President's Letter

Dear Fellow Hopkinton Rotarians,

  Hopkinton Rotary has had a productive autumn.  On September 27 we staged our second annual Mount Kearsarge Hill Climb (MKHC) with over 80 participants. The event was excellently chaired for a second year in a row by Irv Gordon.  MKHC is the 9th of 10 races in the competitive Bike up the Mountain Point Series (BUMPS) attracting riders from throughout the Northeast. We were blessed with great weather and an excellent turnout of our membership to safely stage the event.  The Feedback from the cycling participants has been uniformity positive and the plan is for the 3rd annual MKHC in 2015 with a rider goal of 120. Several cost saving changes are planned for 2015 including the elimination of event tee shirts for a savings of ~$1200, preparing the lunch ourselves for a savings of ~$625 and the handling of the timing ourselves for a savings of ~$1400. These changes should boost our event profits by over $3000!
  On October 2, Ben Barton, of Barton Insurance, hosted the Community Benefit Golf Tournament at the Lake Sunapee Country Club. Ben selected 6 nonprofits in the Hopkinton and New London communities to be recipients of the proceeds from the event.  Hopkinton Rotary was fortunate to be chosen as one of these recipients. The event was a tremendous success raising nearly $30,000. On October 15 Ben presented Hopkinton Rotary a check for $4800!  Ben will be formally recognized and thanked at our November 12th meeting with induction into the Paul Harris Society as an honorary member.  
  Election Day is November 4 so make sure to do your civic duty and vote. We will have a table to sell Flags Over Hopkinton contracts in pursuit of 250 flags by Memorial Day 2015 as part of our contribution to the town's 250th Anniversary celebration. 
  Volunteer day for the Wood Bank is November 15 at 9AM at the Hopkinton Transfer Station.  We have supported the wood bank financially now let's get out there and cut some wood!
  November is Rotary Foundation month. I encourage all of us to contribute to the Foundation Annual Fund. The amount contributed is not as important as 100% club participation. The overall goal for the club is $6000. We are at  Pete Powers, our Foundation Chair, will be available to answer questions regarding the various ways to make your contribution.  We are honored to have Ken Grabeau, a former Rotary Foundation director, visit us and speak about the Foundation on November 5. The District Foundation dinner is November 12 at the Crowne Plaza in Nashua at 5:30PM.  If you are interested in attending you can sign up at the District website. 
  The proposed Somaliland Maternal Health global grant project is a great example of how we benefit from the Foundation.  The district will match the money we raise dollar for dollar with district designated funds (DDF) and the Foundation will match 100% of the DDF and 50% of cash that we raise. For example: if we were to raise or contribute $10,000, the district matches with DDF increasing the total to $20,000, the Foundation then matches 100% of the DDF plus 50% of our contribution bringing the total to $35,000! We have heard from our Somaliland partners and they have provided a proposed scope of project and the hospital is now working on the actual dollars needed. It is slow going but when completed will be a great benefit to the women and children of Somaliland. 
  The Rotary Christmas party will be Friday, December 5 with no morning meeting on December 3.  If you are interested in hosting the party please let me know!
Sincerely,

Eric Schlepphorst