THE GALLIPOLIS ROTARY CLUB

Gallipolis Rotarians and guests learned about the dangers of hypertension at the regular weekly meeting of the Gallipolis Rotary Club.  Past President Lou Ellen Werry presented as our speaker, Dr. Michael Englund, from the Holzer Cardiovascular Institute.  Pictured above are Past President Lou Ellen, Dr. Michael Englund, and Club President Shirley Doss.

Rotarians had the opportunity to check their blood pressure and received a heart shaped stress ball and a ‘Know Your Numbers’ health test recorder.  Ann Carter, Director of Nursing for the Cardiovascular Institute handled the BP checks.  Dr. Englund presented a fact filled, interesting talk and Rotarians learned that high blood pressure is the most common cardiovascular problem.  Known for years as the silent killer, high BP strikes over 74 million people.  Heart disease is the number one cause of death associated with high blood pressure.  Dr. Englund stressed the importance of knowing your numbers and living a lifestyle that can lower your risk to heart disease and diabetes.  Rotarians enjoyed asking our speaker many questions about lifestyles, nutrition, and vitamin supplements.  Thank you, Dr Englund and Past President Lou Ellen, for this interesting program!

President Shirley welcomed club members and guests to our meeting.  April Rice, from Farmer’s Bank was a guest of Heather Crum.  Welcome, April.  Rotarian Jodie McCalla, ‘Skyped’ in from her temporary office in Baltimore.

Fellowship—In the time remaining Fellowship Chair, Gordon Amsbary, led our club fellowship starting off with some Belushi trivia.  There were a no fines, but Jim Morrison offered a Happy Buck for something, which the Secretary could not hear.  Gordo’s words of wisdom concluded with Siddhartha.

Split-The-Pot—Shana Booher ran our STP for our meeting.  The small and large pot were both at $7.00 today as Clyde Evans pulled the Queen of Hearts last week.  Our lucky winner today was Kurt Dailey, and this actually makes twice in a row he has been drawn—the problem being his ticket last week was given to Clyde! Kurt narrowly missed the big one by drawing the King of Clubs.  Kurt assessed the foundation fine against anyone who hasn’t taken their blood pressure in the last week!

Rotary Readers—Project Chair, Emily Dailey asked for additional readers for our successful reading project for the first grade classes in the Gallia Local Schools.  There are only two more opportunities to read this year—February and March, so if you haven’t participated in this great project, be sure to see Emily!

Finally, here are the program assignments for the next few weeks:

Jan 31          Zac Fosler
Feb 7            Kevin Petrie
Feb 14          Valentine Dinner
Feb 21          Lee Bauman

Have a great week, everyone, and see you back next Tuesday!

Club President, Shirley Doss, introduced PDG Mel Simon who spoke to the club about Rotary’s Guatemala Literacy Project, (GLP).  PDG Mel mentioned that his advice to Chuck Clark’s enthusiastic return from his recent Guatemala trip, “Welcome to the club!”  He explained that Chuck ‘gets it’ and understands the joy of delivering hands-on service in another culture. 

Mel gave a brief overview of Guatemala and the challenges it faces as a developing country with a growing population and a diverse culture.  Two thirds of the country is mountains with 33 volcanoes, earthquakes, 33 different languages, and a literacy rate lowest in the Americas.  In some rural areas, nearly 3/4’s of the adult population cannot read or write.  Rotary’s response to help this country break the cycle of poverty is the Guatemala Literacy Project.

Rotarians viewed a 10 minute video which provided a first hand look into the project and how Rotarians from 400 clubs in the US, Canada and Guatemala have worked together in this self-sustaining program.  (Rotarians: please click on the above link and view this excellent video.)  Since 1988, the GLP has provided needed textbooks, library materials, and computer labs to help over 29,000 students.

There are annual trips for interested Rotarians to participate first hand the implementation of the grant, travel to schools, and assist in distributing textbooks and computer equipment.  Not only can our club provide needed assistance, but Gallipolis Rotarians can take part and experience the joys of ‘Service Before Self.’  Thanks, Mel and Chuck for the interesting program!

Fellowship—Gordon Amsbary ran our club fellowship for the meeting relating that 90 must now be the new 40!  There was more about the Crimean War as Gordo had done his homework!  Paul Koch was a bit late to the meeting today and was the only fine.  It was good to see Lee Saltzgaber back sporting a new beard.  Today is National Penguin Day!  There was a load of celebrity birthdays, but Gordo did not have any words of wisdom for us.

PR Grant—VP/President-Elect Jodie McCalla sent word our club has received the District PR Grant for this Rotary Year.  This grant will cover the costs involved in spreading the word of Rotary via the new Cinema in Spring Valley.  We plan to have Rotary PSA’s promoting the work of Rotary and our club shown before the features at the theater.

Split-The-Pot—Jim Morrison ran our STP for the meeting announcing the small pot was $7.00 and the large pot which has now grown to $142.00.  Jim asked ADG Matt Willis to draw the lucky winner which was Clyde Evans!  Clyde donated back the small pot to the club’s local foundation.  Clyde drew very carefully for the large pot and came up with the QUEEN OF HEARTS, winning the large pot of $142.00!  Clyde also designated this to be donated to the club’s foundation.  Thanks very much, Clyde!  He did assess the Foundation Fine against anyone who did not possess a full head of grey hair!  Some of us were close, but still chipped in a buck.

