President Ben Shelton, called the meeting to order.
Brian Goode offered the prayer and led the pledge.
Announcements:
Membership - Kristin Keller reported a meeting was held last week. Discussion of welcoming visitors and introducing more people to our club was held
Social - the committee plans something for every month. John Farrenkopf reported that the social last week at Lagerhead Tavern was very successful with about 40 people in attendance. Some of our members came away with a new found juggling skill, others not so much. The next social will be September 14 which will be a wine and beer tasting. It will be at Rollers (on Palmetto Bay Road) from 5:30 to 7:30. Cost $5 per person with more information to come.
Youth - Ivan reported that the dictionaries have arrived and the labels will be put in them on September 10. They will be delivered some time after that. A sign up sheet for Rotary Readers was circulated.
Auction & Drawing - the two phases of our big fund raiser will be separate. The tickets for the drawing, which will be a cash prize, are being printed and the drawing will be on October 19th. More to come on that and the auction as well.
Program Committee will meet at 5:30 at Reilleys South
Board Meeting is tonight at 5:15 at the Hickory Tavern
District Foundation/Membership/Public Image Seminar will be held on Friday September 8 in Mt. Pleasant SC. Committee Chairs are encouraged to attend. Sign up is available online at the District Database. This year sessions will be simultaneous breakout sessions so a minimum of five people should attend to cover all the sessions that are offered. Also TWO people must attend the Foundation Grants Management session for the club to qualify to receive a district grant.
Past President Brian Neumann presented Kristin Keller with a Paul Harris recognition
Sgt. at Arms, Chuck Wiseman welcomed visiting Rotarians, told a short bad joke, and collected Happy $
Visiting Rotarian: Richard Rorschach from Kilgore TX.
Speaker:
Alicia Taylor introduced Chris Kehrer, our speaker. He is a naturalist, education coordinator, works with programs and school field trips at Port Royal Sound Foundation Maritime Center. His topic was storm water and how it affects our waters and animals.
Photo courtesy of Barry Davis
We live in a unique area which is about 55% water with no up stream pollution, because we don't have major rivers feeding our waters. Consequentially, our waters are considered to be among the most pristeen. Storm water brings with it herbicides, pesticides, fecal matter, sewage, bacteria, insects. Oysters filter 50 gallons of water a day. Whatever goes into the water goes into our food.
Storm water, in addition to the pollution, can put too much fresh water into our saline waters. This will cause the oysters to die off, harm the crabs, and cause thermal stress. The May River is high salinity and a major rain event can compromise the system. Oysters do not move so are susceptible to harm. What can we do to to prevent fertilizer/chemical/bacterial runoff? 1. Minimize the use of chemicals, 2 read labels 3 follow instructions, 4 don't fertilize before a rain, 5 maintain septic systems, 6 pick up after pets
Other threats to oysters are boat wakes and poor harvesting practices. Threats to blue crabs are fresh water, habitat loss and over harvesting. Some other things that we can do are: have a rain barrel, rain garden, buy local seafood.
Upcoming this weekend is the STEAM (Science Technology Engineering Art Math) festival. It is on August 26 from 10 am to 3pm at the Maritime Center in Okatie SC It is sponsored by Lockheed Martin. It will provide a free hands on innovative and super cool activities for the kids and their families to enjoy. For more info go to: prsfoundation.info/steam-festival/