The Rotary Club of Catonsville - Sunrise, Maryland

Club Meeting Mar 11

ROTARY CLUB MINUTES, Catonsville Sunrise – March 11, 2009

Cal Oren gave an inspiration.
Pres. Cal Oren opened the meeting.
Steve Arum gave a Rotary moment.
Guests were Joe Mahew and Rebecca Paris, both members of the Catonsville High School Debate Team, brought by Karen Paris.

Announcements:
• Guest Bartending – George Brookhart discussed another Guest Bartending event scheduled May 28 at Dimitri’s to benefit the Wounded Veterans.
• .Book Fair – Bruce VanderVort said tickets would soon be available for the Book Fair. Author’s Night will be Friday, April 24.
• Dictionary Project – Cal Oren has received “thank you’ notes from students at Relay Elementary School who received our dictionaries and passed some around.
• Guest Bartending Proceeds – Cal Oren presented a check representing the proceeds of the recent Guest Bartending event at Dimitri’s, $800 as the scribbler dimly recalls, to Joe Mahew and Rebecca Paris (Karen’s daughter) for expenses of the Catonsville High Debate Team incurred in its competitions.

Happy Dollars:
• Brent Tolbert-Smith gave a dollar in recognition of earlier discussion about the discovery of new numbers of a higher order to commemorate a remarks by former Senate Minority Leader Everett Dirksen (R - Ill) in the ‘50’s & 60’s, who said that a billion dollars here and a billion dollars there soon added up to real money (at a time when the national budget was on the order of a mere $150 billion or so).
• Tom Medicus – gave a dollar to relate how his eye glasses were broken but repaired for free at Catonsville Optical.
• Karen Paris – gave dollars in appreciation for Guest Bartending night with proceeds going to the debate team and for the women’s Expo at the community college at Catonsville.
• Susan Souder – gave a dollar to note son Kyle’s last college Spring Break.
• Bruce VanderVort – gave a dollar in anticipation of his upcoming short vacation to Key Largo, Florida and other points.

Speaker: Dave Weathington, Classification Talk

Dave hails from central Virginia just south of Richmond-Petersburg, attended Notre Dame majoring in literature and psychology and received professional training as a Clinical Psychotherapist at Loyola College in Baltimore, where he met his wife.

Their first house was in Catonsville. He worked in direct care at Villa Maria, a residential facility for troubled youth in Lutherville for two years, then as a therapist, and finally in group therapy in private practice.

David became a utilization manager for psychological services at Cigna Health Corporation and worked on clinical program development. He returned to school to earn an MBA from Johns Hopkins focused on health care management.

He presently lives with his wife and daughter in Oak Forest and has a new position at Bravo Health Insurance developing commercial Medicare programs.

50-50: Steve Arum won the drawing.

The meeting was closed by Pres. Cal Oren

Submitted by Brent Tolbert-Smith, Scribbler
3-17-09
Return to top of page

Club Meeting Mar 18

ROTARY CLUB & BOARD MINUTES, Catonsville Sunrise – March 18, 2009

Tom Medicus greeted one and all
Joe Loverde gave an inspiration and a Rotary Moment concerning the great work the small Bonds Meadow Rotary does with its 500 Motherhood kits for the Congo
Pres. Cal Oren opened the meeting.
Alan Ray was a “guest’, with 14 members.

Announcements:

• Book Festival – Bruce Vandervort discussed the events for the last weekend of April. A volunteer will be needed to take over the festival for next year.
• Catonsville Friday Nights – Eric Lamb discussed the vent going to 12 consecutive Fridays this year starting at 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., from June 19 until September 4. Our club should consider obtaining a concession for the event, such as a beer and wine permit. This would entail county permission, obtaining a vendor with a truck, fencing and security. Towson Rotary has been very successful with such a concession at a like event in Towson, making several thousand dollars on each occasion.

Happy Dollars:
• Chuck Gailunas - Ran a St. Patrick’s Day 5K and proposed to his fiancée at the end. She said yes (we won’t make a crack about being too out of breath to say no – no really, congratulations to all parties involved!).
• Tom Medicus – Detailed his training for the upcoming marathon he will run (walk?) for charity.
• Larry Aaronson – Praised Tonie Manning of the Catonsville Candlelight evening club, who ran the Rotary Booth at the recent Women’s Exposition at the community college in Catonsville.
• Joe Loverde – Was driven to Weight Watchers after stepping on the scales recently, losing 6 pounds in less than a week. He also noted the success of his daughter at Social Security, advancing to GS-14, Section Chief, in a very short time (the genes for success seem to run in the family).
• Brent Tolbert-Smith – Noted his youngest son’s performance with his band at Blues Alley in Chicago, a noted Chicago jazz club.

