Here's What's Happening at East Polk Rotary

 

Last week, with a smaller club showing than usual, we carried on with our club committee work.  The individual committee reports are summarized below:

 

Vocational Committee - Mike Hamilton reported that this year's Bowling Bash lost about $1,000 after expenses and grants.  They are looking at ways to stem to tide of losses and make a return to the black. Some felt that the gift baskets are not bringing in enough money to warrant club members' efforts.

 

International - Two members will be spreading the good word of Rotary in the near future with international travel for Darrell Hanson to Ireland and Brad Miller to Turkey and maybe Iraq.  There was also some discussion around an effort to help with the earthquake assistance in Katmandu, Nepal although nothing was definite.

 

Community Service - Steve Hall discussed the upcoming effort to package meals for the hungry called Hunger Free through Rotary on July 15th.  There will be two sign up times at 1:00 and 3:00 and the club voted to contribute $500.  Based on how many members will volunteer to package meals, each district will get a proportional number of meals back to their local food pantry.  Last year 4,320 meals came back to the Caring Hands Food Pantry.

 

Club Service - Marti Kline announced our club picnic this July, but there was some debate about exactly what date to choose. Originally they were thinking July 15th, but since that conflicts with the hunger relief effort, it will likely be July 16th or possibly the following Wednesday the 22nd.  So at this point the date is TBD, but Pam Donahue has offered to open her home and yard again for this year's event.

 

Youth & Family - Eric Borseth, the lone member of the committee on this day, reported that our club has three students headed to RYLA this summer.  This is a huge win for the students and our club compared to previous annual commitments, and Eric should receive the lion's share of the credit for the improvement.  His dissatisfaction with the old status quo prompted the better results and has set a new standard for our club participation.  We can't wait for the feedback from the students who attend this year's camp.

 

Tomorrow is Food Pantry Day and Larry has requested bars of soap to supplement his supplies.  Also, I want to recognize Brad Miler for posting a video one week ago on the East Polk Rotary Facebook page.  Each of you have this ability and everyone should think of ways to keep the content fresh for new and unique visitors.  As the administrator, I see new people viewing our page all the time.  This could be a great recruiting tool and we should be using it much more actively than we are today.  

 

Our Sergeant at Arms is none other than Pastor Brad Miller and our Rotarian of the Day is Mike Hamilton. Our speaker tomorrow is Michael J. Novak.  Mr. Novak is currently the Deputy Director for Warfare Integration on the staff of the Chief of Naval Operations.  He is responsible for the management of the process that assesses the relative war fighting systems' investment priorities, develops the Navy Ship building plan and integrates the overall war fighting procurement budgets from the individual warfare sponsors.  In addition, he and his staff supervise and resource the Navy's in-service ship disposition process and provide the Congress with the Navy's Long-Range Shipbuilding Plan supporting ship procurement over the next 30 years.  This is a program you will not want to miss and a great opportunity to bring a guest or prospective new member.

This is a speaker with unusual credentials for our area and as a former Navy surface line officer, I would need to have the bubonic plague to miss this.  Please make a heroic effort to be present.  You will hear from an insider to the world's greatest navy and how it will adapt to the changing external threats.  

 

Finally, please circle June 18th on your calendars.  This is our year-end banquet at Prairie Meadows and because of some schedule conflicts, it falls on a Thursday this year.  There will be sign up sheets circulated during the club meetings for the expected attendance.  

 

We hope to see you all tomorrow!