Club Business
President Jim Cartner opened the meeting. Ed Woodall led us in prayer and the pledge of allegiance to the US flag. Jim shared some interesting historical trivia for this date. We had no guests or visiting Rotarians this week. Check below for past and upcoming birthdays and anniversaries. Dan Seiler has the program next week.
Click here to see all scheduled program dates and responsibilities.
May Birthdays and Anniversaries
4 | Philip Smith | 1 | Cathryn & Gary Hartwell |
27 | David Moore | 3 | Brad & Mel Moser
Micah & Kari Fox |
12 | Ben & Katy Wooten | ||
14 | Jeff & Nancy Bright | ||
16 | Brooke & Nancy Carpenter |
Club Announcements
- We are in the last week of our Rotary Reads classroom visitation, which has gone very well. Six elementary schools have been impacted by reading Rotarians. Ed, Jim, and Carolyn each spoke positively of their experience reading and of how appreciative students and teachers have been. Jim said 20% of our members participated.
- We are selling raffle tickets to raise funds to cover the $6600 worth of books freely given to local students in the name of Rotary. Our four area Rotary clubs are selling $100 chances for a dream vacation for two. As of the Tuesday meeting time, 45 tickets had been sold of the 100 we set as our cut off point. The deadline has been extended to May 15. The winner has the choice of receiving a trip or the $4500 cash. Here is your link for more information and to purchase your ticket – http://www.grahamrotaryclub.org/2019-fundraiser.html.
- Jim announced that we received a thank you card from the district acknowledging our $1500 gift toward the polio initiative. Also, Jim reminded us that whenever someone wins the card raffle, the club’s share is divided among the members, resulting in a two to three dollar donation in each of our names. That is what is behind some of the contribution receipts you receive from RI.
Happy Dollar Announcements
- Mary Thomas acknowledged Dick O’Donnell’s value at a recent training conference. Jeff Bright, one of our members, did an outstanding job with his presentation.
- Paul Mauney said club members are invited to witness the upcoming pinning ceremony for Interact Club members at Western High School on Thursday, May 16 at 6 pm.
- Phil Brown is grateful that his wife is in remission. He also paid a dollar to recount a procrastinator’s adventure at the DMV.
- Mac Williams said that his oldest daughter will graduate from Furman on Wednesday evening.
- Jim Cartner said he is thankful when anyone can reach his or her potential, referring to his grandson’s baseball prowess and promise.
- Randy Perkins announced his son’s graduation from UNC-G and his grandson’s soon graduation from Greensboro Day School. His grandson has been accepted at NC State.
Program: Joseph Williams – Feed the Hunger
Joseph is an Alamance County native and son of a distinguished missionary, J.L. Williams. He took the helm of J.L.’s New Directions ministry and over time converted it to the present format and emphasis. He said our community is a great place to come home. He has been married for twenty years to Susannah and has two high school aged children.
After all the announcements and Happy Dollars, Joseph had fourteen minutes, but managed to give us a nice recap of Rotary’s involvement with Feed the Hunger Packathons since 2010 and FTH’s ministry around the world. Our club has contributed $26,549 toward the effort, which includes matching grants from the district. This money funded 94,818 meals that have been distributed to earthquake victims in Haiti, ISIS victims in Iraq, needy children in Kentucky, local families in our area, hurricane victims in the US, Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, and hungry children around the world. Joseph informed us that 1.2 million Rohingya refugees have been confined to just over one square mile in Bangladesh. It’s the largest refugee camp in the world. These people are not permitted to leave or to work. They are dependent on outside help.
FTH regularly supports twelve to thirteen thousand children around the world with food. They also have distributed 30,000 Bibles, which are given to new Christians and those receiving food. There is a Packathon at Lamb’s Chapel in Haw River this Friday night and Saturday morning. He asked us to volunteer to help if we can. The food will be going to the Rohingya refugees, Muslims who are being persecuted by Buddhists, and now being helped by Christians. The Packathon’s goal is to ship one container of food immediately, which will provide 276 thousand servings.
Joseph mentioned the ongoing struggles in Haiti, where a container of food has been held up, but should soon be released to help out with feeding 4500 children in 24 schools and orphanages. He also told us about the devastation caused by the hurricane in Greenwood, FL, where 80% of the population was below the poverty line before the hurricane. The local school and grocery store were destroyed. Infrastructure is still missing. Ten pallets of food were just sent.
In conclusion Joseph said the Rotary should be proud of the impact it has had around the world through these joint efforts with FTH. He told us that his ministry is considering ways to measure outcomes as well as output. He encouraged us to do the same.
Conclusion
Joseph drew the winning ticket in our weekly raffle, but failed to select the Queen of Diamonds. Only 44 cards are left! Jim adjourned the meeting by leading us in a recitation of Rotary’s four-way test.