Club
Meeting August 01
Our perspicacious
President George
Brookhart called the
meeting to Order. Susan
offered thanks for our
bounty and asked for God
to bless our service
endeavors.
GUESTS: Wah
Chen, Brent’s wife was
with us again and Toni
Hiteshew is still on
summer vacation from
school. Joanne
DeBettincourt, Director
of Major Gifts for St.
Agnes Hospital
Foundation (is not
really a guest, except
this was her first
meeting. She will be
attending when Sherry
Welch is unable to be
present. We had 22
People in attendance!
NEW BUSINESS:
New Rotary Directories
are now available.
Bruce Siddens is going
away on a golf trip 8/10
and will get married on
8/14.
Someone is needed to go
apply for a food permit.
Volunteers are needed
for the Arts & Crafts
festival booth where we
will be selling hot
pretzels and funnel
cakes in our grand
tradition.
Volunteers are needed
for a short little
(early) time on
Saturday, September 29,
2007 for the Fall Into
Fitness race.
HAPPY DOLLARS:
Russ suggests tuning
into his son Craig’s
blog (Web log – Internet
journal) which you can
get to by something like
whatsgoingonCatonsville.
George reminded us of
the new eatery that he
emailed us about. His
youngest granddaughter
is crawling like crazy.
Brent was happy Wah Chen
joined him. He paid
homage to 2 great film
directors who had
passed, Ingmar Bergman
and Brent also suggested
that each of the
Business college
students donate $500
toward the Professor’s
pay as the students will
be getting such great
salaries.
Russ announced that Gus
Russo, a friend of the
Club, was speaking at
the Friends of the
Library on 8/6 at 7 PM.
SPEAKER: Joe
Loverde introduced Ed
Hastry a life long
Catonsville resident who
had done business in
Catonsville and Arbutus
to talk about one of his
hobbies – the Maryland
Time Share Association.
Ed has been a member of
the Arbutus and
Catonsville Lions Club
for 34 years, President
of Kernan hospital for
11 years, 20 years in
the Chamber of Commerce
and he is a past
president of the arbutus
Business Association. Ed
is also the President of
the Catonsville Arts &
Crafts festival. He has
also worked for
Baltimore County and the
State on the Truancy
Project.
After Ed and his wife
Mary Lou purchased their
first time share in
Williamsburg, he
discovered there was a
dearth of materials
about time shares. They
founded the Association
to supply information
and materials to other
owners like themselves.
They now have 600
members.
Respectfully submitted,
Susan Souder, Secretary
Return to top of page
Club Meeting August 8th
Susan Souder led
the Devotion.
Guests included
Tom Buser, a retired official of
the Maryland Department of
Economic Development. 17
persons attended, including 15
members.
George Brookhart
made a motion to express best
wishes for Bruce Siddons in his
upcoming marriage. Joe Loverde
seconded the motion, which
carried unanimously.
Bruce Vandervort
solicited ideas for gifts to
carry in the upcoming trip to
the Dominican Republic.
Dr. Larry
Aaronson reported that half of
past exhibitors to the Women’s
Exposition had registered for
the upcoming event, where he
expected more than 200
exhibitors.
Discussion
occurred on the issue of club
participation in the September 9
Catonsville Arts & Crafts Fair,
which has been the subject of
e-mail discussion this week.
Among points in favor of
participation mentioned were the
comradery it brought out among
members, publicity for Rotary
and fun. Points against
participation included the large
amount of labor required, at
least 20 club members plus
various family members, and the
relatively small amount of
profit derived from the sale of
funnel cakes, approximately
$1,000. A question was raised
whether another item could be
sold. The answer was that it
could, but it would have to be
an item that was not already
being sold by another group.
The decision was made to give
John Galley the power to decide
participation based on the
response of members to sign up
to work the booth and perform
other duties associated with the
effort.
Happy Dollars:
Ed Tolzman gave a happy dollar
for his outing to the Cecil
County Fair with his
granddaughter. Richard Hiteshew
gave $20 in honor of his
daughter, who has won a 20% pay
raise, plus funding for a
Master’s degree at Johns Hopkins
University.
