her home village in northern Germany and her various extracurricular activities including equestrian "vaulting". Jenny has also traveled to England where she participated in an intensive program for learning English. Jenny is staying with the Croteau family in Milford during the upcoming school year. From left: Rotarian and Exchange Student Coordinator Jane Schroeder, Jenny Trapp and her host mother Amy Croteau.

Patrick Raimonn and his mother Jean joined us for lunch and brought us up to date with his forthcoming trip to Chile. Patrick is being sponsored by Milford Rotary as an exchange student and will be spending his upcoming Junior year in High School in Concepcion, Chile. (Photo: Peggy, our club counselor for our inbound exchange student from German, Patrick and president Al Holman).

He will leaving this Friday and travelling approx. 22 hours to his final destination.  He will be met along his various stops by Rotary teams to help him with his travels. Patrick has taken 4 years of Spanish at school along with several private lessons.  His host family does not speak English.  Along with attending the local public school, Patrick is looking forward to snowboarding and skiing the Andes.  Patrick will be blogging his experiences while in Chile.

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