Blastoff October 4, 2010

Today Is The Last Club  Meeting Before The Shrimporee
BUY YOUR MEAL AND RAFFLE TICKETS
BRING YOUR BASKETS
BRING YOUR LIVE AUCTION ITEMS

We have sold only 34 meal ticket packages (20 tickets @ $300) and $1,150 in raffle tickets.  The raffle tickets are $10 each or 6 for $50.  Marilyn Musial and Courtney Lindberg and others will be at the Shirmporee table at the entrance to the Club meeting room with credit card machines.  Visa, MC, Discover and AMEX are accepted.  Monday is also the deadline for bringng your baskets.  We have collected $200 out the $400 needed to purchase the beer.

The meeting had a great start with Debbie McBride leading in song, Jim Saxe the pledge of allegiance to the U. S. Flag, Jon McKinnie the Four-Way Test, Jack Lister the invocation, and Hilmar Zeissig the introduction of guest and visiting Rotarians.  Guests included Jim Teeter, Youth Exchange Officer for District 5930 and a member of the Harlingen Rotary Club, Assistant District 5890 Governor (ADG) Chris Schneider, and Past District 589 Governor Paul Jury.

Announcements included the following: Women of Rotary will meet October 13 at Tommy's; Roger Donnelly announced that the annual Christmas party will be held December 15th at Bay Oaks Country Club; and cards to let Al Brady and is wife Norma know that his friends are thinking of him would be appreciated. 

Mike Dennard, Shrimporee chair, updated members concerning the Shrimporee scheduled for October 16th.  Anyone willing to help who does not have an assignment yet was asked to contact him.  Mike introduced his Shrimporee team:  Co-Chair Marilyn Musial, Scott Rainey (in charge of sponsors), Alice May-Sexton (in charge of raffle tickets), Courtney Lindbergh (in charge of meal tickets), Dr. Greg Smith (in charge of silent auction), and Alan Wylie (in charge of live auction).  He asked that everyone turn in ticket/raffle money as soon as possible to Courtney, Marilyn, or Scott.  A beautiful 18 kt. gold necklace valued at $2500 has been donated for the raffle prize by Slade Lewis of Lewis Jewelers.  Dr. Smith recognized those teams who have turned in basket themes and announced theme assignments for the remaining teams.  Scott Rainey reported that the Shrimporee is supported by $35,000 in sponsor donations, down from last year by about $15,000.  Last minute sponsors will still be accepted, he noted.  Alan Wylie expressed appreciation to the folks that regularly donate items for the auctions.  Mike Dennard announced that 8 volunteers are needed to throw in $50 each for beer purchases.

ADG Chris Schneider introduced District Governor Sunny Sharma and First Lady Rashmi Sharma.  Governor Sharma recognized Suzie Howe for the excellent District Foundation Seminar held on Saturday, and acknowledged Travis Vermeer as the Foundation Representative.

Governor Sharma discussed the qualities of Rotary that will prevent the organization from becoming irrelevant as time passes.  These include high ethical standards, the motto "Service Above Self", the Rotary Foundation and its forward thinking goals, and efforts toward polio eradication.  His vision for Rotary is that of a service oriented, dynamic, action oriented club whose contributions improve lives.  He wants each club to promote diversity, provide and develop leadership, and to have fun doing these things.  He asked everyone to share with their family, friends, neighbors, and business associates their involvement in Rotary.  Included in his "Building Communities, Building Continents" list of goals is an interest in strengthening our Rotary family bonds.  He has issued a challenge to create a District wide membership directory that will help Rotary members promote each other, mentor each other's kids, and ensure that you can choose to do business with others who have the same high ideals and standards.  He expressed thanks to ADG Chris Schneider and recognized other team members for their support of his administration.  Governor Sharma reminded the membership of the Be A Friend Dinner set for October 22nd to recognize nongovernmental partners of Rotary.  The event is also a fundraiser with 1/3 of the table costs going to the Rotary Foundation, 1/3 to the respective Club, and 1/3 to be split among organizations serving in the six focus areas.

Governor Sharma announced the District 5890 Governor Citation for Outstanding Service and Dedication to Space Center Rotary and recognized the following Space Center members with the award:  President David Coney, Debbie McBride, Roger Donnelly, Kathy Dooley, Bill Geissler, Past President Jon McKinnie, Past District 5890 Governor Suzie Howe, and Past District 589 Governor Floyd Boze.

President Coney announced that a donation of $1000 had been made to the Floyd Boze Fellow Foundation fund in Governor Sharma's name, and presented Governor Sharma with a Floyd Boze Fellowship and medallion.  A bouquet of flowers was presented to First Lady Rashmi with appreciation expressed for all she does to support Rotary and her husband.  President Coney asked the membership to leave with a new enthusiasm to embrace the family of Rotary and exhorted members to go out and do good works.  The meeting was adjourned.

Our Grant Money At Work
Karmouz Inauguration

We have another opportunity to see the workings of the Rotary grant process and the good work collective giving does.  As part of the process there must be a sponsoring Rotary club for the project to be funded; for this project it is the Rotary Club of Alexandria Cosmopolitan, Egypt.  Last year our Club gave $2,500 as our share of a grant for a Girls' Shelter in Alexandria, Egypt.  Recently an email was received from the Rotary Club of Alexandria Cosmopolitan regarding the status of the shelter and as the writer of the email said "a dream has come true!!  Read  the entire email.  Also the pictures that were sent with the email can be viewed in a photo-gallery; however, the pictures were not captioned.

Thoughts About The Human Space Program

"I have been truly disheartened and concerned about how the president's plans for the nation's manned space program will affect JSC's outstanding technical, engineering and management teams,..." Jack Lister

Our Club has many pioneers in NASA's human space program.  One member, who played an instrumental role in the program, was Jack Lister with a 22 year career at NASA starting in 1961.  His position as Johnson Space Center Human Resources Director afforded him the opportunity and privilege to be involved with many of the NASA personnel.  Jack had a very insightful article about the human space program in last Thursday's edition of The Bay Area Citizen.  You can read the article here.