The Rotary Club of Catonsville - Sunrise, Maryland

-- The Board voted to be a major sponsor of Teatriukas, the Theatre Group from Lithuania and their trip to Maryland at a cost of $300 from the Foundation.

-- The group will give one performance at Lurman Theater. All of the performances are free.

-- George mentioned a possible group sailing trip to the Bahamas for Club members.

-- George also reported that St. Agnes is doing well with organizing the YMCA 5 K race in Sept. Peter and George walked up Frederick Road distributing posters to merchants. About $20,000 in sponsorships have been obtained. The goal is $30,000.  St. Agnes would like to see more activity from the YMCA on the Race.

President George called the meeting to Order:

-- Happy Dollars -  Bruce is happy that the Farmer’s Market has its Customer Appreciation Day (on  8/16).  He also announced that the Friends of the Catonsville Library reached the goal of $30,000, with help from our Club,  for a new entrance and other improvements.

-- Larry predicted Eagles 17; Ravens 7 (pre-season football game).

-- Tom Medicus’ grandson is raising goldfish now. A word to the wise – careful with the pepper shaker at any restaurant at which Tom has recently dined.

-- Pat Kasuda happily realized she lives only 15 minutes from our Club’s meeting place. Her husband was kind enough to awaken her at 5 am so that they could be on time this morning.

-- Reggie, dressed very stylishly, reported that she had missed seeing all of us and was glad to return.

-- Steve Dare’s son was recognized as the Rookie of the Year by his tennis team. The 13 year old also  beats his Dad at golf.

-- Jerry was happy to be too broke to stand and make any announcements.

-- Speaker District Governor Pat Kasuda said too many things to be recounted. Here are some highlights:

  -- She is the first female to serve as our District Governor. She considers it a great privilege.

  -- We should survey the needs of our community. There are more needs than members. Older members often join for fellowship. Newer members want to see projects.  It is difficult to retain members, just as business finds it difficult to retain employees. We should always expect the membership to rotate/evolve/change.  Web sites are helpful in attracting new members.

  -- Pat brought Polly, a large piggy bank, which she hopes we will help STUFF to benefit Foundation giving.  STUFF  stands for Saving Together Unifies Foundation Funding. She suggests filling the pig at each meeting with attendees’ pocket change.

  -- The Rotary International convention in Copenhagen featured the author of Ending Poverty, the basic premise of which is meeting the world's population’s basic needs would end terrorism. Securing world peace is an important goal of the RI Foundation.

  -- In 1993 when Pat was a new member of the Glen Burnie Club, she noticed that other members appeared to dread visits from dry, stuffy District officials.  As a consequence, she spoke informally about a variety of topics.

  -- The RI theme set by Bill Boyd is that we should each “Lead the Way” by our service locally, and internationally.  2 years ago, the theme was “Celebrate Rotary” and last year was Service Above Self, our motto.

  -- Bill Boyd, in whose honor there is a dinner 9/26/06, explains that we should Lead The Way with Thoughtfulness, Unselfishness, Integrity, & Humility.

  -- RI’s focus is on projects for:  Water Management, Hunger and Health, Literacy, & Family.

  -- Presently ½ of the world’s population has no potable water and sanitation.  RI works on digging wells, installing filtration systems. Pat suggested we consider Chesapeake Bay projects and conserving water in our own households. 

  -- District 7620 has donated hundreds of thousands of tons of food. Regarding health, Pat suggested that all should have regular medical check-ups. 2015 is the goal for another UN concern – making sure every child has access to an elementary school education.  Pat also suggested we consider literacy projects for senior centers and pre-release prison programs. Touching on the Rotary Family – Pat mentioned RYLA, Interact, Rotoract, Group Study Exchange.

  -- Any Club hosting 5 events this year to which Families are invited will receive a Presidential Citation Award.  

  -- Pat commended our President for attending the District training. She also encouraged members to consider service at the District level.

