Notes from January 22, 2026 by Jake Munholland
President Cara rang the meeting to order at 12:05. David Hartman then came to the podium and gave the invocation. Benay is getting good at playing DJ as she queued up the song of the day, “Let it Snow.” Following the song, we greeted our fellow Rotarians with handshakes.
Once everyone returned to their seats, President Cara acknowledging our visitors for the day. Robbi Long is the owner of Nacol’s Jewelry and a potential new member. She was the guest of Alan Donaldson. Rance Hogue is the owner of Arrowhead Roofing. He has been a guest of Matt Deason a couple times and Matt is trying to convince him to join. Leilani Barnett is a former teacher and is running to serve as the representative for Texas House District 69. She attended the meeting with Walter Coppage.
For the Sunshine report, President Cara said that she had spoken with Mark Wise who said that his daughter has been battling kidney stones and is having surgery. President Cara then acknowledged Carla Dowlen, who was able to attend the meeting after her health struggles. Please remember to keep them in your thoughts and prayers.
President Cara then handled the brag bucket duties as well. Carla bragged to say thanks for all the prayers and mentioned that it is getting close to baseball season, so we should all be ready to hear the baseball brags. Braden shared that he has a 4x4 truck and is available if anyone needs anything due to the impending weather. David Adams bragged that he attended the Rotary Board meeting on Wednesday and is still excited to be a part of this club. Matt Deason shared that John is recovering well from his surgery and that everything went as well as possible. Cara then Venmo’d her brag to acknowledge the efforts of the City of Wichita Falls for preparing Warming Stations that will be available to the public during the expected winter storm.
Josh Phillips then came up to handle two check presentations. The first check went to Esly Pimentel to support the Zavala Hispanic Cultural Initiative. He then brought up Jeff Spoeri to present a check to help sponsor MSU Soccer Team’s Nation Championship rings. Jeff let everyone know that the parade had been rescheduled to Saturday, February 7th at 2pm to avoid the winter storm.
President Cara then brought up Doug Kunkle to present him with a Paul Harris Fellow medallion in recognition of his donation to the Rotary Foundation.
President Cara then announced that there had been some questions about the multiple ways to pay Rotary invoices. The various ways include cash, check, Venmo, or credit card. She mentioned that when a credit card is used, there is a 4% that is added to total to cover the credit card processing fees. This fee is paid directly by the member to the credit card processing company. She then reminded everyone that they could also use any of the methods to make their birthday gift to the club as part of her 100% participation challenge.
President Cara then discussed the membership committee meeting and posed the question “What does Rotary mean to you?” Alan Donaldson then announced that the membership committee is hosting a social meeting on Thursday, February 19th at 5:30pm at Taco Darlin. The goal is to make it a welcoming event and bring some guests that would enjoy the camaraderie of Rotary.
Josh then came up and introduced our speaker for the week, the current representative for Texas House District 69, James Frank. He has spoken to our club several times over the years. He started off talking about last year’s legislative session and special sessions, which passed over 11,200 bills. The main areas that he discussed were government transparency, property taxes, public education, water, the energy grid, redistricting, and summer camps. He then went on to discuss the main current issue facing the legislature, which is the healthcare system. He was asked about the political divide at the state level, and his response was that the State of Texas still has cooperation by both sides to work together to pass the laws for the state. There are some issues that are more polarizing than others, but it is nowhere near as big of a divide as Washington D.C.
President Cara then circled back to announce that NCO Academy at Sheppard is having their graduation on Tuesday February 10th at 9:00am. She plans on attending to show her support for the service members that help us with our flag program. If you would like details, please reach out to her.
Carla then came up to recognize the January birthdays. Josh and Sheldon received their homemade cinnamon rolls, and the rest were auctioned off for $55. Happy Birthday everyone!
President Cara then closed the meeting at 1:04 with the Four Way Test and rang the bell.