Club Meeting January 2
No meeting on
this day...
Return to top of page
Club Meeting January 9
The meeting was called to
Order by President –Elect
Cal Oren. Steve Arum offered
an Inspiration.
Guests: Happy New
Year to Alan Ray.
New Business: Karen
Paris has been elected our
newest member.
Board meeting Jan. 15 (now
probably 17), 2008 at the
Café On The Grove.
Announcements: St
Agnes is having a Mardi Gras
dance on 2/2/08. Richard,
George and others are
attending. Let Richard know
if you are interested. We
received a thank-you letter
from Mosaic for our $50
contribution. Materials
(annual reports, etc.) from
Rotary International and the
Rotary Foundation were
distributed.
Women’s Expo – Are
you interested in
participating? Rosemary is.
Sam’s is getting a booth.
Bull Roast: Tickets
are at the printer. We will
have them next meeting.
Selling out will be a
challenge this year because
Mount St. Jo is having a
Bull Roast the same date.
Next year we will coordinate
the dates with MSJ.
Groaner Policy: $1
for every joke sent to the
Rotary list. Motion M/S/P
for amnesty through the date
of the meeting to make sure
everyone has notice of the
new policy.
Happy Dollars:
Richard paid $11: 1 for
daughter Kathleen who had an
excellent performance review
at work, and $10 for a cute
photo and story of grandson
Ethan opening clothes for
Christmas.
$1 from Susan who saw Cyrano
on Broadway with Kevin Kline
and Jennifer Garner. $1 for
glittering Joe Loverde whose
youngest daughter Nicole
graduated from college and
has started work teaching
elementary school. $1 from
Steve who is walking after
surgery to his back and
promises to be back on the
tennis courts by spring. $1
from Cal who is happy not to
hear more news from Iowa.
SPEAKER: Jack Guerin
of Keyboard Communications
arrived at 7:55 to
everyone’s relief. Jack was
in marketing with Magellan
Health and NY Life for many
years. He is a graduate of
Yale and Princeton
University. He has
experience working as a
clown. He has published an
article recently in the
Howard County Business
Monthly.
Jack told us about Edu-Marketing
– marketing education and
information. He promised an
Edu-marketing Genius Kit to
someone at the end of his
presentation. He spoke
primarily about marketing on
the World Wide Web. He used
terms that many of us had
not heard. He explained the
importance to commerce of
permission marketing –
identifying and
communicating with qualified
prospects, primarily by
email. He emphasized the
importance to successful
marketing of frequency and
reach to people. He
explained pay per click
advertising.
50/50: The happy
winner was Susan!
Respectfully submitted,
Susan Souder, Secretary
Return to top of page
Club Meeting January 16
ROTARY CLUB
MINUTES, Catonsville Sunrise –
January 16, 2007
President George
Brookhart opened the meeting.
Susan Souder gave
the Inspiration
17 members were
present (better than usual,
lately), plus Charter Guest Alan
Ray and Mike Flatt, who operates
an insurance agency on Frederick
Road.
New
Business:
-
The Board will meet on
Thursday morning this week.
-
St. Agnes Mardi Gras dance
is coming up.
-
Karen Paris announced
classes on exercise and
volunteerism being offered
by Baltimore County
Community College.
Happy
Dollars:
-
Cal Oren (?) gave a dollar
for Best Buddies, a tutoring
program for mentally
challenged pupils that
accepts donations.
-
Bruce Siddons announced he
is to be a new father.
-
Karen Paris gave $2.00 in
appreciation of her new
Rotary membership and her
Romper Room appearance and
closeup on TV a few short
years ago due to the
friendship of her father
with our guest speaker
Andrea Ratajczak’s father, a
local television executive.
-
Sherry Welch gave $2.00 on
behalf of the $718,000 in
federal earmark funds
allotted to St. Agnes and
for her grandson Cooper’s
close call with a cut near
his eye and successful
emergency room
visit.
-
Larry Aaronson gave $1.00 in
appreciation of the
taxpayer’s largess in
sending him to (yet another)
conference (in San Antonio
recently).
-
Tom Medicus gave $1.00 for
his recent trip to New York
with his grandson.
-
Alan Ray gave $1.00 for the
lesson his grandson learned
recently in being suspended
from his San Diego school
for making a vivid threat
against a class bully.
Speaker:
Larry Aaronson introduced our
speaker, Andrea Ratajczak,
an owner, with her sister,
of PDA Marketing, a local
firm located at 11 Newburgh
Avenue, Catonsville.
