IT HAPPENED THIS WEEK March 30, 2011

By Dannie Cavanaugh

Last Wednesday night we had another successful Spouse's Night meeting with District Governor Doug Baker and his wife Connie again in attendance. I guess once was not enough. We had a great turnout with many Rotarians and their significant others filling up the room. Even Peter Rabbit (or was that Harvey?) showed up, handing out Easter eggs, albeit a tad bit early.

Andrew Sisolak, Bruce Jagger, and Joel Forman handled the invocation, pledge, and patriotic song duties and after the introductions of the many, many guests on hand, the Welcome Song was sung.

Anne Murakami talked about the upcoming District Conference scheduled for May 12^{th-15th at Indian Wells. If you want to receive the discounted room rates, you need to sign up soon. District Governor Doug Baker then played a short video regarding the Conference and he assured everyone that they would have a great time. The emphasis this year will be to focus on people who are on the receiving end of the good works of Rotary, to hear their stories and to hear how their lives have been affected.}

There were a couple of presentations including a presentation by Rotaract Governor Sergei Belokonnyi who handed a check for $925 to the District Governor for RI. Kelley Kessen, Mary Cavaness's niece who went to Japan a couple of years ago as part of the student exchange program, raised $4,000 for Rotary International to be used for relief in Japan. Doug was so impressed that he pledged $1,000 on the spot to bring the donation up to $5,000.

Next, Doug and Connie presented Linda Black with a Rotary International Scarf, a gift that is given to Rotarians who make notable contributions to Rotary International.

We were all happy to see Brook Hefner installed into the Club by the District Governor - welcome to the Club Brook! Following Brook's induction, Doug handed out the Paul Harris awards to the latest recipients and there were many, too many in fact to note here. Not only are we 100% Paul Harris members for the Club but we are now 100% for our spouses - the only club in the District with such a distinction.

A couple more checks were handed out including $1,000 from the Club to the National Alliance on Mental Illness. Linda Levin presented the Club with a check for $500 to be used for a scholarship for Most Improved Student.

The meeting continued with a great speech from the District Governor who spoke about promoting world peace through greater understanding. Dr. Knoll pulled everything together at the end with a little wisdom from the Wisdom Office concerning the fabulous job done by Tim Messmer at this year's track meet.