President Amanda Walls called the meeting to order. Blair Allen led the invocation, pledge, and Four-way Test.
Steph Colon assisted with the introduction of guests. Our guests include; Kim Brunson with guest Melissa Innella; Lori Martini with guest Holly Phillips; Rick Maxey with guests Karen Warren, Bill Wynn, and Annie Laurie Wynn; Mike Loudon with guest Joyce Loudon; Mike Beckham with guest Teresa Beckham; Alice Hunt with guest James Ring; Brenden Hahn with guest Faith Carr; and Mark Creech with guest Linda Creech.
Happy Dollars was brought to us by Carol Hornsby. Announcements began with President Amanda highlighting Trey Harden (5th Anniversary) and Mark Fore (20th Anniversary) for recent Rotary Anniversaries. February’s Rotarian of the Month is Gwen Allen. Congrats Gwen. Steph Colon then reminded the club about the upcoming Apron’s Dinner event on Thursday, February 23. Limited Seats Remain. Melody Rider made an announcement about Spring Obsession which is to be held on March 11th at Munn Park. In April, our club will be having a Bourbon Tasting event and in May, we will host the last coffee talk with President Amanda. Stay tuned for more details.
Stacey Campbell-Domineck introduced Lamay Olano James. He is a native of Cuba and was the 1st Violin of the National Cuban Symphony Orchestra. He shared his story of how he escaped communism and ultimately made his way to America. When he arrived, he worked numerous different jobs to pay the bills and support his family. He approached the owner of a small Cuban restaurant to play his violin. He did this for some time and it ultimately led to an audition with the Lakeland Symphony Orchestra. The next day he played a concert with the LSO. He then got into the Polk State Music Program and has played with numerous other groups and symphonies throughout Florida. He played us a few wonderful pieces and concluded with a Q&A. Thank you to Lamay for sharing your story and for playing such beautiful music for our club.
Next week’s program is the “Florida League of Cities” with Scott Dudley
President Amanda wrapped up today’s program with the vocabulary word saccharine which means overly sentimental or excessively sweet.