Speaker: Megan Guthrie, Executive Director of Night of Peace.

Night of Peace is a temporary overnight shelter for homeless families in the west Baltimore County area, operating from Salem United Methodist Church at the juncture of North Rolling Road and Windsor Mill Road. It has a capacity for 28 persons, including children, and is almost always full, especially in the colder months. Referrals usually come from the Department of Social Services.

It offers privacy by means of cubicles for four and sleeping on air mattresses. Doors open at 4:00 p.m. and clients must leave by 8:00 a.m. Supper and breakfast are provided free of charge.

The organization has an annual budget of $190,000. Funding comes from businesses like State Farm Insurance and area churches, currently 10, mostly Methodist, with two Baptist.

50-50: Joe Loverde won the drawing (contrary to reports from this source, Steve Arum did NOT win the drawing last week, but Cal Oren).

The meeting was closed by Pres. Cal Oren

ROTARY CLUB BOARD MEETING – MARCH 18, 2009

The monthly board meeting followed the club meeting.
President Cal Oren, Vice-President Joe Loverde, Treasurer Bruce VanderVort, Secretary Brent Tolbert-Smith and Member Eric Lamb attended.
Bruce VanderVort presented the Treasurer’s Report.
The balance of the meeting involved discussion about the possibility of operating a fund-raising concession at this year’s Catonsville Friday Nights, specifically focused on beer and wine sales and the requirements for such an operation. The consensus was to pursue this option.

Submitted by Brent Tolbert-Smith, Scribbler
3-19-09

Return to top of page

Club Meeting Mar 25

ROTARY CLUB MINUTES, Catonsville Sunrise – March 25, 2009

John Monck greeted one and all.
Tom Medicus gave an inspiration.
John Monck gave a Rotary moment concerning a club in East Lansing that focused on provided school back packs and food for needy children
Pres. Cal Oren opened the meeting.

Guests were Susan Souder’s father, Ralph Souder and Gary Burnhart from the Catonsville Men’s Civic Association. 15 members were present.

Announcements:

• Catonsville July 4 Parade – Gary Burnhart promoted the Men’s Civic Association fundraising for the parade by renting stadium-style bleachers along the parade route, which also feature a raffle for seats. The Sunrise Rotary club is a free sponsor in return for insurance help.

Happy Dollars:
• Tom Medicus is in trouble with authorities again for promoting the notion of the Civil War as the “War of Northern Aggression” with his grandson (hmm – seems to have forgotten who fired on Fort Sumpter).
• .Rosemary Wright promoted member purchase of Rotary shirts.
• Joe Loverde shared the acquisition of a new puppy by his granddaughter Jessica in Las Vegas, his progress in losing weight (6 lbs.) through Weightwatchers and the value of Rogaine for hair loss.
• Susan Souder noted the cost of a recent racquetball victory, being struck (accidentally we assume) with a racquet (otherwise we can expect a battery charge to be brought).

Club Business:

• Guest Bartending – Another Guest Bartending event is scheduled for Wednesday, April 29 at Dimitri’s, to benefit the Lazarus Caucus for the homeless. The following month, May 28, another evening of libation is planned to benefit Disabled Sports.

• Book Festival – Bruce VanderVort called for a Rotary club member to volunteer to serve on the Book Festival board, which is now primarily run by Friends of the Library. He reiterated the events of the festival, the Thursday evening seminar on poetry writing, Friday’s Author’s Wine and Cheese Book Signing (tickets $20), the Saturday used book sale at Sam’s Club. Proceeds will benefit the Catonsville Library (Friends of the Library, 50%), Rotary Club (25%) and Catonsville High School literary magazine, The Ellipsis (25%). The event raised $2500 last year, of which Rotary received $700.

• Dictionary Project – George Brookhart called for volunteers to contact schools to set up distribution dates. The club has received a sponsorship check for $1500 from the Huntington Learning Center.

• Frederick Road Friday Nights – Eric Lamb discussed plans for Rotary involvement in this summer’s events. A beer/wine concession would involve 1-day licenses from Baltimore County and require security and fencing. The event would run from 6:30 – 8:30 p.m. on 12 successive Friday nights, with concession profits projected to be $340 for each night, with 20% going to the Chamber of Commerce.

• 5K Race – Steve Arum noted the need for volunteers to seek sponsors for the September 26 event (Saturday). Ed Tolzman was recognized for his efforts in contacting five Walmarts in the area seeking funding sponsorships. Steve wished members to beware of burning out with labor on the planned Frederick Road Fridays before the 5K Race, which requires a lot of volunteers on race day and is a large fundraising event for the club.

50-50: George Brookhart won the drawing.

The meeting was closed by Pres. Cal Oren

Submitted by Brent Tolbert-Smith, Scribbler
3-27-09

Return to top of page