Dinner Meeting Sept 30, 2015 - District Governor Doug Cook

Posted by Rich Newman 
on Oct 04, 2015
 
 
At 6:13 p.m. President Rutherford rang the Rotary bell bringing this seminal meeting to order.  The meeting took place in a different area of the Country Club, which was pronounced by the Commander-in-Chief as “kinda fun.”
 
Notwithstanding the rather lighthearted beginning, the meeting took a somber turn when Dick Milham announced that Bucky Clark passed away.  Ahmed Mazahari then gave a nice tribute to Bucky, who will be sorely missed.
 
Mikolaj then gave us an update on his goings and comings for the past week.  He told us that he will be going to a Phillies game (editor’s note:  Mikolaj, if you went, please don’t base your feelings about major league baseball on what you saw – the Phillies stink!!).  Mikolaj also said that he went to Dorney Park and also played bocce ball over the weekend (more on that in a bit).  Then, showing a level of deftness, well beyond his limited years, Mikolaj cleverly avoided answering Past President Max Rose’s question regarding who was a better cook, Gail or Past President Jo-Anne.
 
Attention then turned to Jim Wagner, who introduced his guests: his wife, Robin Wagner, and Mike Kowolski.  Jo-Anne then reminded the club that on October 14th  we will be attending a show at the Newtown Langhorne Playhouse called “Breaking the Code.”  The show features Jim Schmitt’s wife, the brilliant thespian, Carole Mancini.  
 
The Rotarians present then braced themselves as Max Rose took the dais.  Max then elaborated about the aforementioned bocce ball tournament of that previous Saturday.  The tournament was for the Special Olympics and, according to Max, Dick Milham learned a valuable lesson that one has to be patient when dealing with special needs children, especially when it comes to punctuality.  Max then read a thank you letter he received from the Special Olympics.  Max thought we should challenge the athletes; however, our president was not so keen on this idea.
 
And speaking of our beloved President, he made the following announcements:
  • Bruce saw Russ Schultz in his store the day before our meeting.  Russ had a very serious infection, but he is improving.
  • The Prez also reminded us that we are having a visitor from the Maasai next week to speak about the current status of the wells we helped to provide.  He is in town to receive an award from Del Val.  Karen Lasorda further reminded us to bring cash for the Maasai tchotchkes (see Senor Rose for definition) that will be up for sale at the meeting.
  • Bruce also pointed out that District Governor Elect, Linda Young, will be at the meeting next week.
  • The Central Bucks Club is inviting all the beneficiaries from their Ride for the Heroes to come to their meeting on October 6th and receive their checks.  We are invited to attend.  Their meetings begin at 5:45 p.m. and are at the Plumsteadville Inn.
  • This year The Rotary Leadership Institute is taking place on November 7th.  Currently two people from the Club have signed up to attend.
  • Chef Gail Linenberg told us that the Membership Committee is having a cocktail party Saturday, October 24th at Casa de Wagner.  Invitations have been sent out via e-mail.  Currently they are working on a special drink for the event, which Gail has dubbed the “Rotarini.”
  • Mr. Chris Nardo then updated the Club on the morning meetings.  He reminded us that the meetings are Tuesday mornings from 7:30 to 8:30 at Coach’s.  Chris will send out a calendar showing the schedule for the upcoming meetings.  Chris also said that frequent attendees get to pick topics to speak about at the meeting, for example, at the last meeting Allen Childs spoke about the future of automotive technology.  Chris said that they are averaging 10 to 12 people at the meetings.  Josh suggested to Chris that he e-mail the topics to the dinner meeting folks and Chris said he would do that.  Jim Schmitt pointed out that the cost to attend the morning meetings is much less ($11.00).
Past President and current Assistant District Governor, Janet Mintzer, then introduced our next speaker, District Governor, Doug Cook.  Doug is one of the few District Governors who is still working full time.  He told us that spare time is overrated. 
 

District Governor Doug Cook's presentation to the club:

  • The District Conference is April 8th through the 10th.
  • It will take place at The Inn at Pocono Manor.  There have been over six million dollars of renovations there.
  • Doug handed out his business card and a card about the conference.  He explained the story behind the cow theme, indicating that he was told it is funny and humor will help bring attention to the conference (apparently, Bart Simpson must have been on that committee).
  • Information about the conference can be found at www.whythecow.com
  • There will be a golf outing to raise money for Foundation on October 8th at the Silver Creek Golf Club.
  • On October 25th the Purple Pinkie 5K will take place.
  • On Halloween Day (10/31) there will be a Foundation seminar at Montgomery County Community College.  On that day, beginning at 10:00, there will be a Peace Forum, which will explore the issue of community policing.  Commissioner Ramsey will be speaking.
  • Doug said that during his term as DG, he will focus on three things.  The first is membership.  He advised us to wear our Rotary pin everyday and to every place we go.  He suggested we tell people our Rotary story, why we joined and why we are still Rotarians today.  He talked about his Rotary moment, when he visited a project in Brazil and saw the impact of Rotary on the lives of the local villagers there.
  • The second focal point of Doug’s administration is to support Foundation.  Doug asked that we contribute at least something every year. 
  • Doug gave a quick update on the efforts to eradicate Polio.  He said that the disease has gone from three viruses down to one.  There are only two countries left with Polio, Afghanistan and Pakistan.  Nigeria is now Polio free.  India has been Polio free, which was something we were told would never happen.  In two years Africa will be Polio free, which is also something we were told would never happen.
  • Doug said that at the last District Conference when the Million Dollar Drive (a project which is near and dear to our esteemed Past President, John Ortolf – who will probably delete the “esteemed” part in the final version of this overly long narrative), $250,000 was raised in one afternoon due to the generosity of Rotarians.  There was an anonymous donation of one million dollars.  So far the drive has raised 2.3 million dollars.  Because of that $80,000 of interest free income comes back to our district forever.
  • Doug said that we are going to have a memorial book to be completed by the next conference for all the Rotarians who passed away during the year and the families of the deceased Rotarians will be given a copy of the book.  Doug also said that there is a form that can be filled out to let Rotary know if a person puts a provision in their Will giving a bequest to the Foundation.
  • Doug noted that every community where there is Rotary has people suffering with hunger.  He suggested that Clubs should work with companies that can help these people.
  • The third focal point of Doug’s governorship is to have fun.  He is working on having a Cow Pie Bingo game at the conference to raise money for hunger.  Since the Inn will not let Doug bring a cow inside, he would like two exchange students to dress up like cows and walk around giving out cow pies.  At the Governor’s Ball, which takes place during the conference, the attire will be Hawaiian shirt optional!
  • Doug concluded his remarks by talking about Rotary International’s theme this year – Be a Gift to the World.  He said that every Rotarian knows someone who needs Rotary.  Our gift would be bringing that person here to join our terrific Club.
 
With that, our District Governor brought his remarks to a close and our Peerless Leader rang the bell, signaling the end of another outstanding meeting.