Harry McCoy's family are pictured above from the left: Mark and Martha Lee Shaw, Emily and Jack Peltz, and president Lorna.The March 4 Rotary Club of Norfolk meeting was extra special as the club paid tribute to the late Harry McCoy -- a 64-year club member who passed away in 2019 and is greatly missed. President Lorna Cochrane read a resolution from the club's board of directors saluting Harry for his lifetime of community service and dedication to the ideals of Rotary -- service above self. An attorney and Navy veteran, Harry was instrumental in creating the club's endowment in 1992 and was a longtime supporter of it as well as The Rotary Foundation. Harry's two daughters and sons-in-law were on hand to receive a standing ovation from club members as Lorna presented the resolution to them in honor of Harry.
President Lorna with Dan Mathews and club member Rachel Bellis.
The featured speaker for the luncheon was Dan Mathews, senior vice president of PETA, an international animal rights organization with 6 million members that is based in Norfolk. He recounted his experience as a teenager making a presentation to his father's California Rotary club regarding animal rights. Dan's passion for animal rights grew from there and led to his 35-year career at PETA. After graduating in 1985 from American University, where he founded an animal rights group, Dan started working at PETA as a receptionist and moved on to lead some of the nonprofit organization's most effective marketing campaigns. He has worked with celebrities such as Pamela Anderson, Pink and Alec Baldwin on ads, videos and campaigns. Over the years, Mathews has helped PETA's activism and disruption techniques evolve into significant corporate changes and partnerships that improve life for animals as:
- Major fashion designers such as Calvin Klein, Prada and Chanel no longer feature animal fur in their shows and designs.
- PETA representatives are invited to participate in fashion summits hosted by the Council of Fashion Designers.
- Companies such as Colgate Palmolive eliminate animal testing on their products.
- Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus disbands.
- Sea World stops breeding orca whales in captivity.
- New Orleans hosts a successful vegan gumbo festival.
- Restaurants like Burger King and Hardees offer plant-based meat substitutes for their burgers and find out customers like them
Currently, Dan is encouraging fashion designers to replace wool and leather fabrics with those made from cork, apples and recycled materials. He said they are finding the alternative materials appeal to younger consumers, look authentic and prevent cruelty to cattle and sheep.
In appreciation of Dan's talk, the club is donating a book to Campostella Elementary School in his honor.
Club Business
- Guests included: Carol Forester, Tom Mueller, Ace Tubbs and Ryan Maguire . Members of Harry McCoy's family joined his Rotarian son-in-law Mark Shaw were Harry's daughters Martha Lee Shaw, Emily Peltz and son-in-law Jack Peltz.
- Tom Ambler, who joined our club in 2019, was awarded his Paul Harris Fellow for his support of The Rotary Foundation.
- Good news: Lisa Barnes, the club's secretary who started as a temporary worker last year, has agreed to continue working with the club.
- Chick Robison is collecting bottles of wine valued at $20 or more for the wine pull at the Suds & Buds party on May 15. As an option he recommended that members instead donate $20 so he and wine aficionados can buy wine.
- We voted on a new member and have several other membership applications for review and votes in the coming weeks.
- Happy bucks included donations to charity for Tom Ambler's recent trip to Israel and Jordan, for the birth of George Nottingham's second grandchild, from Steve Schultz in honor of Rotarian Michael Desplaines speaking to the Old Dominion University marketing club and the ODU Rotaract Club donating to the Hunton YMCA project, and for Gary Boswick's recent Florida triathlon that involved fishing, tennis and beer competitions.
- Reminder: the March 10 meeting will be at the Town Point Club since Scope will be hosting a basketball tournament.