The Speaker was
Assistant Secretary of the
Maryland Department of Business
and Economic Development, Robert
McGlotten, a resident of
Ellicott City. Mr. McGlotten
was born on the Eastern Shore,
educated at the University of
Maryland, Eastern Shore and
graduate work at Howard
University. His department has
320 employees and a budget of
$120,000,000. Its function is
to create jobs in Maryland and
expand the Maryland tax base.
Means of doing this include
recruiting new business to
Maryland, retaining existing
Maryland businesses and creating
new businesses.
50/50:
Rosemary Wright won the 50/50
drawing.
Submitted by
Brent Tolbert-Smith, Assistant
Scrivener, 8-8-07
Return to top of page
Board Meeting
August 14
Hello everyone,
We had a very productive
board meeting this morning.
Those present were George
Brookhart, Richard Hiteshew,
Bruce VanDervort & Cal Oren.
Topics of Discussion:
-
International Lane
Director Bruce
VanDervort reviewed the
status of his trip to
Bani, Dominican Republic
to meet with the Rotary
Club there and to get
our international
project organized and on
its way. Steve Arum who
was scheduled to assist
Bruce there can not go
by orders of his doctor.
We are thinking of
seeking another
representative from our
club to take his place.
This person must have a
valid passport, be
available to leave on
August 24th
and return on August 29th.
-
Vocational Lane Director
Cal Oren has sent a
letter out to the
Woodlawn Club and the
Catonsville Evening Club
to see if we can join
forces on the yearly
Dictionary Project.
-
Treasurer Richard
Hiteshew reviewed the
status of our financial
status and found that we
can buy the million
dollar plus Rotary
Palace we were hoping
for, just kidding, but
we are in good shape.
-
We will wait for a
report back from John
Galley to see how many
volunteers he was able
to enlist for the Funnel
Cake Booth at the
Catonsville Arts &
Crafts Show and then
have a club level
discussion to see the
direction we should take
with participation with
this event.
-
We also reviewed other
fundraising events and
how they can benefit our
club
□
Bull Roast – 17% of the net
comes back to our club for
other projects
□
Book Fair – We would let the
Friends of the Catonsville
Library organize and run
this with our help and split
the net proceeds 50/50. This
is a proposal at this point.
We would use our 50% for
Catonsville High School &
the International Project.
□
We are looking at another
major fund raiser to work
together with CCBC. This
would be a major auto show
on their campus. This would
be an event put on by CCBC &
the Catonsville Emergency
Food Ministries where are
club would give some
assistance and get a small
portion of the net proceeds.
We think this could draw
1000 cars or more and be a
weekend event. Looking at
September 2008.
□
Richard also came up with
yet another unique event
that we could hold in
Catonsville. We are looking
into a Chainsaw Sculpture
Show. This event could be
the largest on the East
Coast and draw huge crowds.
This is still in its very
beginning of the planning
stage.
□
We will still do a few Guest
Bartending events for
Disabled Sports USA, Wounded
Warriors at Dimitri’s.
Reggie & I are working on
one now which may draw a
donation from the Ellicott
City VFW for $500 and we can
go to the American Legion in
Arbutus as well.
□
Another major event that we
have is the Catonsville Fall
in to Fitness 5-K Run/Walk
on September 29th
at Mathew’s 1600. This event
benefits the St Agnes
Foundation, the Western
Family YMCA Strong Kids
Campaign and our Rotary Club
Projects.
-
We are taking out a ¼
page ad in the Business
Journal (Becky Mangus)
when they do their
Rotary Section in
October. The cost is
$490.
-
We purchased a gift for
Bruce Siddens and his
new bride with the help
of Joe & Cindy Loverde.
It was a place setting
that was on their
register.
I hope to see everyone’s
Smiling Face
at tomorrow’s meeting. We
have a
Club Business Meeting
on Wednesday, August 22nd.
