Last Week: Neal Gillen, the author of nine novels, gave us a dramatic recollection of the topic of his latest book: Chicago 1968: Personal Reflections & Other Stories. Gillen described the tragic events of 1968, including the rising death toll in Viet Nam, the assassination of Martin Luther King—and the following rioting. During the summer of 1968, Gillen participated in the backroom negotiations after the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy and the nomination of Hubert Humphrey at the Democratic National Convention. He described a pivotal meeting between Humphrey and Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, conducted at the convention center while a riot was going on outside. A fascinating presentation!

It’s official…the Rotary Club of North Bethesda will be moving its Friday Morning meetings to:

The Original Pancake House (OPH) in Rockville.

The address is 12224 Rockville Pike.

Our first meeting at OPH will be on Friday, February 22. Several club members have stopped by the restaurant in the past few weeks to meet the manager and sample the food. All the reviews have been positive! At left is a photo of the back room of the meeting space we’ll be using.

Elhussien Ahmed, our speaker on January 25, is an entrepreneur who began envisioning opening a café in 2014. He connected with Filicori Zecchini in Bologna, Italy to become one of their United States franchisees. The shop is the site of our monthly board meetings.
Elhussien described the ups and downs of starting a business in Montgomery County. His original business plan envisioned a six-month period for building out the coffee shop; it took two years. He stuck with it, and is close to being profitable and hopes to open additional shops in the near future.