The Rotary Club of Catonsville - Sunrise, Maryland

Our itinerant President George Brookhart called the Meeting to Order.  Rosemary greeted us (but left early – hope her doggie is ok). Sherry Welsh consulted an expert and delivered an excellent Devotion.

There were no Guests. Somehow, they had received advance notice that our Guest Speaker had to cancel due to a severe case of poison ivy. (hope he’s better)

Treasurer’s Report:  Richard announced that WebMaster Chris Jones had devised an email distribution list for us with most of our former Members so that we may tell them of upcoming events.

President’s Report:  May 15 there is an Intra Club meeting in our area at the Belvedere Hotel.

Happy Dollar$:  Larry Aaronson was somehow surprised to learn that TV Reporters present “news” inaccurately. He described a recent report on a community meeting in Columbia that he had attended concerning violent crime.

Cal has written an angry letter to the Howard County police about a ticket he received for not wearing a seat belt. The HoCo chief of Police fired back a form letter bragging that in HoCo they have 96% seat belt compliance which is better than the 91% average around the State.  Cal suggested that resources would be better spent on violent crime.

Richard related a school project where a student project showed simultaneously a video tape of a demonstration being portrayed inaccurately on TV “news.” (I feel better about not watching TV news listening to all of these reports.)

Although Rosemary had departed, George reported how happy Rosemary was to have successfully helped a couple get out of debt with a reverse mortgage.

George was happy to be leaving this date for vacation in Ireland (price of Guinness expected to rise due to shortage of imports for US). George was also happy to report that his granddaughter would be attending Towson University.

Sherry was happy to report that she is directing the musical, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat, at the Christian Temple in Catonsville May 18 – 20. Sherry, who also sings regularly with a rock and roll band, believes it is a good production we’d enjoy. (Here we have imported singers to lead us and Sherry can carry a tune!)

John Monk is happy to take anything anyone is getting rid of from their houses in spring cleaning. CEFM (call 410.747.HELP) is helping a number of people who have nothing and would appreciate any household goods or furniture you have. John may even come pick it up.

John was also happy to report that there is a terrific art exhibit at UMBC showing art from area high schools.

Bruce was happy to be going to the Halethorpe Home Depot which is practically like going to Dublin (George) or Barcelona (Susan).

Richard was happy that the niece he counseled at Easter will be attending Hopkins. He mentioned a family on Sulphur Spring Road in Arbutus who lost everything they owned in a fire. Café On The Grove was collecting $ for them.

M/S/P to donate our Happy dollars and 50/50 proceeds to that family.

Larry was happy to announce that the Women’s Expo had raised $43,000. $6,000 has already been awarded in scholarships.

BOOK FAIR REPORT –  A good time was had by all. Bruce VanDervort reported that we had about the same attendance as last year.  He believes that we cannot depend on Rotarians and friends of the library to sell enough tickets. The Library can hold about twice the number of folks who attended. Next year more publicity will be needed. It was unquestionably a Quality Event. The authors were pleased, the attendees seemed satisfied.

Bruce V. thanked all of our Sponsors and presented Certificates of Appreciation. There was loud applause for Ed Tolzman, Joe Loverde, George, and Bruce on behalf of Pet Rescue. Everyone was extremely appreciative of the cheese and cold cuts donated so generously by Sam’s Club.

Bruce V. presented Rick with a Shakespeare volume for which Rick had diligently searched on Sat. Bruce also presented  George  who has contributed a LOT of work on behalf of Rotary and the Chamber of Commerce with a “message” book – Don’t Sweat The Small Stuff (and remember it’s all small stuff!)

A question was raised whether all of the time and effort put into collecting, moving, organizing and selling the Used Books was worthwhile. A general discussion revealed several members, admitted bibliophiles, really like this event. We raised about $400 from the sale of books. The books not sold were given to the Parole Rotary Club that sends them overseas through one of their projects.  Reactions to the Book Festival have been sought by email, and all are encouraged to weigh in on positives and negatives of the weekend, and to offer suggestions for future book fairs. Two more sponsors for Friday night and we would have made the same amount of money we made on the Used Book sale with way less work.