Thank you,
George Brookhart, CRS
Return to top of page
Club
Meeting Aug 15
Fellow Rotarians:
A funny thing happened
on my way home from the
Rotary meeting. I was
accosted by hordes of
Rotarians (at least 2 or
3) begging me to go on
the upcoming trip to the
Dominican Republic. Not
wishing to look a gift
horse in the mouth, I
readily agreed (I
figured my main
qualification was the
possession of an
up-to-date passport).
Where else can you walk
in and be importuned to
accept an all-expenses
paid vacation in the
Caribbean (I am packing
2 bathing suits)? All I
can say is, Good Things
Happen when you go to
Rotary. Thanks, folks.
Brent
ROTARY CLUB
MINUTES, Catonsville Sunrise
– August 15, 2007
President
George Brookhart opened the
meeting.
Dr. Larry
Aaronson led the Devotion.
Business:
Bruce VanDervort reported on
the upcoming trip to the
Dominican Republic on August
24 to establish ties with a
Rotary Club in Santo
Domingo. Steve Arum cannot
go as scheduled due to a
medical problem. A
replacement will be sought.
Appreciation
was expressed to Joe Loverde
for his recent generosity to
the club.
Happy
Dollars:
Susan Souder
gave a happy dollar in
appreciation of help from
Brent Tolbert-Smith in
recording meeting minutes.
Dr. Larry
Aaronson gave a happy dollar
on behalf of the Ravens
(reputed to be a local
football team).
Cal Oren gave
a happy dollar on behalf of
the Orioles (reputed to be a
local baseball team).
Rosemary
Wright gave a happy dollar
for her upcoming morning
settlement in Lusby,
Maryland for a reverse
mortgage.
Richard
Hiteshew gave a happy dollar
in appreciation of Toni and
Richard’s dinner at Brent’s
house at which son Martin
did the cooking. Richard
also gave $10 in honor of
his daughter Kathleen’s
acceptance into graduate
school at Johns Hopkins
University (known to be a
top local research
university).
John Monck
promoted the new Baltimore
County Community for the
Homeless fundraiser to
establish a therapeutic
nursery for homeless
infants, to be held at the
new Martin’s Valley Mansion
facility.
Business:
John Galley reported on the
response to invitations to
members to participate in
the upcoming Catonsville
Arts & Crafts Festival.
Five members responded
positively, which John said
was insufficient support,
even with attendant friends
and family members, to
prepare for and staff a
Rotary booth to sell funnel
cake at the festival. Joe
Loverde moved to discontinue
Rotary participation for the
festival this year, which
Richard Hiteshew seconded.
The motion passed
unanimously.
.jpg)
Speaker:
Joe Loverde introduced the
speaker, George Maniodis,
President of Buddies, Inc.
Mr. Maniodis spent a career
in public relations, serving
35 years as Director of
Government Affairs for St.
Agnes Hospital. Now
retired, Mr. Maniodis works
as a realtor for
Coldwell-Bankers, in
addition to work for Buddies
and other civic positions.
Mr. Maniodis
gave an outline of Buddies,
which was founded in the
1950’s by the McCormick’s
spice corporation and others
to fund youth programs
sponsored by the Baltimore
City Police Department.
Buddies specifically
underwrites the expenses for
nine Explorer Scout troops
throughout the city of
Baltimore, providing
uniforms, shoes, meeting
expenses and trips to
national scout conventions
at Phoenix and elsewhere.
Buddies has support from
Peter Angelos, owner of the
Baltimore Orioles, who
shares some ticket proceeds
amounting to some
$35,000,000 annually.
Buddies funds two college
scholarships annually, worth
$40,000 to $50,000. 96% of
Buddies scholarship winners
graduate from college.
Mr. Maniodis
has been particularly
focused in Buddies to insure
that all funds contributed
by Buddies is applied in the
Police Department to the
designated youth programs,
which was not always the
case prior to the
mid-‘90’s. Buddies enjoys
an endowment of more than
$700,000 and serves 250
Baltimore youth, both boys
and girls, ages 14 to 18.
50/50:
Rosemary Wright won the
50/50 drawing (again,
consecutively).
President
George Brookhart adjourned
the meeting.
17 persons
attended, 16 members and the
speaker.
