Club Business
President Dick O’Donnell presided. Jason Crutchfield led the prayer and pledge of allegiance to our flag.
On this day in history, November 24:
- 1971 Hijacking of Northwest Orient Airline 305. Considered to be one of the only unsolved hijacking cases in American history, a man named DB Cooper or Dan Cooper hijacked the Seattle, Washington bound plane. After his demands of $ 200,000 in cash and parachutes were fulfilled at the Seattle airport, he released the passengers, refueled the airplane and asked to be flown to Mexico. On the way, however, he used a parachute to escape from the plane. Cooper has never been identified or caught.
- 1963 Lee Harvey Oswald shot. Oswald had assassinated John F. Kennedy, the 35th American president, two days prior to being shot by Jack Ruby while being transported by the police. The murder was broadcasted live on TV.
- 1960 — Wilt Chamberlain grabbed an NBA-record 55 rebounds in a game for the Philadelphia Warriors. In a fitting piece of irony, they lost the game to Bill Russell & the Celtics 132-129.
Dick shared two “jokes”
“I don’t understand cloning.” “That makes two of us.”
Dick’s family has asked him to stop making jokes on Thanksgiving, but he is unable to stop “cold turkey.”
Announcements
- Dick noted that we have a new member, Tim Hinton of Thrivent Financial.
- He also shared that we have new member Rotary information packets.
- Alamance County has 726 active COVID cases and has recently been rated as “red” or high community spread by the NCDHHS. https://apps.alamance-nc.com/COVID
- He noted that Pete Beck and wife Martha are recovering now from COVID. They are in our prayers.
- Brooke Carpenter shared that next week our speaker will be Rob Lusano, a Rotarian from Greensboro who will share information about upcoming healthcare changes.
Program: Terry L Morris, M.S., D.V.M., Ph.D., Executive Director of Vets to Vets United, Inc.
Vets To Vets United, Inc. (Veterinarians to Veterans United) is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization created to unite veterans and dogs for a common goal: improving and saving lives. By pairing veterans with dogs, it seeks to:
- Significantly improve a veteran’s life by providing companionship and/or help with a mental or physical disability.
- Save the life of a dog facing euthanasia by adopting the animal from a local animal shelter.
The benefits of companionship, therapeutic, and service dogs for veterans suffering from depression, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), and other disabling conditions is well known.
This type of human/animal bond:
- Creates a life-long, loving relationship between a man / woman and a dog.
- Provides therapeutic interventions that can improve the veterans mental and physical health.
- Promotes a healthier more productive community by increasing independence for men and women veterans with disabling medical and physical conditions.
COVID is only exacerbating the isolation of those who have served and who may suffer from PTSD. Dr. Morris shared two videos about the services provided by the nonprofit.
She noted they have partnered with the Alamance County Shelter and have already adopted a dog into their program. They are looking for veterinarians to “adopt” a vet / dog team to provide free vet care.
The organization is dedicated to her father, Captain Willis C. Morris, a Tuskegee airman, who died during the Cuban Missile Crisis when Dr. Morris was very young and her sister Captain Karon Morris Crawler, who also served as a Tuskegee airman.
Conclusion
Dick closed the meeting by leading us in reciting the Four Way Test.
(These notes are courtesy of our fabulous secretary, Carolyn Rhode.)