Rotations August 5, 2014

It was a little gray and rainy outside on Tuesday - - but it was nice and bright and friendly inside Scope when President Sigur rang the bell - - right on time!

Eleanor Schoonover led us in music and started us off with #48, “My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean”, followed by #74, “Vive Le Rotary”, and concluded with the second verse of #5, “America, The Beautiful”. Considering the talent in the room, we sounded pretty good! The invocation was thoughtfully delivered by Chuck Spence.

The School of the week: James Monroe Elementary School.

The Visitation Report was delivered by Bill Gough. Morgan Trimyer was present at the meeting with his same old easy going smile. Great to see him! No change in the report on Ken Weeks but he appears to be doing well. Our best wishes to both!! Bill asked to be alerted regarding any Rotarian who needs to be covered in future reports.

Will King handled the Introduction of Guests. There were no visiting Rotarians but Susan Donn had Susan Albert as her guest. Lisa Chandler had Whitney Chandler as her guest along with Chris Robertson. Alan Nelson had Kristi Hunter as his guest.

Congratulations and Fines: Chuck Spence passed along $10.00 to mark the welcoming of his 10^th grandchild. Griffin James Muench weighed in at 8 Lbs, 7oz. and 20.5” long. Mom and baby are doing well. Grandparents are very proud!! John Lynn paid up for marking his 47^th wedding anniversary. Roma deserves a medal!! Bob Heely’s granddaughter, Mackenzie Peterson, 9 years old, won one gold and two silver medals at the VBSL Championships - - breaking three Mallory Country Club records. Sharon Laderberg paid for a picture that appeared in Inside Business of Bob Veith, Chair of the Mid-Atlantic Power Boating Association, presenting Susan G. Komen a check for their “Powerboating for a Cure – Poker Run.” Marty Raiss paid to celebrate the selling of a house she inherited. And Ben Mason paid to honor Steve Jolly who has done an outstanding job of running our Tiel Student Exchange Program.     

Announcements:

1)  Lauren Delp received her Blue Badge. Congratulations Lauren!!

2)  Board Meeting, Monday, August 11th at 4:30. Kaufman & Canoles 

3)  All July make-up reports due by next Tuesday (August 12^th). Send to Jane Dembert.

August Birthdays: Happy August Birthdays to: David Brandt (8^th), Lauren Delp (10^th), Chip Finch (25^th), Roger Flagg (7^th), Adam Foleck (8^th), Angus Hines (7^th), Jim Kitz (16^th), Tim Lawrence (20^th), Ben Miles (30^th), Mark Morelewski (20^th), Jim O’Brien (26^th), Robin Ray (12^th), JD Scott (29^th), Wayne Shank (23^rd), Chuck Spence (18^th), Sigur Whitaker (14^th).

The Program: Vice President in Charge of Programs: Bryce Burton

The Rotarian of the Day was Steve Jolly who coordinates our Tiel Student Exchange Program. Steve introduced the four students from our Club who made the trip this year. They were Ben “Brother” Mason, Ben Mason’s son, who attends Norfolk Academy; Davis Evans, Ben’s nephew, who attends St. Christopher’s in Richmond; Mark Albert, who attends Kempsville High School and was convinced by Susan Donn to forgo a trip to Africa, where he had planned some volunteer work, to make the trip to Tiel (“where you won’t have to work”); and Harley Robertson, a family friend of both Chip Vogan and Marty Raiss. Steve noted that the exchange program between Norfolk and Tiel had been going on for a number of years and was an excellent opportunity for students to experience a new culture and make some new friends. Asked about their various impressions of the host country and what they would describe as “culture shock”, Davis said that Amsterdam was “crazy, especially the Red Light District.” Brother was impressed with the reaction of the Dutch to their team’s performance in the World Cup and just described the whole trip as “amazing.” He also mentioned that they were all surprised that you “couldn’t get free refills” on drinks at the fast food chains. Harley was impressed with how, “everything was smaller” and really liked the canal tours. And Mark was surprised that, “almost everyone smoked.” Apparently the anti-smoking campaign that we know here hasn’t caught on with the Dutch just yet.

All of the kids indicated that they were treated like royalty and really liked all of the host families. Their days were filled with trips to Amsterdam for sightseeing and shopping, an overnight trip to go sailing in the northern part of the country, trips to the zoo and a number of museums and lots of experiences with new types of food - - and another mention that there are “no free refills” on drinks at restaurants. All of the kids talked about how friendly everyone was and how they were made to feel very welcome. They also commented on how well everyone there spoke English and had lots of questions about life here in the United States. Steve closed with how much he has enjoyed his association with the Tiel Program and how important it is to all of the students who participate. It is one program that our Club should both cherish and maintain. And our thanks to Steve for all the hard work that he provides to insure the program’s continued success.

Raffle: There was $13 in the Small Pot and $600+ in the Big Pot. Ted Baker pocketed the small stuff but the Big Pot remains intact!