OCTOBER 6, 2015 ROTARY IN REVIEW:
DG Marlene Gargulak
Tuesday, October 6th - flash back Tuesday - had attendance being checked off manually, which was really a test for Annette Kuyper and David Laird to see how many last names they could recall on the spot.
President Carla brought the meeting to order with Joe Kovarik and Dennis Boom leading us in patriotic tradition. Joe then was joined by Jerry Faletti to provide Denny with a proper send off to Hawaii featuring Tiny Bubbles and several female Rotarians giving Denny a lei.
Chad Roberts quoted Martin Luther King sharing a broad view of peace.
Bo Aylin welcomed guests and visiting Rotarians.
Carla reminded us of the six words to describe Rotary “Join leaders, exchange ideas, take action” and also added that Rotary is certainly about friendships.
Blake Davis highlighted Dictionary Days have arrived and encouraged everyone to sign up and participate. Ed Coleman talked about Rotation Day next week – SIGN UP.
In addition to hearing the CEO of the Super Bowl Committee on October 20, Henning shared that we will also have bouncers as greeters. In an effort to try and help Rotarians from getting too deep into debt, when we launched the automatic payments we agreed that anyone with 3 months fees past due would be asked to pay for meals directly. While Henning added humor to the situation, the reality is that the Club has had more than $50,000 outstanding in payments. This “free lunch program” is the greatest service project we have, totaling more than any other project. While it is not intentional, it is a serious issue for the Club; over 40 members are more than 90 days past due.
Darrell Butterwick introduced our newest Club 10 Rotarian, Cindy Shiely. Along with her stellar history of leadership in Saint Paul, Cindy is likely the only new member to have a President gavel and who has already participated in our Rose Sale. Cindy is following family tradition and will certainly be an outstanding Club 10 member.
We wished our October born Rotarians and Happy Birthday.
Sherry Howe shared her happy news that she is enjoying non-retirements and is working as a concierge at the hotel. Chuck Whitaker reminded us that all Rotarians who bring in a new member earn a case of Summit for both themselves and the new member.
Doug Hartford introduced our District Governor, Marlene Gargulak, from Rice Lake, Wisconsin. Marlene shared our RI President’s theme of “Be a gift to the World”. She challenged us with three questions:
How do we identify our best gifts?
How can belonging to Rotary bring out our best gifts?
How can we make the world different?
It was both a jovial and meaningful meeting with our District Governor uniting our Club with 1.2 million other Rotarians in the world.
Respectfully submitted,
Shelly Rucks