Many changes in the Air
Many changes in the air. It’s the end of June and the end of a Rotary year. President Janet wrapped up a bit of business and Abraham gave his final “What I did last week’ report. Let’s take a look at those two items.
Apparently last week Janet was unable to identify her choice of Rotarian of the Year. But today, - TA-DA! - the reveal - Rod Collard. After a while I think we all suspected who she was talking about when she coupled this mystery person’s Sergeant at Arms role with a passion for feeding disadvantaged children. Rod richly deserves the award and the cash award that goes with it. He took a moment to express how he feels about Rotary and how it has given life to his desire to give back to the community - and he gave a special nod to Bryce Leggatt for bringing him into the fold.
Then Abraham. He took his place at the lectern for his customary review. Your scribe was able to get a copy of the speech, here it is in its entirety.
“Good morning president ladies and gentlemen. This morning I am going to talk about my weekend.
Last week I attended to the convention which was awesome. I had the honour to carry the flag.
Yesterday afternoon I went to the dentist for the first time with miss Kimberly and had my teeth cleaned. The good news is that I have no cavity. Going to the dentist and cleaning my teeth was definitely better than gargling with pee.
I have been studying very hard and completed all my final exams. Today is my last day of school and we’ll be doing review. I must say that I have really enjoyed high school and I have learned a lot. Now it’s time for a well-deserved break…and I am looking forward to go on my trip this afternoon.
I also wanted to take this opportunity to thank each and every one of you for all that you have done for me! It’s been an amazing journey and definitely a life changing experience! I will never forget you!
Thank you so much for everything.”
Well, that’s our Abraham. When will our paths cross again?
Sheila Welham stood to briefly and modestly acknowledge the success of the RI International Convention. I say modestly because almost no one put as much effort into convention as Sheila. You can go to the convention as an onlooker,(as I think I did for the most part,) you can help out a bit behind the scenes or you can get deeply involved as Sheila did. RI is a big hitter on the world stage; witness Princes Anne, Barbara Bush and Justin Trudeau as main event speakers. The intersection of being deeply involved and soaking up the experience is powerful medicine. Hamburg next June.
President Janet intended the meeting as an opportunity to review the accomplishments of the year-past, which is interesting enough on its own but to liven things up Jim Brindle arranged for a background slide show of past presidents. Some of us have apparently put on weight.
Bruce Maybury gave us State of the Nation report on The Rotary Foundation (TRF) . A few nuggets: Rotary Year 2017 / 2018 TRF raised USD108,000,000. It has a kitty worth USD2.5 billion.
RCBC is a sustaining club and our members are therefore sustaining members, meaning that all of us donate USD100 to TRF each year. Our membership includes 34 Paul Harris Fellows which is to say they have donated at least USD1,000 to TRF.
President Janet reminded us of some of the accomplishments and challenges we’ve faced. I’ll leave that with you, as you were there.
And while all of this was going on a couple of visitors were ushered in by Richard Pass. They were Rich and Susan Glover fresh from the RI convention and on their way home to Maryland where Rich is the incoming District Governor.
So as Rich and Lawrence start the new Rotary Year with enthusiasm (I can tell), your scribe will be far away for the whole of July and a bit of August.
P.Scribe