Submitted by
Brent Tolbert-Smith,
Assistant Scribe, 8-16-07
Return to top of page
Club Meeting Aug
22
ROTARY CLUB
MINUTES, Catonsville Sunrise –
August 22, 2007
All were greeted
enthusiastically by Larry
Aaronson
President George
Brookhart opened the meeting.
Dawn Olenski led
the Devotion.
Isazetta Spikes,
a guest, was introduced,
Director of Annual & Planned
Giving for the St. Agnes
Foundation.
Allen Ray,
another guest and fellow
Rotarian, who attends more
regularly than many members, was
not introduced.
Happy Dollars:
Brent Tolbert-Smith expressed
enthusiasm for the upcoming trip
to the Dominican Republic with
Bruce VanderVort.
Bruce Siddons
expressed happiness with his
marriage and new family and
appreciation for the wedding
gift from Rotary.
John Monck
promoted the new Baltimore
County Community for the
Homeless fundraiser to establish
a therapeutic nursery for
homeless infants, to be held at
the new Martin’s Valley Mansion
facility.
Steve Arum was
happy the Dominican Republic
trip was on schedule.
Tom Medicus
enjoyed his vacation to South
Dakota and ocean trip with his
grandson.
Larry Aaronson
expressed appreciation for his
trip to Essex and the start of
school next Monday.
Richard Hiteshew
expressed appreciation that his
wife would be returning to teach
school next week and that one of
his clients was in on $90,000
won by fishermen on the
client’s boat who caught fish in
the White Marlin Tournament in
Ocean City.
Club Business
Meeting:
A guest
bartending event is being
set up with Reggie Sajaukis, a
much missed past member, for
October 18 at Dimitrii’s. The
date is to be confirmed by
Dimitrii’s.
George Brookhart
spoke about the BWI airport
USO, where he helped
distribute packages to
servicemen bound for combat
zones in the Middle East last
week.
The USO takes
donations of books, recent
magazines and DVD’s. There is a
deadline of August 25 for more
such donations in kind.
The USO will
distribute packages to more
servicemen embarking soon.
George will let members know the
date so they can help if they
wish.
Bruce VanderVort
spoke about the upcoming
Dominican Republic trip
Friday, August 24, thanking
Steve Arum for making invaluable
contacts, coordinating the trip
and smoothing the way.
The Catonsville
Presbyterian Church has donated
$100 toward expenses for the
trip, where school supplies will
be given to Dominican schools
and club members will learn
about other projects sponsored
by the Rotary club in Bani,
Dominican Republic.
Sam’s Club has
approved the award of matching
funds raised for educational
projects in Bani.
Then the club can
apply for a matching grant from
the District Rotary
organization.
The main purpose
of the trip is to make contact
with the Bani club with the hope
of working on future projects
together.
The hope is to
bring Bani Rotary members to the
United States in February in
time for the annual Bull Roast
at Martin’s West.
Steve Arum
outlined the itinerary for
members going on the Bani tirp,
which includes a reception, tour
of Bani Rotary projects, a candy
factory and a coffee factory,
beaches at Salinas, a salt
factory and the weekly meeting
of the Bani club on Tuesday
evening.
Russ Witzke
raised the question of local
publicity for the Bani trip,
suggesting that stories and
pictures in such publications as
the Catonsville Times
would be appropriate. This will
be followed up on.
Dictionary
Project: Calvin Oren
explained that Huntington
Learning Center cannot sponsor
the Dictionary Project this year
because of substantial business
losses in the past year, so a
new sponsor is needed.
Huntington Learning Center
previously contributed $1,000
yearly.
Cal hopes to meet
with the other two Catonsville
Rotary clubs to coordinate this
and other projects. Other clubs
have begun contributing
dictionaries to schools our club
had already been serving. Cal
hoped to expand the scope of the
program to more schools.
October is the month for
dictionary distribution.
Cal is looking
for ideas for programs to use in
junior and senior high schools,
such as, perhaps, a Pen Pal
program with schools in Bani,
Dominican Republic.
