ASSIGNMENTS

February

Greeter . . . . ….. Bill McGuire

Attendance . . . . Harry Panjwani

Invocation..…… Joe Papola

50/50 . . . . . ……. Beverly Peene

50/50 . . . ………. Harris Reinstein

Set-Up . . . . . ……Joe Shannon

Set-Up . . . . . ……Jackie Kort

Clean-Up ...... Don Steen

Clean-Up ...... Neil Thoman

Gear Scribes……Dave Whitlock

& Lynn Van Adder

March

Greeter . . . . ….. Phil WIlson

Attendance . . . . Bob Cameron

Invocation ..…… John Clark

50/50 . . . . . ……. Rick Claydon

50/50 . . . ………. Chuck Collins

Set-Up . . . . . ….. Phil Denu

Set-Up . . . . . ……Robert Dodds

Clean-Up ...... Nelson Fiordalisi

Clean-Up ...... Joe Fontanazza

Gear Scribes……Bob Freudenrich

& Raj Gandhi

Caring & Sharing

Please note: Let Henry Ingrassia know if you are aware of the need for a sympathy or get well card to one of our fellow Rotarians. Henry’s contact info: or (973)636-2594.

For Donations to Our Club’s Foundation

Please make your check payable to:

Rotary Club of Ridgewood Foundation

and give to Lynn Van Adder.

Quote of the Day:

“You don't stop laughing because you grow old. You grow old because you stop laughing.” Michael Pritchard

2012 Events:

  • The President's Ball is scheduled for March 29.
  • Pedals for Progress Saturday, April 28 at the Ridgewood YMCA.
  • Spring Fundraiser: Tuesday, May 15, 2012, Beefsteak at the Brownstone in Paterson.

District News:

  • District Conference: April 19-22.

Did You Know?

The Greatest Stories Never Told

By Rick Beyer

Coffee andthe Pope

With a Starbucks on every corner, you might think coffee has never been more popular, but that’s nothing compared to the popularity it enjoyed in the Middle East during the 1500s. In turkey, a woman could divorce a man who did not provide her with enough coffee.

A coffee craze first gripped the world about six hundred years ago in the Middle East. Some of the earliest coffee fanatics were Muslim mystics, trying to stay awake for nighttime worship. As coffee became popular, it also became controversial. Early coffee houses were such brewing grounds for radical ideas that authorities in Mecca and Cairo tried to outlaw the drink. The prohibitions proved ineffective.

When coffee hit Europe in the 1500s, priests at the Vatican argued that it was a satanic concoction of Islamic infidels. Accordingly, they thought it should be banned. That’s when Pope Clement VIII stepped in. After giving coffee a taste, he gave his blessing to the bean.

“This Satan’s drink is so delicious,” he supposedly said, “it would be a pity to let the infidels have exclusive use of it. We shall fool Satan by baptizing it”

With this papal blessing, coffee soon began to conquer Europe, and become the morning necessity it remains for many people today.

Rotarians have reason to celebrate as Rotary reaches 107 years

By Arnold R. Grahl and Wayne Hearn,
Rotary International News

TheTurku Cathedral in Finland is illuminated with an End Polio Now message on February 2 during a benefit concert.Rotary clubs around the world are lighting up iconic structures with the End Polio Now message the week of February 23to celebrate Rotary's anniversary.

Major gains have been made in the fight to eradicate polio, Rotary’s top priority. In January, India reached a historic milestone by marking a full year without recording a new case of polio. The country has been an epicenter of the crippling childhood disease.

Worldwide, fewer than 650 polio cases were confirmed for 2011, less than half the 1,352 infections reported in 2010. Overall, the annual number of polio cases has plummeted by more than 99 percent since the initiative was launched in 1988, when polio infected about 350,000 children a year. More than 2 billion children have been immunized in 122 countries, preventing 5 million cases of paralysis and 250,000 deaths.

Also in January, Rotary leaders announced that Rotary clubs raised more than $200 million in response to a $355 million challenge grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. In recognition of Rotary’s commitment, the Gates Foundation contributed an additional $50 million. All of the resulting $605 million will be spent in support of immunization activities in polio-affected countries.

“We’ll celebrate this milestone, but it doesn’t mean that we’ll stop raising money or spreading the word about polio eradication,” Rotary Foundation Trustee John F. Germ told Rotary leaders at the International Assembly in San Diego, California. “We can’t stop until our entire world is certified as polio-free.”

End Polio Now lightings

In what has become a Rotary anniversary tradition, Rotary clubs around the world areilluminating iconic structures with the End Polio Now message.

This year, light displays center on Pakistan, where Rotary clubs will illuminate Frere Hall in Karachi and the WAPDA House in Lahore. Other lighting sites include the Tower of London; City Government Building in Taipei, Taiwan; Roppongi Hills Mori Tower, Tokyo’s fifth tallest building; Federation Square, one of southern Australia’s top tourist draws; and two famous landmarks in Brazil -- the historic Sitio Arqueológico de São Miguel das Missões in Rio Grande do Sul, and the Palácio Garibaldi, a neo-classical architectural treasure in Curitiba.

The lightings “carry Rotary’s pledge to end polio,” says RI President Kalyan Banerjee, a native of India. “But we are not there yet. Rotary and our partners will continue to immunize children until our goal of a polio-free world is achieved. ”