Please bring your guests to enjoy the program next week but let Claudine know if you plan to bring others and how many so we can have adequate seating...and dress up in Holiday Attire!
Palmer High School Interact Club will hold their Art Show on Saturday, December 9, at Palmer High School (enter through the Weber Street doors) from noon to 7:00 pm. Last year, there were incredible photographs and other art to buy at really reasonable prices. To go will accomplish a few things: you are supporting our affiliated high school club with their fundraising activities, you can buy some great art as holiday gift ideas, and you will have something of lasting value in your home or for someone else. I bought a great photograph of some zebras drinking from a pond in Africa, a light house on the East Coast in which the colors of the sky are memorable, and another of some snow-covered peaks in the Rocky Mountains. All are exquisite and are hanging on our walls at home.
We have a board meeting on December 21 from 7:30 am to 9:00 am, for those who wish to attend.
The slate of officers for 2018-2019 are as follows:
President Alan Gregory
President Elect Caryn Adams (2019-2020)
Secretary Jean Feist
Treasurer Kris Medina
Dir.-Membership Caryn Adams
Dir.-International Donna Dell'Olio
Dir-Public Relations Kathleen Saltmarsh-Voss
Past President Ron Rubin
Dir-Fund-Raising TBD
Dir-Service Fund Kent Palmer
Dir-Youth Services Carol Bach
Executive Director Claudine Dickson - but not a board position
Rotary Prime TBD by Prime
Dir-Club Administration TBD
Dir-Service Projects Rodney Gullatte
Dir-Rotary Foundation Tom Nelson
Program Chairman Vance Valades (also not a board position)
We will vote on this slate plus those yet to-be-determined as viewed above. If anyone has someone else he or she would like to put up for a position, please get in touch with me. The vote will take place at our Holiday Party next week.
Please volunteer for the many projects we have going on in December, like helping collect money for the Salvation Army, wrapping gifts, presenting gifts, reading to kids, etc. The enjoyment you will receive far outweighs the time you spend doing it.
Thanks for participating in my goofy song last week and being good humored about it.
I announced three great projects for which we are either granting money or receiving money:
We received $14,000 for our Nicaraguan Water Project from our District 5470 Global Grant Committee, which puts us at $34,000 towards our goal of between $50K and $60K. We still have grants possible from other clubs, from the Rotary International Foundation, and individuals who would like to help. We will have a big celebration once it is fully funded. What a great life-changing undertaking this is, that will forever make a healthier and happier community for successful living for them. It is sustainable and we will keep track of it in years to come. We have most definitely changed lives in their corner of the world.
We also granted $1,800 to give Christmas gifts to a number of students at Monterey Elementary School. We give gifts to the selected students, their siblings, and also for their entire families because they also get a gift card for food from a grocery store. It is also changing lives by allowing them to have a merry holiday that will stretch into the new year.
The other grant is for shelter boxes for those experiencing a disaster. The Service Fund is purchasing two of them at $1,000 each, to be used where Rotary feels they are needed most, at this time. They can be truly life saving. Here is a link to what they are and what they will provide. Please click on this link to learn more about their value and how they can help up to ten individuals in great need. http://bluebellrotary.org/SitePage/shelter-box.
HELP!
We need some storage space for our Gala hardware such as the rotating table that turned each butterfly during the auction, some large and small stands, a few ground stakes, and the transport rack. Vance Valades thinks that a storage space 10 X 10 would be adequate. John Rodgers has been gracious in letting us use his space on North Circle but this space is soon to be rented. Please let Vance or me know if you have some space available. Thanks very much. We really need someone to step up, if there is someone who can lend a hand (and lend some space!).
The board has approved hosting a foreign exchange student for 2018-19.
We feel it would be easier for our club if we had our 2018-19 inbound student attend a D11 school such as Palmer. We have had inbound exchange students at Palmer twice in the past and have a good relationship with the school, particularly with the Interact Club.
It's a long way off, but we will be needing three host families for our new inbounder to attend Palmer. The host family periods are Start of School Year in August to Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving to around Spring Break, and Spring Break to End of School Year. We have two CS Rotary families interested in hosting, one for the first period and one for the third, and need to know of others who might support this wonderful program. You don't have to live in D11, but need to be willing to get the student to and from school.
If you are interested and need more information, please contact our Youth Exchange Officer, Juliana Howard, juliana.hetrick@gmail.com, our Director of Youth Services, Carol Bach, carolmbach@aol.com, or Past-President Dennis Shoemaker, hds8960@gmail.com.
Palmer Interact Art Show and Sale, December 9, 2017. Details to follow. Proceeds will help fund the Africa Water Project..jpg)
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