Hello fellow Rotarians,

April is now upon us.  Spring has sprung.  It’s hard to believe that I only have 3 more months to go as your President.  Ok…I heard those cheers!  Haha…oh wait…that was me cheering…oops.  tehehe

I would like to thank everyone for your participation and help in this year’s Elimination Raffle.  Y’all should be very proud of the success of this event every year.  Congratulation to President-Elect Bruce and his team for showing us how to “Let the Good Times Roll!!”  Everything was a big success and a great time was had by all.  The final numbers are still to be calculated.  We will let you know when it’s all done.  Who will be this year’s winner of the Big Kahuna?  Did Jasmine go wire to wire?  Did John Dutra or Daren Young sneak in at the last minute?  We should soon find out.

This year’s Rotary theme is to “Be the Inspiration.”  I am going to challenge everyone in Niles Rotary to find and recognize someone who is inspiring.   Take a look around you.  Is there someone you know who did something special?  Is there a person who is just an amazing individual?  Let them know by giving them our RI theme pin of “Be the Inspiration.”  Take a picture with them if you can, then share the story as to why this person was an inspiration.  You can send the story and photo to me at brian.nilesrotary@gmail.com.  I will share some of the stories at the meeting and here in the Pinion.  If you need some pins, please let the COGS know.  They can get some for you.

I’m looking forward to hearing about the great people in our community.  Now go out there and flood my email with great stories.

In Rotary,

Brian Hughes
President, 2018-2019

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made the feel.” – Maya Angelou

Hello fellow Rotarians,

My apologies for not getting a full Presidential message to you this month. I have been busy doing research on Let the Good Time Roll in New Orleans.

In Rotary,

President Brian

Brian Hughes
President, 2018-2019

“Always welcome the new morning with a new spirit, a smile on your face, love in your heart and good thoughts in your mind.” – Unknown

 

Hello fellow Rotarians,

Kung Hei Fat Choi!

Ah, the start of the Chinese New Year, which is also known as the Lunar New Year and Spring Festival.  I would try to explain how they all tie together, but my flowchart was way too confusing.  2019 is the Year of the Pig (Zhu). If you were born in 1935, 1947, 1959, 1971, 1983, 1995, or 2007, you too fall under the Year of the Pig. According to a Chinese New Year website, people born in the Year of the Pig think logically and are able to fix whatever problem they’re in. They aren’t good communicators, but they’re kind and able to provide for the family. Most of them are wealthy. Their only obvious fault is that they lose their temper easily.

As we celebrate the 15 days of the New Year we will end February with the start the celebration of Carnival. In the United States it is more commonly known as Mardi Gras!  Carnival typically involves public celebrations, including events such as parades, public street parties, and other entertainments, combining some elements of a circus. Elaborate costumes and masks allow people to set aside their everyday individuality and experience a heightened sense of social unity. Participants often indulge in foods and drinks that will be forgone during upcoming Lent. Rio’s Carnival is considered the biggest festival in the world averaging about two million people in the streets celebrating.  It’s so popular; the government built a stadium designed for the parade called the Sambódromo (Sambadrome).  Rio’s Sambódromois 2,300 ft. long with a capacity of 90,000 people.  It’s big!

I want to wish both celebrations a very safe holiday season.

Elimination\Reverse Raffle! Let’s get this event SOLD OUT ASAP!! Reminder…..EVERY Niles Rotarian MUST sell or buy at least ONE ticket!!  No excuses.  It’s easy! Just buy or sell one ticket.  I know you can do that!  We have 335 tickets to sell.  SELL, SELL, SELL!!  This fundraiser helps support SEVERAL nonprofits in the area, plus it helps with RYLA and Rotary Interact Scholarships! Help President-Elect Bruce and make this event a sellout!!

There is a link to the Reverse Raffle webpage from our nilesrotary.org website.  You can download a copy of the flyer/ticket form as well as get details about the event, or forward the link to others.

