THE GALLIPOLIS ROTARY CLUB

District Governor Calvin Gebhart made his official visit to Gallipolis Rotary today to visit the club members and formally address the club as the official representative from RI President Ray Klinginsmith.  He also presented this year’s Rotary theme banner to President Lou Ellen Werry.

Welcome—Lou Ellen welcomed Rotarians to our morning meeting and noted we had quite a few missing club members.  The officers and board members met with DG Calvin last evening at the Holiday Inn for a dinner meeting.  The District Governor received a complete update about our club projects, past and present.

Club Board Meeting—President Lou Ellen summarized the actions from the recent club board meeting.  The minutes are available on this blog page.  Our board meetings for this Rotary year will be held on the THIRD THURSDAY of each month, at 4 pm at the Municipal Court offices at 49 Olive Street.

Jr. Fair Royalty Project—Jodie McCalla reported to the club of the successful crowning of the Livestock princesses last Saturday.

Pictured above are: Megan Daines, Queen; Haley Rosier, Olivia Rees, Hannah Marie Roach, Grace Martin, Haleigh McGuire

Megan was one of our 2010 Rotary Scholars and is an excellent example of the quality students from Gallia county.  Many thanks to Denise Shockley and Jodie McCalla for all the hard work that went into making this a great event!

Summer’s Nearly Gone—President Lou reminded members that once the Gallia Junior Fair is over, summer is nearly gone.  We will again be reading in the first grades starting in September, so all members will need to set aside some time to participate in this important literacy project!

Split-The-Pot—Jim Morrison ran STP today and sold a ‘boatload’ of tickets.  Jim asked our visiting DG to draw for the winner which was . . . Chuck Clark!  Our small pot today was $11.00 and the large pot has grown to $258.00 and will continue to grow next week as Chuck drew the four of clubs.  Chuck assessed the Foundation Fine against anyone who did not attend last night’s meeting with the District Governor.

Fellowship—Gordon Amsbary entertained the assembly with probing questions about Rotary, in honor of DG Calvin’s visit.  Gordon fined Margaret Evans for being gone for two weeks!  Today is ‘National Health Happiness With Hypnosis Day’ and ‘National Take-Your-Houseplant-For–A-Walk-Day.’  Gordon concluded with a few words of wisdom.

Happy Buck$—Zac Fosler bought an expensive Happy Buck on the occasion of the birth of a new son last week.  Congratulations to Zac and Janelle!  Margaret Evans bought a Happy Buck for enjoying last week on the beach! Chuck Clark bought a Happy Buck to celebrate spending the weekend with his daughter, Meredith, and family in Charlotte.

Program—PDG Mel Simon introduced our new 6690 District Governor, Calvin Gebhart, to our club.  DG Calvin has an interesting background including 26 years in the Navy and retiring as a Chief Petty Officer.  DG Calvin thanked President Lou Ellen and the officers for the meeting last evening to learn more about our club.  He praised the local clubs for their opportunities for leadership experience which has led him to the top District post.

The Rotary club is the spirit in the local community and RI’s theme this year, Building Communities; Bridging Continents, is a unique symbol of this important task.  Rotarians serve because we can!  We serve for the privilege of serving.  Our service makes a difference in our communities.  Thank you, DG Calvin, for the inspiring talk!

Attendees Present:  Shawn Siders, Chuck Clark, Shirley Doss, Lou Ellen Werry, Jenny Evans, Jodie McCalla, Bonnie McFarland.

Lou Ellen reported that the DG will be visiting next week at the morning meeting.  He will be meeting with the board on Monday night, 7/26/2010.  Chuck will report on our membership statistics, Shawn will give a brief Treasurer’s Report, and Jodie will report on the Rotary Memorial Scholarships and the Rotary presence on Facebook.  Shirley and Lou Ellen will give an overview of the club & our programs.

Shawn reported that we have not received dues from a few active members for many months.  Bonnie moved to approve Mel’s medical mission, Shirley seconded, all were in favor.  Jodie moved to table the budget until next meeting so we each had a chance to review. 

 Bonnie presented the board with the Partners of Hope Cancer Coalition, they are asking for a donation of $325.  Jodie motioned to approve, Jenny seconded, all were in favor.

Jodie also asked the club to consider registering to cook chili at this year’s Chili Fest on October 2, 2010. 

 Meeting was adjourned.

President Lou Ellen Werry reminded Gallipolis Rotarians that District Governor Calvin T. Gebhart will make his official visit to our club next week, July 27th.  Our attendance was rather light today due to vacations, but remember that we need everyone to be at the meeting next week to welcome DG Calvin.  We are planning on a super breakfast and a super meeting!  Club officers and directors are asked to stay for board meeting from 8 – 9 am.  Many thanks goes out to Matt and Cleeland Willis for working up a golf game for our DG!  Kurt Dailey is in charge of the weather!

President Lou Ellen welcomed the assembled club members to our meeting and Bob Hood provided our invocation after the Pledge and the 4-Way Test.