Treasury
Report: Treasurer Richard
Hiteshew reported that the club
has some $6800. Of this $5,000
is held in CD’s for the club
Foundation. The Club holds
$1800 directly, with most
current expenses paid.
George Brookhart
spoke of an upcoming club
meeting on October 10 at the
UMBC Research Center. He said
posers of highlights of club
projects would be good to have
at the meeting.
There was
discussion concerning the
high rate of participation of
our club members relative to
our relatively small size, with
the hope that we could keep the
same high level of participation
at the same time we attracted
more members.
At the Board
Meeting last week, it was
agreed the club would keep 17.5%
of funds raised in all projects,
in general, for overhead. An
exception is the fund raiser for
Disabled Sports USA, which
involves little effort on the
club’s part, where 100% of the
proceeds are directed to the
charity.
Richard Hiteshew
expressed the efficiency of
raising more money from existing
projects, like the annual
Bull Roast, where experience
makes it relatively easy to
increase income with little
additional effort.
Joining with
other groups to raise funds for
different projects was seen as
another efficient use of our
energy that had good returns.
The Catonsville
Emergency Assistance Network,
the food ministry, supported by
the Bull Roast, is an example
where overhead is approaching
the 17% figure with the use of
careful bookkeeping, which
should make the Network
attractive to donor foundations.
Steve Arum
expressed the hope that the
continuation of existing
projects would not impact the
diversity of projects and fund
raising efforts negatively.
50-50 Drawing:
George Brookhart won the
drawing.
The meeting was
closed by President George
Brookhart.
16 persons
attended, 14 members and 2
guests
Submitted by
Brent Tolbert-Smith, Assistant
Scribe, 8-22-07
Return to top of page
SPECIAL
REPORT - BANI, The Dominican Republic
Hola from Bani #1
Just a quick
message to tell you that we
had a flawless trip to DR
and have found our second
home in Bani. Everyone we
have met has been so
friendly and happy to have
us here. Last night was a
dinner party on a rooftop
veranda with good food,
strong rum and lots of
dancing (I have pictures of
Brent to prove it!) Today
we will tour the projects by
the Bani Rotary club and
spend the afternoon in Santo
Domingo.
Having a great
time. Send money. Not coming
back.
Brent
Hola from Bani
#2
We traveled
to several sites where the
Bani club has initiated a
cow project. Much like the
heifer project, they give a
cow to a small neighborhood
- outside the city. They
sell the milk and the
calves. More these
communities it can be the
start of an economy
upswing. We have lots of
photos of Rotarians standing
next to cows.
In the
afternoon we went on a
sightseeing excursion into
Santo Domingo - the oldest
European city in the Western
Hemisphere. We toured the
University, Columbus's
house, and the market.
That evening
we met with the Interact
Club of Bani - high school
and college age students.
There were 11 members at the
meeting. It turns out that
WE were the meeting. They
told us about their
activities and we told them
about what our club does.
Dinner was at
the "Caribbean-sounding"
restaurant, Gary's House of
Tacos.
We were up
with the sun to catch a bus
ride with 30 Rotarians and
friends to the southwest
part of the country. Their
southwest is much like our
southwest - dry with lots of
cactus. The tour circled
the largest lake in the
country with magnificent
mountain ranges on each
side. The road took us
through dozens of little
towns - all with roadside
vendors and armed military
check points. We stopped
for lunch at a large park
with open-air eateries and a
large swimming hole. There
was music, beer, and - of
course - more dancing. I
think that what our club
needs - more dancing! Do I
hear a motion?
One small
town on the trip is next to
the border of Haiti. We
were allowed to walk across
the border to look around an
open-air market in Haiti.
We were also allowed to
return to DR.
Another stop
took us to a park famous for
iguanas - iguanas the size
of small dogs. We arrived
back in Bani around 8:30pm.
It was a day
of variety as we visited the
girls' orphanage, a mango
farm, an elementary school,
a fig farm, a candy factory,
and a one-room school
house. We were able to
distribute a lot of the
school supplies. Regular
school does not start until
next Monday. Tonight we
will talk about the many
projects that we can do
together.
