Gallipolitan
Gallipolis Rotary Learns about Gallia Snack Pack Project
Nancy Smith local organizer for the Gallia County Snack Pack Program addressed the regular meeting of the Gallipolis Rotary Club. President Deb Rhodes presided and Matt Willis gave the invocation.
Rotary Reads–Next Tuesday is our regular time to read in the elementary schools so Emily Dailey had a big box of books on hand at the meeting for Rotarians to choose their books to read. Our November readers include Shirley Doss at Southwestern Elementary, Jenny Evans at Addaville, Tammi Brabham at Vinton, and President Deb Rhodes at Hannan Trace. This is actually a fun time for both Rotarians and the kids. A big Rotary THANKS goes out to these readers for volunteering for November! Be sure to get some good pictures.
There’s more below the fold!
Monthly Board Meeting–President Rhodes reminded everyone the next club board meeting will be WEDNESDAY, November 5th, at 1:00 pm at the OVB Main Office downstairs in the board room. This is a good way to make up any missed absence and Red Badge members are reminded you need to attend at least one board meeting in order to pass up to a Blue Badge. See you there!
“Have you invited anyone to Rotary this week?”– President Deb asked the club if we have been wearing our Rotary pin during the week and whether we have taken the time to ask someone with whom we come in contact to come to Rotary. Just like a business will not grow unless someone sells something, our club will not grow unless we stop and ask someone to come to Rotary! Who would you like to invite to a meeting?
Fellowship–Fellowship Chair Lou Ellen Werry livened up the club meeting assessing any fines for missing pins, badges, or latecomers. Everyone was on time today, though we did have a few missing Rotarians. Mel Simon will be celebrating a birthday this week and for that honor (and a small donation to the Foundation) named a special quartet of lady Rotarians to serenade him. The quartet included Margaret Evans, Jenny Evans, Emily Dailey, and Tammi Brabham who did a great job. Thanks, Ladies!
Happy Buck$, Sad Buck$–Lou Ellen asked for any Rotarians who might want to pay a buck and brag on something or someone. VP Bonnie McFarland donated a Happy Buck to brag about Mel Simon and Operation We Care which was featured in this month’s Rotarian magazine. Dave Smith offered a Sad Buck for OSU’s loss over the weekend in a well fought game with Penn State. Lou Ellen concluded Fellowship with the story that was in our paper recently about the 73 year old college basketball player! Follow your dreams!
Split-The-Pot–President Deb ran STP for the morning assisted by Greg Sojka and our lucky ticket holder for the $6 small pot was Lou Ellen Werry! Lou Ellen carefully drew for the big pot of $87, only to pull the seven of clubs. Lou Ellen levied the Foundation Fine against anyone who did not play college basketball.
Program–Today’s program chair was Jim Phillippe who arranged for our speaker, Nancy Smith, to speak to our club today about the Gallia County Snack Pack Program. The program began a year or so ago from an article that appeared in another city newspaper about an Operation Backpack for elementary school children who are without food over the weekend. Teachers have noticed that some children who receive a free breakfast at school were often starting to eat before sitting at the table. They had very little to eat over the weekend. Nancy checked with several of the local elementary schools and they confirmed that Gallia County has a similar need. Thus, the Snack Pack Program became a reality.
The program uses non-perishable, healthy kid-friendly snacks which can be obtained through the Second Harvest Foodbank or purchased locally from donations. These items may be apple sauce, mac and cheese, juices, cracker, pudding or fruit cups. These are things that these children can keep in their backpack and utilize over a weekend. The group targets the last weekend of the month, as this is often the most difficult time for these children. In addition,volunteers will try to add a jar of peanut butter as it is filling and provides good nutrition. All children are carefully screened for allergies and foods are packed accordingly.
The Gallia County Snack Pack Program has applied to become an official non-profit organization and will function with an advisory board. Presently, donations are coming from local churches, businesses, and community organizations. In September, the program distributed 175 bags of food to children at Rio Grande and Hannan Trace elementary. The group is expecting the demand to grow as more schools are added and the group is setting a goal to stretch the programs to two weekends per month.
There was an excellent round of Q & A after our speaker’s remarks and PDG Mel recommended that Rotary look to supporting this program with a District Simplified Grant next year.