We had a wonderful meeting on Monday night (November 23). Randy Erford brought a lot of smiles and laughs with his observations of life from The Crown to Archie, the cat who selected him. Thank you, Randy!
We also received many reports about all the service our Club provides to our community. This is the time of year for Santa for Seniors, Bell Ringing, the micro-pantry at Ridgely (image to right), and books for the little library at iMagicNation (Vicki Megginson), gifts for Rutledge Youth (Marty Michelson), supporting Literacy grants by purchasing baseball souvenir tickets (Rod Buffington), and Citrus sales and distribution (Bill Smith). Our Club serves in many ways!We welcomed Jon Garland-Sutter into our Club. Travis Magoulias performed the induction ceremony. Sheila Mack is serving as Jon's mentor. Jon commented that he hails from California and has lived in Springfield since 1997. He joined Rotary because he wants to serve the community. He revealed that his favorite movie is The Prestige.
Thank you also to those who provided Thanksgiving themed backgrounds. While I enjoyed watching Vicki walk through her pumpkin pie, others of you enjoyed seeing my head on top of Harry Mitchell’s turkey (top row, right corner). My personal favorite was Ross Hodel’s turkey suggesting ham for Thanksgiving (fourth row, center). Thank you, Barry Tobias, for setting this up and offering lessons.Tim Granzeau also sent a note to me this week about coats for Ridgely School children. More information will be coming next week.
Bill Smith asked that everyone get their John Montgomery Citrus Sale monies in to him as soon as possible. They can be dropped off at his home or through the drive-up at Peoples Bank & Trust. The year has been surprisingly successful given the pandemic, and we anticipate another delicious crop.
To wrap up the month, our November 30 speaker will be Mindy Melton (image to right), Business Development Coordinator for the Gateway Foundation. She will share information about the drug and alcohol rehabilitation programs they provide. We also will be doing Brag-a-Bucks, some committee reports, a Polio Update, and perhaps even a toast!Our December 7 meeting will be a Club Fun Night. We invite everyone to set a festive background (contact Barry if you want a private lesson). We will also have a 50/50 drawing to benefit our Scholarship program, and perhaps will play a few games.
On December 14, we will have our annual holiday party, and Rod Buffington and committee will be sharing more details about this virtual event in the coming week. He already announced that Ed Clark will be the featured entertainment for the evening. This will be a unique gathering, and we invite all members to join the meeting.
Finally, I wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. For many it will be very different from what we are accustomed to, but we still have much to be thankful for. Included on my list are all of you. This group has been a blessing as we moved here a couple years ago, and I thank you for your welcome and warmth.Dave Kromphardt