Club Board Meeting–President Lou Ellen announced the first official board meeting for the new Rotary year will be held at the Municipal Court offices at 49 Olive Street this Thursday, July 22nd at 4:00 pm.  This year’s board includes our President Lou Ellen, VP/President Elect Shirley Doss, Treasurer Shawn Siders, Secretary Chuck Clark, Debbie Saunders, Jodie McCalla, Kevin Petrie, and James Wellington.  Past President Bonnie McFarland serves as an exofficio member of the board.  Please make every effort to make this important meeting.

Livestock Princess Project—Jodie McCalla reminded members the Gallia Junior Fair Livestock Princesses will be chosen THIS SATURDAY, July 24th.  The interview process begins at 1 pm and the actual ceremony is scheduled for 5:30 pm in the main show arena.  This is when Jodie and Denise Shockley will be needing a few Rotarians to assist.  Denise and Jodie have done a great job organizing this event and this is our club’s only participation in the Gallia Junior Fair.  We need someone with a camera to step forward to capture pictures of the event!

Rush To Rotary—President Lou Ellen announced that our club will be holding our first annual Rotary ‘Rush’ party on Tuesday evening, September 21st.  This evening event will replace our morning meeting with a casual meet and greet designed to attract new members to Rotary.  A likely venue for the event could be the Merry Winery.  President Lou Ellen is looking for a couple of volunteers to step forward to help organize this important event.  Please email her!

Split-The-Pot—Jim Morrison ran STP for our meeting today and sold a bunch of ‘three for two’ tickets since the pot it getting large.  Today’s small pot was $6.00 and the ‘biggen’ reached $247.00.  After a small flourish the lucky ticket holder today was . . . Shirley Doss!  Shirley carefully pulled a card from the ever shrinking deck, and just missed the Queen of Hearts by pulling the King of Diamonds.  Close!  Shirley assessed the Foundation Fine against anyone who did not make arrangements to see the Open Rail concert at the Ariel.

Fellowship—Gordon Amsbary ran club fellowship for the meeting with a plague of locusts and the Riot Act.  (You just had to be there!)   Gordon spoke about the Women’s Hall of Fame and ended with his traditional words of wisdom—a poem, “Walking With Grandma.”  Well done, Gordo!

Happy Buck$—We had a couple of happy bucks today.  Cleeland Willis bought a Happy Buck in honor of his Grandson, who was recently married in Florida.  President Lou Ellen Werry bought a happy buck in honor of her  sorority’s recent reunion which was held in Pataskala.  It was organized on FaceBook and one attendee came from as far as Japan!  Amazing!

Relay For Life Auction—President Lou Ellen announced the club had received another check as a result of member items sold at the Middleport Auction to benefit our club’s Relay For Life Team.  She lauded the efforts of Dan and Edna Whiteley for their willingness to assist the club in this worthwhile project.  Dan will bring his truck and trailer, if necessary, to load up your surplus items which are then taken to the auction.  This is a great way to ‘de-junk’ your life and help fund our Relay For Life team.  Thanks, Dan and Edna!  This is the stuff that makes Dan SMILE!

Club Assembly—Today’s program was a club assembly in which President Lou Ellen helped lead open discussions on a number of topics, and our Bob Evans Festival Ice Cream fund raiser.  Thanks to all who participated.

Remember, next week is DG Calvin’s official visit to Gallipolis Rotary.  Be sure to attend.

President Lou Ellen Werry welcomed assembled Gallipolis Rotarians to the regular morning meeting.  Once again, we had a rather light turnout.  Cleeland Willis offered our invocation.

PDG Ram—President Lou Ellen gave a brief update on PDG Ram Gawande’s recovery from his earlier surgery.  It was a delicate procedure and PDG Ram’s recovery is progressing and he is home!  You can follow his progress on his blog page: http://ramgawande.wordpress.com.  Please take the time to visit his blog and leave a message for him as well.

Club Board Meeting—President Lou Ellen announced the club board meeting for July will be held at the Municipal Court offices at 49 Olive Street on Thursday, July 22nd at 4:00 pm .  This year’s board includes our President Lou Ellen, VP/President Elect Shirley Doss, Treasurer Shawn Siders, Secretary Chuck Clark, Debbie Saunders, Jodie McCalla, Kevin Petrie, and James Wellington.  Past President Bonnie McFarland serves as an exofficio member of the board.

Livestock Princesses–Jodie McCalla announced our club’s next project will be sponsoring the Gallia County Junior Fair Livestock Princesses.  Jodie confirmed the event is scheduled for Saturday, July 24th, and she and Denise Shockley will be needing your help.  Judging is scheduled for 1:00 pm and the Queen ceremony will be at 4:00 pm.  We will need some pictures of the event for our club.

District Governor’s Visit—Our new District Governor, Calvin Gebhart, will be visiting with our club on July 27th,  two weeks from today.  President Werry has asked PDG Mel Simon introduce our new District Governor to our club.  Please make every effort to attend this meeting so we can have a full house for our District Governor.  Calvin will be meeting with our board and officers after the meeting for approximately one hour. (more…)