Club President for 2026-2027, Henry Criss addressed the club on July 14.
He shared his vision of leadership for the coming year. He spoke of strenthening fundamentals as well as simplicity creates momentum. Strong membership supports every other area of the club and he encouraged all to work together and be engaged. “We have a legacy of lasting impact” - which ties into this year's theme: Create Lasting Impact
District 7770 Governor for 2026-2027 is Herman Dixon
He will be doing his official Governor's visit to our club on August 18 - you won't want to miss that meeting.
Assistant Governor for Area 4 is Mario Incorvala
Recent Paul Harris Fellow Recognitions:
Foundation chair Greg Wynn congratulates Ray Warco
Kevin Courtney receives his third Paul Harris Fellow from Greg Wynn
Pictured are Greg Wynn, Gene Howard, Steve Stauffer, AG Mario Incorvala. Gene was honored with a Paul Harris Fellow at Founder's Night
2026 Scholarship Recipient Jaylen Hill visited the club meeting on 7/21
Bev James, scholarship chair, introduced Jaylen. He will be attending USC in Columbia and is planning to major in statistics.
ONLINE AUCTION - will go live October 22 through October 30.at 6PM
Last year's auction (first year) was a success. We want to be even better this year so we need every member to be involved!
SPEAKERS:
July 7
Speaker was Kim Likins who presented an interesting program about VIM. Volunteers in Medicine provides a much needed service in the lowcountry. There are over 100 clinics that are modeled after it. Many services have been added over the years and they even make glasses on site. Focus on wellness has also brought about the growing of food for their clients. Fruit and nut trees - 100 of them have been planted - they are hoping to eventually have 200.
VanLandingham Rotary presented Kim with a donation of $2,000 for the fantastic work that VIM does
On another note, Kim was presented with the Gene Martin Circle of Service Award which our club annually gives to a non Rotarian for their service to the community. This award is normally given at Founder's Night but Kim was not available to receive it so she was surprised with it at the meeting.
Past Presidents and Kim
July 21
Steve Riley presented a program “Protecting digital assets” -lessons learned from the death of a child.
Steve provides a great public service with information that he shares about his experience trying to access data after the tragic death of his adult child. In this digital age there are more steps you need to take to make sure that your loved ones will have access to your digital property. Based on Steve's experience, you cannot rely on the courts.
July 28
Roger Decelles with Hilton Head Big Band told us about this organization
It is made up of former professional musicians. Their mission is to promote music education in the lowcountry. They refurbish instruments and give them to parents who cannot afford them for their children. They also give private lessons for no charge. They support not just children, but veterans and first responders as well. They raise funds by playing at private functions and concerts.
MAY SERVICE PROJECT
High School Clean up on a Saturday morning.
VLR members BEFORE the clean up (empty bags)
AFTER the clean up - FULL bags!!!!
SONNY HUNTLEY ATTENDS CONVENTION
Sonny Huntley attended the Rotary International Convention in Taipei in June.
Sonny and Dean at Peace Park. They had quite a trip and hopefully we will hear about it in a future meeting program
International Conventions are wonderful experiences - Next year Barcelona!
FOUNDERS NIGHT
Some moments from the night. All the pictures will be loaded to the website soon.
Joe Rowey Club President 2025-2026
Rotarian of the Year - Eric Schmidt
Outstanding Service Award - Chris Epps
Outstanding Service Award - Kevin Courtney
Outstanding Service Award - Nancy Riedel
360/40 Celebration of the Town of Hilton Head
The 40th anniversary of the town's incorporation and the 360 anniversary of the island's sighting
The famous Vanlandingham Popcorn wagon was on hand to provide attendees with freshly popped popcorn
We would like to send our weekly bulletin to friends and visiting Rotarians, and to that end we are inviting those interested in receiving
club news to provide an email address. Forms are available at the check-in desk at every meeting. You can also sign up at the bottom of the home page or click the Subscribe button at the top of each bulletin.
