Gallipolitan
Editor’s Note–Many thanks to Margaret Evans who subbed for me as I had to be in Columbus for an early morning meeting! May I also congratulate all our members for the great efforts to attend meetings. Last month, our club reported one of the best attendance averages for the past few years–85%! Let’s keep this great attendance going!
Gallia Chamber’s Lori Neal Addresses Rotary 
President Deb Rhodes passed out a summary of items discussed in the board meeting last week. There will be a change in how the bills are distributed. They will now come to us via email – unless you notify Katrinka, Deb or Chuck that you would prefer a paper bill. There will be a $1.00 fee for a paper bill but the staff is more than willing to continue paper to those who want it. Since Katrinka can’t be at a lot of the meetings, Deb, Chuck and Dave Nadler will accept payments for your bills.
Great Attendance–We had a huge turn out this morning. There were no empty seats at the tables! Rotarians must be getting back into the groove for the year.
Guests today: Jodi Anderson and Shawn Siders both guests of Katrinka and Dave Nadler. Bill Knight was our visiting Rotarian who joined us for a make up from the Pt. Pleasant club. And last but not least, our own Assistant District Governor, Lee Hubbard was with us today. Welcome, Guests!
Rotary Foundation–RI has asked each club to do a public fundraiser to educate the public about Rotary’s work, mission and the Gates Foundation matching grant. We will be having a spaghetti dnner and Shirley Doss will be chairing the committee. Look for details on a date and what you can do to help. Thanks to Shirley for stepping up and taking charge of this.
Club Literacy Project–On January 22, from 4-5, we will host a tea at the library for the school librarians. This is in conjunction with our literacy project of helping to provide reference books to school libraries.
The Valentine’s dinner will be Feb 10. Meet at 6:00 and eat at 6:30. Remember – no morning meeting that day! Sign up sheets are coming.
President Deb acknowledged Jenny Evans for her hard work on the Black and White Ball. Jenny gets things done and the event was a huge success since it raised over $600. for Rotary’s contribution to the Relay for Life.
The two coin boxes turned in last week combined for $89.77, a healthy contribution. John Ellison’s coin box held $44.69 and Margaret’s held $45.08. These amounts are almost half of the $100. Remember, Every Rotarian Every Year suggestion from RI.
Split the pot–STP made Mel Simon $10. richer this morning. However, Mel drew the 3 of hearts so had to pass on the $188. large pot. Mel fined anyone who did not go to the Black and White Ball Saturday night.
Club Fellowship–Lou Ellen played catch up on birthdays for the past month. For $1.00 each, the club sang to Gordon, Resty, Jim Phillipe, Bob Hood, Greg, Denise and Margaret. Lou then read some lines from inaugural addresses and asked us to identify the speaker. She had quotes from Jefferson, Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt and JFK.
Program–Lori Neal, Executive director of the Gallia County Chamber of Commerce, talked about the upcoming annual dinner. The dinner will be held Jan. 22, 2009, meeting at 6:00 and eat at 6:30 p.m. Lori said that instead of having an outside speaker, the dinner will focus on its members and their accomplishments for the past year. The Grande Chorale will perform and the door prizes will be great. Call the chamber for tickets.
Lori also informed us of a new program the chamber is sponsoring called First Fridays. Each first Friday of the month there will be a meeting at 8:00 a.m. and the speaker will comment on the “State of the —.” The first meeting will be “The State of the City Schools.” This meeting will be held at the library but most of the meetings will be at the OVB Annex.