Here are the upcoming program assignments for the next several weeks:

Jan 24          Lou Ellen Werry
Jan 31          Zac Fosler
Feb 7            Kevin Petrie
Feb 14          Valentine Dinner

Have a great week!

Program Chair, Shana Booher, arranged an interesting program for this week’s Rotary meeting about Holzer Clinic’s musculoskeletal services.  Our guest speaker, JT. Holland, Manager of this service, who is a Rotarian in Pt. Pleasant, provided an excellent overview of this important area in medicine.  Located at the Holzer Medical Center facility in Jackson, the Center provides comprehensive medical and surgical  expertise for the treatment of trauma injury as well as joint replacement, sport injury, and therapy.  Members enjoyed the opportunity to ask a few questions in the Q & A.  Thanks, JT and Shana for the interesting program!

Past President, Bonnie McFarland, presided over our meeting today as President Shirley was traveling.  We had excellent attendance today and it was good to see everyone back.  Jodie McCalla was with us via SKYPE from her temporary office in Baltimore.  We need to tweak it a bit for next week, but we could see Jodie and she could see us!

Treasurer’s Moment—Shawn Siders spoke briefly about the new club bill format via email.  Because all electronic communications from OVB is encrypted, you may have received Shawn’s email about your bill requiring you to log in first.  If you have any difficulty with the procedure, just give Shawn a call and he’ll explain it.  Most members had no difficulty in retrieving their bill.

Resignation—The club has received a letter of resignation from Rotarian Denise Shockley.  Denise’s professional obligations have prevented her from taking part in club meetings and projects this past year and we want to wish Denise all the best.  We will miss you!

Fellowship—Gordon Amsbary ran club fellowship for our meeting and dazzled members with some Crimean War trivia.  Gordon caught up on December birthdays with Resty Alonzo, Emily Dailey, and Heather Crum, each contributed a small donation and the club sang “Happy Birthday.”  I think we need some practice!  Gordon spun a bit more historical trivia and then closed with a few words of wisdom.

Split-The-Pot—Shana Booher also ran our STP for the meeting today and raised our small pot to $7.00.  Our lucky winner was Bonnie McFarland!  Bonnie’s draw for the ‘big one’ of $134.00 came up a little short with the Three of Diamonds.  She assessed the Foundation Fine against anyone ‘without a cold today’ thanks to a quick hint from Lee Bauman.  Bonnie did donate the small pot back to the club for projects!  Thanks, Bonnie!

Here are the Program responsibilities for the next few weeks:

Jan 17          Mel Simon
Jan 24          Lou Ellen Werry
Jan 31          Zac Fosler
Feb 7            Kevin Petrie

Have a great rest of the week!

Well, not quite Broadway, but a fun time at the first club meeting of the year!  Margaret Evans’ birthday was missed last month, so a special quartet +1 helped sing Happy Birthday at the meeting today.  Our ‘volunteers’ included PDG Mel Simon, Dave Nadler, Matt Willis, newest Rotarian, Amber Johnson, and Fellowship Chairperson, Gordon Amsbary.  Thank you all!

President Shirley Doss rang the bell to call the meeting to order promptly at 7:15 am on a very snowy morning.  Our attendance was a bit weak, but Rotarians slipped in as the meeting continued.

Monthly Board Meeting—President Shirley recommended we NOT have the regular monthly board meeting today and move all the business to the next month’s meeting which will be February 7th right after the morning meeting.

Coin Box—Emily Dailey turned in a Rotary coin box for her contribution to the Rotary Foundation.  This is a great way to make your loose change do some great Rotary work!

Fellowship—Gordon Amsbary led off our first club fellowship for the new year talking about large divorce settlements and some resolutions.  Jodie McCalla popped in a bit late as did Bonnie McFarland and Zac Fosler.  No fines were incurred due to the inclement weather.  The club enjoyed the special quartet +1 who sang to Margaret Evans for her birthday.

Rotary Reading on Wednesday—Project Chairman, Emily Dailey, brought books for Rotary Readers for this month.  We have two Scholastic Publishers picks—“Please Write Back” and “Noodles—I Love Snow.”  We don’t seem to have enough readers for this month, so some schools will slip to next Wednesday.  Please contact Emily if you would like to help out in this great project!

Program—We didn’t have a regular program today, but Chuck Clark volunteered to speak briefly about his experiences last month in Antigua, Guatemala.  Chuck presented a club banner from the Rotary Club of Antigua and spoke about the projects presently being undertaken by the local club there.

It was apparent from his talk that Chuck had a great experience in this Central American country, and he went on to add that there is an opportunity for Gallipolis Rotarians to get involved in Rotary’s work there.  RI operates a self-sustaining program called the Guatemala Literacy Project (GLP)  where our club can participate with a Guatemala Rotary Club to help school literacy in Guatemala.  There are ‘hands-on’ opportunities every February for Rotarians to help in this project! Chuck has a video from RI and we will be learning more about it in the near future.

Stay warm and safe this week and see everyone back at next Tuesday’s meeting!

Here is a listing for Program responsibilities for the next few weeks:

Jan 10          Shana Booher
Jan 17          Bob Hood
Jan 24          Lou Ellen Werry
Jan 31          Zac Fosler