Natick Rotary Sprocket
September 16, 2014
The meeting was called to order by President Judy Shea. Mark Soloway led us in the Pledge. Verna had us singing “This Little Light of Mine”. Mark Blumenthal provided the Invocation.
Guests: Tony Camilleri, Chris Quartarone and Anne LeFleur
Announcements:
· George Richards: Rotary Golf Tourney is this Friday, Sept 19th – 9am Shot-gun start. Volunteers for the registration table (8am) and to sell raffle tix (1:30 – 2:30) are needed.
· Peter Golden: Submitted letter regarding last Thursday’s Open Door at St Paul’s Church. Pete thanked the following for helping out: Vinny & Rachel for food prep; George and Beth for cooking and prep; Dave and Mike for clean-up; Verna for playing the piano; Angela and Judy for dessert. Next Open Door is TBD.
President Judy:
· Natick Days was a great success. Judy thanked Vinny, Trish, Eric, George, and all the volunteers for their support. We made roughly $600-700 during the event.
· Embrace A Family Yard Sale: Sunday 9/28 – they are in good shape with goods – still room for more “quality” goods that may be dropped off at Stones Auto (on the 27th between 2-3pm) or at the Brayman’s/Shea’s house. Volunteers are also needed!
· Neighbor’s Brigade: a pamphlet for Pam’s Run was distributed (see further details here: http://www.neighborbrigade4.org/)
· Support for Susan Lane brochure was handed out. Please offer to help,
· District Events: Membership Forum is Thursday, Sept 18, 2014 – Marc Soloway is attending and sitting on the membership panel. If anyone else is interested in attending, contact Judy.
· Rotary Leadership Institute is Saturday Nov 1, 2014.
· Rotary Night is Friday, November 7 – Providence Bruins game. Special Rotarian price is $15 ($5 will go to end Polio Now campaign). For more info Call Matthew Azeredo at 401-680-4721 or mazeredo.
Speaker:
Our speakers today were Tony Camilleri and Chris Quartarone from Crossroads. Tony is Executive Director of the Crossroads School for Children – a new position he started on January 2nd. Crossroads helps children with severe special needs – primarily Autism. Their mission is to help people make decisions about treatment. Timing of treatment is critical as the disease progresses fast. They serve students aged 3-22 years of age. Their program’s purpose is to provide students with the skills necessary to return to traditional settings, in particular – back to home school districts. 60% of students return to their home districts, while the rest stay at Crossroads (they eventually move into adult services). Their treatment approach is Applied Behavior Analysis, which is similar to the application of natural sciences and dedicated to looking at how the environment affects kids. For challenged students, pronounced substitutes get in the way of natural behavior. Students do not have traditional communication skills and use pronounced behavior to access things. Crossroad’s goal is to teach students better ways (escape behaviors, skills acquisition, etc.) to respond to difficulties.
Autism is not defined by self-injury, aggression, etc. – but a learned behavior that gets more robust over time. Their goal is to help students early, before their behaviors becomes robust. Crossroads works with several community partners to place students in jobs. Partners include the Natick Organic Farm, Longfellow Sports, Home Depot, and Newton Wellesley Hospital.
Speaker Chris Quarterone, Director of Program Services at Crossroads, is responsible for admissions, marketing, social media and events planning. On September 28th (10-11am) 5k Road Race to support Crossroads.
Raffle: Scott won the raffle, but pulled the 8 spades
Respectfully submitted by,
Greg Tutuny
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