Last week’s program, Supervisor Nate Beason,
was excellent! Nate gave us an update on the financial soundness
of our county, the upcoming plans and priorities. He also cleared
up the widespread rumor about wearing panty hose
by explaining that he does in fact wear
panty hose while fishing. Jim Phillips asked
if he wore "fishnet" hose; Nate did not comment. We
suspect he wears basic brown to match his waders.
This week’s program is Ray Diggins,
an Organic Farmer in our County and the force behind the Thursday
Night Market. If you have not been to a meeting recently, you
are missing some great programs and, of course, all the fine
fellowship with your fellow Rotarians – so don’t
miss Ray this week!
Our attendance for the last two months has
been July 67% and August 65%,
which means that we are missing many of you on a weekly basis.
Remember why you joined Rotary and specifically our club –
for service, yes, but how about the fellowship and fun?! I remember
my first meeting as a guest – pP John Hensely
was fooling around with Jack Dinwiddie’s
hair while they waited in the food line. I thought to myself:
these guys are having a good time. And we still are! So if you
haven’t come to a meeting lately, we’d like to see
your smiling face in Tom’s dining room.
Our Foundation Dinner is November
8th at the Miners Foundry. The
Rotary Foundation has been created to receive contributions
from Rotarians, invest them and then give these contributions
back to clubs in the form of grants to help fund local and international
projects. Our own pP Don Fultz has just completed
a grant request for $250,000 to provide clean
water and to establish goat herds to provide income for the
Batwa Pgymies in Uganda. Without Rotarian Foundation
contributions, projects like this one would not be possible.
Rotary has created a program called TRF-Direct
which enables Rotarians to make automatic contributions to the
Foundation from a checking, savings or credit card. Contributions
can be monthly, quarterly or annually. It is as easy as filling
out the TRF-Direct form and mailing it. If you contribute $100
every year, you are a Sustaining Member; if
you contribute $1,000 every year you become a member of the
Paul Harris Society; and if you contribute
$1,000 over a period of time, you are a Paul Harris
Fellow. All the Rotary clubs in our area attend the
Foundation Dinner. It is a wonderful event where contributors
to the Foundation are recognized. Please consider giving to
the Foundation this year and if you did not pick up a TRF-Direct
form at our last meeting, they are available at www.rotary.org.
And, of course, you can write a check to the Foundation and
give it to our treasurer Ellen Davis or to
Shirl Mendonca.
