President Arnold Oliver rang the bell and opened the meeting precisely at 12:00 noon. The invocation was led by David Hartman with another exceptional prayer. Stacie Cook led the pledge and song “My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean”. This was followed by the usual “Rotary”.
We had one guest introduced, Tommy Richardson’s wife Gale. There were no birthdays for the week and nothing to report for the Sunshine Report.
Norris Martin let us all know he had a couple of announcements. First, he suggested that the members give Flag Subscriptions as gifts this year (i.e. to welcome new neighbors, etc.). Secondly, he and his wife Dee Ann are going to make samples of Southern Comfort Cake and Chocolate Vodka Cake for the members at the next meeting. Then the following meeting they will auction off one of each cake to raise money for the club.
Next up was the Brag Bucket. Shirley Craft acknowledged the work of the Boys and Girls Club for the new Rosewood Community Center Project, Carol Murray announced a new Frank & Joe’s Coffee House location at SW Pkwy and Bridge Creek, and Lisa Stephens-Musick bragged about the City Staff response to a recent bomb scare at the tax office.
The program was introduced by Cara Sauceda which was an update on the Boys and Girls Club Capital Campaign and the Rosewood Community Center Project. Randy Cooper, The Executive Director, started the program with a history of the Boys and Girls Club. Downtown Rotary has been involved throughout the 94 yearhistory of the organization starting in 1929. Randy acknowledged Shirley Craft, Rod Tieken and Glenn Tole for their service through the years with the Boys and Girls Club. Before the current capital campaign began, a task force was created to study the existing facilities, look at data on 4.400 kids, identify attendance zones, look at the cost of ongoing maintenance and develop a plan forward. A budget of 11.5 million was developed for facilities. Gale Richardson and Nancy Marks were put in charge along with support of Bob and Carol Gunn for raising the funds. The Rosewood site was chosen for a new project based on the needs of the whole community.
Dick Bundy, local Architect for the project, provided a power point illustrating the design of the new Rosewood Community Project. The facility will be approximately 20,000 s.f. at a cost of 6.78 million. Construction time is estimated to take 15-16 months with an opening in 7/24. Next Tuesday 3/7/2023 is the official ground breaking ceremony. The project will be a state-of-the-art facility for the area served and be a tremendous asset for the East Side Community.
The speaker’s gift donated by the Club was a book to the Barwise Middle School. President Arnold the adjourned the meeting at 1:00 pm with the 4 Way Test and ringing of the bell.
Ideas are easy. It's the execution of ideas
that really separates the sheep from the goats.