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THIS WEEK’S PROGRAM
 
Heather Drinan introduces Steve Thiel, President of Southern New Hampshire University, whose web page offers this description: 
 
Southern New Hampshire University is a nonprofit, regionally accredited university with an 80-year history of providing high quality education to students online and on campus…Our 300-acre campus in Manchester, NH is home to over 3,000 students. We also offer affordable, accessible degree programs to over 135,000 students online.
 
No... 135,000 is NOT a misprint!
 
THE ZOOM LINK FOR THE MEETING
 
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88229582283?pwd=aS9Hd3o1cS9ZK0hQL0ZhUHZXSEdxQT09
 
Meeting ID: 882 2958 2283
Password: 254494
 
The Zoom Room opens at 11:45 AM.  After the Pledge of Allegiance and opening Password Todd will introduce our speaker.
 
NOTE THAT OUR SPEAKERS ARE RECORDED FOR REBROADCAST ON CATV.
They are recorded in “speaker view” which means if you do ask questions during the Q and A session you will appear on screen unless you disable the camera. 
 
LAST WEEK’S ANNOUNCEMENTS
 
Todd Allen offered the third and final reading for officers for 2021-22. 
 
Club Secretary Bruce Atwood informed us that Hanover Rotary was chartered on April 23, 98 years ago! 
 
Dick Podolec reported that the Dartmouth Roterac Club now has 38 members!… and once again offered a gentle reminder to club members that he needs more mentors! 
 
The Raffle Management Team (RMT) awarded a $10 in-kind donation to Willing Hands to Len Cadwallader who answered a challenging question from the Team and generously doubled the donation. 
 
DONATIONS IN LIEU OF MEALS
 
REMINDER: Here’s the link to make your donation in lieu of paying for meals at Jesse’s AND the place to donate your Happy Dollars! As Todd announced at the meeting last week, the funds will be earmarked for Willing Hands. https://hanovernhrotary.ejoinme.org/COVID-19.
 
LAST WEEK’S PROGRAM
 
David Allen introduced Lou’s owner Jarrett Berke who described what led him into acquiring Lou’s two years ago, the challenges he faced in the past year, and what the future holds for his business and all small business owners in the restaurant and retail sector in the Upper Valley. 
 
A USNA graduate, veteran of fighting in Afghanistan, and Marine helicopter pilot, Jarrett attended Tuck Business School after his discharge and decided he wanted to acquire a small business to apply his management and leadership skills. After roughly a year after acquiring the restaurant thanks to help from the VA, the previous owner, and Ledyard Bank, the pandemic hit and Jarrett found himself facing challenges he never read about in any textbooks in graduate school. Jarrett was able to figure out a way to make the change from serving customers face-to-face to serving them through deliveries and how to compensate for the loss of 30% of the revenue that came from catering to businesses and local events. He was able to convert to virtual service because of a decision he made to use online apps when he took over the business and decided to offer family style meals in lieu of the donuts-and-coffee he provided for businesses and events. That combined with PPP loans and some flexibility from his lenders made it possible for him to avoid any lay-offs and come out of the pandemic with a more solid footing than he entered with. 
 
Looking ahead, Jarrett described how he and several fellow small businessmen intended to develop their own platform for deliveries to avoid the loss of money (and possibly business) to entities like Grub-Hub. He described his UVER service and encouraged club members to be on the look out for it as it rolled out in the coming months. 
 
In response to questions from the club he noted that the community and customers were very generous in tipping and using the new services he instituted and thanked them. He also described his decision to assist in the background with the Box Truck that has been a popular enterprise on the Dartmouth campus despite some of the bureaucratic hurdles he’s faced. Club members shared their accolades for the work he had done and their appreciation for hearing his heartwarming story. 
 
Coming Attractions
 
May 5 – Wayne Gersen will introduce Lori Gosselin who will talk about her community building initiative.
 
May 12 – Jed Williamson will introduce Dan Richards of Global Rescue to tell us about his work intervening when travelers get into danger. 
 
May 19 – Gabe Zoerheide of Willing Hands will be introduced by Todd Allen. 
 
May 26 – David Allen introduces Miriam Conrad of the Office of Public Defenders from Massachusetts
 
We’re now booked through all of June and halfway into July! But summer is coming and we can never sign up speakers too early! Your ideas are welcome!
 
FINALLY, as noted in earlier posts I will out of internet range this week and have no designated  Zoom manager at this point. If someone is willing to record the meeting to the cloud and send it to me at wgersen@hotmail.com I can take it from there. In the meantime, PLEASE KEEP YOUR MIKES MUTED during the talk. I hope there will be no need to line anyone up for Zoom management later this summer when I will be gone for a few weeks… but time will tell! 
 
Wayne Gersen
Russell Hampton
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