When you see
the photos of the children
who have so little holding
on to their new notebook
supplied by the Rotary Club
of Catonsville-Sunrise, you
will know that every fried
funnel cake and every used
book hauled around was well
worth it.
Bruce
Hi,
Gang: I thought I would
stop partying long
enough to drop you a
line. I did the same
this morning, but the
power went out just
before I sent it - that
happens a lot here.
Saturday tour of hooved
Rotary projects was a
blast. I was so
impressed with the
Rotary symbol as a brand
on the backsides of all
those Rotary cattle, I
was inspired to place
one on the right rear
quarter of Bruce's
chinos. I wrested the
brand from the vaquero
and set off after Bruce,
only to be wrestled to
the ground by horrified
Bani Rotarians. Sunday
we toured the outback of
Dominican Republic - the
whole club. They rented
a bus and driver for the
day, then set out on a
13 hour odyssey in which
we stopped at natural
spring swimming holes, 4
or 5, circumnavigated
PR's version of the
Sargasso Sea, Lake
Chiriquilla, which is
the lowest point in the
Caribbean at 140 ft.
(average) below sea
level, and saw the
iguanas and the
crocodile holes by the
lake. I had to get my
feet wet at the swimming
hole built here - can't
resist water (or "Presidente
cervesa super frio").
Went to the Haitian
border, a truly scary
place (I am SO glad we
did not take Haiti on as
a project - it would
certainly be beyond me),
stopping of course to
dine on DR home cooking
right from the cook pot
and to dance some more
Meringue. Distributed
the school supplies
today. A lot to be said
for the Latin way of
working. Never hurried,
took 1-1/2 hour lunch
with a bottle of wine
over fish, but
accomplished a _____ of
a lot of productive
things over the course
of the day. A truly
moving experience, which
I recommend to you all.
Well, we are off soon to
give our list of demands
to our new Rotary amigos
(not really - that's not
how they do things or
we) at the Monday night
dinner meeting. Two
wild and crazy guys
partying hearty for
Rotary! Your Rotary
gonzo journalist, Brent
Return to top of page
Club Meeting
August 29
Our Devoted President George
Brookhart called the meeting
to Order.
Cal Oren offered a Devotion
including a special Blessing
for our traveling members,
the 2 Bs, Bruce and Brent.
GUESTS: Attorney
Bruce Kent, invited by
Barrister Rick Martel,
joined us and advised that
he and rick practice Estate
Planning in Arbutus, and
Bruce handles criminal
defense matters as well –
special note to Treasurer
Hiteshew!
NEW BUSINESS: I
didn’t notice any.
HAPPY DOLLARS: Cal
offered two happy pesos for
the great hospitality shown
to the 2 Bs.
Tom Medicus offered a dollar
for his wife “celebrating”
their 35th
wedding anniversary.
Joe was happy that he broke
100 (turned out it was a
golf matter, not a spending
$ issue as was thought by my
table)
Bruce Kent was happy to be
receiving daughter-in-law #6
soon as his son is engaged
(both Kent and Martel have a
passel of kids)
Susan was happy to have
survived a Pat Benatar
concert and the inevitable
80s flashbacks
Steve Arum dittoed Cal’s
pesos for our first
International Escapade. He
noted that the 2 Bs had
visited Miguel Tejada’s
father but the padre was not
home
Richard announced that the
Bull roast sponsorship
package was ready. PLEASE
inquire for more details
SPEAKER: Rosemary
Wright, sporting a cast on
her left arm, gave a
classic classification talk
concerning Reverse
Mortgages. Rosemary provided
materials from the Wells
Fargo program which were
very informative. To
qualify for a reverse
mortgage program one must be
62+ and own a home, or
nearly own a home. There
were 4 Nevers – one never
loses title, owes more than
the sales price, has to move
or has to make a payment on
principal & interest until
the last homeowner moves,
sells or dies. It was indeed
interesting to learn about a
subject about which must has
been said.
50/50: SUSAN won but
did not pick the 9 of Clubs.
Respectfully submitted
(although not as quickly as
Brent).
Susan Souder, Secretary
Return to top of page
