Farewell to Summer Rotary Family Party

On the beautiful summer evening of Monday, September 14, 2015, SGR members and their families gathered at the amazing home of Phil and Renee Hall for pizza, swimming and socializing while the sky tried to decide if it wanted to rain or shine.  In true Rotary spirit, those who showed up for the first party of the new Rotary year, came prepared for fun and friendship.  Thanks to all who had a part in this great social event.

YouthLinc Meets SGR

TODAY IN ROTARY Terance White presented a check to Kris Neal in the amount of $425.  These funds, in support of her feral cat program, were raised during May 2015 Horseplay.  Reed Noble noted receipt of a report from the Washington County School District showing 1627 3^rd graders in the 18 schools where we deliver dictionaries. As such, the price tag on this year's project will be $4200.

Today’s speaker was Heather Rogers, Asst. Operations Manager and Community Liaison from YouthLinc, the non-profit organization, which since 1999 has been working to create lifetime humanitarians of young people, ages 15 to graduate students, through local and international service in 7 countries.  In its 16 years of operation, YouthLinc has had 2250 students involved in its 9 month program and who have provided more than 150,000 hours of service in Cambodia, Thailand, Guatemala, Kenya, Nepal, Peru and this year adding Madagascar.  Through a holistic community development approach focusing on access to education, access to capital, the ability to keep families healthy and the ability to generate income – and in a strong partnership with Rotary’s District 5420 – YouthLinc committees spend approximately 6 months each year planning service projects and fundraising for their travel experience in June or July. 

How can members of SGR help this program and its participants succeed? 

·               support a young humanitarian

·               partner on an international project

·               serve as a mentor to a team

For more information, see www.youthlinc.org on the internet.

District 5420's Governor and First Lady Visit SGR

Today in Rotary, District 5420’s Governor Glade Hamilton and his wife Vicki shared their enthusiasm for Rotary principles and programs, including Polio Plus.  According to the First Lady of District 5420, there were 350,000 cases of polio diagnosed in the world every week in 1985 – the year Rotary International jumped into the fray.  Today, in all of 2014, there were only 29 cases diagnosed.

DG Glade introduced this year’s theme … “Be A Gift to the World”, shared experiences relating to the Teton Dam disaster in his home town of Sugar City, ID and other stories of heroism.  He noted Rotary gives us all an opportunity to give back, to be heroes, to promote world understanding, strengthen our family, expand business opportunities, grow professionally and be a unifying influence in the world. 

He reminded members of this year’s district goals, including 200 kids to RYLA, grow membership, increase giving to TRF, and encourage attendance at district level events (i.e., District conference and district assemblies).

SGR’s goals for RY2015-16 include:

·               sending 5 youth and 2 facilitators to RYLA

·               add 12 new members

·               donate $11,100 to TRF (not including polio plus)

·               send 13 members to district assembly, and ….

·               32 to the district conference

Speaking of the District Conference, it will be held May 5-7 in “beautiful Cedar City.”

SGR Visits McArthur Jewelers

Members of SGR "rotated" to McArthur Jewelers where Rotarian and owner Tom McArthur shared a little of the history of the company his father started in 1950. The "meeting" part of the meeting was held in the Old Theater next-door where a lunch of pizza, salad, drinks and cupcakes from Twenty-five Main was enjoyed by all.  Also present were Ken and Arda Molen, she who has single-handedly created "hundreds of t-shirt dresses" for distribution to little girls in 3rd world countries - most recently in Puerto Penasco, Mexico.

New Members, Finances and "Know Yer Ro"

New members (from left)  Larry Kuehn, Al Rathman (sponsored by
Ray Robinson and Michael Westfall (sponsored by Jim Coleman)

Today in Rotary three new members were inducted.  Left to right new members are Paul Toone with a classification of Mountain Bell Executive (Retd.), Al Rathman sponsored by Ray Robison with a classification of Retired and Michael Westfall sponsored by Jim Coleman and whose classification is District Court Judge.  With these three new faces our membership now totals 73.