Ms. Ratajczak
is a Baltimore native who
was educated at Towson
University. She purchased a
national direct mail franchise,
Money Mailer, which she
distributes through her firm,
PDA Marketing. She also lives
in Catonsville.
Through her
father, Ms Ratajczak grew up
with early television production
in Baltimore. From her father,
she learned that “merchandising”
involved connecting an audience
to a product and the maxim that
if the presentation is right,
people will pay attention.
Ms. Ratajczak
discussed the current fragmented
market for broadcast marketing,
with the internet, cable, radio,
TV, newspapers and other media.
This makes crafting the
advertising message for its
intended audience more important
than ever.
Ms. Ratajczak
outlined the importance of
common, everyday items as tools
of advertising, things like
paper bags, cups, napkins, etc.
A response rate of 20 out of a
distribution of 1,000 can be a
good rate of return, through
mailers and newsletters. She
asserted that “personalization”
of the message works: Things
like handwritten messages and
use of yellow legal paper have
succeeded. Less polish to the
message often works better,
making things in the message
slightly different. “Be bold,
tell your story”, she said.
Everybody has a story. Interest
other people in you. This is
public relations. You can use
web sites, but print material is
still important, even in the age
of computer e-mail. Ms.
Ratajczak invites inquiries at
PDA Marketing, where she, her
sister and mother operate with
the help of support staff.
50-50
Drawing:
Ed Tolzman won the drawing.
The meeting was
closed by President George
Brookhart.
Submitted by Brent
Tolbert-Smith, Assistant Scribe,
1-17-08
Return to top of page
Board
Meeting January 17
I was late but it is
presumed the meeting was
called to Order.
Treasurer’s Report: I
missed it; ask Richard for
copies of any papers you
wish to review. Our club
would like to add
significant funds, $1,000 -
2,000, to the Certificate of
Deposit which we hope to
grow to be a substantial
endowment one day.
2008 Annual BULL RoAST:
SELL Tickets seemed to sum
up Richard’s primary
concern. About 350 have been
sold to date. Ad for this
outstanding community party
will appear in the
Catonsville Times and the
UMBC Retriever newspaper.
Please tell your friends and
SELL TICKETS. There are 60
silent Auction items. Help
is needed to prepare the
Auction program. The fancy
TV is being purchased for a
raffle prize.
2007 5K: M/S/P split
the proceeds, after
deducting our expenses from
this even 50/50 with the
YMCA. A check will be sent
to the Central Maryland
YMCA. Our Club has netted
$4,000, part of which will
be put toward a Certificate
of Deposit as part of our
Club’s endowment, and part
of the money will be used to
pay for expenses for our
Bani Rotary visitors in
February 2008.
BANI Visit – Bruce
provided the Board with a
budget of expenses the Club
is expected to incur for our
8 visitors from the Rotary
Bani, DR Club. M/S/P to
direct $3,000 for these
expenses. M/S/P will pay for
entrance fees (such as the
Baltimore Aquarium) and
meals for our Club members
who accompany the Bani
visitors. We are looking for
a van to drive for a day
trip to Washington, D.C.
and/or possibly to Arundel
Mills.
Leadership: Cal
reports wishing to fill the
officer positions, that
is,the President,
Vice-President
(President-elect),
Treasurer, and Secretary. In
addition, he will ask others
to serve as a Chair for each
activity the Club plans
rather than to serve as lane
Directors. The events he has
in mind are the Wounded
Warrior guest bartending,
the Book Fair, The
Dictionary Project, Bani and
the Bull Roast.
President-elect’s Report:
Cal has considered whether
to renew our agreement with
Café On The Grove. Richard
will solicit a proposal. Cal
visited Paradise In a Tea
Cup, ? or its successor, and
asked for a proposal. 36 can
be seated at the PITC
because they no longer sell
the kitschy stuff.
President’s Report:
George spoke with Charm City
and asked for a proposal to
run the 5 K for us in the
fall. St. Agnes will help
next year; but they are
looking to cut back their
volunteer hours. St. Agnes
will help us get sponsors,
for example.
Secretary’s Report:
The Secretary need not take
extensive meeting minutes,
although they are
appreciated. Abbreviated
minutes are acceptable.
Respectfully submitted,
Susan Souder, Secretary
Return to top of page
Club Meeting January 23
ROTARY CLUB
MINUTES, Catonsville Sunrise –
January 23, 2007
President George
Brookhart opened the meeting.
Ed Tolzman gave
the Inspiration
11 members were
present, plus guest Christin
O’Farell of the St. Agnes
Foundation.
