Rotary club members Craig Sorensen and Marty Hatala pose with residents and the first supply of water brought to the village of Adevukope. Read more.
A record-setting year
Owing to the leadership and financial support of Rotarians around the world, 2013-14 was a record-setting year for our Annual Fund. Preliminary results suggest that more than $250 million was contributed to help change lives locally and in communities around the world. Thank you!
Celebrate Membership Month
The following article is excerpted from the RI website.
August is Membership Month, which means it’s time to celebrate your Rotary club, your members, and the good you do in your community and around the world. There are many ways to join in the celebration, but here are a few activities to get you started:
Say it loud, say it proud! Let everyone in your social network know that you are a proud member by changing your Twitter and Facebook profile to the I’m a Proud Member graphic. Copy and save the graphic as your profile picture for August.
We Are Rotary. Using the hashtag #WeAreRotary, post photos to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or Vine of your club members at work in your community or abroad to show how Rotary makes a positive impact in the world.
Making a difference. Rotary clubs are known for the high-impact service projects they undertake locally and globally. Share stories about your service projects and how they improve lives on Rotary Showcase. Be sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to see what Rotary members around the world are doing to celebrate Membership Month.
Do NOT rearrange the furniture
Logistics for our Friday meeting are altered a bit this week. Our meeting room will be arranged to accommodate another event later in the day, and we are not to change the arrangement.
If it is your habit to inhabit a particular space, well, that space may not be available to you, so prepare to be flexible. If it is your habit to relocate the furniture (for whatever reason), prepare to abandon your habit for once.
As you likely know, our meeting space is in property administered by Hill College and Texas Wesleyan University. Those institutions allow us to meet -- without a fee -- and to store the necessary club accouterments, and usually we can setup the room as we need. But not this week.
This week, we will use the room setup as provided. Do NOT move stuff. Please.
Boots on the ground
Saturday morning will find a Rotarian work party busy improving a spot in our community. There will be mowing, trash collection, and general cleanup of an outdoor space, and the party is expected to be over before noon.
Dan Taylor, Community Service Director, identified this community need, and the club's board of directors agreed to address it. You may have seen Dan's photos of the site a few weeks ago.
The party begins at 8 a.m. at Star Bank. From there, the group will caravan to the worksite. Workers should dress for a rugged, outdoor location -- long pants, gloves, boots, etc. Bottled water will be provided.
This will be the second (annual?) event of this type. Last year's cleanup day was coordinated with United Way's Day of Caring, and a dozen or more Rotarians, along with numerous "friends and family of Rotary" took part. It was a wonderful time of fellowship and service. Help make this year's event just as rewarding by spending a little time in Community Service.
Your assignment is . . .
Rotary homework?
President Manuel has assigned each member a month for bringing a guest to the club meeting. He even constructed a nice chart to organize and display the assignments. Do you know what month is yours?
Be sure to do your homework on time! Check the chart, which will be displayed at the weekly meetings. More importantly, begin to identify prospective Rotarians whom you might invite to a meeting. And if your assigned month is not convenient, it is most likely that Manuel will allow you to complete your homework ahead of time.
If your dog eats your homework, you probably did not understand the assignment.
Surely you jest
An elderly woman walked into the local country church. The friendly usher greeted her at the door and helped her up the flight of steps.
"Where would you like to sit?" he asked politely.
"The front row, please," she answered.
"You really don't want to do that," the usher said. "The pastor is really boring."
"Do you happen to know who I am?" the woman inquired.
"No," he said.
"I'm the pastor's mother," she replied indignantly.
"Do you know who I am?" he asked.
"No," she said.
"Good," he answered.
I decided to change calling the bathroom "the John" and renamed it "the Jim". I feel so much better saying I went to the Jim this morning.
An acquaintance wrote:
Two weeks ago was my forty-fifth birthday, and I wasn’t feeling too hot that morning anyway. I went to breakfast knowing my wife would be pleasant and say Happy Birthday, and probably have a present for me.
She didn’t even say Good Morning, alone any Happy Birthday. I thought, Well, that’s wives for you. Maybe the children will remember.
The children came in to breakfast and didn’t say a word.
When I started to the office I was feeling pretty low and despondent. As I walked into my office, my secretary, Janet, said, Good morning boss, Happy Birthday. And I felt a little better; someone had remembered.
I worked until noon. Then Janet knocked on my door and said, You know, it’s such a beautiful day outside and it’s your birthday, let’s go to lunch, just you and me. I said, By George, that’s the best thing I’ve heard all day. Let’s go.
We went to lunch. We didn’t go where we normally go; we went out into the country to a little private place. We had two martinis and enjoyed lunch tremendously.
On the way back to the office, she said, You know, it’s such a beautiful day. We don’t need to go back to the office, do we? I said, No, I guess not. She said, Let’s go to my apartment. After arriving at her apartment she said, Boss, if you don’t mind, I think I’ll go into the bedroom and slip into something more comfortable.
Sure, I excitedly replied. She went into the bedroom and, in about six minutes, she came out carrying a big birthday cake, followed by my wife, children and dozens of our friends. All were singing Happy Birthday and there on the couch I sat… naked.
If it is your habit to inhabit a particular space, well, that space may not be available to you, so prepare to be flexible. If it is your habit to relocate the furniture (for whatever reason), prepare to abandon your habit for once.