Club Treasurer Richard Isom presented the financial report for 2014-15 to the club along with the 2015-16 club budgets. He highlighted how the St. George Rotary Club Foundation, Inc. operates as the project funding and fundraising entity for the club's service activities to provide charitable giving tax benefits to donors and the opportunity to attract donations from outside sources—something that we have been receiving. He gave an overview of the club's financial controls noting that the board approves the annual budget and also approves any expenditure that is not previously approved in the budget; the board reviews detailed financial statements each quarter; and finally, the board conducts a self-audit each year to verify the expenditures are as stated in the financials. He highlighted that the club has healthy financials with good reserves and that the board has been prudent in their financial planning.

Alan Paige shared his life and times in a "Know Yer Ro" presentation, noting he saw a lot of the world before settling on St. George as a place to retire with his wife Sandy.  USAF Col. (Ret.)  Paige ended a 29-year military career in 1998 then taught mathematics at an alternative high school in Peoria IL.  In 2000 he was hired as an exercise planner at Ramstein Air Base in Germany helping to plan military exercises between USAF and NATO personnel in Europe. In 2007 he and Sandra moved to Yorktown VA working for the USAF at Langley AFB before moving back to Ramstein AB for 4 more years prior to retiring again in February, 2013. His military service included tours of duty at Nellis AFB in Las Vegas, Holloman AFB in Alamogordo, New Mexico; George AFB in Victorville, California; Kunsan AB in Korea;  Spandgalhem AB, Germany; Takli AB, Thailand; and ANG assignments in Springfield and Peoria IL.

It was in Peoria, Illinois, where Alan was first introduced to Rotary.  The graduate of Hastings College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in math and physics was a member of the Peoria Rotary Club from 1994 to 2000.  After moving to Yorktown, VA and now fully immersed in the concept of “service above self” he couldn’t find a Rotary club to fit his schedule so joined Kiwanis where he served for two years.  

Alan and Sandy’s three children are scattered around the globe.  Their daughter – a CPA – lives in Chicago.  The couple’s two sons are a Marine stationed near Charleston, South Carolina and an engineer living and working in London.

When it came time to retire, Alan and Sandy whittled their choices down to three locations:  Tennessee, Nebraska or St. George.  Alan now plays lots of golf and looks for opportunities to teach or tutor so he can put his mathematical expertise to good use.

Sherman Speaks on Barn Raising

TODAY AT ROTARY our newest member Tyler Hoskings was inducted by Pdt. Terance White alongside his sponsor Nick Lang, bringing SGR’s current total membership to 72.  Tyler, a civic engineer (with Jones and DeMille) by profession, has a classification of Civil Engineering      and is certain to be a great asset to our club.

Motivational speaker Jeffrey T. Sherman shared his wit and wisdom in helping club members understand their positive traits and talents which can move them forward in life, including Character, Opportunities, Relationships and Education (CORE).  

“I strongly advocate for leaders to draw upon the excellence of those around them to create a cause.  Find the unknown aspirations, the creativity and the life within your company.  Foster a culture of collaboration and thought.  Come together as a company and 'raise a barn.'  People will rally around something in which they believe.”

Sherman also encouraged “brave leaders” to promote from within, learn to listen, provide recognition rather than to seek it, conquer yourself – not to the point of perfection, but to the point of compassion, find out what others aspire to do with their lives and earnestly motivate your team members to accomplish worthy tasks.

For more information on Sherman’s belief in the aspirations of individuals to act as a catalyst for change, call him at 313-3006; by e-mail to jeff@shermanspeaks.com or on the web at www.shermanspeaks.com.

Rotarians at Work

On Saturday, August 1, a dozen SG Rotarians gathered on a beautiful summer morning to work side-by-side for nearly two hours cleaning up a half mile stretch of River Road.  This “service above self” project was the idea of SGR’s new president Terance White, who plans to have a service-project-a-month while he is the club’s top dog.  He even commandeered his wife Tiffany to serve as “chief cook and bottle washer.”  The delicious breakfast she prepared included breakfast cake (also known as baked oatmeal), which she served with cantaloupe and yogurt.

Rotarians reported some interesting finds as they worked to fill eight 55-gallon trash bags, including a baseball, a Christmas stocking, hypodermic needles, sledge hammer, some articles of clothing and a few things which should probably go unmentioned.  Thanks to all who came out … and helped out!