September 9, 2015 - Meeting Minutes

Guests:

Shirley Bassage, Ivan Amy, Karen Amy, Sofia Coll, Sophia Clement.

Missing in Action:
Brian Brooks, Kim Clement, Marie Cramer, Gary Haigh, Deb LeMoyne, Tina Medina, Anne Morrell, Jim Murray, Peter Park, Dave Pray, Jenn Preston, Nancy Schrader, Dave Stachnik, Eric VanZeilen, Andy Wahl.

Please remember the following in your thoughts and prayers:

The family of Shirley’s brother; he passed away this week.

What’s New with Sofia?

Sofia presented our club her banner from her home clubs, Multi-Dristrict 2201-2202-2203 España. She also brought us beautiful photo-book about Spain. (The book will be in our cabinet at the Legion, in case you didn’t get a chance to look through it.) In return, we presented her with our club banner to take back to Spain with her. She also received her dinner badge and duffel bag.

She told us about her awesome trip to Walt Disney World. She said she had never been to a Disney park before, and was like an 8-year-old, seeing all the sights. Also, school has started, which has been “nice.” It is very different from what she’s used to back home. She enjoyed the youth exchange orientation weekend at Clifton Springs, where she got to meet many other exchange students visiting our district. She’s looking forward to spending time with them at the events and trips that are coming up.

Birthdays and Anniversaries:

Dave Read reminded us that today was the birthday of Pope Francis.

Jim and Susan Bush’s 46th wedding anniversary was this past week.

Fines, Happy Bucks and Confessions:

• Pat told us that the lady at the bank said, “Oh, you’re in Rotary,” and that led to a conversation about Rotary: what it is, what we do, etc. As Pat was leaving, she wondered how the lady knew that she was a Rotarian, and that’s when she noticed her dinner badge still pinned to her jacket.

• Gary Hopkins paid a promotional fine, telling us about the Pal-Mac Cheeleaders’ pancake breakfast coming up on Saturday, 9/12.

• Arnie bought a new Chevy Silverado last week. It’s a 4x4 with 4 doors; he’s looking forward to saving lots of money on gas. Also, this weekend he will be joining his son and grandson on a 90 mile canoe race. This marks 11 years, he’s participated.

• Chris offered a happy buck, having been MIA for a couple weeks. He’s been busy with work and with family, including a trip to Nashville.

• Mark put up a fink fine today. One of our Rotarians, who was absent last week, has had many pictures of him posted to Facebook. In most of the photos, he was standing next to a female Disney character: Ariel, Cinderella, Snow White. Marty had no comment, other than “guilty.” This reporter was going to include the video in this article, but was unable to secure the rights.

• Bob Sloan asked for clarification whether he or Dianne had won the exempt badge, and offered several exempt-bucks for the great time he and his family had at Walt Disney World last week. He agrees with Sofia that it was awesome; they met many Disney characters, and the whole family had a great time.

Notes and Updates for the Club:

- Tom Brighton’s guests, Ivan and Karen Amy visited us today. They are from Paradise, California and are in Palmyra with the LDS Church, working at the temple here. They are also Rotarians, and presented us with a banner from their club in Paradise. Mark in turn presented them with our club banner.

- Bob Yost reported on the RL Concessions tent at the Hill Cumorah Pageant. It was an off year, but each of four clubs worked hard and made the best of things. On behalf of RL Concessions, he presented our club with a check for our share of the proceeds, $6,825.60. Mark offered our thanks to Bob for all his efforts with RL Concessions. This was his 7th year as chair of RL Concessions. Traditionally, the chairperson serves in that capacity for two years, so Bob’s dedication is truly appreciated.

- We should have final numbers from the Fair Booth next week. That leaves us with two fundraisers left to complete for this Rotary year. We kick off each Rotary year with fundraising: Hill Cumorah in July, the Wayne County Fair in August, Canaltown Days and the Purple Painted Lady Barn Sale in September. Those are our major fundraisers, whose proceeds provide all of our charitable funding for the entire Rotary year. This is why we need our club members to step up, whenever possible, to help out at these events. Only two more to go, then you can get some rest!

- Speaking of, Canaltown Days is Sept. 19 & 20. It looks like we finally have enough people to cover the booth there, and are hoping for good weather. All tickets must be turned in by 3pm Sunday the 20th. If you still have tickets to sell, now’s the time! You can bring your ticket money and ticket stubs to the club meeting on Wednesday the 16th, or drop them off at the booth at Canaltown Days.

- The following Saturday is the Purple Painted Lady Barn Sale, September 26. As in the past, our club is handling the parking for this event. A signup sheet has been passed and we will need many Rotarians (and/or their friends and family) to help. Last year, we raised over $3000 from this one-day event. At $5 per car, that’s a lot of cars to park, so you can see why we need to have full staffing there. There are several shifts, none of which is more than a couple hours. If you haven’t signed up and can help out, please contact Dianne Sloan.

- The Pal-Mac Interact Club is hosting a blood drive at the PM High School on Friday, September 18 from 8am to 1:30pm.

- Remember that DG Bill Gormont will be making his official visit to our club at our Club Assembly on Wednesday, September 30.

Our exchange student Sofia won $11 in the 50/50 this week.

Next meeting: Noon, Wednesday 9/16 Palmyra American Legion.