President Ken Drummet opened the meeting at 12:15pm and welcomed everyone. Terry Dason offered an inspirational thought-of-the-day about intertwining business with community. A guest Rotarian, Rajeev Arora, joined us from the Rotary Club of Nairobi, Kenya, and we exchanged club flags following the Rotary tradition. For dig-and-grin after lunch, Rives Collins and Amy Skalinder offered a treat for the ears and sang the Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young song, “Teach Your Children.” For Happy Bucks, Bill Leske is excited for the birth of his third grandchild, and our guest Rajeev thanked the club for their welcome and making a theater connection for his granddaughter with Rives.
Announcements included:
- Next week the club will meet in Room 212. Please mark your calendar and plan to attend the special evening Officer Installation on Thursday, June 18th at 5:30pm. Dinner will be at Avli in the Laundry Building, not at Happ Inn. Avli’s new main entrance is from Spruce St. Invitation and more information to follow soon. Also, note that we will not meet for lunch that Thursday so that members can attend the dinner.
- Ken and Rich Lalley reminded members to make their contributions to The Rotary Foundation before the end of the fiscal year on June 30th. The goal is that all Rotarians make a contribution, which is referred to as Every Rotarian Every Year around the world.
- Thomas Applegate invited members to bring themselves and prospective members to our next Rotary Happy Hour on Tuesday, June 9th 5:00pm – 7:00pm at Little Honeycomb at 540 Lincoln Ave, the corner of Lincoln and Elm. The next happy will be Tuesday August 11th at Stormy’s in Northfield. Let Thomas Applegate know if you want to spend a happy hour with members and who you are bringing to learn more about Rotary.
- The club will have a table at Northfield’s Market & Music in Clarkson Park on Wednesday, June 10th 5:00pm – 8:30pm, and members are invited to help work the table as well as enjoy the music and food. Let Bill Leske know if you can attend.
David Grant introduced our speaker, Kendall Crist from Triple Point Strategies, who discussed how crypto currencies are used to shorten the time and lessen the expense of getting disaster relief funds from donors to NGO’s. Kendall gave 3 examples: the February 2023 earthquake in Turkey and Syria, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, and the persistent severe drought in Kenya that impacted nomadic pastoralist groups. Kendall emphasized how the crypto system offered distinct advantages to slower and more costly traditional banks. Many questions were asked about the acceptance of this mechanism, the adoption of crypto by financial institutions in the background, and future consolidation of the numerous crypto currencies.
Ken closed the meeting with the 4-Way Test.