President Lynn King called the meeting to order.
Kevin Courtney offered the prayer and led the pledge to the flag.
Announcements:
Lynn reported that she recently attended an area president's meeting and learned that some of the other clubs are not doing as well with hybrid meetings. Our club has been very successful with its meetings.
Membership chair Jon Eggert - last week Beth Kuzmick was inducted as a new member. This week is Lauren Hollis' second posting. He will be conducting her orientation.
ROCS - Rotarians Offering Community Service - is scheduled for 9 to 11 on March. Everything will be outdoors, socially distanced. Will send out link to sign up to participate.
USCB is really working to get us back there. For time being we will be staying at Palmera Inn and Suites.
Scholarship Committee - Bev James will chair the committee. Plans are to push the application end date to May 31. Note that the scholarship applicant must be from a Hilton Head School (Hilton Head Christian Academy is not in Hilton Head any more).
The Heritage golf tournament will be held with allowing only 25,000 spectators. The Serg group will be involved and we won't be able to have our concession stand. We are hoping that will will be able to have our pop corn wagon. This has a big impact on our fund raising so if you have any ideas please let Lynn know.
Founders Night - if we do have it, it will not be handled as in the past - members will not be billed for it if not in attendance.
Suzi Oliver, Sergeant at Arms collected Happy $$.
Suzi introduced our speaker, Michael Murphy of Preservation Tree Art.
Mr. Murphy is a Board Certified Master Arborist. He was a Rotary member in Beaufort from 1994 to 2013. He creates art forms using wood native to the Lowcountry. His hobby is extremely dust intensive and has to wear a mask and shield plus has a dust vacume at each work station.
He showed us the steps to take a piece of raw wood and make a bowl. The most asked question that he gets is - how long does it take to make a bowl? In spite of making many many bowls, there is no definitive answer. The lathe is the center of creativity and sharp tools are essential. He uses templates which he makes but the templates are refined as he goes along. Using a piece of firewood with the bark on, he showed the steps to create a live edge bowl (one with bark on the edge). He uses wood found in the lowcountry, some which has been a victim of hurricanes or storms. Exotic wood in the lowcountry consists of wood from rare trees. His art can be seen at various locations including a shop next to the Juice Hive and he is a member of the Art League of Hilton Head.
To learn more about this art form, visit PreservationTreeArt.com