President Ben Sheldon began the meeting at 8:00, Nasser Shaheen offered a blessing followed by the pledge of allegiance.
Committee Reports:
On September 20 and 21, VanLandingham Rotary distributed dictionaries to all fifth graders at International Baccalaureate and Creative Arts Academy. In the photo below, Youth & Education Chair Ivan Bennett offers words of wisdom to students. See all of Barry Davis's photos of these events at the Photo Album link on our home page. You can also CLICK HERE.
Social committee chair John Farrenkopf announced the next club get-together will happen on October 19 at Giuseppi's. More details to follow.
Mark your calendar for December 7 for the VanLandingham Rotary Christmas party. Time and place TBA.
John Cunningham updated the club on cricket happenings: he was pleased to report that after 6 straight losses to Canada, the United States took the 2017 match 178 to 155 in Ottawa.
Sergeant-at-arms Chuck Wiseman introduced Visiting Rotarian Richard Rorschach (Kilgore, Tx) and prospective member Jon Eggert who was guest of John Carroll. After telling a joke with a religious theme, Chuck collected Happy Dollar$.
Nancy Riedel introduced today's speaker, District 7770 Governor Gary Bradham. Gary is a graduate of the Citadel and boasts a long tenure with the U.S. Air Force where he retired as a full colonel. Gary was accompanied by his wife Susan and they live in the Myrtle Beach area. Before beginning his presentation Gary recognized our own Dave Pierce for 48 years of perfect attendance.
Gary's talk was inspirational and emphasized Rotary's commitment to eradicate polio and accomplish other great things in the thousands of communities Rotary serves. He stressed the need to bolster our ranks with new members; not just those who enjoy the fellowship at a weekly meeting but those who will take an active role in his or her club to make a difference in their community. Rotary has been assured of $1.2 billion, largely from the Bill & Malinda Gates Foundation, to complete the polio effort.
Gary has been active in the Rotary Foundation and he recognized VanLandingham Rotary as the 3rd most generous club in District 7770. With our club's help the district as met its goal of raising $1 million to benefit, among other things, scholarships and grants. He noted that the district recently finalized selections for three $50,000 scholarships.
Following Gary's remarks Bingo was awarded and the meeting adjourned at 9:02.