Club Business
President Jim Cartner seemed right at home behind the podium leading his first full meeting as our new president. Following in Brian’s footsteps, he commemorated several dates in history that were significant to him. Next he asked Dick O’Donnell to lead us in prayer and the pledge of allegiance to the flag. Jason Crutchfield introduced his wife Shae. Dale Greeson presented his business intern, Chris Causey. Next week Brian Dement has the program. Jim presented Past President Brian Dement with a nice plaque honoring his year of service. He asked all the past presidents in the club to come forward, too.
Happy Dollar Announcements
- Thomas Phelps lamented the recent shooting in his hometown, but rejoiced that his office at Elon has been moved to the new location in the Schar Center.
- Frank Longest proudly announced his new grandson, William Asher Longest.
- Trip Durham put in a plug for his scheduled speaker on August 14. Bruce Nelson, former head of Office Depot, will speak on leadership. This should be excellent. Invite some guests to this one.
- Brian Dement paid a dollar to announce his upcoming wedding anniversary. He also mentioned that he just got back from travelling abroad and checking off another big one on his bucket list. He also got in a sort of pre-celebration of his soon being able to join the very elite group of past presidents next week.
- Deva Reece welcomed Charlie Cobb back to the group. We missed you, Charlie!
- Dick O’Donnell thanked Carolyn for his new green name badge.
Club Member Responsible for Our Program: Jason Crutchfield
Jason has been a member of our club since February. He is the Director of Sales for PIP Triad and Signs. He has been married for 18 years to his lovely wife, Shea, and together they have three children, Jackson, Clayton, and Natalie. He is the brother-in-law to our speaker, Thad Stovall.
Thad Stovall – Rock Steady Boxing and the Fight against Parkinson’s
Thad was born and grew up in Burlington. He married Jennifer 25 years ago, with whom he has three daughters, two of which are alive still – Isley and Gracey. He told us that he has been “coaching all my life.” His soccer coaching career began 25 years ago at Eastern Alamance when they started their program. He spent several years coaching travelling soccer clubs in the area, at one time working with Pete Beck’s youngest son, Clark. Later he went to Western Alamance, where he led them to a conference championship. He also coached for six years at Burlington Christian Academy, assisting them to launch their program. Thad has worked for Quality Mechanical for twenty years.
In 2014 he began to develop Parkinson’s related health issues; although, he did not at first realize what it was. In 2015, Dr. Shah gave him the bad news that he had the disease, which “shook his world.” “It was very depressing, very discouraging, very defeating,” he said. “I thought it was for somebody who was older.” At the time he was 46. He was going through LSVT therapy, a specialized program for people with Parkinson’s, but he wanted something different, something more exciting and challenging.
About a year ago, his wife, Jennifer, told him about a Parkinson’s support group for residents at Twin Lakes, the retirement community where she is the sales and marketing coordinator. He went. Greg Geheb was the guest speaker and told the group about an exercise class he taught in Cary called Rock Steady Boxing for people with Parkinson’s disease. Rock Steady Boxing is an international, nonprofit program.
The class is for people of all ages and ability levels. It includes stretching, bicycling, running, rope jumping, push-ups, balancing and noncontact boxing. “The thought of punching the bag and taking out my frustration on Parkinson’s sounded really good to me,” Stovall said. He went to Geheb’s classes in Cary. He was hooked and began traveling to Cary four times each week to take the class.
“It’s an encouragement because you are around other folks who dealing with the same kind of thing,” he said. “But it can be depressing seeing people who are worse than you and thinking, ‘This is where I am heading.’ It just makes me work harder to slow the progression.” He said it brings steadiness to the hands.
Stovall decided to become certified to teach the class. And on Nov. 22, he started teaching his own Rock Steady classes at KaiJax Gym, 1001 Springwood Ave., Gibsonville. They meet M-W-F there and Tuesday and Thursday at Twin Lakes. Fourteen attend the classes at the gym.
(Some of this article was taken from a Times-News write up.)
Conclusion
Brian Dement failed to draw the Ace of Hearts; so, the raffle pot continues to grow. To conclude, we all stood to recite Rotary’s four way test before Jim adjourned the meeting.