Club Business
President Jim Cartner brought the meeting to order. Micah Fox led the prayer and pledge of allegiance to the US flag. Josh Huffman, our Assistant District Governor, was on hand for the meeting today. Next week he will present to our club the strategic plan for the district. Randy Perkins, who will be District Governor next year, showed up, too. He travels with Claudia on a regular basis as she visits the clubs in our district, which accounts for our not seeing him lately. Tommy Rosser was also in Claudia’s entourage. He is the DG Designee and will serve 2020-21. Susan Watson introduced her guest, Linda Simmons. On Thursday, September 27, Outback will be hosting two luncheons at 11:30 am and 1:15 pm to raise funds for a Times-News literacy initiative. The cost will be $18 per plate, a portion of which will be donated to by Outback. It was great to see David Moore, who returned from his recent hip surgery.
- Susan Watson thanked Claudia for what she shared at the board meeting. She also asked for nominations for the awards being given to deserving women at the Women’s Resource Center’s event that is coming up. She said that we are able to purchase sponsorships still.
- Dick O’Donnell celebrated the tenth anniversary of Alamance Leads. He spent the weekend in Pittsburgh, PA, where he visited the Frank Lloyd Wright designed home named Falling Waters.
- Carolyn Rhodes expressed her gratitude that we passed the new bylaws. She also thanked Sid Little for filling the secretary’s spot when she was away.
- Joseph Williams just returned from helping with hurricane relief in eastern NC in the aftermath of Florence. He said that by this weekend some 175 K hot meals will have been distributed. Our club helped pack these meals at Feed the Hunger’s recent packathon. We will have another packing event on December 5th, which is set aside for Rotarians.
Claudia Cannady – District Governor’s Visit
Josh Huffman did the honors of introducing our speaker, DG Claudia Cannady. She grew up in various locations but now calls NC home. She earned a Bachelor of Science from High Point University and a Master of Arts from UNC-G. Her main career was in financial services, where she retired as Senior Vice President at Morgan Stanley Wealth Management in 2017. Now she is actively serving Rotary.
Claudia joined the Summit Rotary Club in 1998, where she served in various capacities, including club president. Over the years she became passionately involved in the Rotary Foundation and overseas humanitarian projects. She is a Major Donor, Benefactor, a member of the Bequest Society, the Paul Harris Society, and the Arch Klumph Society.
After thanking the various Rotary dignitaries and officers in the room, Claudia remarked that she began her exemplary Rotary career as a “deadbeat” who did not even regularly attend meetings. After receiving a warning letter from the club, she made a commitment to at least show up for meetings, even though she often left early. The change began when she attended a Fall Seminar in Clemmons, NC and learned about the Rotary Foundation. Later she visited Haiti a couple of times in connection with a Rotary orphanage project, which ignited a passion to make a difference in the world through Rotary. She said, “Rotary is very personal to me.”
For Claudia, membership is the number one issue for Rotary. We are a membership organization that provides service. She gave us three ideas for growing our membership.
- Invite friends.
- Start a 5:05 Happy Hour. This is a great way to connect with Rotarians and friends at a local bar or restaurant.
- Start community based Rotaract Clubs to create a pipeline for new Rotarians.
Claudia mentioned the familiar Rotary themes of giving $100 annually to the General Fund as a sustaining member. She also talked about some grants that are currently being worked in our district. She reminded us that Rotary regularly receives Charity Navigator’s highest rating. Lastly she talked about Rotary’s commitment to eradicating polio worldwide. Our National Immunization Day sends one million volunteers to India, where around 170 million children are immunized against this deadly disease in just one day. Only fifteen cases of wild polio popped us this past year. Maybe this will be the year we have zero!