Perfect Attendance Recognized

At the 29 August 2007 meeting we honored 10 of our members for perfect attendance. These three, left to right, are Tom Baird, Leroy Underwood, and Lewis Graham who have 44, 32, and 44 years of perfect attendance respectively. Leroy is in his mid 90's and is as sharp and spry as he can be. He generally drives himself to the meetings. Others honored today and not pictured are Tommy Holderfiled, 18 years, Joe Taylor 12 years, Bob Long 7 years, Vickie Elrod 6 years, John Grider 4 years, Charles Hardcastle 2 years, and last Patty Alford 1 year. Congratulations to this group of good examples.

Pastor Rick Bard on Multi Site Ministry

Ben Smith invited his preacher at Broadway United Methodist Church to come talk to us about multi site ministries. Broadway is in the process of doing just that with the Greenwood Church. That facility has been renovated and will be called the Greenwood Campus of the Broadway United Methodist Church with complete cooperation between both sites.
This is an interesting and apparently up and coming concept. Rick Bard is lead pastor and says he preached four times last Sunday on a test run.

Margaret Curtis Teaches in Turkey

Margaret Curtis is the only person in our Rotary District to ever have received a Teaching Grant from the Rotary Foundation. She taught English this summer in a Turkish orphanage. Here is her summary of that trip:
Margaret Curtis has returned from her Rotary Volunteer Service Project
in Kocaeli-Golcuk, Turkey. Margaret taught English to 35 children aged
10-13 at Sarayli School. She took with her a big supply of gifts for the
children, thanks to the generosity of this club. The gifts were
distributed at the end of each class. Strong bonds were formed with
members of the Kocaeli-Golcuk Rotary Club, Turkey.

Margaret will be making much more extensive presentations about her trip both in person and in print but we thought you'd enjoy a capsule preview.

Coach Kevin Wallace Speaks

Coach Wallace is starting his 12th Season as head coach of the Bowling Green High School Football Team. His record is 118 wins vs 24 loses. He gave a summary of his team and the upcoming season but concluded by urging all of us to become an athletic supporter. He emphasized how welcome public support at all public schools would be for their athletic programs. (Us band parents could echo that for the band as well.)

I was taken by how genuine Kevin is and how concerned he is for the kids in his program. His success in coaching has got to be a reflection of how much his players, staff, and parents hold him in esteem.

Shoes for Kenyan Orphans

Joe Taylor received several photos and letters from orphans in Kenya who received new shoes from our club. Here you can see several of the kids smiling wearing their new shoes and socks. Below is one of the letters. It reads "My Friend It is only you who remembered me." Catherine Ayera 6 years old. (Check out her new shoes in the self portrait.)

Thank you from Catherine Ayera

District Governor Dave Weller Speaks

Dave Weller and his wife meet International President Wilfrid Wilkinson and his wife. Dave gave an excellent talk that started by asking "What would the world be like without Rotary?"
He gave specific illustrations of the contributions that Rotary makes in both educational and humanitarian realms. Dave thought that more people may know about Rotary through the work of the Foundation than through the work and members of local clubs. On a more somber note he said that membership in the USA & Canada has been in a steady decline as has the numbers in all service organizations. Our numbers have dropped from 435,000 in 2002 to a current membership of 412,000. Because of this Dave said we need a renewed emphasis in recruiting new members. Each club is challenged to have a net gain of one this year.

On a brighter note the Rotary campaign to eradicate polio is going well. This year to date there have been 285 new cases world wide as compared to about 1500 cases at this time last year.
Finally Dave said his Stretch Goal for his administration is to raise $300,000. He left a Mason Jar for us to put our loose change in as we sign in each week. We passed it around the room and collected $ 200. Dave suggested we take each $1000 collected and give a Paul Harris Fellow to some worthy individual perhaps a local hero.

Football Coach David Elson Speaks

Ben Smith introduced his friend WKU Football Coach David Elson with a fishing story. After that we were left wondering whom we could believe. Coach Elson did have a lot of good news about the team and especially our transition to IA football. Progress on the stadium is going well. David also told us that because of NCAA rules we are ineligible for post season play for the next two years. He did say that due to increased funding most players are on campus this summer in Summer School under full scholarships. It's always a pleasure having coach Elson with us. Next week we are scheduled to have Governor Ernie Fletcher visiting.