FOR ROTARIANS WHO MISSED THE MEETING - June 21, 2016

 

GREETERS: 

Thanks to Paula Cooper Black and Brad Meeks for serving as greeters and to Brad for doing our introductions.   

 

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:  Thank you to Jody Corey who provided some words on service from Pres. Obama, which was especially appropriate after a month of many service hours by our club. 

 

 

Ski Town Golf Classic: Glen Traylor, co-chair of event (with Jackie Brown) thanked our many sponsors and the volunteers who made this such a special, fun and successful event  - wait until you hear the fabulous fundraising totals!  And thanks also to Jackie and Glen’s Rotarian committee members:  Tara Weaver, Karl Gills, Scott Marr, Steve Sehnert, Scott Wither, Ashley Kane, Kristal Eckley, Brian Harvey, Celina Taylor, Jody Corey and also to Non-Rotarians, Pegi Simmerman, and Kate Nowak.  Great job and many thanks for the countless hours you devoted to planning and executing this event!  

 

Flower Barrels – Gillian Morris thanked the club for their many volunteer hours sanding, staining, putting on plaques, potting and finally delivering our awesome flower barrels to the community.   Per Gillian’s records:  Can you believe that nearly 40 Rotary volunteers, plus others,  tallied 150 -175 work hours, not including the hours on delivery day?  And Paula Cooper Black gets the “above and beyond” award – for showing up to at least 8 work sessions!  This was our club at our best – and along with the Ski Town Golf Classic what a great show of service and accomplishment these past weeks!

 

Exchange Student Farewell Book:  Tara Weaver announced that the Rod Hanna book, Seasons of Light,  for Anna Heidler was being passed around for members to sign with our “Good bye wishes.”  

 

4^th of July Parade:  Marci Valicenti, with the help of club members, is on the march to winning this year’s 4^th of July Parade group award!  We were told, “We WILL win!”  So let’s do our part to make this happen by wearing cowboy boots, patriotic gear (a flag attached to a shirt will do!)  The parade theme is “Stars, Stripes and Spurs” so even better if you can wear some spurs.  Morning libations will be provided prior to our float departure…stay tuned for more news from Marci!   Always a fun time for Rotarians and our kids too!

 

MAY ROTARIAN (S) OF THE MONTH: Gillian Morris and Eric Rabesa received the award for May for their relentless determination to get our 200 flower barrels beautified and ready for delivery in a very short time frame.  This was accomplished with a great deal of help from our members (see above) but Gillian and Eric orchestrated this monumental accomplishment.    Their “gift” will truly keep on giving, as we enjoy the refurbished flower barrels for many years to come.  Thank you both!

 

PAUL HARRIS FELLOW PLUS 3 AWARD:  John Holloway was presented with his Paul Harris Fellow plus 3 award for his contributions to the Rotary International Foundation.   John is a Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient for our club and he continues to give and achieve in so many ways!  We continue to appreciate him and all that he does! 

 

PROGRAM:   Joel Berman, Executive Director (soon to be retired) and Founder of Adaptive Adventures, spoke about his own experiences and insights into the world of adaptive sports.  He provided some history, not only with the laws but with our language (crippled, to handicapped to disabled, to adaptive to now maybe something better – inclusive or integrated?) and he prompted us to think about several things, such as, are adaptive sports nice or essential?  He described his personal journey from Wall Street, becoming disabled himself – a time when he discovered “accidents change your life’s path – they may be a deflection, but you stay moving forward” and this then led him to becoming a leader in the adaptive sports industry.   Apologies for our inability to provide Joel with the AV equipment he was promised – we know his photos would have been wonderful – but even without the aid of photos, we very much appreciated his enlightening talk.   

 

GOOD NEWS:  Thanks to John Centner for a hearty and fun Good News, which resulted in contributions of $738 – partly thanks to Jeff Swoyer who honored one of our longtime unwritten club traditions of giving back to the club 10% of any event winnings – Jeff won $2500 at the Ski Town Golf Classic Event!   Congratulations and thanks Jeff for your generosity.

 

NEXT WEEK:  Changing of the Guard at the Peace Pavilion.  Drinks at 5:15, dinner buffet begins at 5:45.  Ceremony to begin around 6:15 – 6:30.  Hope you can make it!

 

And a final note.  This was my last regular meeting and I very much appreciated all the kind remarks during Good News.   And I’d like to express my heartfelt gratitude to each and every member for your constant support and help during my year as President.  It has been an honor!  

 

I am looking forward to the “Changing of the Guard” so I can recognize the work of our members and we can celebrate another awesome year for our club – a club which, it goes without saying, but I’ll say it anyway, is  “The best club ever!”  And here’s some further confirmation of that   – the awards we received at the District 5440 Conference, which I neglected to list on the May 31^st  meeting notes:

 

 

Respectfully submitted,

Ellen Kendall, Club President