Bruce V. suggested we consider adding another event to this annual literary weekend – and Authors Symposium. 3 – 4 authors from Friday night would do readings and talk about becoming a published author. There are many people interested in writing.

Rick suggested keeping the used book sale longer. There was a suggestion that we are providing a community service by donating so many books to the Parole Rotary and by helping people to clean out their houses. It was suggested that we get help on the manual labor – boy scouts, Debate Club, etc. Bruce Siddens suggested that Sam’s could store the used books which would solve many problems (like mold).  Bruce also offered to have the used book sale at Sam’s in the parking lot which would give us way more foot traffic (4,000 people on an average Saturday) than we have at the Library in the basement. And more parking.  Sam’s could also provide labor for the used books.

GUEST BARTENDING NIGHT- Wonderful Bruce VanDervort has undertaken to get us all back to drinking for charity, our livers having rested a while. Bruce believes we can do 3 before the end of the year. In the first part of December, he suggests we have an event at Dmitri’s to benefit The Wounded Warrior Project of Disabled Sports USA.

In June, we will have one to benefit the DR Project in which we are partnering with the Bani DR Rotary Club which we are getting close to identifying. Miguel Tejada is from Bani and we are trying to contact him. At the end of September, the Guest Bartender event would benefit Joe Loverde’s Thanksgiving Feast. We would have to schedule around the Arts 7 crafts festival and YMCA 5K in September.

50/50 – Sherry was the big winner and graciously donated the proceeds to the Arbutus family that lost everything. Altogether we donated $61 to them.

Respectfully submitted,
Secretary Susan

Our unflappable President called the meeting to Order. 

DEVOTION:  Cal read us a prayer of thanksgiving. The words were found among the papers of a Russian Orthodox Priest who died in a Soviet Gulag.

GUESTS:  Fran Henson, recently retired from the Small Business Administration, and now with Coldwell Banker, visited us for the first time. 

Ralph Souder, a 10 year retiree, visited us again from Colorado and California. Another frequent guest, the dapper Alan Ray, also visited. Joel Carpenter, a private real estate investor and attorney, joined us again.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:  The Nominating Committee for 2007-2008 year, if not sooner, is comprised of Bruce VanDervort, George Brookhart, and Susan Souder.

Alan described a cardboard boat show in a lake in Columbia which is a fundraiser.

Russ mentioned a concert Sunday night 6/2 from 6 PM to 8 PM at Lurman Theater which is FREE featuring a guy who sings Rod Stewart. The Lurman Theater is at Catonsville High School.

Sherry mentioned a dance for the St. Agnes foundation which is Friday, June 1. tickets are $25.

VISITORS DAY:  George was kind enough to remind and introduce some of us to Rotary History beginning in 1905 in Chicago. The first service project was raising funds and building a public restroom.

There are approximately 1.2 million Rotarians in approximately 32,000 Clubs in 200 countries.  Rotary is the largest provider of International scholarships in the world.

Polio Plus is one of the most outstanding world-wide health programs. 

There was a review of some of our past club projects:  bike Coast to Coast Cancer which raised $43,326.50, and Catonsville emergency Family Ministries for whom we donated $18,000 this year, having bought a vehicle for them in the past, and having assisted CEFM in buying a building. 

We have contributed to the various schools in the area including the Catonsville High School edible Art Show, and the Ellipsis literary magazine. We have contributed to Maryland Special Olympics, Red Cross, The Children’s Home. With St. Agnes foundation we have partnered to raise $ for the YMCA.

HAPPY DOLLARS:  There were many.

INTERNATIONAL LANE:  Bruce V. summarized our Club’s new service project efforts in Bani, Dominican Republic. We are looking for a large organization to help us.

50/50: was won by Ed Tolzman. Several door prizes – a CD on which Patric Martel, a UMBC student, sings with his band, Off Limits, was won by Joel. Rick won a small cooler.

Respectfully submitted,
Secretary Susan