Rotations November 11, 2014

Chip Vogan, the meistersinger for November, led us in two Rotary songs and finished with "Eternal Father" in honor of veterans of all the services. President Sigur led us in the Pledge and Chuck Spence read from the Book of Common Prayer a prayer for our country. The School of the Week is Sherwood Forrest--although Robin Hood was not sighted. Ed Lilly updated us on our missing members: Jack Magee is making great progress and should be going home soon; Joe Massey experienced a dislocation in his neck and will require additional treatment. Kellie Dickerson was back and in good health.

Bill Burnette introduced our guests. Nancy Joslin, the Area Assistant Governor for District 7600, and Tom Herbert of the Oyster Point club joined us. Eleanor Schoonover introduced Charles Milhan, who was interested in finding an internship. President Sigur then pointed out that Walt Grandy was present, a long time member who has been unable to make meetings for some time. Past President Susan Donn is looking for a few good volunteers to serve as directors of our club. You must have been a member for three years before serving as a director. Elections must take place in December, so if you're willing and able to serve, now is the time to contact Susan. President Sigur awarded a pin to Sharon Laderberg as she has brought in two new members. Joanne Batson received her Blue Badge.

To kick off Fines and Happy Bucks, Chip Vogan led us in song for our November birthday folk:

Name                                               Day

There was much to celebrate on this Veteran's Day. John Searing noted that he has been running (seriously) for nine years and recently completed the Marine Corps Marathon in which he cut an hour off of his time. This factoid induced Shep Miller to contribute happy bucks just at the thought of running and because his friend, Past District Governor Bill Pollard, had joined us today. Shep was President of our club back in 2008-09 when Bill was the District Governor. Cynthia Carter West was happy that on Tuesday night on TV there was a Tattoo program. Dean Thomason confessed that he had neglected to wear his pin to the Board of Directors meeting (shocking, indeed!). Ed Lilly was happy to have returned from Paris where he visited with NATO friends and his granddaughter on an exchange program. Bob Powell was happy to see Walt Grandy again. Bob Latimer was relieved that he could contribute in support of the ODU Monarchs' victory. Edna Baehre-Kolovani was upbeat because Tidewater Community College was named the third most military-friendly college in the country. Bob Ash reminded everyone that when we sang "All Hail to Rotary" that it was composed in Joe Massey's house (at least the Navy version of it) and since Joe was not able to contribute happy bucks, well, Bob took care of it. There were more happy events to celebrate but it was time to move on to our program.

President Sigur took the opportunity to remind us of the good that has come of our efforts to serve the community. She brought us the new computer labs in two Title I schools, the support for the Boys and Girls Club, the dentures (Rotary smiles) for people who want to find work, etc. She also presented John Searing with his Paul Harris  plus One pin. PDG Bill Pollard then took the podium to speak about The Rotary Foundation (TRF). He gave a brief history of TRF noting that its first grant went in 1929 to the predecessor of the Easter Seals (which was to fight polio); and the story of how the Polio Plus campaign came into existence. He drew our attention to the contribution of $350M from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to help with the polio fight. Then he spoke about the contributions of Rotarians in District 7600; last year 2,900 Rotarians gave $679M to TRF from our district. We were 26th in per capita giving among the over 500 Rotary districts world wide. Our own club, the largest club in the district, is a consistent leader in TRF contributions. Last year we also achieved EREY (and President Sigur wants us to do it again!). PDG Bill also pointed out that those contributions come back to the district in the form of grants. Our club has applied for and received many grants over the years from district monies; President Sigur noted that we sponsored a Peace Fellow who is studying in England this year and it is contributions to TRF that fund those fellowships (over $60K per fellow for a Master of Arts in Peace Studies).

Many of us have heard these facts before but it is always good to reinforce our knowledge--especially when we're asking everyone to contribute again. As PDG Bill said, his life has been strongly impacted by being a Rotarian so he gives because of gratitude--not guilt. Your scribe was reminded that she would not be sitting here today were it not for a TRF scholarship to study in Italy back in the dim time.

Harry McCoy, one of our most senior members, was assigned the task of explaining our club endowment. Luckily, Harry can think on his feet because much of what he had planned to say was usurped by other speakers. So Harry gave us a philosophical approach to giving to our community needs. Harry opined that Rotary is composed of civic-minded individuals who care deeply about our community. He asserted that others are attracted to join us precisely because of our commitment to serving our community. The experiences in Rotary lead all of us to broaden our definition of community; we learn quickly that "the community of mankind cannot be circumscribed" and so we become civic-minded as far as the global community is concerned. That is why our club has funded medical programs in various locations in Latin America as well as projects addressing the needs of children, the elderly, and the restoration of the Chesapeake Bay. Harry enjoined us not to wait for our death to give to our endowment. He noted that Charles Woodard was one of fifteen people who got together and started our endowment by putting up $1K each. That endowment was boosted by a bequest from the Woodard estate and is now over $500K and well managed at the Hampton Roads Foundation.

President Sigur urged us all to get with the program, fill out our commitment forms, and get it done by the end of the calendar year! The raffle netted Joe Boone $16 but not the Big Pot. And the gong sounded.