Rotarily Yours - April 14, 2025 (Apr. 14, 2025)

banner

Kenneth Omeruo
(If you have any comments or questions, please contact the editor)

Apr 21, 2025

Zac Hnatyszyn

Culture Care Senior Living

Apr 28, 2025

Sue & Greg Jones

Mexico Water Filter Projects

May 26, 2025

No Noon Meeting

Memorial Day Observed

View entire list

Make Up Opportunities

AM CLUB — Meets at 7:30 am on the 2nd and 4th Wednesday of each month on Zoom or in person at Northwest Arena

FALCONER — Meets on the 1st and 3rd Thursday of each month at 7 AM at the Falconer Fire Department Exempt Hall located at 1 Coleson Drive Falconer NY, 14733.

WESTFIELD / MAYVILLE — Currently meeting on the second and fourth Tuesdays of the month at 5pm via ZOOM. Contact Janese Berkhouse at 716-397-8801 for Zoom details.

FREDONIA/DUNKIRK —

Meet Thursdays at 12:00 PM - Zoom Teleconference Meetings - Effective until further notice - Fredonia, NY 14063

Committee meetings or social events can also be used as make-ups.

Rotarily Yours – April 14, 2025

Opening

President Marion Beckerink opened the meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance. Caitlin O’Reilly then led everyone in singing the Star-Spangled Banner.

Invocation

Caitlin also shared an inspiring poem called The Sun Flowers by Mary Oliver, in honor of Rotary International’s Environment Month.

Guests and Visitors

President-Elect Michelle Jones welcomed Jennifer Hickman, who attended as a guest of Courtney Curatolo.

Announcements

Lunch Feedback: Brandon Odell, General Manager of DoubleTree, shared that members can now fill out comment cards (provided by generosity of Mark Olsen) to give feedback about the lunch served at meetings. This will help improve the food quality and experience.
Bowling Night: A fun bowling event will be held on May 5 at 5:30 PM at the Jamestown Bowling Company on Foote Avenue. The cost is $9 per person. Members are encouraged to sign up!
Youth Exchange: The club still needs 1 to 3 host families for the Youth Exchange weekend happening April 25–27. Members interested in hosting should contact Cheri Krull.
Scholarships: Two students from Southwestern High School have applied for Rotary Scholarships. Both were sponsored by Chris Anderson.
Hospitality Committee: The Jamestown Hospitality Ad-Hoc Committee will meet April 23 at 4 PM via Zoom to prepare for an upcoming event.
Governance Committee: This committee will meet April 24 at 12:30 PM at The Pub.

50/50 Raffle

Rhonda Johnson ran the 50/50 raffle. Guest speaker Patrick Smeraldo won $29, which he kindly donated back to the club.

Fines and Happy Bucks

The Sergeant-at-Arms this week was Andy Goodell who led a fun round of fines and happy bucks. Members including Mike Roberts, Diane Meckley, Sharon Hamilton, and Greg Jones shared their good news and reasons to celebrate.

Patrick Smeraldo, founder of Collaborative Children’s Solutions (CCS)

This week’s guest speaker was Patrick Smeraldo, founder of Collaborative Children’s Solutions (CCS). Patrick is a retired adaptive physical education teacher who has worked in many roles to support children in Chautauqua County. He was a longtime service coordinator with Chautauqua Connections, one of the three coordinators for Toys for Tots, and now works in business development for The Resource Center/Allied Industries.

In 2021, Patrick launched CCS to help give kids the support and opportunities they need to thrive. One of CCS’s latest projects is CCS-TV, an online educational streaming service that began in December 2023.

About CCS-TV
CCS-TV is a youth-led media platform where teens (ages 13–17) learn how to create and share original video content. With access to a modern studio and support from mentors, young people explore storytelling, media production, and broadcasting. They gain skills, confidence, and a chance to express themselves — all while creating content that entertains and educates viewers of all ages.

Patrick also talked about some of CCS’s community events, including the Christmas Parade, Memorial Day events, Christmas in July, the Gus Macker tournament, and Labor Day celebrations. CCS also brings inspiring speakers for local youth, such as retired NBA player Chris Herren, Paralympian Trevon Jenifer, and NFL player Harrison Phillips.

He gave special credit to Justin Gould, founder of WNY News Now, for helping spark the idea for CCS-TV.

Visit www.ccs-tv.com to see the platform and learn how to get involved!

Read more...