Club Business
President Mary Thomas Gilbert brought the meeting to order. Dick O’Donnell led us in prayer and the pledge of allegiance to the US flag. Mary Thomas shared some interesting facts from today in history and a quote from Lucille Ball on the secret of staying young, which includes lying about our age.
Carolyn Rhodes announced that Freebird McKinney is officially a member now. Faiger Blackwell, one of our most recent additions, was on hand today, as was Kellee Hawley. It is great to have new people in the club. Dick O’Donnell introduced his guest, Stephen Lewis, who is interested in possibly joining us. He is very much a “hands on” service person who is looking for an opportunity to serve. Ben Wooten was with us after a long absence. He was our speaker today, too. Our NC Foundation banquet is Thursday night.
Next week Larry Lassiter will be our speaker. His topic will be the Rotary Foundation. This will be a good meeting for introducing prospects to Rotary’s worldwide impact.
Click here to see all scheduled program dates and responsibilities.
November Birthdays and Anniversaries
2 | Frank Longest | 5 | Trip and Caroline Durham |
6 | Katie Dukeshire | 8 | Frank and Lee Longest |
10 | Bonnie Whitaker | 11 | Jim and Gayle Cartner |
18 | Mikie and Christine Morrison |
Happy Dollar Announcements
- Susan Watson paid a dollar to announce that the Women’s Resource Center’s Lead the Way banquet is coming up this week. Our own Carolyn Rhode has been nominated for an award. Susan also shared with us that she just returned from New Mexico, where she met her birth father, who is now 88, and seven half-siblings. The family goes back 14 generations in that area. What a blessing!
- Dick O’Donnell told us that the banquet for Elon’s men’s and women’s basketball teams last week went very well. Food was donated by Burlington Beer Works, the Olive Garden, and Mediterranean Deli. He encouraged us to support Elon basketball by coming out for the games tonight.
- Carolyn Rhode paid a dollar to celebrate November being adoption month. She and her husband adopted Sabrina 12 years ago. She also gave a shout out to Chief Smythe for running in the ACC Foundation’s recent race. The cadets defeated the old guys.
Club Member Providing Today’s Program: Francois Masuka
Francois has been a member of our club since November 2010. He was sponsored by Jamie Killorin. He is the Director of International Student and Faculty Scholars Services at Elon University. He is married to Andrea. They have one child. He is a Paul Harris Fellow.
Program: Ben Wooten – NC Emergency Management, Area 8 Coordinator
Ben Wooten is an experienced Emergency Manager & Firefighter with a demonstrated history of working in the government relations industry. He is skilled in Crisis Management, Government, Emergency Management, Fire Management, and Emergency Planning. He is a strong healthcare services professional with a Master’s degree focused in Public Administration – Public Management from University of North Carolina at Pembroke. He is credentialed as a Certified Emergency Manager through the international Association of Emergency Managers and as an Executive Emergency Manager in the State of North Carolina.
Ben gave us an overview of all that NC Emergency Management does, which is a lot. This agency comes to rescue when emergencies exceed the ability of localities to handle them. There are regional, state, and federal levels, and Ben helps coordinate them all. They work to alleviate every imaginable scenario from hikers lost in the mountains to hurricane relief, from hazmat emegencies to radiological events. They are concerned with school safety and elections. Ben oversees 8 counties in the central branch in the general area of Charlotte.
Conclusion
We opened a new deck of cards this week. Dick O’Donnell’s table held the winning ticket, but, as might be expected, he did not pick the winning Ace of Spades. Only 51 cards remain. Mary Thomas led us in a recitation of Rotary’s four-way test before we adjourned. See you next time.