Gallipolitan
An excellent number of members and guests attended the regular meeting of the 
Gallipolis Rotary Club this week. President Deborah Rhodes presided and Matt Willis gave the invocation. Guests included Grae Schuster and Matthew Rosenberg. This morning we were honored to induct Grae Schuster, MD into membership in the club. Grae is a radiation oncologist and serves as Medical Director for the Holzer Center for Cancer Care. Lou Ellen Werry provided the 4-Way Test, and Resty Alonzo presented the Object of Rotary. Past President Jim Morrison covered a little history of the club and President Deb Rhodes presented the membership credentials and the traditional new member Red Badge. Grae’s sponsor, PDG Mel Simon presented the Rotary membership pin and the official welcome into membership in the Gallipolis Rotary Club. Congratulations, Grae, and welcome to the club!
Annual Christmas Ornament Exchange–In the first order of business President Deb reminded members that the annual Christmas dinner/ornament exchange will be held December 16th, 6:30 pm, at the Holiday Inn. This tradition started a few years back has become a seasonal favorite of members and is a chance to enjoy an evening of club fellowship with your invited spouse or guest. There is a sign-up sheet circulating and we hope to see everyone there. Be sure to mark your calendars.
Election Results–The ballots are in and there were no hanging chads or voter irregularities. Our leadership team for next year include: Tammi Brabham, Shirley Doss, Jenny Evans, Lou Ellen Werry, and Kevin Petrie. Tammi Brabham will be our Vice President/President-Elect during Rotary Year 2009-2010 and will our President in 2010-2011. Congratulations to everyone!
Assistant to the Secretary–Your humble scribe of this newsletter and the Club Secretary needs a volunteer to help with the secretary duties. These duties are minimal, taking attendance and notes from the meeting and learning the processes involved in posting the newsletter to our Rotary Blog. It’s not that hard as long as you have access to a computer and the Internet. Let me know if you are interested. Keeping the blog up to date is actually fun and not the difficult chore one might thing!
Relay for Life–Jenny Evans is already hard at work planning for our participation in the next Relay for Life. Jenny announced that she is planning a fun social event for our club, a Black and White Ball, to be held sometime after Christmas. This is going to be a great evening for members and guests. Contact Jenny if you would like to help out.
Split-The-Pot–Jim Morrison ran STP for the meeting and sold a ‘boatload’ of tickets! The winning ticket for the $7 small pot was held by . . . Jim! How’d that happen? Several members jumped in to monitor the draw for the big pot which has climbed to $127. Jim missed the ‘big one’ by drawing the six of clubs. Jim assessed the Foundation Fine against anyone who was NOT INDUCTED into the club in the last 24 hours!
Fellowship–Lou Ellen Werry ran club fellowship for the morning and talked about some natural remedies for common maladies. Frozen ginger chips are excellent to beat nausea, and a teaspoon of sugar can stop the hiccups. Dark chocolate is good for a cough, and B complex can help beat a hangover! Lou reminded everyone this year’s Rotary International convention is set for Birmingham, England and a tour of London would be a great after convention trip. Greg Sojka was on time for the meeting, but Lou Ellen fined Greg for a missing Rotary pin! Sorry, Greg. Way to go, Lou!
Program–Our speaker for this morning was PDG Mel Simon and was introduced by Dr. Matthew Rosenberg. Mel has been program chair for the entire month of November because November is Rotary Foundation Month and every program emphasized the impact of Rotary in the world. Today Mel spoke specifically on the Rotary Foundation. Mel presented an interesting PowerPoint on the Rotary Foundation’s Annual Fund programs and how they are organized and how they function. This information is vital for Rotarians to understand as this is the key to one of the most successful and highly respected Foundations in the world. The Rotary Foundation is something that all Rotarians can point to in pride and know that contributions are wisely used worldwide. Our Rotary District 6690 has donated over $262,000 and has mobilzed over 20 million volunteers with its programs.
Foundation matching grants benefit Mel’s Operation We Care medical mission and Mel illustrated how $3,000 in local contributions can turn into $14,000 through the power of these matching grants. District Governor Elect Ram Gawande from the Athens Rotary Club also conducts a medical mission to his native India to bring the gift of sight to the indigent in that country. Columbus and Pataskala Rotary Clubs support the Rafiki Aids Orphanage in Kenya. The Zanesville Rotary Club supports relief efforts in Uganda.
Thank you Mel, for the interesting update about the Rotary Foundation. We, as Rotarians, should be proud of the worldwide impact of our organization and the Rotary Foundation.
Next week we will have Lee Bauman who will be a guest of Chuck Clark, and will be speaking about a special project in Vinton.