Our Club wishes everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving and a wonderful holiday season!
Our guest speaker on Friday November 1st was Rhonda DiMascio, Morven Museum and Garden’s Executive Director. Rhonda spoke about Morven’s history, the prominent people who have called Morven home and the important role Morven plays in the daily life of the Princeton community. Rhonda also discussed exciting upcoming events at Morven. For more information and a calendar of events at Morven, please visit www.morven.org.
The Princeton Corridor Rotary was happy to welcome visiting Rotarian Omneya Darwish to our weekly meeting on Friday November 1st. Omneya was visiting from the Alexandria Golden Riders in Egypt! Club member Michael Pine presented Omneya with a Princeton Corridor Rotary flag to take back to her club.
The Princeton Corridor Rotary was honored to welcome West Windsor Police Chief Robert Garofalo as our guest speaker at our weekly luncheon on Friday November 8. Chief Garofalo will be discussing West Windsor’s annual Bark Drop Drive which is spearheaded by Chief Garofalo. The Bark Drop Drive aims to benefit local animal shelters by collecting dog and cat food and toys to distribute to the various animal shelters around the area.
Accompanying Chief Garofalo was K-9 Hodge and her handler K-9 Officer Zicha as well as K-9 Phoenix and her handler K-9 Officer Pollini. Hodge and Phoenix performed narcotics and explosives detection demonstrations.
Also joining Chief Garofalo was their therapy dog.
On Friday November 8th at our weekly luncheon, Eric Rosenblum of the Princeton Corridor Rotary Club presented West Windsor Police Chief Robert Garofalo with a $1000 check to benefit the West Windsor PBA. The West Windsor PBA was promoting their support for the Bark Drop Drive which benefits local animal shelters by collecting dog and cat food and toys to distribute to local animal shelters.
Our speaker on November 15 was Jeanne Swain who is a Prevention Specialist with the Council on Compulsive Gambling of New Jersey. They are the organization who handles the 800-Gambler hotline.
Jeanne gave us an overview of their services. They primarily raise awareness and do educational programs on compulsive or problem gambling. Although it is a legal activity, many people struggle when it gets out of control. They can also refer people who call in, to resources that can help them deal with their problem.
Since the legalization of sports betting in NJ, the number of calls received on the hotline has risen several hundred percent.
Jeanne also shared some of her path to being part of this organization so she has first hand knowledge about this problem but also about the path back. A very interesting and thought provoking presentation.
On Friday November 22nd the Princeton Corridor Rotary Club continued its annual tradition of preparing Thanksgiving food baskets for the less fortunate in the greater Trenton area. The club packaged 23 baskets for Homefront during the event. The club has been supporting Homefront for many years with this event. Over the years Homefront has provided well over 2000 needy families with Thanksgiving meals. Joining the Club at the Food packing event was Gina Davio, Homefront Community Engagement Manager. The Club was proud to present Gina with a check for $1005.00 as an additional contribution to benefit Homefront’s annual Thanksgiving Basket Food Drive.
