ROGER AT THE DISTRICT CONFERENCE

•  This week's program was presented by Kelli Fletcher. She serves as the chairperson for the East Alton History Committee.  Take a look at the video and find out things about EA that you didn't  know. 
• 20 members were in the house. Allen and Pat were at the front of the parade. Among the back-enders were Chris, Rhonda, Patty and Mark 4, who was sporting the most colorful tie in the room.
• The Turkey Fund balance is now $140. There will be three more meetings at which you can make a donation. All $$ will be give to Operation Blessing for their holiday food drive. Thanks for your generous support.
• Did Allen really eat $60 worth of chili? He tried.
• Look for the next ROTARY BANNER on November 7th or 14th. It just depends.
• Joe suggested that Kelli sit at the "old guys" table (guess where he sat?). Musical tables were the order of the day. It seemed that Allen was saving a seat at the "cool kids" table for Virgil.
• Pat presented a make-up from Florissant.
• Rhonda introduced a potential member, Rachel from the Rosewood Pet Hospital. 
• Roger is now working as an accident investigator, or not.
• According to Lori, Virgil was looking rather bright. Was it just his shirt?
• Roger was seen stealing Bill's lines.
• Raise your hand if you thought the meeting room was cold.
• Lori walked into the room and immediately said she smelled fried chicken. She was so right. Keeping the chicken company were steamed taters, salad, and cherry cobbler.
• Anyone beside Joe suffering from a lady bug invasion?
• Someone pointed out that when you walk on a hill one leg is shorter than another. Mensa has nothing on this group of deep thinkers.
• We received a note from Gloria Kunz indicating that Charlie will no longer be able to serve as a member. 
• Fred reported that he and Erin interviewed six students from EA-WR HS. Roxana HS interviews will be held next week. He enjoyed the process and said that there two students who stood out above the rest.
• The meeting was opened by Chris, Mark 3 and Bill who offered a back to the future blessing.
• Roger enjoyed the District Conference. He was particularly impressed with the food bagging project. He also accepted a membership award for the 14-15 Rotary year.
• Bill and Patty set out to fleece the flock, with limited success. If you weren't involved with Cosmic Bingo it cost a $. Puns were plentiful. The correct answers wereT urkey, Dodgers and Texas.
• The $6 50-50 jackpot was left untouched by Allen and Virgil. Once again Fred won the scratch-off.
• That's all from here. Have a fine and dry weekend. 

​CORY WINS! 

• Roger is still looking for ticket money from seven members. He is holding all checks until he collects all the $$. If you took a bag(s) of chili, it's $10 per.  He is also looking for suggestion on how we can increase attendance next year. If you have any ideas, let him know. 
• Our Cosmic (black light) Bingo event will happen TODAY (Saturday the 24th). Rhonda reports that Wood river has sold 156 tickets, we have only sold 34. Needless to say, our club has underachieved.  Getting folks into the hall will help us boost our bottom line. There are now 16 raffle baskets that have been assembled. There will also be a raffle for a Michael Kors purse. Set up starts at 3:30. Door open at 5:30, the event kicks off at 7. It should wrap up no later than 10. Bring your own food. 
• We will install insulation in the Habitat house on the 29th. Julia's will make  box lunches (turkey or ham) for us and we will meet at the building site in Roxana. The address is 132 E 3rd St (turn on 3rd toward the refinery at the police station.) After a brief lunch/meeting time we will attack the project. Mark 3 thinks it will take about 2 hours to complete if we have dozen members assist. You can stay as long as your time permits. Wear work clothes. Tools to complete the project will be on site, but if you have a staple gun, utility knife and gloves, go ahead and bring them. Installing insulation requires no particular skill set.
• The Christmas party will be held on December 3rd at High Flyers grill @ the airport. Rhonda, Patty and Bill are working on the details.
• The basketball tournament will take place on January 30th. Joe, Chris and Fred are coordinating.
• The Community Hope Center in Cottage Hills is looking for volunteers to deliver or serve Thanksgiving Day meals. Contact Barb @567.5976 or Diane @ 670.9580 to volunteer or for additional info.
• The Bethalto rotary will be hosting the Halloween parade/party on the 28th.

• Our bank balance at the end of September stood at $2800.
• Rod reported that the international project may get rolling in 2016. Details are slowing coming together.
• Fred and Lori reported that the Interact group at Roxana High School is (probably) no longer viable. 
• Roger stated the there will be several opportunities to attend district sponsored leadership seminars at dates/location TBA.
• Roger was very favorably impressed with the Feed the Children of the World project that he participated in at the District Conference.  He will follow-up to see if it's something that we could do. Possibly late winter/early spring 2016.Fred noted that's about the same time frame that he starts receiving request from students looking for community service projects. 
• We will deliver Christmas flowers on Friday December 18 starting at 9AM. We will probably be looking for 15 folks to receive the flowers (rather than the usual 20).
• There will be no meeting on December 24th and 31st.
• There will be a club assembly on January 21st. Roger has asked each club officer to spend a couple of minutes describing their responsibilities.
• The next board meeting will be hole on November 18th.

• Pat was serving as club President. Current club members serving on the board were...Paul, as club secretary (Don't tell Lori)
• We were meeting at the Lewis and Clark Restaurant.
• The program was presented by East Alton Head Librarian Richard Chartrand. He talked about the planned automation of the library.
• The previous week's program was presented by member Jack Barnerd. He had a Rotary specific slide and cassette presentation titled "Lighting Candles for Peace, International Service in Action
• Back in the day of "classifications" for members we were  looking for potential members who were grocers and dentists.
• Do you re-member Neil Weidner?

DATELINE:RI

World Food Day 2015: Partnering to fight hunger and food waste

By: Craig A. Nemitz, Ph.D. (h.c.) Director of Field Services, The Global FoodBanking Network;  Charter Member of the Channahon/Minooka Rotary Club, Illinois, USA

16 October, World Food Day, is a time for people and organizations to come together to find ways to alleviate world hunger. I am fortunate to be involved with two wonderful organizations—Rotary International and The Global FoodBanking Network (GFN)—that understand the value of collaboration and are fully committed to making the world a better place. As service partners, Rotary and GFN work together around the world  to support local food banks. A food bank is a sustainable community asset that addresses two of the world’s most pressing problems:  hunger and food waste. To continue reading link here  https://rotaryservice.wordpress.com/2015/10/16/world-food-day-2015-partnering-to-fight-hunger-and-food-waste/

• Pasta sales are declining around the world because of the growing popularity of low-carb diets. In the U.S. sales of dried pasta have dropped 6% since 2009, while in Italy, they are down 25%.-The Washington post
• There are 3 million more American workers over the age of 65 than there were a decade ago. Nearly 19% of American seniors work, up from 14.4% in 2004.-QZ.com

• "Integrity needs no rules"-Albert Camus
• "Heaven goes by favor. If it went by merit, you would stay out and your dog would go in."-Mark Twain