Venue MapOn Wednesday, 2/27/19 from 5:30PM tp 7:30PM , Brookline Rotary invites the Brookline Community to meet us at Hops N Scotch at 1306 Beacon St. for complimentary refreshments and to hear what Rotary can do with and for them. Meet members of Brookline Rotary and dispel some of the myths surrounding our organization. Since 1938, leaders in the Brookline community have been serving the town through our grants and with our time and effort. From providing scholarships and training for our youth to purchasing needed equipment for the Mental Health Center and the Food Pantry to enabling our seniors to gather and enjoy Brookline life, Rotarians have been in the forefront of solving local and international problems, such as clean water in our Sister City, Quezalguaque. Welcome all: retirees, young professionals and new members of our community. RSVP to http://rotary-action.eventbrite.com .
Due to inclement weather, Purple Pinky Day will be rescheduled to a later date. Stay tuned. Meanwhile we ran a video presentation in the window of the Brookline Bank at Coolidge Corner all weekend! Many thanks to the Brookline Bank.
On Sunday, Sept 24th, BU Rotaract staffed the Boston Rotary club table at Brookline Day. A wonderful event for families Brookline Rotary has been participating for years. This year for the second time, the Rotaractors, many of whom are Occupational Therapy students, demonstrated the proper way to pack a back pack to avoid injury. For many school children, heavy back packs have become a concern given the strain they put on growing bones. The students were a big success with attendees at Brookline Day. Well done Rotaract! 
Great meeting yesterday as members partnered with Steps to Success and Eastern Service Workers to pack school backpacks with needed school supplies. Thanks to the generosity of our members 30 students will start school with pencils, pens, notebooks, and much more. Our member and resident Occupational Therapist, Karen Jacobs, made sure all packs were packed in an manner to ensure student safety with the heaviest items along the back of the packs. Occupational Therapy students and BU Rotaract will be with Brookline Rotary at Brookline Day at Lars Anderson Park on 9/23 to share these packing tips with all Brookline student and parents. The club is scheduled to do four of these service projects during our meetings this coming year. Non-members are welcome to join us. Check the calendar for dates and projects.
On June 3, 2018, several members of Brookline Rotary attended the Annual Brookline High School Scholarship Breakfast. This has become a wonderful Brookline tradition acknowledging our very impressive BHS graduates. The class of 2018 was as outstanding as past graduates and Brookline Rotary is proud to join Scott Butchart (see story on page 2), his team at the High School, Brookline Community Foundation and the other scholarship donors in honoring these amazing young people. Donors are seated with the recipients and Brookline Rotary had the pleasure of meeting Shahar Hartman, one of our recipients. Shahar was heading off to Washington DC the following week to receive a Congressional Gold Medal Award in addition to his awards on the third. Missing from the photo is Bo Winiker who raised the $100,000 to endow scholarships held by the Brookline Community Foundation. Present are Claudia Dell'Anno, Club President, Shahar, Susan Rack, Literacy Chair.)
Talk about inspiring... Our speaker yesterday, Janine Mosley showed us some truly amazing constructions she has made through origami. 
BACK TO SCHOOL DRIVE Please join us in our annual Back To School project. Once again, Brookline Rotary is hoping to collect donations to outfit 20 plus back packs to help area students start the new school year off right. Many local families cannot afford the cost of back to school supplies. Brookline Rotary is collecting donations to purchase supplies for these students. Our goal is to strengthen the capacity of communities to support basic education and literacy, reduce gender and race disparity in education, and increase literacy. The Back Pack program is one of several projects Brookline Rotary supports to ensure literacy for children and adults. Checks can be made out to Brookline Rotary and sent to PO Box 136, Brookline MA 02446. Our hope is to purchase supplies by August 20th so that we can put together back packs at our August 23rd meeting. Members can get donations to Susan Rack at or before the 8/16 meeting.
Brookline Rotary lost a member and our dear friend, Judy Moses, who was tragically taken on Sunday, 4/29/18. Judy has been an active member of Brookline Rotary since 2008 and personified the ideals of Rotary. She was a consummate professional who treated all with respect and fairness. Her many interactions and good works built good will and engendered solid friendships throughout her many areas of interest including literacy, animals, and mentoring young women. We extend our deepest condolences to her family. Judy will be greatly missed by us all.
This year, thanks to the help of Karen Jacobs, Shawna Carboni, Elmon Hendrickson, Target stores and the Boston University Rotaract Club, Brookline Rotary was able to distribute slow cookers to members of Women and Girls Thriving in Brookline and to veterans of the local VFW Post. The crock pots were part of a Healthy Eating Program the BU Rotaract has been doing for two years now. It was an extension of a District Grant that Brookline Rotary gave last year to Women and Girls Thriving. The gift from Target was also another way for us to thank our local veterans.
On January 4th, Joyce Graff, Sharon Herman and Susan Rack, all of the Rotary Club of Brookline, joined 59 other Rotary Volunteers from the US, Canada, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Mexico and Australia, along with the four Rotary Clubs of Agra for the 2018 Mega Polio Campaign. 
A very fun meeting as our Boston University Rotaract President had us use our bodies to replicate photos from her trip to InterotoTapai 2017. Sarah reported on her adventures at the 2017 Rotaract Conference in Taipai this past spring and then updated us on the activities of the Boston University Rotaract club. We could not be prouder of this group. Way to go Sarah and Rotaract!
The luncheon with our Sister City guests has become an annual tradition, but this year it held greater significance as we await Rotary International's response to our application for a Global Grant. Edifice Roque, Laboratory Director for the Center for Investigation, Work & Environment, Medical School at National Autonomous University of Nicaragua, updated us on the progress of this multi-year project to ensure clean water to the area of Quezelquaque, Nicaragua. Along with the rest of the visiting team from Quezelquaque and the members of the Sister City Project here in Brookline, we learned that we now have a greater idea of the source of water contamination thanks to the research already completed. Brookline Rotary's grant will help to implement the needed changes to positively impact the delivery of clean water and educate the local citizens. This project will hopefully have a lasting effect on the health of the citizens of Quezelquaque.
It was another successful Freshman BBQ as Brookline Rotarians joined with sophomore parents at Brookline High School and faculty and staff to welcome the class of 2021! Despite the threat of rain and the window blown smoke, Rotarians and PTO fed over 800 as we welcomed one of the largest Freshman classes in memory. Way to go team!
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It was an agenda packed meeting on August 31. District Governor Karin Gaffney and Assistant Governor Karen Whetmore joined us along with two of our five 2017 RYLA students. Governor Karin Gaffney shared with us her vision for the year and her belief in the Rotary Spirit. "Warning" us that Rotary Spirit is contagious, she urged us all to recommit to our motto of service.