In Rotary,

Brian Hughes
President, 2018-2019

“Always welcome the new morning with a new spirit, a smile on your face, love in your heart and good thoughts in your mind.” – Unknown

Hello fellow Rotarians,

Happy New Year!!!

Ah, the dawn of a new year. It is a time to ring out the old and celebrate what unknowns are in front of us.  It is also a time to not lose the lessons of the past that will make you better in the future.  My past year has been full of ups and downs, challenges and headaches, failed attempts and fulfilling dreams.  Thank you for being a part of my 2018.  I’m looking forward to the road of 2019.

The New Year may be here, but it’s half time for me!  It has been a quick six months and I know the next six will be even faster.  I cannot wait to experience it all.

We are now selling tickets for the Elimination Reverse Raffle!  Let’s get this event SOLD OUT ASAP!!  Last year we had to sell 11 tickets on the last day. Let’s not do that again. Reminder…..EVERY Nile’s Rotarian MUST sell or buy at least ONE ticket!!  No excuses.  It’s easy! Just buy or sell one ticket.  I know you can do that!  We have 335 tickets to sell.  If everyone buys\sells one ticket, we only have 220 left. So….some additional help will be needed to sell the rest.  Ask family and co-workers.  This fundraiser helps support MANY worthy nonprofits in the area, plus it helps with RYLA and Rotary Interact Scholarships! Help President-Elect Bruce out and make this event a sellout!!

There is a link to the Reverse Raffle webpage from our nilesrotary.org website.  You can download a copy of the flyer/ticket form as well as get details about the event. As auction items are donated, there will be links to lists of those items as well, so you can plan ahead. And of course ticket order forms are available in great supplies at our club meetings; please pick up lots of copies to hand out to your friends, family, colleagues, fellow organization board members, etc.

Keep your eyes looking out the big window.  The world is a beautiful place – experience it.  Don’t live it through a little window of a handheld device.

In Rotary,

Brian Hughes
President, 2018-2019

“We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we’re curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.” – Walt Disney

Hello Fellow Rotarians,

I hope you had a festive Diwali and Thanksgiving.  I was very thankful to be sitting with my parents, mother-in-law, wife, daughters, and grandkids.  We all had a great time.

December is here – the final month of the calendar year.  It’s our last chance to get on the “Nice” list if you know what I mean. Christmas time is one of the most enjoyable times of year for me.  It’s a time where we truly celebrate the past with family traditions, to celebrate the future with a toast to a Happy New Year, and where we show our appreciation for one another.  It’s the season when Santa Claus makes his appearance to all that believe.  Do you hear the bell?  I most definitely do.  Yes, I’m a believer.  I don’t get how someone cannot be a believer.  Let me explain.    Have you ever donated a toy at a toy drive? Have you ever helped sort toys to be delivered to children with needs?  Have you ever bought toys for a child you didn’t know because you pick their name? If you have, then you should be a believer too.  To that child and family they don’t know where that toy came from.  To them, it was Santa Claus.  His spirit of joy and appreciation lives in us.  It is up to us to utilize this great gift and share the Santa spirit in making a difference.

I would like to share with you a newspaper article that I love, where I’m reminded of the Santa Claus spirit. It is here for your enjoyment.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

New York Sun of Sept. 21, 1897

Dear Editor,

I am eight years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, “If you see it in the Sun, it’s so.” Please tell me the truth, is there a Santa Claus? – Virginia O’ Hanlon

Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except what they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men’s or children’s, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exists, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! How dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus? It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment except in sense and sight. The external light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

Not believe in Santa Claus? You might as well not believe in fairies! You might as well get your papa to hire men to watch all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that’s no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders that are unseen and unseeable in the world. You tear apart the baby’s rattle to see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, not even the united strength of all the strongest man that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, poetry, love and romance can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernatural beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.

No Santa Claus? Thank God he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay 10 times 10,000 years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.
– Francis Pharcellus Church

 

Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone.

President Brian