  -- Pat presented Lead The Way awards to 2 of our very distinguished Members – Richard  (who was absent due to illness) – A Certificate of Appreciation for his Leadership in obtaining a property for the Catonsville Emergency Family Ministry.  Bruce  was also recognized for 3 Years of Perfect Attendance. 

  -- In addition, Pat mentioned the District Assembly and District Conference being combined (good idea) for the first weekend in May, 2007 at Solomon’s Island. Hawaaian shirts, not business attire. 

  -- The Rotary International Convention will be the third week in June, 2007 in Salt Lake City.

  -- Lead The Way pins were available (quite attractive, check the nametag box). Pat also presented the newly created District 7620 Banner which features the wheel, Maryland and DC flags. 

  -- In closing, Pat suggested that we each never forget our Rotary sponsors (persons who presented us at induction). If we are willing to make a little difference in the world, Rotary will make a world of difference. 

Respectfully submitted,  

Susan Souder

PS - If you can stand it...

President’s Report – George would like to ask (again) that we each work on recruiting new members.  George also asked for more volunteers for the Arts & Crafts Festival and the YMCA 5 K race. The Y 5 K race meeting for volunteers is 9/15 at 2 pm.  

The League of Dreams is having a fundraiser on 10/18 and George has brochures with more info. 

Happy Dollars – Kimberly was happy to report that she had succeeded on a number of home improvement projects including stripping tile (4 layers) off of the floors in her kitchen, foyer, bathroom, etc. She planned to put tile on the floors the next day. 

Larry Aaronson said he was pleased to have been asked to teach Mortuary Science at CCBC, a deadly subject Larry will enliven. 

Richard reported that CEFM has successfully moved and is back in business at the new location. A lot of people donated a lot of time. 

International Lane – Bruce reminded us that we hope to raise $ for this Lane’s endeavors with the Arts & Crafts Festival proceeds.  The Methodist Church is not selling funnel cakes or pretzels this year (in competition with us).   Our booth will be near the Ship’s Café again this year.

The Lithuanian Theater Group [was] coming 9/15 – 18/06 and performing at the Lurman Theater, the Library and a school.

Bruce will try again to make contact with a Dominican Republic Rotary Club. We hope to be able to offer a scholarship to Lithuanian students as we did last year.

The Open World Society of the Library of Congress is sponsoring a trip her of  Russian Librarians. Steve Arum is spearheading this effort and several of us are hosting librarians the first week of October.

Club Lane – M/S/P Cal will use his discretion to get a Rotary sign up at the Café on the Grove. Many suggestions were offered to Cal as to how best accomplish this seemingly simple task.

Vocational Lane – Cal has contacted all of the area elementary schools who are enthusiastic about our dictionary project. It was suggested that we expand the area to a west side City school like Beechwood, Edmondson Village, etc. Brilliant as always, Cal contacted a Huntington franchisor, Bill Dux (sp?) who has agreed not only to sponsor the project but to develop lesson plans for teachers to use teaching dictionary use. In addition, Cal is considering designing a brochure (with Chris' help) for students to take home to their parents about the dictionaries and Rotary. 

Finally, Bill is interested in Rotary membership. He currently lives in Bethesda and computes to his Catonsville and Lutherville franchises. He was a long time Marriott employee.

In a letter to 4 area high schools, Cal described RYLA, the 4 way speech contest and our availability for Mock Interviews. Each Club is encouraged to send a couple of members to the District  4 Day Leadership Conference. 

Community Lane – We discussed generally the contribution of $250 to the Del Rey Adventure Club and the cost of sending students to RYLA. Everyone is hoping Reggie will consider putting together one of her fabulously fun Guest Bartending nights since we need a source of funds to donate.

Membership – attendance was low, 11 I think,  at the meeting in George’s view. Members were encouraged to reach out to other members to find out where they are!

Other Business - A personal plea was made to Steve Arum to fill out his bio on the Club’s Web site so strangers will know what he does.

Belatedly submitted,

Susan Souder