Rotarian of the Month: Year after year, Mark Calender (Insurance; Calender-Robinson) is there to make elementary school children happy! While the Dictionary Project has been a staple project in our Club for many years, it only has become a standard because Mark has shepherded it along every year. Consistently supportive and organized, Mark makes the event a yearly success. And throughout the year, Mark is a quiet promoter of all the Club’s activities and efforts. For his dedication to our Club and its key projects, we honor Mark as December 2017’s Rotarian of the Month!Great speakers:
Service Projects: A group of Rotarians pasted Rotary nameplates into our entire inventory of new dictionaries in record time and then enjoyed some social time at a nearby tavern. Thank you, Harold Hoogasian (Florist - Retail; Hoogasian Flowers), for hosting this event, and for providing a place to keep our inventory before we can deliver the dictionaries to third graders. 
Another cadre of dedicated Rotarians enjoyed The Arc Dinner Club, preparing dinner and sharing it with several clients of The Arc. 
Lowell Interact: Four students from the Lowell Interact Club — Fellenia, Ethan, Hannah, and Crystal — gave our Club some insights on their club's accomplishments. From August to December 2017, their club recruited 80 members and provided over 400 volunteer hours benefiting 15 local community causes. Let's hear it for our Lowell Interactors and for their club advisors Connor Krone (Non-Profit Management; Student Investment Lab) and Immediate Past President David Dye (Management Consulting; Retired)!
- Gary Schlossberg, Economist with Wells Fargo. Like a firehose, Gary reviewed the current environment, the prospects for 2018, and the potential pitfalls. We only wish it could have been three and one-half hours, not just one half an hour.
- Celebrating Long Time Rotarians. Rotarians of all ages and experience are wonderful, but this group of members with 25 or more years of service are truly special. You can recognize them from now on by the gold emblem in the middle of their name badges. At this luncheon, we heard about how they came to Rotary, what was especially moving in their experience of Rotary, and what draws them to our Club. These members have contributed so much for so long; they are worth celebrating at every meeting!
- Heather Brostrand gave a detailed talk on the Opioid Crisis in our country, pointing out how the sad statistics speak to the need for simple solutions for emergency service personnel and the validation of the situation as a disease rather than a crime.
Service Projects: A group of Rotarians pasted Rotary nameplates into our entire inventory of new dictionaries in record time and then enjoyed some social time at a nearby tavern. Thank you, Harold Hoogasian (Florist - Retail; Hoogasian Flowers), for hosting this event, and for providing a place to keep our inventory before we can deliver the dictionaries to third graders.Another cadre of dedicated Rotarians enjoyed The Arc Dinner Club, preparing dinner and sharing it with several clients of The Arc.Support for The Rotary Foundation: Our annual Super Bowl Pool was another great success. While the final numbers aren't in, it looks as though we hit our target of $20,000: two full completions of our board! Eight lucky winners will be awarded Paul Harris Fellowships based on the score at the end of each quarter of the game. Thanks to Fred Marschner (Financial Planning; Northwestern Mutual) for organizing yet another great Super Bowl Pool.
Meanwhile, Emily Borland (Architecture; Emily Borland Specifications) received her Paul Harris Fellowship "+5" award: thank you for your commitment and generosity!
Lowell Interact: Four students from the Lowell Interact Club — Fellenia, Ethan, Hannah, and Crystal — gave our Club some insights on their club's accomplishments. From August to December 2017, their club recruited 80 members and provided over 400 volunteer hours benefiting 15 local community causes. Let's hear it for our Lowell Interactors and for their club advisors Connor Krone (Non-Profit Management; Student Investment Lab) and Immediate Past President David Dye (Management Consulting; Retired)!