THE GALLIPOLIS ROTARY CLUB

History has show that some of the best and most stimulating programs often come from our own club members, and today’s program was a great example!  Former Ohio Representative Clyde Evans spoke from the heart today about the state of education in Ohio.  Clyde first spoke about how meaningful Rotary has made his life over the years.  He cited the decision to admit women into Rotary as an important and beneficial attribute for Rotary!

Describing the many problems that plague  education in Ohio, Clyde identified decisions that are often made from politically expedient solutions.  “We need a system that involves the parents more which can provide a profound impact on the system,” he said. 

Clyde cited the statistical fact that nationally our educational system has fallen to 25th among industrialized countries where we used to lead the world!  “You know there is a problem when a country such as Finland leads the world and our dropout rates are staggering,” continued Clyde.  It’s a system that needs to be fixed as soon as possible.  Members enjoyed the Q & A after our speaker’s remarks.  Thanks, Clyde for the interesting talk today.

Vice President/President-Elect Jodie McCalla led our meeting today for vacationing President Shirley Doss.  Shirley will be back with us next week.  Jodie welcomed Gallipolis Rotarians to our meeting today and we had no guests or visitors.  Our attendance was excellent for the first meeting after Thanksgiving.

Special Presentation—Deb Rhodes presented a check today from WesBanco Bank to Serenity House and Melissa Kimmel, Director.  Serenity House is the only available service of its type in Gallia county providing residential housing and shelter to women involved in domestic abuse.  The shelter especially needs your help at this time and should be included in your end of year giving plans.

Fellowship—Gordon Amsbary led club fellowship this morning and immediately moved to fine Sammy Lopez for missing his birthday in September.  Sammy organized a quartet to sing a belated Happy Birthday.  Gordo conducted a spelling bee with Kevin Dennis who show the club he could spell ‘Mississippi’ backwards!  Treasurer Shawn Siders also had a birthday today and had the entire club sing to him.

Coin Box—Nayyer Hassain brought in a full Rotary coin box this morning for his Rotary Foundation giving.  Margaret Evans delivered empties to several members to use.  It’s a great program!

Christmas Dinner—VP Jodie reminded the club our annual Christmas Dinner and ornament exchange will occur on Tuesday evening, December 13th.  Rotarians will gather this year at the Quality Inn (old Holiday Inn) at 6:00 pm for a relaxed evening of fun and fellowship.  Remember to bring a tree ornament to exchange.

Rotary Reads Project—Project Chair, Emily Dailey, announced that our next reading date for the first graders in the Gallia Local Schools, will be next Wednesday December 7th.  Emily has the books for readers and need help with reading at Addison Elementary for December.  Since we read to THREE first grades at this school, we really should have two Rotarian volunteers as readers each month.  Please carefully consider this opportunity to serve and see Emily for the books.  Reminder—new members, you need to work a club project to attain your blue badge, and this is a good one to work.

Medical Mission Update—PDG Mel Simon just returned from two weeks in the Philippines where he made contact with 10 sponsoring Rotary clubs in metro Manila.  This year is the 26th year Mel and Lydia have led this medical mission and Gallipolis Rotary is proud to be one of the sponsors!

Happy Buck$—Kevin Dennis offered up a buck to the club in celebration for wrapping up and sending a 75 page grant application for clean-up at the Field of Hope project.  The successful acceptance of this grant and award of $200,000 will allow this community project to move forward after many years of planning.  Congratulations, Kevin!

Split-The-Pot—New member, Heather Crum, jumped in this morning and helped run STP for the meeting.  Heather’s quick sales helped the small pot grow to $6.00 and our lucky winner was Kevin Dennis!  Kevin just missed the ‘Big One’ of $116.00 by drawing the Six of Spades.  He assessed the Foundation Fine against anyone who did NOT wear a blue shirt today.

Here is our schedule for December:

Dec 6   Sheriff Joe Browning
Dec 13  Christmas Dinner, 6 pm, Quality Inn
Dec 20  No meeting—Merry Christmas!
Dec 27  No meeting—Happy New Year!