THE GALLIPOLIS ROTARY CLUB

The Gallipolis Rotary Club did not hold a regular meeting this week to allow Rotarians a chance to take a breather and focus on family and friends during this uniquely American holiday.

Please take a few minutes this week and point your Internet browser to: http://elaineinnorthernireland.blogspot.com and read what our Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar, Elaine Householder Joy, reports from Derry.  She has a new update on her activities and impressions with living as Rotary scholar in Northern Ireland for a year.  Also, take a few minutes to drop her a note and let her know we how much we appreciate reading her posts.  Her email is: householder.34@buckeyemail.osu.edu.

Our next meeting will be Tuesday morning, November 29th, at 7:15 am.  See you then!

Here are the upcoming program assignments for the next few weeks:

Nov 29  Clyde Evans

Dec 6   Melissa Kimmel
Dec 13  Christmas Dinner, 6 pm, Quality Inn
Dec 20  No meeting
Dec 27  No meeting

New Member Induction—Gallipolis Rotary welcomed Amber Johnson from Holzer Healthcare Division, as a new member in the club. The induction was expertly handled by ADG Matt Willis who had our ‘newbie’ recite the Rotary 4-Way Test and the Object of Rotary. Amber’s sponsor, Bonnie McFarland, presented the Rotary membership pin. Please take the time to introduce yourself to our newest member and welcome Amber to our club.

Rotary President Shirley Doss welcomed members and guests to the regular meeting of the Gallipolis Rotary Club.  Shirley welcomed visiting Rotarian, Bill Knight, from Pt. Pleasant Rotary.  Our President complimented members of the good attendance today and asked everyone if they remembered what is happening next week . . . NO MORNING MEETING!

Coin Box—John Ellison turned in a stuffed coin box for his contribution to the Rotary Foundation.  Margaret Evans distributed new boxes to members who want to make their effort to fund this worthwhile program.  It’s a great way to painlessly make your suggested annual $100.00 contribution.

Club Fellowship—Fellowship Chair, Gordon Amsbary, led club fellowship for our meeting in his own unique way.  President Shirley confessed to a birthday TODAY, and paid up to have the entire club sing an excellent rendition of Happy Birthday.  Gordo mentioned that yesterday was “Loosen-up/Lighten-up Day.”

Happy Buck$—We had a number of voluntary ‘Happy Bucks’ today.  Kevin Dennis offered a buck the recent kickoff dinner for the Field of Hope project.  New member, Amber Johnson, bought a HB for the anniversary of Holzer Hospice.  Kurt Dailey offered a buck for finally attaining good cholesterol!

Leadership Balloting—Jim Morrison distributed the initial ballot to club members to vote to select an initial nominating slate of 10 Rotarians for club leadership for the next Rotary year.  Congratulations to the new slate including: Paul Koch, Kevin Petrie, Debbie Saunders, Dave Nadler, Shana Booher, Kurt Dailey, Kevin Dennis, Melissa Kimmel, Margaret Evans, and Lee Saltzgaber.  Many thanks to Jim and Deb Rhodes who counted the ballots!

Split-The-Pot—Today’s STP was enabled through the efforts of President Shirley, Shana Booher, and Past President Lou Ellen Werry.  Lou Ellen asked Dave Nadler to draw for today’s winner of the small pot of $10.00 which was John Ellison!  John closed his eyes and drew very carefully for the ‘big one’ of $110.00 only to come up with the Ten of Clubs.  Close, though.  John assessed the Foundation Fine against anyone who did NOT wear a black or navy shirt today!

Program—Today’s program chair was Jim Morrison who introduced our speaker, Bob Hood, who spoke about the Gallia County United Way.  Bob reviewed the 12 local non-profits who receive funding from the United Way.  Our local United Way is 100% local and all funds raised locally stays locally.  Bob also gave a ‘shout out’ to President Shirley and the Gallia Senior Resource Center for their support to the United Way.  This year’s campaign goal is $100,000.00, the same as last year.  There are two special fund raisers planned for the community: Breakfast With Santa and a US Bank sponsored Golf Tournament planned for June, 2012.  Please support our Gallia County United Way and help us make the goal.

Remember, no meeting next week!

Nov 22  No Meeting–Thanksgiving
Nov 29  Clyde Evans

Dec 6   Melissa Kimmel
Dec 13  Christmas Dinner
Dec 20  No meeting
Dec 27  No meeting

We had quite a few members missing today at the regular meeting of the Gallipolis Rotary Club!  President Shirley Doss brought the meeting to order at 7:15 am with an enthusiastic group of Rotarians, but rather light in number.  The club welcomed Dr. Zac Sharif, from the University of Rio Grande.  Dr. Sharif was the guest of Ken Porada.

