President Amy Chipman called the meeting to order a little early and invited Gracie Johnson to give the invocation. Grace told us a heart-warming story about losing her food money (cash) in the supermarket and how her faith in humanity was recharged when she learned that a child had found the money on the ground and gave it to the help desk for safe keeping, until it could be claimed by the owner. Gracie later "paid it forward" by giving the young child and her family some circus tickets.
Joe Gray led us in the Pledge of Allegiance, and then PP Bill Blount led us in “God Bless America.
Birthdays in January are being celebrated by the following Rotarians:
Abdulahi Ali, Tony Manhart, Steve Stromsky, Joe Reagan, Matt Tassey, PP Don Lowry, Judy Cavallero, David Smith, and Prez Amy Chipman.
Rotary Anniversaries were celebrated by the following in order of years with the club:
Mike Anderson (1), Michelle DiSotto (1), David Ertz (2), Jessie Harvey (2), Meagan Peabody (2), Ben Millick (3), Julie Chase (3), Steve Mortimer (3), Ogy Nikolic (3), Terri St. Angelo (3), Liz Fagen (16), Bowen Depke (17), Bruce Moore (19), Rich Campbell (20), Ellen Niewoehner (22), John Marr (25), Mark Millar (33), Tom Sukley (34), Alan Nye (36), and Mark Stimson (53).
Mike Anderson was busy filling out tickets this week with the raffle valued at over $1,200. The speaker pulled Jerry Angier’s name out of the can. Jerry picked a red 6 from the deck, letting the queen of hearts rest another week.
Rusty Atwood read the club a thank you letter sent from the recent Cheverus High Youth Scholarship recipient Nick Galeucia. Nick wrote about how he plans to use the scholarship towards his college education, and how he is thankful the club donated money to the Ronald McDonald house. He was touched by the meeting presentations, noted that it’s nice to see a loving community group, and let us know that he hopes to embody those ideals in the future.
PP and Club Foundation Chair Bill Blount presented several of our members with their first or multiple Paul Harris Awards:
[Photo L-R: Christine Force (1); PP Tom Talbott (PHF +2);
Ron Bennett (PHF +5), along with PP Bill Blount.]