New
Business:
Happy
Dollars:
-
Richard Hiteshew gave a
happy dollar for his car
finally getting repaired.
-
Tom Medicus gave a happy
dollar for St. Joseph’s
victory in basketball.
-
Russ Witzke have a happy
dollar in appreciation of
Richard Hiteshew’s letter to
the Catonsville Times reviewing Rotary events of
the past year.
-
Susan Souder (The Right
Hon.) gave a happy dollar in
appreciation for the good
recovery of her father from
triple bypass surgery in
Sacramento, Calif. (from
whence she returned this
week).
-
Bruce Vandervort gave a
happy dollar in appreciation
of George Brookhart’s first
meeting presiding over the
Catonsville Chamber of
Commerce as President.
-
Richard Hiteshew gave a
happy dollar to note the
success of his stratagem
using a “Thank you” letter
to the Catonsville Times
for recent coverage as a
means of reviewing recent
Rotary events.
Club
Business Meeting:
-
Bull Roast (BR):
Tickets. Richard Hiteshew
said 360 to 370 tickets have
been sold for the upcoming
Bull Roast, fearing the club
may not reach the goal of
700 tickets. Rather,
scaling back to 550 tickets
may be a more realistic goal
in this year of general
economic downturn (for
instance, the Bull Roast
attracted two title
companies that bought 2
tables to last year’s Roast,
which probably will not
recur this year).
-
BR: Silent Auction.
70 or more items have been
collected. The hope is for
90.
-
BR: Set Up. A UMBC
fraternity (name beyond RH”s
recall) has agreed to
provide set up for the room
at Martin’s West for the
Bull Roast.
-
BR: Help. Rotary
members may enjoy the Roast
and circulate, but should
help with the Silent Auction
and check-out.
-
Treasurer’s Report: Club
Account Richard
reported $1187.00 in the
Club account, with no bills,
but noted the Rotary
District and Rotary
International dues were
coming up (so PAY UP
PROMPTLY, everybody!).
-
Treasurer’s Report:
Rotary Foundation. $24,600 is in the account.
This include $5024 in CD’s
and $9400 in Bull Roast
profits. Of this,
$4900 is
earmarked (to use a hallowed
Congressional budgeting term)
for YMCA, $2000 for needy
projects that come up, $2000 in CD
$1000 for the
Dictionary Project and $400 for the food
ministry (CEAN)
-
International Lane: Bani
Project. Bruce
Vandervort reported that 5
visitors from Bani,
Dominican Republic, will
come in February for the
Bull Roast (down from 7 due
to business and visa
problems). Planning
progresses on the tour for
the visitors. Host families
are needed. Wednesday night
of visitors’ arrival will
see a welcome party hosted
by Steven and Ester Arum, at
which pot luck dishes are
requested. A farewell
dinner will be given for the
visitors on Sunday night,
after touring in Baltimore,
western Maryland and
Washington, D.C.
Bruce
asked members to think about a
June return visit to Dominican
Republic.
-
Book Festival.
Planning proceeds, to
include a symposium for
would-be writers to include
published writers and
publishers Thursday at the
library the week of the
festival. It will be
followed Friday night by the
Book Festival itself with
authors, wine and cheese.
Wine is solicited from
Rotary members, which
succeeded very well last
year. The hope is to sell
200 tickets among all
sources. A used book sale
will take place at Sam’s
Club on weekend after the
Festival, to dispose of the
remainder of used books.
-
Vocational Lane (Cal
Oren). Cal proposed
abolishing the formal “lane”
structure for our club, on
grounds that our projects
are pretty well set already
and members already work in
their areas of project
interest, which perhaps
should each have a chairman
and vice-chairman.
-
George Brookhart discussed
the 5K Race,
concerning who would do a
good job to manage it.
Current City is possibly a
good choice, expressing
interest at a reasonable
price, $6700. Rotary would
still promote the race and
provide volunteers.
-
Membership. George
also spoke to urge members
to redouble efforts to bring
visitors to club meetings to
boost membership.
-
Cal Oren reminded members of
the Glen Burnie Rotary
event Thursday night where
the general commanding Ft.
Meade, whose background is
in military intelligence,
will speak.
50-50
Drawing:
Ed Tolzman (again?) won the
drawing.
The meeting was
closed by President George
Brookhart.
Submitted by Brent
Tolbert-Smith, Assistant Scribe,
1-24-08
Return to top of page
Club Meeting January 30
Meeting minutes
forthcoming...
Return to top of page