Fellowship—President Shirley asked fellowship chair, Gordon Amsbary, to lead off with his rendition of wearing out old tunes.  Gordon let everyone know today is ‘National Punster Day,’ ‘National Time Management Day,’ and ‘Pursuit of Happiness Day!’  We had a member birthday today—Melissa Kimmel.  Melissa paid a small fine and the club managed to sing an excellent version of Happy Birthday.  Dave Nadler was encouraged to pay a late arrival fine.  David Smith bought a happy buck in honor of the community’s Veterans’ Day observance in the Park at 11 am on Friday.  Dave’s wife, Shana, will be singing!  Be sure to be on hand!  Paul Koch also bought a happy buck, in honor of the close of all the campaigning for a little while.  Gordo concluded with a few words of wisdom.

Split-The-Pot—Jim Morrison ran our lotto this morning and our small pot grew to $7.00!  Our lucky winner today was Deb Rhodes!  Debbie very carefully selected a card from the ever-shrinking deck for the ‘big one’ of $99.00, only to pull out the Two of Clubs!  Bummer!  Debbie assessed the Foundation Fine against anyone who had NOT yet voted today!

Thanksgiving Break—President Shirley announced there will be no meeting on November 22nd, due to Thanksgiving.

Christmas Schedule—Looking ahead to December, President Shirley announced the annual Christmas dinner and ornament exchange will be held on Tuesday EVENING, December 13th, and will our last meeting of the year.  We will not meet on December 20th or December 27th.  Our first meeting of 2012 will be January 3rd at 7:15 am in the Doctors’ Dining Room.

Program—Ken Porada introduced our speaker for the morning, Dr. Zac Sharif, Dean of Applied Studies at the University of Rio Grande.  Dr. Sharif has responsibility for the schools of Business, Education, and Technology.  He enthusiastically indicated his interest in growing adult studies, and a BS in Business Management at the Meigs Center.  This will allow students to complete a degree in a adult friendly setting using a hybrid format of 8 week classes in the evenings and through the Internet.  There is a new program to be announced in 2012 which provide new interest and excitement with the University.  Thank you, Ken, and Dr. Sharif for the interesting program today.

Program schedule for the balance of the year:

Nov 8   Ken Porada
Nov 15  Jim Morrison–United Way
Nov 22  No Meeting
Nov 29  Clyde Evans

Dec 6   Melissa Kimmel
Dec 13  Christmas Dinner
Dec 20  No meeting
Dec 27  No meeting

PDG Mel Simon provided an excellent program for the Gallipolis Rotary Club highlighting The Rotary Foundation.  November is also Foundation Month and Rotarians and guests discovered the many grants and programs available through Rotary.  PDG Mel emphasized the credibility of our Foundation and the A+ rating it has received from the American Institute of Philanthropy for its low administrative costs.  This is one of the main reasons the The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation chose TRF for its large gifts provided to Rotary’s Polio Plus Program. 

Operation We Care, the annual medical mission to the Philippines, receives support from Gallipolis Rotary and other clubs and individuals and Mel explained how these contributions are matched through grants from RI and District 6690.  Thanks, Mel, for the great program, and congratulations on your recent retirement from 39+ years of medical practice.

President Shirley Doss welcomed Rotarians and guests to the meeting today.  Our guest today was Tia Elliott, this year’s Senior Livestock Princess from the Gallia Junior Fair.  Tia, a freshman at Ohio Valley Christian School, was the guest of Jodie McCalla, who has worked hard in developing this worthwhile project for our club.

Fellowship—Gordon Amsbary ran club fellowship and recognized a couple of birthdays in our club for this week.  PDG Mel had a birthday last week and offered a  contribution for the ‘mystery’ singer, Margaret Evans, who serenaded with a personal rendition of Happy Birthday.  Dave Nadler, also has a birthday this week and opted for the Rotary quartet to sing to him.  Dave chose for his ‘volunteers’ Jodie McCalla, Sr. Princess Tia Elliott, Heather Crum, and Treasurer Shawn Siders.  Everyone had a great time with this.  Gordo informed us this is National Aviation Month, and also National Diabetes Month.

Happy Buck—ADG Matt Willis bought a happy buck in honor of his older daughter who is about to become a first time homeowner.

Split-The-Pot—Shana Booher ran our STP today, but reluctantly, your intrepid scribe failed to document the size of the pots!  Since Jodie didn’t buy a ticket today, she volunteered to draw the winner who was . . . PP Lou Ellen Werry!  Lou missed the big one, but enthusiastically assessed a unique Foundation Fine against anyone who ‘did NOT have a dead calf in their car this morning!’  It seems that her husband failed to mention that fact to her this morning.  Ruh-Row!

There being no further business before the club, President Shirley announced the monthly board meeting is to commence directly after today’s meeting.  The meeting was adjourned.

Here are the program assignments for the balance of the month:

Nov 8   Ken Porada
Nov 15  Jim Morrison–United Way
Nov 22  Melissa Kimmel
Nov 29  Clyde Evans

Have a great week!