Fingers Crossed at the Virginia Arts Festival

Rob Cross has his fingers crossed that the Corona Virus will be under control enough to allow for the 25th anniversary of the Virginia Arts Festival festivities to happen.

The Program

Cynthia Carter-West masterfully stepped in, after Dianna Starkey, our Rotarian of the Day, stepped away, and introduced her former boss and friend Rob Cross, Executive Director of the VA Arts Festival. Rob is a familiar face to Rotarians as he traditionally speaks to our club this time of year during the festival.

This year’s festival, which was scheduled to start April 14th with the Hong Kong Ballet, has the Virginia Arts Festival staff working harder then ever in cancelling or rescheduling as many events into the fall or next season. The 2020 Virginia International Tattoo, which was to honor the end of WWII with veterans of the war at every performance was cancelled due to the coronavirus. A virtual tattoo was held that week and WHRO has rebroadcast the 2016 show. In addition to the tattoo, 90 educational events scheduled as part of the festival had to be cancelled. The good news is that almost all the tour groups scheduled to attend this year’s performance have rolled over their reservations over for next year. Tickets had been sold to people from nearly every state and several foreign countries.

Cross pointed out the arts world was one of the first to be hit by the pandemic and predicated it might be one of the hardest to recover from it because of the uncertainty of when people will be comfortable gathering inside in confined spaces.

Next season, 2020-2021, will be the Virginia Arts Fest 25^th season. In honor of that, look for monthly events starting in October. The club will donate a book to W. H. Taylor Elementary School in Rob Cross’s name as thanks for speaking to us.

The Meeting

President Lorna Cochrane commenced our club’s third virtual meeting. Bob Heely on guitar led us in singing Edelweiss following the theme of our Virginia Arts Festival speaker and in honor of our NATO ally Austria. Following the Pledge of Allegiance and Four Way Test, Julie Keesling offered an invocation to rejoice and be thankful for the good in the world.

Visitation/Introduction of Visitors

Joey Rothgery had no reports of illness or problems. She is going to reach out to members who haven’t yet joined us virtually to help them get set up to participate in the club’s virtual activities.

We were visited by three former club member: 1) Cynthia Carter-West, a former Virginia Arts Festival staff member, 2) Ashley Molinaro, a member of the club until last summer when she transferred to Washington D.C, and 3) Jos Hekking, former club member who returned to the Netherlands, where is home club is Arnhem. 44 people were counted by Zoom software as having logged in at the meeting start.

Club Business

President Lorna announced the school of the week is W.H. Taylor Elementary School.
Jim Kitz said over $7,000 has been raised for the Foodbank from members and matching contributions (34 members have contributed through Norfolk Rotary Charities or directly to the Foodbank). The campaign continues until the club’s matching limit of $10,000 is met. Members are encouraged to give to this worthy cause.
On May 7th the club had 7 members volunteer at the Foodbank, split into two groups. One group put together 50 lb produce boxes and for Jim Kitz, the imported cabbage from Canada was not a good memory.
Sally reported a club social - trivia night - is scheduled for Thursday, May 21st at 7:00pm. Please sign up along with anyone you’re quarantining with at home. The trivia host is the Interact sponsor for a Richmond high school. It’s general trivia. You’ll be put on a team and Sally promises it will be fun. Everyone is encouraged to sign up.
Laurie Harrison is working on a district grant submission for purchasing 10 floor length mobile protective screens as well as reusable masks to be used at EVMS. This will provide front line protection for students, staff and visitors for all the buildings. The grant could total $20,000 if all clubs participate.

Happy Bucks & Fines

To provide ample time to the speaker, President Lorna skipped over happy buck and fines. Although, she reported she is behind on fines and raffle, and doesn’t want to go down as the worst in club history for fundraising so she’s looking for ideas to compensate for that lost revenue.

The Four-Way Test

Of the things we think, say, and do:

1) Is it the TRUTH?

2) Is it FAIR to all concerned?

3) Will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS?

4) Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?

Virtual Trivia Night

Join Sally Hartman and other Rotary Club of Norfolk members, family and friends from the safety of your home to play online trivia on Zoom on Thursday, May 21 at 7 p.m.

Please sign up in advance at https://rotaryclubofnorfolk.org/event/trivia-night so Sally can send you the Zoom link to participate. Feel free to play solo or with whomever may be with you. You can also invite family and friends to join in the fun, too, from wherever they are. Our trivia night is appropriate for all ages.

Our host and quizmaster is Kareem Texler, a Henrico County high school teacher and Interact Club sponsor. He will randomly assign us to teams using Zoom breakout rooms. Kareem is customizing a general trivia session just for us.

Sally participated in one of Kareem's trivia events through Rotary District 7600 recently and had a good time playing with her team. It was easy to figure out the basics since Kareem excels at hosting trivia nights!

Here is a link to a short video Kareem made to tell us about our club's trivia night: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1WK0hQ2Uv_usl2NInWOhtb-GURrjsB4DR/view

Kareem, a new dad and teacher of the year finalist for his school district, volunteers his time planning and hosting trivia for Rotarians. If you have a good time and want to support Interact Clubs' fundraising efforts for COVID-19 relief, he will appreciate your support. There is no obligation, but I can let you know how to donate if you are interested.

Sally is looking forward to playing with (or against) you on Thursday, May 21. Please sign up now.

There is still time to Donate

It is not to late to donate to the Foodbank of Southeastern Virginia and the Eastern Shore to help feed those who have lost their jobs due to business furloughs and closures. Norfolk Rotarians are responding with generosity and to date, Norfolk Rotary Charities has sent over $12,000 to the Foodbank. With the Foodbank's purchasing power that will purchase about $72,000 worth of food.

Would you like to join in this effort to provide much needed sustenance? Here is how we can have an immediate and needed impact on the community. If you make a donation to the FoodBank through Norfolk Rotary Charities, Norfolk Rotary Charities will match its member’s contributions up to $100 per member and a total match not exceeding $10,000. Deadline for gifts is June 30, 2020.

HERE”S HOW TO HELP:

1. Donate using our Norfolk Rotary Charities Portal. Please make the contribution in honor of “FoodBank Campaign”. A link to the Portal is provided here:

2. Make a check payable to Norfolk Rotary Charities with "FoodBank Campaign" in the memo section and mail it to our office at:

Norfolk Rotary Charities 414 West Bute Street Norfolk, VA 23510