Call to order - Meeting called to order by President Bill Satterfield.
Pledge - Bob Anderson
Blessing/invocation - Rocky Burnett
Four Way Test - Phil Whitman
Guests: Tonight’s guests were: Richard Keenan, guest of Marion Keenan; Joe Gilmore, guest of Darryl Nixon; David Brooks, guest of Amanda Brooks; and our speaker Mayor Jake Day.
Get Well Cards for John Aukward and for Carolyn Hall were signed by club members.
Audrey Orr provided an update on this year’s Flags for Heroes project which last year raised $4,000 in donations' All three Salisbury Rotary clubs will be involved this year and have divided up the chores. Our club is responsible for taking care of the flags -- Chris Layton has stored the flags and Gus Lebois has taken care of needed repairs. This year’s set up day is May 25th at 4:30, and we hope to have the flags remain in place through the 4th of July. More information will be forthcoming.
Gus LeBois and Audrey Orr, Flags for Heroes
Kathleen McLain gave an update on the coming service for Ginny Dulany who recently passed away. The planned service will be streamed and Kathleen will provide the link for those wishing to watch the service. There will likely be a service later at St. John’s United Methodist Church in Fruitland the weekend of June 18th, and her ashes will be interned at St. John’s.
New Members
President Bill mentioned that Seth Hershberger has been approved for membership and his induction will likely be April 7th. The club's Board of Directors this afternoon approved the nominations of two persons and once they have given written approval to have their names circulated to all club members for review, their names will be circulated amongst the club members.
Get Acquainted – Get Reacquainted: Don Taylor
Don grew up as a farm boy on the Eastern Shore of Virginia and was at least ten years old before he knew his middle name wasn’t “get wood”. Don’s father was disappointed that he did not want to be a farmer, but Don wanted to go to computer school. In 1966 he got a job at NASA and later worked his way through school while working at Dresser Wayne. Don and his wife Lynn, married for 49 years with three children, moved away from the Shore for a few years, but then decided to return home. Don joined Perdue upon returning and, except for a two-year period in Virginia, worked in Salisbury until his retirement. Don retired as Perdue’s CIO after working for the company for 30 years. Outside of work, Don has been part of a number of humanitarian projects including the ASP (Appalachian Service Project) through Asbury United Methodist Church, and his humanitarian work has taken him to India, Brazil, Nepal and the Philippines, to name a few places. Don, who has been a Rotarian for 39 years, has met and enjoyed working with Rotarians in many places and stressed that work life is great, but giving back is better. Don emphasized that Rotary has always been a key part of his life and believes he owes much to Rotary. Well said, Don.
Tonight’s Guest Speaker: Salisbury's Mayor Jake Day
Jake Day was first elected mayor in 2015 and was reelected in 2019. Mayor Day joined us tonight not to talk about his work as mayor, but to share details of his time in east Africa during his 10-month National Guard deployment in 2020 as part of Operation Enduring Freedom. Leaving his responsibilities as mayor at any time would be difficult, but this situation was made even more complicated because his deployment started just as the covid virus was becoming widespread throughout the country. In addition to covid issue, Mayor Day noted that his deployment timing also coincided with the death of George Floyd in Minnesota, which impacted all cities across the country. To make certain that in his absence the city would continue to move forward in the face of these challenges, he reached out to his team at city hall and selected one person to run the organization and one person to represent him in his absence. Mayor Day stressed that despite his concerns, he knew that the city had his back!
Mayor Jake Day
Mayor Day stressed that while in East Africa, he met incredible leaders and was able to work on incredible projects. Many of his duties focused on building relationships where his “mayor skills” came in very handy. However, the presence of al Shabaab and the often-chaotic nature of the governments in East Africa were a constant challenge to his efforts and the efforts of all troops stationed there. When he returned, he came back to a city that was, in his words, “rising” and he was so proud of what his team had been able to accomplish while he was gone.
Mayor Day ended by mentioning a topic closer to home: he stressed that one of the biggest challenges for the city going forward is to find ways to provide affordable housing for city residents.
Mayor Jake Day and Simpson Dunahoo
50/50 drawing:
This week’s winners of the drawing were Hugh Livingston and Bill Cropper. Two weeks in a row for Hugh! Is there something funny going on? Is this his reward for fixing our sound system by simply turning up the volume switch? Ah, the benefits of being high tech! Ha, Ha!
There will be no meeting this Thursday night, that's March 31. Instead, we will enjoy a misnamed happy hour with the two other Salisbury Rotary clubs this Wednesday evening, March 30, at Hopper’s Tap House, 1400 S. Salisbury Blvd, across the street from Cheers from 5:00 – 7:00 (happy hours). Please RSVP to Peter at peterashelbo@gmail.com so he knows how many free snacks to order. Free snacks, but drinks and anything else you eat is on you. Well, not the drinks and food spilling on you of course but the amount you pay is on you. Hope to see everyone there.
Lastly, don’t forget about Italian Night on April 7th!
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