St. George Rotary Club celebrates milestones in fight to kill Polio

St. George Rotary Club President, Linda Baker, is shown next to a poster used to track funding toward the club's PolioPlus assessment following the Club Assembly on Monday, January 30. The club surpassed their assessment raising $10,483.95.

St. George, Utah — During their quarterly Club Assembly, members of the St. George Rotary Club celebrated local and international milestones in the fight to eradicate polio. Locally, the club marked fulfillment of their obligation to raise $200 million in funds as part of two challenge grants totaling $355 million from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to Rotary International.

The club raised $10,483.95 toward the effort since 2008 and surpassed their assessment of $10,036.05 well before the June 30 deadline.

St. George Rotary Club presents awards for distinguished service to youth

Dr. Allen Hilton (left) and Eldon McArthur (right) receive their Cliff Dochterman Award medals and certificates while Linda Baker (right), club president reads the letter of citation honoring them for their service.

St. George, Utah — Dr. Allen Hilton and Eldon McArthur, members of the St. George Rotary Club, were presented with the Cliff Dochterman Award on Monday, January 30 in a ceremony conducted at the quarterly Club Assembly of the St. George Rotary Club.

The Cliff Dochterman Award is Rotary’s highest award for service to youth through the Boy Scouts of America. The presentation is made by local Rotary clubs to recognize members who perform outstanding service to youth as volunteer scouting leaders.

The award was presented by Linda Baker, president, who cited Mr. McArthur’s decades of distinguished service to youth in numerous positions and Dr. Hilton’s numerous years serving youth in unit, district and sector volunteer positions.

SGR welcomes 2011-12 club leadership

The St George Rotary Club is pleased to welcome our 2011-12 President Linda Baker and our Board Members Phil Hall, Durant McArthur, Grant Carter(Past President), Jenny McDowell, Janet O'Riley, Lowry Snow, Richard Isom, Ken Seefeld.

This year promises to be an enriching year filled with service, to include community and international projects, youth activities and our continued support of Rotary International. 

The St. George Rotary Club was established and chartered in 1931 to further the advancement of international understanding, goodwill, and peace through a world fellowship of business and professional persons united in the ideal of service. Our St. George Rotary Club continues to attract an amazing group of people who give their time and talents to benefit those less fortunate.

Service Above Self is the Rotary Motto.  If you would like more information about the St. George Rotary Club, please visit our website at http://www.stgeorgerotary.org    meetings are held every Monday at 12 noon at the Lexington Hotel.

(as published in St. George Area Chamber Business News 7/19/2011)

Letter from PDG Penny Atkinson

I just wanted to thank everyone for the honor of being your District Governor this year. WOW! You have all been the most incredible Rotarians in the entire world and you can be so proud of the accomplishments you have made to make this world a better place. Thank you for all your support! I know I have just been the "cheerleader" and you've made it all happen, but I felt your commitment and support and I can't tell you how much I appreciated that.

Just to let you know some of the things you have accomplished:

• You paid off our Polio commitment a full year ahead of schedule (that was about $175,000) and you did it with community and youth involvement so all the money did not have to come out of YOUR pockets!!! (thanks to all those who did the Torch Run and Pinkies for Polio which helped bring in a significant portion of the $175,000)
• You accomplished getting the EREY per capita for the entire District above $100, even with all the Polio $$$ you raised. (RI is saying some of the monies won't be accounted for until mid-July so we will be well above the $100 mark)
• This means in DGNN, Steve Skinner's year as District Governor our District will have money for District and Global Grants available.
• You turned around our membership downward trend over the past 5 years. Not only was our base membership UP but two new clubs chartered (Northern Wasatch Front and Pleasant Grove) which will put us above the 1800 mark for the first time in 3 years!!!!! WAY TO GO.....keep that going for Rick's year.
• You added 13 new Interact Clubs and one new Rotaract Club. Everyone one of those Interact Clubs were formed by last year's RYLA participants. WOW can't you just feel the energy!!!!
• You helped send over 90 Interactors and Rotaractors along with their leaders to Mexico to do an International Project. They all came back ready to do more humanitarian work to make this wold a better place!!! Thanks to Mike Wells and the Youth Committee....they created miracles. Visit thier Facebook to see what they accomplished. www.facebook.com/utahinteract
• You supported Trent Colvin and PDG Gil Trujillo's idea of the "License Plate Program" to support Youth Rotary Programs. This will be a huge help to fund our Rotary Youth many years into the future. Make sure you order yours now if you haven't already!!!
• I COULD GO ON FOREVER.....

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for enriching my life and being such an inspiration to me. You have made miracles happen and I know there will be even more to come after tomorrow when District Governor Rick Cambra takes the helm! I know you will give him the same support and commitment you gave me and as a result will continue to make Rotary

BIGGER, BETTER AND BOLDER

YIRS

Penny Atkinson, DG 5420

100 Years of Service in Utah

Update from Georgetown - Linda Sappington finds a Rotary Club

In December, I left the warmth and friendship of RI Club #1079 / District 5420 - the Rotary Club of St. George (the original Washington County club chartered January 1931 with a current membership of 66). In July, in the usual spirit of this international service club, I found the same warmth and friendship in Club #6810 / District 7030 - the Rotary Club of Georgetown (the original club in Guyana chartered May 1959 with a current membership of 68)!


Read Linda's full post on her blog. Congratulations Linda on finding a club to join while you are away from us. We look forward to your return.

New Club Facebook Page

First, my apologies. I (Richard) have never been a great blogger. I have always been much better at social media like Facebook. I will do better though to keep this up-to-date for those who rely on it with posts about our weekly meetings.

We have had a Facebook presence as a club for some time now. It was a group and Facebook is changing things. I have put together a Facebook Page that will provide a fun place for us to connect and share on Facebook. You can connect by clicking "Like" when you visit our Facebook Page. I have posted photos there from our GSE BBQ last Wednesday.

I will regularly post photos on this Facebook page and will also post our club events there as well as on our club website.

SGR tours AllConnect with Rotary friends from Canada

It was an exciting week for SGR as we gathered with our Rotary friends from Canada at the Five County Association of Governments offices for lunch before our tour of AllConnect. We had with us members of the Lethbridge, Lethbridge Sunrise, Grand Prairie, Grand Prairie Sunrise, and Grand Prairie Swan City clubs. It was a packed room with 46 in attendance. In honor of our guests, we sang three songs to open the meeting including "My Country 'Tis of Thee," "O Canada," and to properly welcome them, we finished with "Are You From Dixie?" to provide a proper St. George welcome.

After finishing our opening and enjoying some socialization over boxed lunches, we headed across the parking lot for our vocational tour of AllConnect.

We gathered outside their front entrance where we received an overview of the company before being divided into two more manageable groups for the facility tour.

AllConnect provides consultative services to help customers have a one-stop shop for setting up their utilities including phone, internet, and TV. There is no cost to the customer as the utilities pay a commission to AllConnect.

AllConnect focuses on helping the customer choose the right service for their needs. Power companies sign-up with AllConnect to work with their customers because they have found it increases customer satisfaction by providing convenience and knowledge about the various options for TV, phone, and internet.

Our Rotary friends from Canada were passing through on their way to Mexico to deliver fire and rescue vehicles and busses. This is their annual humanitarian international project. This is the second year we have enjoyed having them join us during their journey and we look forward to many more.

As they prepare to leave, we get a look at the vehicles they are delivering.