President John called the membership to order at 12:05 and asked Dr Dave Hartman to present the invocation. Arnold Oliver then led us in the pledge and since Susan wasn’t able join us today on the piano, Arnold led us in the singing of “Home on the Range” – a cappella style. Afterward we greeted each other in the usual fashion and introduced the visiting guests for the week. Cara Sauceda introduced her guest, Kevin Seager, who was visiting from the Burkburnett Rotary Club and then Alexis McDonald and her baby were introduced from the Big Brother and Big Sisters organization.
We had no birthdays for the week and for the Sunshine Report Cara gave an update on her husband and asked for prayers that he does not require surgery.
For announcements, Carol Murray reminded the membership that this coming week is the last week to submit nominations for the outstanding citizen award. Nomination forms and criteria were provided at each table. President John then gave an update on last week’s In-Service event at the Wichita County Humane Society and reminded everyone that the animal shelters are full of 4-legged friends who are seeking adoption.
Colton then came around with the brag bucket and Cara picked up on President John’s announcement and thanked the members who came out to the Humane Society last week and/or made donations of food for the animals making the In-Service Day a successful event. Steve Priester highlighted a former Rotary member, Barbara Lyne, who still shows up with Steve’s Flag Team and volunteers to help put out flags. Jackie Lebow thanked the membership for putting flags out in commemoration of 9/11 and apologized that he missed the flag day but bragged that he had done well fishing and had a “magic” lure that caught a surprising number of fish. Andy also acknowledged that he had missed the last flag day but bragged that he got to enjoy the wonderment in the eyes of his 3 grandkids as they visited Disney World this past week. He said he was amazed at the kids’ stamina because they were able to keep up with the adults all day in the park. Kenny Weeks bragged on his 2 daughters that each play softball – on different teams -- and as luck would have it this past week, they played each other and of course the girls were talking smack all week. But big sis ended up getting the brunt when younger sis dumped a bucket full of ice on her after their team won the game . . . “to the victor belong the spoils”. And with that, the brag bucket was retired for the week.
President John then had Steve come to the podium and presented Judy Koetter with her Blue Badge. Congrats Judy!
Braden Wood then came to the podium for the Youth of the Month presentation. Braden introduced us to this month’s s recipient of the Youth of the Month Award, Jaylen Cooley. In a bit of a twist, Braden had Jaylen speak about himself and his future goals. The well-spoken Jaylen told us he is an 8th grade student at Hirschi and aspires to get an MBA in the future. He also thanked the Rotary Club for this award and explained how he strives to exemplify service before self in his life. Congratulation Jaylen!
Josh Phillips then came forward to present a check to our guest, Alexis from Big Brother Big Sisters. This was one of the organizations the Grants Committee recommended receive a contribution from our club. Alexis thanked the club for the $1,000 and explained it will be used to conduct the background checks required for their Big Brother and Big Sisters volunteers.
Josh followed this up by introducing Mr Scott Evans from Panda Bio Tech for our program today. Most of us had heard about a new company that had started in Wichita Falls called Panda Biotech and Scott’s presentation was to educate us and clear up some of the misconceptions about the company. Panda Bio Tech is an Industrial Hemp company that feeds the textile market. Panda is headquartered in Dallas but their hep gin in Wichita Falls is largest in the world to process U.S. grown hemp straw into mechanically produced fiber and hurd.
Scott explained that currently their biggest market for the fiber they produce from the hemp stalk is the spinning mills in Mexico. About 20-25% of their hemp fiber produced here goes to these mills and is mixed with cotton fiber to make denim. Another by-product of their manufacturing process is a product called “hurd.” Hurd is the woody core of the hemp plant that is used to make a variety of products including insulation, animal bedding, and even concrete-like building material.
The third product the plant is exploring is hemp pellets which can be used for biofuel and animal feed.
The plant is committed to using only hemp grown by American farmers. This past year the company planted 12 thousand acres of hemp and next year they have plans to plant 25 thousand acres. Scott said the hemp plant is drought resistant and puts nitrogen back in the soil so for farmers it’s a good crop to work into their rotation. At full capacity, the plant works four shifts and can process approximately 10 tons of industrial hemp per hour.
Scott explained the controversy about the plant comes from a 1938 ban in the U.S. on growing any plant in the cannabis family (of which hemp is) because of the rise in the recreational use of marijuana. However, the door was open for industrial hemp in the U.S. with the 2018 U.S. Farm Bill that was signed in to law by President Trump. The Bill legalized industrial hemp as an ordinary agricultural commodity, like cotton, allowing it to be grown in all 50 states.
President John thanked Scott for today’s presentation and told him a donation to the Wichita Falls ISD Foundation would be made in his name. We then closed the meeting with the Four-Way Test.