Micah called the meeting to order and Gary Brant led our prayer and pledge.
Announcements
- Welcome previous members Philip Stewart and Katie Dukeshire
- Ben Wooten introduced Mary Beth Nelson who is new to the area and working with Cone Health Emergency Management
- Pierre joined us for one last meeting. He thanked our club again for the exchange program opportunity. Mark Pine (host family) was also in attendance.
- Randy Perkins enjoyed his time at the Rotary International Conference in Atlanta. He reported more than 40,000 Rotarians attended from 152 different countries. Presenters included John Cena and Bill Gates.
- Host families in the Western Alamance school district are still needed for the 2017-2018 year. Let Ed Woodall know if you are interested.
- Blood drive is today!
- Packathon is this week. Thursday is full but time is available on Friday and Saturday.
- Dennis Franks and Mark Laferriere have resigned from the club.
- Today is the 2nd reading for Philip Brown and Dianne Person. Thomas Phelps will be transferring his membership to our club.
- The Alamance County Breakfast Club will be dissolving. June will be the last month for the club.
Thank You, Katie Dukeshire!
Micah thanked Katie for her service to our club as previous President. During her leadership, we reached Gold Club status with net 3 in membership and she organized the first Rotary Birthday Luncheon which brought together all four Rotary clubs in Alamance County. Thank you Katie!
Happy $
- Ben Wooten reported Carolina’s Brotherhood raised over $31,000 from their bike ride event. Together, they biked 631 miles across North and South Carolina.
Member Spotlight – Francois Masuka
- Francois is married and was born and raised in the Republic of Congo. He has been in the US for 26 years.
- Francois is the Director of International Students and Faculty at Elon University. He previously served as a Peace Corps teacher.
- If he could have dinner with anyone…Francois would chose Bill Gates. He’s interested in how he has accomplished so much but remained so humble.
Member Spotlight Next Week – Charley Cobb
Brian Baker – Alamance County Parks
Lee Isley introduced our speaker, Brian Baker – Director of Alamance County Parks. Brian is a graduate of Wake Forest University where he received an undergraduate degree in History and graduated from law school. Brian is married and has two sons – age 8 and 11.
Brian shared the Alamance Parks Department has been rated the number one parks department in NC.
There are three main focus areas for Alamance Parks:
- Alamance Athletics – They serve over 2000 athletes with 800+ games played each year.
- Alamance Outdoors – Alamance County has over 1200 acres of parks, natural areas, and trails. Cedarock is one of the largest with 500 acres and 140,000 visitors each year.
- Alamance Community – Alamance Parks hosts the Special Olympics events each year. The events host 400 athletes with the help of 1000 volunteers.
Future challenges for the department include:
- Community Wellness – The NC obesity rate is 30%.
- Conservation – Dealing with the loss of open land.
- Equal Access – bridging the gap created in our community from income disparity.
The meeting was adjourned and we all stood to recite the Rotary Four Way Test. Until next week…