Club Meeting: 02/19/2025

---

Upcoming Events & Activities

MONTH OF FEBRUARY 2025

---

• February 6th - (CAMS) Club Assembly Meeting Social
• February 12th - Hybrid Club Meeting (No Guest Speaker)
• February 19th - Hybrid Club Meeting: Kindness Room at Gulfstream Academy
• February 26th - Hybrid Club Meeting (No Guest Speaker)

---

FRI., FEBRUARY 14TH  @ 8:30AM-12:00PM (NOON) - "DAY OF SERVICE AND LOVE" LADYBUGS, FRUITS AND VEGETABLE, SERVICE AND LOVE

Gulfstream Early Learning Center has invited our Club Members to a light breakfast and volunteering. We will start off with coffee and a light breakfast at 8:30 AM and be ready for active planting and activities with children from 9-11. Please come and Volunteer."WE LOVE THE ROTARY CLUB! (and we love ladybugs, too!)"

Gulfstream Early Learning Center: 120 SW 4 Ave, Hallandale Beach, FL 33009

---

SAT., FEBRUARY 15TH @ 6:00 PM PAL OF HALLANDALE BEACH ANNUAL COMEDY SHOW

Several of us have been in the past and it is a great show. PALs is giving Rotary members 50 percent off the price!

Location: Gulfstream Park: Sport of Kings Theater
Address: 901 South Federal Highway Hallandale Beach, FL 33009
Website: gulfstreampark.com

---

WED., FEB. 19TH - THE KINDNESS ROOM GULFSTREAM ACADEMY K8 OF HALLANDALE BEACH

On February 19, 2025, members of the Hallandale Beach-Aventura Rotary Club left the Gulfstream Academy with a light heart, a smile on their faces, and a sense of happiness and purpose. After months of planning and work, the Kindness Room is a reality. To make this possible, the Gulfstream Academy received a Grant from the Hallandale Beach-Aventura Rotary Club. A check for $4,000.00 was presented to Ms. Megan Beddow-Peters, MPA, MA, and Ms. C. Fitzpatrick, Assistant Principal. You see, on February 19, members of our Club met at the Academy to work hands-on on putting the final touches on the Kindness Room.

When we say "hands-on" we mean it literally. We arrived at noon at the Gulfstream Academy to be greeted at the Kindness Room by Ms. Megan Beddow-Peters and her team. Most of the things that had been ordered for the Kindness Room had arrived - equipment, chairs, games, supplies, wall decor, ... for Rotarians to put it together. Rotarians Marguerite Goulet, Georgia Winfield, Mayor Joy Cooper, Larry and Fran Bober, Avra Glicksman, Fran Markowitz, Connie Heatter, Peter Vanek, and Evelyn Trinidad-Torano were enthusiastically ready to roll up their sleeves. Rotarian Connie Heatter graciously prepared lunch for us, including some heavenly cookies. Thank you Connie! Mr. Kenny Cohan was present as a volunteer and helped us.

After a quick lunch, we proceeded to work as a team together with Megan, Kennedy, Gary, and J. Taylor, opening boxes, decorating walls, putting together equipment, arming chairs, inflating balls, filling bean bags, and much more. All this in a cordial, relaxed, happy atmosphere. For those two or three hours, we became a family collaborating with each other. It was really a very special day. We were also happy to see Rotarian Hyon O’Brien who joined us later in the afternoon. The photos will tell the story.

Some highlights:
Rotarian Avra Glicksman kept coming to the Kindness Room on her own to touch up the paint on the walls. She is still not happy. Rotarian\Mayor Joy Cooper (high heels and all), Peter Vanek, Avra Glicksman, and Garry Bevel (Manager, Community Partnership Schools), worked arduously to put together the Pop-A-Shot Arcade, only to discover that you need a PhD in Physics and Neuroscience to put one of these things together! Fran Markowitz was in charge of putting air in the basketball balls. Larry Bober was supervising the site. Connie Heatter (an experienced and handy sailor) put together one of the chairs with Ms. J. Taylor (Literacy Coach). Later, Connie and Fran Bober worked on putting the nets on the basketball rims. It proved to be quite challenging.

Marguerite put great effort and much time in ordering many of the items and helping bring the Kindness Room to full fruition. Evelyn was in charge of climbing a ladder to put the college flags on the walls all around the room. Georgia, Evelyn, and Ms. Kennedy Cadichon (Wellness Coordinator), worked together on preparing the flags with some sticky things that proved to be rather tricky. Rotarian/Mayor Joy Cooper donated a 65" inches TV to the Kindness Room.

In spite of the festive mood, we know how important the Kindness Room will be and the great difference it will make in the lives of the students. We Rotarians are grateful to be able to contribute, participate, and, above all, serve. This is what it is all about. This was truly a labor of love.