Thank you to Emily Cama and all who assisted her in making the Recognition Dinner at the Celoron Harbor House Hotel so very lovely.

We began the evening with the Pledge of Allegiance, the Star-Spangled Banner and the recitation of the Four Way Test, followed by an invocation by Vice President Michelle Jones.

After a very delicious dinner, Ruth gave the following remarks:

                  “What an amazing year it has been! But first I would like us to take a moment to remember two long-time Rotarians who passed away this year: Mag Magnuson and Norm Merrill. Both made a lasting impact on our Club.

When I came into this year, I said my goal was to increase engagement and have committees become more proactively involved, looking to the future to see how each one could enrich the Rotary experience and expand the Rotary reach. I am so thrilled when I think about all the committees have done and the outreach that this Club has participated in.

                  Of course, we have the most recent memory of the amazing return of the Auction! But that is only the most recent spectacular success.

                  Starting out the year, you may remember that our golf tournament last July was so well attended that we had to borrow golf carts because Moon Brook didn’t have enough!

                  There was the Mini-golf Pub Crawl. Max, you hit one out of the park on your first try. Everyone had such a great time, and it was your creation and vision from start to finish!

                  The Literacy Committee shows what strong committee work can accomplish, providing service opportunities for reading to youth, launching the Books and Bibs Early Literacy Initiative, as well as continuing a very successful Laundromat Library Program.

                  We added additional Club Service volunteers to our weekly meetings, and Sharon hardly blinked. The Greeter at each meeting provides so much vibrancy to the registration area, welcoming each and every person.

                  Youth. We are one of the few clubs that welcomed an inbound student this year, and so we were very pleased to be able to invite all the 7090 inbound students to Jamestown for a weekend retreat. We are building the program again - with exciting new options for the students. And we had our first Rotary Youth Leadership Award (RYLA) student in several years!

                  On the membership front, I am thrilled with the hard work that the committee did this year, meeting monthly, developing and launching an organization membership and defining attendance expectations as well as welcoming 5 new members, 2 transfers, a rejoining member and 5 alternates. The committee addressed several key issues and made recommendations to the Board.

                  To increase our member visibility, we offered an on-line store with Rotary clothing. You could see them at the Treasure Trove Auction and at the recent Tarp Skunks game.

I am also pleased that much of our funding this year had active participation by our members. Whether it was David and Marissa Troxell leading us in the “Bike to School” project, Greg & Sue Jones participating in the Water Filtration Project in Mexico, Rotarians assisting with the JCC Youth Leadership Conference, or partnering with the AM and Falconer Rotaries, where we were able to provide funding for Transitions, the YWCA’s supportive housing program that provides safe and affordable housing and service-enriched case management to women and children who are homeless or at risk of being homeless both at the Westfield Arts Festival in July and the Coldest Night of the Year, where, under Marion’s leadership “Rotary Wheels” raised almost 25% of the funds raised.

                  Rotary is also partnering locally with the Chautauqua County IDEA Coalition to bring solutions to Education and Community building issues experienced by marginalized residents locally.    

                  And now John Healy tells us that the Back of the Sign Project, adding to our welcome to Jamestown sign will be installed any day – if it already hasn’t been. And the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee is working on an “Extending the Welcome” project extending from the sign, south along Main Street.

                  I know I’m missing a lot – as someone said in the President Elect training – if you are a Rotarian, you can’t do a 30 second elevator speech – there is just toooo much!

I feel honored and privileged to have served with you this past year, and I am really looking forward to Marion’s leadership going forward!

                                                                                          *******

Thanks to funding by the Gebbie Foundation, the rear of the North Main Street entry sign to the City of Jamestown, NY is COMPLETE!

The sign project, under the impetus of the Rotary Club of Jamestown, brought together many local organizations and funders to produce a warm, attractive welcome to our community.

Now, thanks to continued funding by the Gebbie Foundation, beautiful renderings of local attractions have been added to the rear of the sign, visible when people leave the city and wish to “SEE YOU NEXT TIME.”

Featured are the Northwest Arena, the Robert H. Jackson Center, the Reg Lenna Center for the Arts, The Lucille Ball Little Theatre of Jamestown, the Riverwalk, the Lucy Desi Museum, the Roger Tory Peterson Institute, the Chautauqua Belle, the Fenton Museum and the National Comedy Center.

Original funders include: the Gebbie Foundation, the Rotary Club of Jamestown, the Chautauqua Region Community Foundation, the Sheldon Foundation/Peter B. Sullivan, the Jessie Smith Darrah Fund and Allied Alarm. Organizations involved included: CPL Design Services, EE Austin & Son, R. Patti Concrete & Excavating, Sivak Stonemasonry, Industrial Welding & Fabricating, Chautauqua Sign, the City of Jamestown & Jamestown DPW, Ahlstrom Schaeffer Electric, Ellison Bronze and JMI.

50/50 winnings of $102.00 went to Sue Jones!

New Member Caitlin O’Reilly was inducted by President-Elect Marion.

Caitlin spent most of her life on the West Coast in a variety of occupations. In 2004, she closed her bookkeeping and human resource consulting business and moved to Dunkirk, NY to pursue a degree in music therapy at SUNY Fredonia.

After an internship, Caitlin worked part-time for Hospice Buffalo while being an integral part of the team developing a complementary therapies program for Chautauqua Hospice and Palliative Care. Caitlin moved on to full-time while earning a master’s degree in music therapy from SUNY Fredonia as part of the requirements for licensure as a creative arts therapist in New York State.

In 2017 she moved to Florida and married Tom Small at Chautauqua, NY, in 2017. Tom had summered at Chautauqua since he was a young boy. Unfortunately, Tom succumbed to Parkinson’s Disease in June 2023.

