It was the first official meeting in the reign of President Awesome Allison and we celebrated that with a return to our long time meeting home at the Park Place Hotel.
God Bless America was sung with President Elect Homer Nye giving the invocation.
To commemorate President Awesome’s first meeting, Ramona presented the Queen of Rotary with her very own “President Awesome” banner and tiara. Ramona followed that up with the song “Celebration” and was accompanied by an army of Rotettes. Sound difficulties added an extra dimension (read: challenge!) to the singing as basically it was “pick a note, any note and try to sing along”. Hey, we had good intentions!
President Awesome reminded us that we have pads of paper on the tables to you can take notes during the meeting or pass a discreet note to your neighbor without disrupting the meeting.
Sid Lammers made an announcement regarding Rotary Charities. We will be getting monthly updates from Charities at our regular meetings. A $25,000 grant has been awarded to the Young Peacemakers who are committed to social issues in both our community and on a global level. Sid also made the announcement that Becky Ewing will transition into the Executive Director position for Charities effective July 1. We appreciate all the years of commitment and service that Marsha Smith has dedicated to Rotary Charities and know Becky will provide for a smooth transition for Charities.
No one wanted to check and see if Kat Paye was actually awake, but President Awesome gave our National Cherry Festival Executive Director a shout out for an amazing and successful National Cherry Festival.
Congratulations goes out to Art Burkowski and his wife on the birth of their baby girl Nora!
And a big welcome back to Alexis Juett!! Alexis gave birth recently and has now stepped back into Rotary! We’re happy to see you back!
Susan Kraus has another Boat Rally slated for Monday, July 30. The captains from last year will take Rotarians out to Power Island, leaving around 5:30 for a little food and fellowship. If you are wanting to take the kayak challenge, see Al Bonney. He will lead the Kayak Brigade over to Power Island. See Susan or Kathy Bussell to sign up!
And President Awesome Presented Past President John Racine with his President’s plague.
Bob Stow has DVD’s available from this year’s Rotary Show. Please see him if you are interested in acquiring one!
President Awesome announced that she attended the International Conference in Toronto and admitted she has a blast and was actually “socially exhausted”. WHAT? We didn’t know that was possible!! That being said, she will have a Best Practices meeting after our regular club meeting on July 31 for those who want to share thoughts about how to implement cool things in our club!
Al Zelinski walked away with $70 in the 50/50.
