⚙️ Corning Rotary 7-25-24 Cogs eBulletin (Jul. 25, 2024)

Welcome to Corning Rotary!

Thursdays at 12:00 p.m.

DoubleTree

125 Denison Parkway E
Corning, NY 14830
United States of America

We meet the first and third Thursdays of the month at the Corning Radisson/soon to be DoubleTree. More information below. Meetings are hybrid; a zoom link is available.

Zoom Meeting

Swimming for a Cause - Supporting People's Hospice Needs

Posted by Andy Rochester on Jul 30, 2024

Last Saturday, Jen Batzing and I, along with 200+ other swimmers gathered at Keuka College to raise money for the Keuka Comfort Home - a local hospice that supports people at the end of their lives ... The event is called Krossin' Keuka and the organization is amazing!

We're organized into pods of ~8 swimmers and dropped off at the far side of the lake -- across from Keuka Collage. Then, we swim back - aiming for the chapel, with the morning sunrise glow illuminating it. There are giant orange floating balls that show us the way, and dozens of kayakers (and even a dive team) to keep us safe. If a swimmer tires, the kayakers provide immediate assistance. Every few minutes, another pod of swimmers is dropped off and starts its swim across.

Meanwhile the music is playing on the point, spectators are cheering and there's lots of carbs and fruit for the swimmers. And, in just a couple of hours -- it is over; but we're already marking our calendars for 2025!!

Fundraisers such as this [and the run for Bampa's House in Corning] are key to helping provide this valuable service and help ensure that people without funds can have this assistance.

So -- with the support that many of you in Corning Rotary [and our other friends and family] provided, Jen and I helped contribute to the $121,412.06 that was raised.

Thank you!!

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Here are additional thank-you's from the Krossin' Keuka Organization:

We also want to extend our heartfelt thanks to the Yates County Sheriff’s Department Marine Patrol for their essential support and to all the incredible businesses that backed Krossin’ Keuka 2024. A round of applause for Morgan Marina, Single Enterprises, Riley Earl Films, Tops, Rob Kinyoun, Grapevine Country Tours, Seneca Falls Health Center, and our fantastic DJ Nate Baker from FLX Entertainment. Your contributions helped turn this event into a phenomenal success.

The magic of Krossin’ Keuka is built on a blend of hard work, dedication, and boundless community spirit. We can’t wait to see you all next year for even more fun and fundraising on Saturday, July 26, 2025. Until then, thank you for making this year unforgettable!

Club Meeting 7-18-24

Greeter- Cory Walker
50/50- Yumiko Akiba
Invocation- Ray Defendorf
COGS- Jen Batzing
Photographer- Gill Sweet

Video from Meeting: 00:00 - Start; 00:14 - Welcome & Thank you; 03:46 - Visitor and soon-to-be new member - Barb Richter; 08:04 - Special Recognitions; 11:44 - Lucas returns - with an update!; 24:01 - What’s Next for our Club?; 26:30 - Good News Bucks; 31:23 - The Biography Challenge

Happy July Birthdays to our Rotarians 🎂

Welcome to our guests:

Cynthia Raj, Retired from the Chemung County Chamber in Elmira and as the Director at the Chemung Valley Montessori in Big Flats. Cynthia has served on a variety of local and regional boards since her family relocated to New York, but currently enjoys helping friends and loved ones and supporting community-based initiatives. She would consider it an honor to be part of the Corning Rotary.
Barb Richter, Retired CPP teacher and future Rotarian
Joe Melanson, CPP teacher and Admin. Intern
Lucas Kallas, former Rotary Exchange Student 2016-2017

Announcements:

River Clean Up, Saturday, July 20th
Camp Star Night, Monday, August 12^th
City of Corning- comprehensive plan update; please provide your feedback here.
Endless Mountain Music Festival starts this weekend. The CMoG concert is free and sponsored by Corning Rotary.

Special Thank you and Recognition:

Cathy Buck for her work with Camp Star
Yumiko, thank you for making sure the river clean-up project would happen
Nora Smith for visiting so many breweries in preparation for Oktoberfest 2024
Ross Perry, thank you for being a member of the Corning Rotary Club, longevity recognition

Welcome Back Lucas Kallas! 2016-2017 Rotary exchange student

Lucas is thankful and appreciative of the “Blank Canvass” exchange student experience. The Rotary Exchange Student program helped Lucas develop the necessary skills for navigating independence. Sailing, travel and relationships are most important to Lucas. He gives credit to the Rotary Exchange Student program for setting him on his life-path. He states, "the program brought me together with other people."

Rotary Retreat (15 members: Board and Committee Chairs) took place, Saturday, July 13th.

We reviewed the 23-24 goals/outcomes and drafted 24-25 goals and objectives. These will be shared at a later meeting, mid-September.
August 1^st please be on the lookout for a member survey. We expect your input on the following: How do you wish to dedicate your time, talent and/or finances to support Rotary projects? Both a paper and electronic format will be made available.
We have 70 members and the same number of committees when we were a club of 120 members. Together we will identify the priorities for the current membership.

Good News:

Ernie’s son has turned 45- $45 donation to Rotary
Ray has surgery August 7^th to take care of a tumor, thank you for the prayers, please continue to pray
Wendy welcomed a new grandchild, Scarlet. She is the 6th grandchild.
Andy shared that he had an "all clear" report from Sloan Kettering

Coming soon....a social calendar of events, once a quarter (5^th Thursday) at the Rockwell Museum. More to come…

Rotary Biography challenge

Goal: Have at least one Rotary Biography challenge a month
Please make a submission to Ernie
Each biography will be published in the COGS

Adjourned