SGR Celebrates Christmas

SGR's Christmas party - held Wednesday, December 12 on the upper floor of the City Art Center on the corner of Main and 100 South - was a fun opportunity for social exchange, music and dancing, good food and fundraising!  Club members and family members were entertained by Jim Coleman who played a guitar solo of his own Christmas song and by the a capella Dixie High School Madrigals, directed by Sheryl (Mrs. Lowry) Snow.  What an outstanding group of young - but polished - vocalists!!!  The silent auction activity and the sale of table top Christmas trees raised about $900 in support of club needs.  The evening concluded with dance lessons - taught by Dan and Cindi Strobell and Phil and Rene Hall - and dancing! Fun, fun, fun . . . and thanks to all who participated and organized the event including Mark Stoddard, Linda Baker, Dan Strobell, Phil Hall and Cindy Loeber.

Dictionary Project Another SGR Success

Seventeen is the number of Washington County public schools receiving Rotary dictionaries in 2012 . . . 67 is the number of 3^rd grade classes visited by enthusiastic Rotarians delivering the books . . .1600 is the number ordered by Reed Noble, chairman of the project again this year . . . and nearly 15,000 is the number of dictionaries distributed to Washington County 3rd graders in the 10-year history of this SGR project! 

Ray Robinson received several “thank you” notes from students at Bloomington Elementary. One student expressed, “Thank you for the Presidents of the United Stats page so we can outsmart mom and dad and family.” Another noted, “it is so so nice for a guy like you tell your member there nice. Thank you your club is nice.” Sally wrote, “I want to be in the Rotary club when I grow up” and Savanna said, “you are the best Rotary club ever,” but the best letter of all was from McCall who wrote, “thank you for my new bich a naire. It will help us all throew life and now we know how to pronounce word’s and I alrete storteb it. You helpt us lrne a lote. You are so nice. I wish I cood tell this in prsen. You rock. I hope I can see you gis ugen.”

Thanks to all club members who “helpt” make this project another SGR success. We “coodn’t” have done it without you “gis (and girls)!”

SGR Supports the Jubilee of Trees

 

SGR made their annual visit to Dixie Regional Medical Center’s Jubilee of Trees on Monday, November 19 for lunch and a fashion show.  Club attendance was down but the spirit of the event made for a pleasant day and the trees were beautiful, as usual.  Thanks to club secretary Richard Isom for making all the necessary arrangements and for those who came out in support of the activity.

Raging Red Entertains SGR

“Not just a program, but a program and a half!!!” 

That’s how members of SGR felt about the musical ability, high energy and spirit of Dixie State College’s “Raging Red” show choir who performed at today's meeting.  Led by an enthusiastic  Choral Director Merilee Webb, the 30-voices of Raging Red – some who had at one time been in detention centers, homeless or who come from families with societal problems – find fun,  camaraderie and a feeling of belonging on the “inviting and unimposing” Dixie State College campus, where a full third of the student body is considered “non-traditional”.  Patterned after the original Dixie College Program Bureau, the group sang with gusto a few new numbers and a few from the days of PB Director Roene DiFiore, inviting Sam McArthur – a former member of the PB – to join them. 

The group – who sing, dance and recruit for the college they love in a variety of settings – has traveled at their own expense to China where they shared their Dixie spirit 9 times before large crowds.

“Thanks for supporting us and our college,” said one member of the choir to those in the club who have given generously to the school  and its programs over the years.  “Dixie lives in us!”

More PHF's Recognized

Today’s meeting of the Rotary Club of St. George included the presentation of Pat Bramlage and Louise Petersen.

For those unfamiliar with the recognition named for Rotary’s founder, it is defined on the RI website as follows:  Anyone who contributes - or in whose name is contributed - a gift of US$1,000 or more to the Annual Programs Fund may become a Paul Harris Fellow. Each new Paul Harris Fellow receives a commemorative certificate, a Paul Harris Fellow pin, and a medallion. Donors are eligible for Paul Harris Fellow recognition when their cumulative giving reaches US$1,000. 

Thanks to Bob Bramlage and Jack Petersen for their generous donations designating their spouses as Paul Harris Fellows, bringing the total of PHF’s to nearly 170!!!

Isom Twins Learn Leadership at RYLA

Kathrine and Rachel Isom, 13-year-old 8^th graders at Dixie Middle School, speak softly – but with obvious enthusiasm – of their mid-September weekend participating in RYLA. 

Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) is a youth leadership training program for young Utahns, usually in the 10th and 11th grades, chosen for their leadership potential to attend an all-expenses-paid camp where they develop and enhance skills through activities conducted in an atmosphere of trust and respect.

The youngest ever RYLA participants, the twin daughters of Richard and Anneliese Isom of St. George call the experience “life-changing” as they develop leadership skills in preparation to help lead the new Interact Club at Dixie Middle School. Interact is a Rotary International sponsored youth service club for 12 – 18 year olds.

The attractive blond teenagers noted the “award” was the chance to take part in the camp held this year at Heber Valley Camp with approximately 130 other teens. Sponsored by Rotary clubs all over Utah, participants also included Rotary youth exchange students from ten countries.

Every RYLA addresses leadership topics taught in a variety of locations, including outdoors in this spectacular autumn mountain setting:

• Fundamentals and ethics of leadership
• Communication skills in effective leadership
• Conflict management and problem solving
• Building self-esteem and self-confidence
• Elements of community and global citizenship
• Rotary's purpose of service to the community, state, nation and the world

What was their best memory of the weekend? Kathrine and Rachel agree the high point for both of them was hearing from motivational speaker Sam Bracken “who was into drugs by the age of 9 and lived with Las Vegas motorcycle gangs but who was able to completely turn his life around because he realized, 'you always have a choice in life!'” Bracken is the author of My Orange Duffel Bag with reference to a time in his life when everything he owned was carried in an orange duffel bag.

The girls were also impressed by Chad Hymas, a young husband and father, left a quadriplegic after a tragic farm accident, the keynote speaker at the conference with a theme of “A Different Kind of HERO (Helping Everyone Reach Out)”

Would they attend again, if the opportunity presented itself? “Absolutely! It was excellent,” the girls exclaim in unison. They plan to return in a few years to serve as RYLA Alumni.

Club Honors 166th PHF

Judy Schofield, wife to Rotarian Rick Schofield, mother of 3 and grandmother to 4, is SGR’s newest Paul Harris Fellow.  The club’s 166^th PHF was honored with the presentation of a certificate signed by RI president Sakuji Tanaka, a lapel pin and a medallion at the Monday, September 10 luncheon meeting. 

When $US1000 is contributed to The Rotary Foundation, a request can be made for recognition as a Paul HarrisFellow. Individuals – whether or not they are Rotarians - can make a personal contribution or the contribution can be from a club, a company or business.