Caitlin is delighted to reestablish her involvement in Chautauqua County, St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Rotary (this is her third Rotary Club), building a private practice in music therapy and continuing Tom’s involvement with the Chautauqua Watershed Conservancy.

Caitlin has maintained her license as a creative arts therapist, which permits her to address mental health issues. She is also currently working on her dissertation in the field of depth psychology.

AWARDS & PRESENTATIONS

President Ruth honored Kathy Burch, Treasurer of the Rotary Club of Jamestown Community Service Fund and club member for her exemplary service to the Club. Kathy has spent countless hours dedicated to knowing the regulations for non-profit organizations and understanding the importance to donors and supporters that they are properly recognized. The Rotary Club of Jamestown has undertaken two huge events in the past year – the Annual Golf Tournament and the Treasure Trove Auction that required meticulous recording and reporting. And Kathy managed it all!

PAUL HARRIS FELLOW AWARD by Joni Blackman

Foundation Chairman Joni Blackman presented a FOURTH Paul Harris Fellow Award to Lisa Goodell for her tireless efforts as secretary of our club for the past fourteen years.

Joni also presented a Paul Harris Fellow Award to President Ruth Lundin for her efforts on behalf of the club for the work she has done as President.

President Ruth presented the Service Above Self Award to President Elect Marion Beckerink.

President Ruth presented Marissa and David Troxell with the International Global Ambassadors Award on behalf of their work for our club all over the world.

President Elect Marion presented gifts to the 3 Amigos – Edborg, Horrigan and Roberts who chaired the very successful Treasure Trove Auction!

President Ruth and President-Elect Marion presented Lisa Goodell with the Rotarian of the Year Award for the third time!

Lisa joined the club in 2000, sponsored by her soon husband-to-be Andy Goodell. She soon distinguished herself, becoming chairman of the Literacy Committee Chair and its Annual Program Chair. In August 2009 she was named as Assistant Secretary and in June 2010, Lisa received her first Rotarian of the Year Award for stepping forward without hesitation to temporarily perform the duties of secretary of the organization upon the illness of the secretary. That temporary status lasted until 2011, when she was named Secretary.

Lisa devoted herself to careful attention, detail and knowledge of “How a Rotary Board Works” for both the Rotary Club and its not-for-profit RCJCSF providing a long-term perspective to the club’s activities.

Sue Jones, Rotary Historian commented, “Most important is Lisa’s meticulous record-keeping – her ability to recall business decisions of the cub and RCJCSF made many years ago and keeping the Club on a straight path. She has to ability to weed through discussion and verbiage and record distinct statements of the Board bringing them back to light years later when needed. That historical information is extremely helpful to the Board as they make their decisions.”

Lisa is not leaving the club, merely standing aside as Secretary and the leadership looks forward to where she will decide to apply her organizational and creative skills in the future.

President Elect Marion presented President Ruth with her past president pin and special recognitions.

Marion thanked Ruth for her leadership. During the past year, the club has gained 12 new members, including the addition of the category of Organizational membership and she led the club to reinforce bylaws to encourage attendance and service by all members.

Ruth has been committed to the environment, diversity/equity and inclusion, good governance, engagement and growth which has yielded the fruits of service the members of the club have provided throughout the year.

Marion presented her with an outgoing gift and recognized Ruth’s husband Paul Hedberg for his role as “best supporting husband” with a Bonsai plant as a symbol of his deep, sustaining, and enduring strength over the past year.

Ruth has agreed to accept the role of club treasurer for the coming year.

And finally, The Rotary Club of Jamestown celebrated the installation of its new President, Marion Beckerink administered by Past President, John Healy.

Marion Beckerink has enjoyed a 40 plus year career that included over twenty years as a Staff Attorney for the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio. Her focus was on challenges based on the U.S. Constitution and issues of law arising under violations of federal law. In 2014, she retired from that position and relocated to Jamestown, NY in 2015. That year she was hired by the Robert H. Jackson Center as Director of Development until she retired from that position in January 2022. 

In addition to her presidency of the Rotary Club of Jamestown, Beckerink chairs the Technical and Grant Committees as a member of the non-profit Creche organization; she serves on the Altar Guild of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church; is a member of the New Neighbors Coalition; a member of the Jamestown Bar Association; and, has been a member of the I.D.E.A. Coalition since its inception when she contributed as a member of the United Way of Southern Chautauqua Board of Directors. She is now the Rotary liaison to the I.D.E.A.

In 2023, she became certified by the Executive Office of Immigration Appeals to represent individuals in Jamestown and Hamburg who are exercising a legal right to asylum in United States courts, as well as refugees seeking permanent residence status.

Beckerink earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Dickinson College and Juris Doctorate from the Cleveland Marshall College of Law. She is happily married to retired Southwestern Central High School teacher Rod Beckerink, the man who brought her to Jamestown and the proud mother of her musician son, Joshua a/k/a Cautious Clay.

Marion then performed her first duty as President of Rotary by installing our Board of Directors.

Left to right are Marion Beckerink, President; Michelle Jones, Vice President and President-Elect; Irene Dobies, Director; Kenneth Omeruo, Director, Jennifer Harper, Secretary; Emily Cama, Director; Ruth Lundin, Treasurer; John Bauman and Paulette Klein, Directors.

Not present were Chris Anderson, Melissa Meyers, Max Eimiller, John Felton and Dan Heitzenrater.

Final comments were given by Michael Harrington, Assistant District Governor of Area 16 and President of the Rotary Club of Westfield, NY.

He complemented our club (the largest in District 7090) on our large membership in an urban community with diverse needs. We are always active and engaged and he is delighted to see we have embraced new technology!