Stafford Rotary

Welcome, Group Study Exchange Team!

Rotary Club of Stafford
April 26, 2006 Meeting

President Randy Burdett presided and welcomed Mark Osborn’s guest Greg Hurst and visiting Rotarians: Roy Werner from the Rappahannock Rotary, Lee Pugh from Fredericksburg and Mike Wesson from the Albemarle County.

Quiz:
This was a trick question. The number of Rotary clubs in the world is listed on the left-hand column of each bulletin. These statistics are updated quarterly by Rotary International. There are 32,462 Rotary clubs in the world as of December 31, 2005.


Announcements:
Brenda Gibbs reminded everyone of the Christmas in April projects starting at 9 am Saturday.
Joan presented a Paul Harris Fellowship to Sandy Pratt in honor of her father.
Ann and Shirley reminded everyone about Relay for Life on May 20. We need walkers, donors and raffle ticket buyers and sellers. Our goal is $11,000. So far we’ve only raised a bit more than $1,000.
Carole Green reminded us of the visit from the GSE Team from Poland scheduled for May 3.
Program:
Richard Lyall delighted us with a classification talk that described the many interesting twists and turns on his career path that started at age 12 with a dry cleaning delivery service. His company provides RV service to fifteen campgrounds, dog shows, horse shows and many individual customers. Richard told us some amusing stories about people’s use and misuse of their Rvs.

Are You Reading the Bulletin?
When was the Rotary Club of Stafford chartered?
The answer can be found on our club blog http://www.staffordrotary.blogspot.com/

New Member Corner

Group Study Exchange

One of the most popular programs of The Rotary Foundation is Group Study Exchange. Since the first exchange between districts in California and Japan in 1965, the program has provided educational experiences for more than 44,500 business and professional men and women who have served on about 9,000 teams.


The GSE program pairs Rotary districts to send and receive study teams. Since 1965, almost US$79.5 million has been allocated by The Rotary Foundation for Group Study Exchange grants. One of the attractive features of GSE is the opportunity for the visiting team members to meet, talk, and live with Rotarians and their families in a warm spirit of friendship and hospitality. In addition to learning about another country through visits to farms, schools, industrial plants, professional offices, and governmental establishments, the GSE team members serve as ambassadors of goodwill. They interpret their home nation to host Rotarians and others in the communities they visit. In recent years, teams of a single vocation or cultural group have been exchanged. Some GSE teams help create humanitarian projects between their countries. Many of the personal contacts blossom into lasting friendships.

Truly, the Group Study Exchange program has provided Rotarians with a most enjoyable, practical, and meaningful way to promote world understanding.


Happy Cup

PDG Sandy was happy that old members have returned. She congratulated us for achieving 100% sustaining members of the Rotary Foundation.

Brenda had her children visiting.

Karen said she was happy that Jeff left early so she wouldn’t get into trouble for talking.

Mark Steele announced a golf tournament for May 18. The Colonial Forge High Interact Club has raised $1,200 for Relay for Life.

Shirley related what a great success Camp RYLA was. 41 teens attended, five sponsored by Stafford Rotary. Three Rotaractors from UMW served as counselors.
She met a law professor from UVA who is willing to help sponsor the UVA Rotaract Club. She told our visitor from the Albemarle Rotary to see her after the meeting to talk about starting an Interact Club in Charlottesville.
Shirley praised Kristen Ryan’s great success with the fundraiser for the orphanage in Honduras. The UMW students raised $120,000.

Mike W. said he was happy to be a new member.

Mary was happy that old members have returned. She talked about how difficult her trip to Canada for her son-in-law’s sentencing was.

What Are You Reading?

Past RI Director Lynn Hammond was the RI President Karl-Wilhelm’s representative at the District 7610 Conference. He recommended and talked about the book Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community by Robert D. Putnam. He related this important study to the problems Rotary clubs encounter in increasing their membership. Here’s what Publishers’ Weekly said about this book:
In this alarming and important study, Putnam, a professor of sociology at Harvard, charts the grievous deterioration over the past two generations of the organized ways in which people relate to one another and partake in civil life in the U.S. For example, in 1960, 62.8% of Americans of voting age participated in the presidential election, whereas by 1996, the percentage had slipped to 48.9%. While most Americans still claim a serious "religious commitment," church attendance is down roughly 25%-50% from the 1950s, and the number of Americans who attended public meetings of any kind dropped 40% between 1973 and 1994. Even the once stable norm of community life has shifted: one in five Americans moves once a year, while two in five expect to move in five years. Putnam claims that this has created a U.S. population that is increasingly isolated and less empathetic toward its fellow citizens, that is often angrier and less willing to unite in communities or as a nation. Marshaling a plentiful array of facts, figures, charts and survey results, Putnam delivers his message with verve and clarity. He concludes his analysis with a concise set of potential solutions, such as educational programs, work-based initiatives and funded community-service programs, offering a ray of hope in what he perceives to be a dire situation.

