RCGC Meeting Recap: Friday, July 10, 2015
It was an honor to ring the bell of the club for the first time. It was also awkward seeing Lee at a table instead of behind the lectern, but it was wonderful to see him eat his first Rotary lunch in a year. Mark Kalmar led the afternoon events as he and his membership committee held a successful pie judging contest activity. Mark conceived of a blind white-plate, blue-plate blueberry pie challenge between Dave Henderer’s mother and me. Don Klause, having consumed the entire piece of pie at his table, declared the winner even before the ballots were totaled. Nonetheless, as the humble winner, I just want to say thank you to Mrs. Henderer, not only for stepping up to the challenge, but especially for producing a wonderfully talented, service-minded son. Also, a huge thank you for making those tasty blueberry pies! At the end of the meeting, Mark sold two pies for $100/each for the RI Foundation. Most excellent!
We had a number of announcements, and from the top:
• Michele Kellinson is auditing the club directory, volunteering to assemble an area directory with other clubs. Check/edit your information on dacdb, or at the next meeting, make changes by hand. In either case, update your photo if you so desire.
• Peter Nyholm expressed his gratitude to Ben Danley for helping to advance our international partnership with other clubs to provide medical equipment to the people of rural Thailand. He also exressed gratitude to our club by joining him and others in this international endeavor. It’s a great project and Peter is to be commended for his leadership.
• Erin Haynes [Thursday Club] passed around signup for service to the Benton County Fair, selling tickets, with revenue generated providing high school scholarships. He will be back next week, so check your calendars for availability. Fair dates: July 29 – August 1
• Movie Night, our totally cool club event (Thursday, August 6), is now available for posting in store windows thanks to Julie Manning and the PR committee. Let’s get them posted all around town! Other work is progressing at a fast clip. Great sponsors have signed on and the committees will be signing up volunteers as early as next week. Find a spot and sign up….it’s our entire CLUB event for the week with no meeting the next day. Lee suggests we all post a ET movie sign in our front lawns!
• Mary Pat Parker earned her Blue Badge, having completed all of the Red Badge requirements. Good work, Mary Pat – and thanks for your service as club Director of Public Relations this year.
• Stan Baker announced the table winners from the Changing of the Guard event last week. One table guessed very close to the total money raised during the auction with each member of the table receiving gift cards. Also rewarded by Glenda Baker were the winners of the table service donations, with each receiving a chocolate treat. Congratulations….and thanks to all for raising an amazing $10,290 for the Rotary Foundation!!!
• Ron Thiesen announced the birthdays and Rotary tenure anniversaries, leading a rousing club rendition of “Happy Birthday” to July celebrants.
Joseph Bailey then introduced featured speaker Pat Wray of the American Red Cross, who observed that Corvallis does not have a local Red Cross agency, thus limiting response time for aid to our community in the event of a misfortune. He related that the Salem Red Cross was the respondent of record in 2014 when a wild fire burned through acres of grass in Timberhill, posing a threat to homes and business. Pat extended a service opportunity to individuals to become certified shelter assistance providers in the event of a future need to establish a safe haven for protecting people in Corvallis. If interested, contact Pat Wray: patwray@comcast.net
Not included at the meeting, but not forgotten, is the volunteer service provided by the following who served as race marshals for the July 2nd “Out to the Ballpark 5K: for the Corvallis Knights: Amy Jauron, Kim Nelson, Ben Danley, Lynn & Gerry Kosanovic, Carollee Woodstock, Andy Tucknott, and Doug Oxsen. Terrific heat that day—terrific thanks to all.
Finally, a shout out to my Rotary sponsor, Pete Sekermestrovich, for his friendship and attending my first meeting as club president (I think he really likes our club!)
Next week’s program: Jennifer Edwards, an OSU student and former Rotary Exchange Student, provides observations of Rotary’s influence on her life.
