Club Business
President Mary Thomas Gilbert brought the meeting to order. Jim Cartner led us in prayer and the pledge of allegiance to the US flag. Jim introduced Gail, his wife of 42 years. Guest Rotarians on hand today were Joshua Huffman, Assistant District Governor and Tommy Rosser, District Governor Elect. Next week will be our first meeting at Burlington Beer Works. No program is scheduled, which will allow us some time to get acquainted with the new facility.
Click here to see all scheduled program dates and responsibilities.
October Birthdays and Anniversaries
7 | Brooke Carpenter | 12 | Randy and Reida Perkins |
13 | Mary Thomas Gilbert | 12 | Stuart and Betsy Sioussat |
19 | Sid Little | 21 | Mark and Carolyn Rhode |
20 | Micah Fox | 24 | Chuck and Debbie Porch |
Sang Ho Lee Day
Grand Master Sang Ho Lee was honored on Saturday, September 21 at Williams High School Auditorium by Martial Arts World Magazine as the Grand Master of the Year. Many VIPs in the martial arts world were on hand for the event. Mayor Baltutis and Congressman Mark Walker also attended. Grand Master Lee, his son, and several of his students did demonstrations. Grand Master Y.K. Kim gave the keynote address.
Rotary Golf Tournament Champions
Betty Andrews, Pete Beck, Jim Cartner, and Micah Fox managed to win the golf tournament in Asheboro last Thursday. Congrats!
Happy Dollar Announcements
- David Moore paid a dollar to praise Micah Fox for his outstanding presentation last week. Secondly he touted Appalachian State for their win last Saturday over a well known and unnamed foe. (Check Micah’s comments for a hint.)
- Jim Cartner donated $100 to the Rotary Foundation to celebrate his wife’s being ten years cancer free!
- Francois announced his son’s reaching his sixth month on planet earth. He paid another dollar to say how impressed and touched he was at Sang Ho Lee Day.
- Micah said UNC is already looking forward to basketball. He let us know that he ran alongside his dad in a 10K race on Saturday. They tied, having kept an 8 minute/mile pace.
- Randy recognized the golf team of Betty, Micah, Jim, and Pete for winning the recent Rotary tournament.
- Dick let us know that his son and two grandkids will be visiting NC. They will be coming down from Walla Walla, WA to attend the Seattle-Panthers game.
Program: District Governor Randy Perkins
Assistant District Governor Joshua Huffman introduced Randy, mentioning that he earned a BS in biology at UNCG, which led to a short teaching career. Later he got into human resources, finally launching his own company, Prime Personnel Resources. When Randy took the podium to a standing ovation he recognized his successor, Tommy Rosser, the District Governor Elect.
Randy said that he has been privileged to be a part of Rotary and takes pride in being a member of our club. He told us that he missed the fellowship, having been visiting other clubs since July. He is almost finished. Only five more remain. He told us that he is standing on the shoulders of other great DGs from our club – Julian Griffin, Charlie Cobb, and Phil Brown. He said it has been a three-year journey of learning how to govern, which has been a fantastic experience. One of the highlights was sitting down with RI’s President Mark Maloney.
Maloney wants us to focus this year on flexibility in meetings and membership in order to grow our clubs, with a special emphasis on attracting younger members and women. He also reminded us that if we wish to attend the big conference in Hawaii, now is the time to sign up. He and Reida are going a week early to do a cruise of the islands, and would love for others to join them.
Regarding our club, he listed what we have done well.
- Having the courage to change locations in order to grow.
- Conducting successful quarterly Rotary Information Hours which have garnered new members.
- Participating in Rotary Reads.
Our goals for the future include:
- 100% participation in supporting the Rotary Fund.
- Adopting a signature fund raiser.
- Involving more of our members at the committee level.
- Making a habit of inviting prospective members.
- Honoring our past while pressing forward.
Randy asked Mary Thomas to give him a name of the most distinguished visionary leader in our club. She listed the entire board, but since Randy only had one pin, she was forced to narrow it down. She selected Micah Fox, who was recognized for his leadership, initiative, and hard work.
Randy let us know that the main thing he has learned by attending countless meetings and conferences is that the club president is the most important Rotarian. He recognized our president, Mary Thomas Gilbert, who is doing an outstanding job. He then asked all our past presidents to stand.
Perkins told us how he got involved in Rotary through John Brooks who invited him to speak to the breakfast club about his new business, Prime Personnel, only two days after start up. Although he did not solicit business, his Rotary contacts helped him place fifty jobs his first week, spring boarding him forward. He recounted learning more about the Rotary Foundation and Gold Club status, which has been used by our district for twenty years. Randy was challenged to freshen up the concept. His team replaced the single level Gold Club status with four levels – bronze, silver, gold, and platinum. This year’s convention will display brand new club banners that will hold the new medallions.
He said that the magic of Rotary is the fellowship that becomes friendship. This is something that many people are looking for and should be used to gain new members. He told us that the passion of Rotary is service and its power is membership. Rotary has over 1.2 million members worldwide. The secret of Rotary is giving. Our club has 38 Paul Harris Fellows and has given $239,194 overall to the Rotary Foundation. He asked everyone present to sign the End Polio Banner and told us that $1.00 per member will be donated to the Polio fund. Randy ended by quoting Rotary International’s vision statement.
Together, we see a world where people unite and take action to create lasting change — across the globe, in our communities, and in ourselves
Conclusion
We took a group photo and gave a nice tip to Doris for her fine service.
We also gave thank you cards to other staff of 40 West Bar and Grille. Mary Thomas more or less adjourned the meeting as everything kind of broke up spontaneously. We will do Rotary’s four-way test next time. If you feel you need a refresher, just click on the link on the left to read it aloud to yourself.