Christmas in April – A Note from Brenda

Thanks to all for your hard work this weekend -- the families we helped were so very happy with the help we extended them. I would like to have a list of the teens/tweens that helped out at the Woodbridge house in Vista Woods....Mark Steele/Rusty Cowper/Karen McCormack-can you help? I want to send them a thank you note.

Joan McLaughlin was really handy with a rake and weed-whacker....Mark Smith, you're the best I've seen with a power-washer. Maybe you can tell the Club about your new game (1000 - screw pickup!!) and Ann Smith -- I hope you didn't get "planters" warts from planting those azaleas! Randy, thanks for helping out with the cabinets.....maybe you can hook me up with one of those "stud" finders!!!! HA!
Many, many Thanks to all who participated -- this was truly a day of Service Above Self!!!
Brenda

Now here’s a note from Nelda – Did anyone take pictures of Christmas in April? If so, please email your pictures to me at nmohr@crrl.org.

Four Way Test Essay Contest Winners

1st place - Angela Pineda, sponsored by the West Springfield Club.
2nd place - Jeff Sinclair, sponsored by the Reston Club
3rd place - Hutch Vivian, sponsored by the Stafford Club.

The winners and their families attended the District Conference on Saturday morning for the awards presentation and then joined us for lunch. The winning essay was read at District Conference.

The judges were: John McCauley of the Charlottesville Club, Alan Mayer of the Annandale Club and the following members of West Springfield Rotary, Nell Cordick, Bob Saint, Pat Barney and Larry and Carolyn Leonard.

Congratulations to all the winners, and especially to Hutch Vivian. Special thanks go out to Nicolette Ward for all her work in putting the Essay contest together and all the volunteers that made it possible.


Weekly Rotary Foundation Thought

This week’s Rotary Foundation Thought is about the tremendous success our Rotary Foundation has experienced over the past few years. At the end of the fiscal year 2003, our Foundation ranked 96th out of the top 400 most successful U. S. charities by the Chronicle of Philanthropy, a prestigious publication. This was the first time our Foundation has been included in the top 100. That year, we raised over $133 million, largely due to the Polio Eradication effort. The past two years, The Rotary Foundation has set new giving records for the Annual Programs Fund, increasing from $55 million in 2002-2003, to nearly US$85 million in 2004-2005. This year’s annual giving goal of $105 million is within reach.
Although the numbers are impressive, when you make your gift to The Rotary Foundation – just think about all the people you are helping. That’s the most satisfying aspect to our success.

Nutritional education inspires volunteerism: A Foundation matching grant allowed Rotarians in the Philippines to launch a dietary campaign geared toward local youngsters in Mandaluyong City. Through the program, Rotarians from the Rotary Club of Mandaluyong are improving the daily nutrition of underprivileged students by ensuring they receive a healthy breakfast. Proper nourishment allows students to focus on their studies rather than their stomachs.

Other Dates to Remember

May 20 –Relay for Life

June Is- Rotary Fellowships Month

June 2—Installation Banquet

June 11-1April, 2006- Rotary International Annual Convention, Malmö, Sweden and Copenhagen, Denmark

June 25
District Awards Banquet

DATE SETUP TAKE DOWN GREETER
May 3 Mike Torosian Sandra Duckworth Mark Smith Shirley Heim

May 10 Sandy Pratt Fred Donahoe Mary Rose Carlos Melendez Keith Dudley

May 17 Mark Steele Carol Foley Ann Smith Chris Franklin Elaine Farmer

May 24 Karen McCormack T Campbell Brenda Gibbs Robin Sutton Aric Wagner

May 31 John Lafley Ann Troung Kathy Belcher Tim Baroody Eric Widener

Upcoming Programs

May 3—Group Study Exchange Team

May 10– Robin Sutton, Classification Talk

May 17— Speaker of the House Bill Howell.

June 7 -Janice Lancaster of the Image Studio.

June 14— " Sabine", a motivational speaker and singer who won the Chamber of Commerce Entrepreneur of the Year award in 2004.

June 21 - Martha Crimmons, owner of the Spooner House bed and breakfast.

June 28— Tracy Coleman, cake designer and owner of Let Them Eat Cake