THE GALLIPOLIS ROTARY CLUB

Club President Bonnie McFarland welcomed assembled guests and Rotarians to the regular meeting of the Gallipolis Rotary Club.  Visiting with us today was Curt Wiggins from the Jackson Rotary Club.  Past President Deb Rhodes provided the invocation.  Resty Alonzo gave the Rotary Foundation Minute to open our meeting.  Resty covered a brief history of the early days of the Foundation.

Moment of Silence—The club observed a moment of silence to morn the passing of Rotarian Bob Eastman.  Bonnie informed our club that Assistant Treasurer Shawn Siders was not with us today due to the death of his mother in Florida.  The thoughts and prayers of our club go out to both families in this difficult time.

Membership Development—President Bonnie announced the District will be holding its annual Membership/Foundation Seminar on Saturday, September 26th at the Cherry Valley Lodge, near Newark.  We’d like to see some of the newer Rotarians volunteer to attend this interesting meeting along with the regular attendees.

Program Listing—President Bonnie announced that Program Chair, Tammi Brabham, has the program listing completed for this Rotary year.  Secretary Chuck will be emailing out a copy to each member this week.  Each member is responsible for arranging a speaker for the designated date and reporting back to Tammi so the updated information about upcoming programs can be viewed from the web.

Presentation—ADG Matt Willis presented a certificate signed by RI Past President, DK Lee, to Past President Deb Rhodes for achieving 10% growth during the past Rotary year.  Matt commended our club on its dynamic growth which demonstrates that Gallipolis Rotary is on the right track.

Split-The-Pot—Jim Morrison ran STP for the meeting today.  Our small pot was $7 in spite of our small attendance!  Our lucky winner today was James Wellington, proving once again that it pays to come to Rotary meetings!  The large pot was determined to be ‘something greater than $7’ since our Treasurer Shawn was not with us.  Checking back to last week and adding the new $7, our large pot has grown to $124.00!  James drew carefully pulling the two of diamonds, making the pot safe yet again for another week.  James assessed the Foundation Fine against ‘anyone who has not stepped into his new office’ in Gallipolis.

Fellowship—Emily Dailey led club fellowship for our meeting today.  Emily called for a couple of fines for any latecomers or for missing pins and badges.  Lou Ellen volunteered a buck for arriving late.  Emily announced that on this day in history not much apparently happened! She did, however, have some excellent words of wisdom to conclude fellowship.

Program—President Bonnie introduced PDG Mel Simon as our speaker for the meeting, who spoke about the new French 500 Free Medical Clinic.  Mel was recently interviewed by Marianne Campbell on the local radio station about the clinic.  Mel related how he came to medicine through the personal experiences of living in WWII occupied Philippines and losing his sister because there was no medical care.  As a result, he dedicated his life to attaining the necessary schooling and becoming a physician.  Now, many years later, and after 25 years of conducting the Operation We Care Medical Mission to the Philippines, it is time to give back closer to home.

The French 500 Free Medical Clinic has become a reality and will operate two Thursday afternoons per month at his Hillcrest location.  The rooms have been remodeled and will be staffed by like minded volunteer physicians and nurses.  The clinic will operate with the goals of providing quality care, excellence, and teamwork of its personnel.  The clinic will only provide routine examinations and procedures that can be handled out of the office.  No pain medications will be prescribed.  Eventually, the clinic hopes to be able to offer expanded services, hours, and even dental exams to our area.

President Bonnie asked the club to rise and give PDG Mel as standing ovation for his humanitarian work through Rotary over the years.  Before adjourning, ADG Matt Willis reminded members the importance and necessity of visiting other Rotary clubs and making up missed attendance.  This way you can personally experience the true fellowship and friendship in Rotary.

The Board of Directors of the Gallipolis Rotary Club met on Tuesday, August 4, at 8:00 am in the Doctors’ Dining Room of Holzer Clinic.  Attending were Resty Alonzo, Paul Koch, Shirley Doss, Debbie Rhodes, PDG Mel Simon, VP Lou Ellen Werry, Secretary Chuck Clark, and President Bonnie McFarland.  Missing were Marlin Rose Debbie Saunders, Shawn Siders, and Jodie Anderson.

In the first order of business consisted of a letter from Holzer Center For Cancer Care for support for a community for school backpacks and supplies for needy children in our county.  After discussion Shirley Doss moved the club donate $100 to this worthwhile project.  PDG Mel Simon seconded the motion.  Motion carried.

The next item for discussion concerned the repair of the sidewalk at the Gallia Senior Resource Center.  Director Shirley Doss indicated that several bids were obtained and the cost to the club would be $350.00. Resty Alonzo made the motion that the club move forward with the project and PDG Mel Simon seconded.  Motion carried.

The board discussed the French 500 Free Medical Clinic which was today’s program at the club meeting.  This is an important project that our club should be funding because it is local and helping local residents.  Club members could be involved in some behind the scenes work, helping with forms, clean-up, etc.  Resty Alonzo moved the club provide $500 to support this project and Chuck Clark seconded.  Motion carried.

President Bonnie read a recent email from District Governor Ram Gawande asking that our DG be informed of any and all grants the club is pursuing.   We have currently applied for a District Simplified Grant to continue our Books For Schools project.

Our President asked for each of the officers or directors to take a moment to report on their area of responsibility.  Marlin Rose is our Membership Committee Chair and will be having a program this month regarding membership promotion.  Under the By-Laws Committee, Bonnie asked Past President Deb Rhodes to clarify how club nominations and elections are handled.  We are trying to get better organized and all committees should have a new member involved to help ‘learn the ropes’ about Rotary.

More effort will be focused on public relations and getting our club’s name out to the community.  Chair Persons, Deb Saunders and John Ellison will be providing more pictures for the local paper and looking for new and innovative ways to bring attention to Gallipolis Rotary.

Paul Koch reported on the plans for the upcoming Bob Evans Farm Festival which is our club’s primary fund raising activity.  Paul reported on some of the improvements which will be made in our tent.  Having dedicated cashier positions worked well last year and will be implemented this year.

In our Treasurer’s absence, President Bonnie suggested it would be helpful to our members to have a brief report from our Treasurer at the meeting following each board meeting.  This will keep everyone knowledgeable about the financial position of the club.

The Nominating Committee needs to work up a slate of candidates for officers and directors as the election will be coming up in November.  The Presidents’ Council of the Gallipolis Rotary Club is a great resource of history for the board and should be tapped.

Chuck Clark mentioned the club should have a new web page shortly as Jodie Anderson has a design in mind.  Be looking for the new site.

Finally, President Bonnie led a discussion about membership attendance and retention.  We have a few folks who pay dues, but do not take part in any club activities.  To have a successful club, we need members to attend regularly and make up missed absences at any of our neighboring clubs.  Our club needs to move toward more stricter observance of attendance and our leave of absence policy.  We want to avoid RINO’s—Rotarian in name only!

The meeting was adjourned.