Gallipolitan
President Deb Rhodes welcomed assembled Rotarians and guests to the regular 
meeting of the Gallipolis Rotary Club. Margaret Evans gave the invocation. Our guests today included Evans Smalley, daughter of Margaret Evans and Lee Bauman of Vinton who was our guest speaker. Here is President Deb with Lee.
Ornament Exchange–President Deb reminded everyone of our annual Christmas Dinner and Ornament Exchange which is scheduled for December 16th, at 6:00 PM at the Holiday Inn. This is one of the premier events of our calendar for members and their guests and I hope all of you are planning on attending. Remember to bring a tree ornament to exchange.
Board Meeting–Our next club board meeting will be this Wednesday, December 3rd, at 1:00 PM at the OVB Main Office. This is an excellent way to learn more about the workings of your club and Red Badge holders are reminded that attendance at least one board meeting is required for moving to the blue badge.
Meeting Schedule–President Rhodes reminded members that due to the holidays, our club will not be meeting on December 23rd and December 30th. It is extremely rare for our club to go two weeks without a meeting, but this year’s schedule will no doubt find many Rotarians traveling. So, enjoy the time with family and friends and see you back on January 6, 2009.
December Reading Day–Wednesday, December 3rd is our regular reading day in the Gallia County Local Schools. Those who have signed up need to keep the appointment as the kids are looking forward to having Rotarians read. Project Chair, Emily Dailey, reminded Rotarians we need to have members sign up for January and February as there are a number of slots that are available. Be sure to get with Emily and sign up for a school and pick out your books!
Split-The-Pot–Jim Morrison ran STP for the meeting and sold a good number of tickets to make our small pot $9 this week. Our lucky winner for the small pot was Margaret Evans! Chuck Clark and speaker, Lee Bauman, provided an impromptu drum roll for Margaret while she carefully drew for the big pot of $136, however missing it by drawing the queen of diamonds. Close! Margaret assessed the Foundation Fine against anyone who does NOT have their tickets for this Saturday’s Symphony Christmas Concert at the Ariel.
Fellowship–Lou Ellen Werry led club fellowship for our meeting and provided some interesting history of the Christmas tree. Did you know that it was Martin Luther who added candles to the tree? And of course, it was the Irish and the German immigrants who really livened up the festivities with creative decorations indoors and out! Lou concluded with a great deer camp joke.
Program–Chuck Clark introduced Lee Bauman of Vinton who spoke to the club about a great project he has been working on in the community. Lee is originally from northern Ohio, and has worked in the telecommunications industry for over 40 years. He has served as president for a number of large companies and now in retirement has been working with a nonprofit organization to benefit victims of domestic violence. Lee provided an interesting PowerPoint presentation to the club on some of the statistics of this problem. His goal in this project is to break the vicious cycle of abuse and to particularly target the small children who are trapped in the violence. If you can intervene while the children are young, the cycle can be broken.
His work is starting to pay dividends for the village of Vinton as the residents are excited again about their town and wanting to do all they can to bring about a rebirth of their community. Thanks for your interesting program, Lee.