Vol. 30. No. 27        February 4, 2005          Meeting 1410      Editor: Henry Francis

                              This week’s guest editor:  Jean Patterson


 

 
Today’s program

Welcome Barry Yoakum of  Archimania-Aquariu-Memphis.  Barry will suggest a super way to reinvent the Pyramid and make it a must-see on the list of major tourist attractions in the Memphis metropolitan area.  Project price-tag:  $65 million and worth it!


Future programs

February 11:  Scott Shepard:   Memphis Business Journal and author of Street Talk

February 18: Annual joint meeting of the Memphis Central Rotary Club and the Air Force Association.  Jerry Daws serves as this program’s coordinator.

Upcoming events

Potential dates for our club’s annual golf tournament are April 4, 5, 6, 7.  This event is one of our two top-fund raisers held during the year to raise money for the Scholarship Fund.

The Character Achievement Awards program is scheduled for Friday, April 15th.  This very special program occurs annually.  The CAA committee members work hard following an impressive review process to select worthy middle school students to receive this honor.  LeRoy Dahler serves as the committee chair.

April 22-23: The annual District 6800 Conference will take place at the Hilton Hotel, Memphis.  District Governor Dick Wieland, a member of our club, is conference chairman with the Rotary Club of Memphis Central serving as the host club.  All club members are urged to commit to attend at least a portion of the conference.  This is the time to learn more about the Rotary organization and especially what clubs within our District are doing to promote the ideals of Rotary, not only on a local basis but also world-wide.
Our club is in charge of the administration of the District silent auction fund-raiser to be held on Saturday, April 23.  Jean Patterson has agreed to chair the auction.  She’ll need assistance from fellow club members to make this auction as successful as the one held in Oxford, Miss. in 2004.  (Jean chaired that auction, too.  She is considering going into the silent auction business when she retires from managing the world of duplicate bridge!)  Proceeds from the District’s silent auction are earmarked for the Rotary International Foundation.
May 5-7:  GSE Team from Nottingham, UK will visit the Memphis area.  Rotarian families are needed to handle local hosting duties.  Please consider volunteering to serve as a host during the team’s stay.
President David says, “this spring we have a full table of activities to coordinate and participate in, so we ask that everyone pick one or more activity and get personally involved.”



Last week’s meeting

President David Luiken asked Chris McDermott to offer the prayer and lead us in the pledge of allegiance.  
John May introduced our visitors and guests, including Ben Field, guest of Bert Canfield; Rev. Bill Candle, pastor of Berclair Baptist Church and Frank Holderfield, guests of Floyd McDaniel; and Montie Hart, guest of Jerry Daws.
Treasurer Bill Eddings sold $72.00 worth of raffle tickets.  Pedro Fernandez held the winning ticket for half the money.  Thanks, Pedro, for giving your share of the winnings to the club for our Scholarship Fund.
Carlton Smith continues to quietly go about the business of being a good sergeant at arms.  Carlton practices Rotary’s Four-Way Test as exemplified last week when he put himself on the wheel for forgetting to wear his Rotary pin.  Joining Carlton on the wheel was John May.  They paid $3.00 each for rule infractions and missed meetings.  
President David reminded these members to bring a guest to the meeting on Friday, January 28: Doyle Lemons, Jean Patterson, Marty Petrusek, Randolph Reeves and Mike Robbins.

Do you know a high school junior who would be interested in attending the upcoming District Youth Leadership Conference?    The conference will be held from March 31 to April 3 at the Whispering Woods Conference Center in Olive Branch, Miss. Our club will sponsor three deserving students.  We’ll pay conference fees and provide transportation for the students to and from the conference site.  Please submit names for consideration to President David within the next several weeks.
Bert Kelley, director of public relations, MIFA (Metropolitan Inter-Faith Association) was the guest speaker.  Bert shared an interesting story about his first contact with the Rotary organization.  He was a member of a GSE team sponsored by a Rotary Club in Alabama.  The GSE team traveled to South Africa where they were riding in a van across the vast bush area.  This was a long journey so the members of the team soon became drowsy and began nodding off to sleep.  Suddenly, they were jarred awake when the driver of the van slammed on the brakes to avoid hitting a giraffe!  There was good news and bad news.  The good news was despite enduring the impact of the direct hit with the giraffe neither the passengers in the vehicle nor the giraffe were injured.  The bad news was that the impact of the collision resulted in all the windows in the van being broken out with glass scattering everywhere.
 The Metropolitan Inter-Faith Association (MIFA) serves approximately 60,000 people each year and consists of 20 social service programs. The organization is headquartered at 910 Vance Ave. in the city's poorest zip code, 38126. Besides the main building, MIFA employees and volunteers work from several satellite locations in Memphis-Shelby County and surrounding areas.
            MIFA obtains 60 percent of its funding from private sources and 40 percent from public sources. Donations of time, leadership, service and dollars from individuals and community groups are critical to MIFA’s success.
            MIFA was created in 1968 after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in Memphis during the sanitation workers' strike. The civil unrest that lead to the strike, and Dr. King's tragic death, prompted religious and lay leaders to address the city's economic and cultural disparities by forming MIFA. Their vision was to create an organization through which people could put their faith into action.
        MIFA’s “Meals on Wheels” is the most widely recognized program under its umbrella.  Every day volunteers deliver 3,100 meals to senior citizens in the Memphis metropolitan area.  The largest percentage of  MIFA’s annual donations are received through direct mail campaigns.  In recent years the development officers on the MIFA staff have been able to leverage $4 million in donations received from the community into $12 million for the annual budget..
The MIFA mission statement: We change our community by changing lives.
 

Centennial Convention
 
Rotary’s Centennial will be celebrated this year from June 18-22 in Chicago,  where Rotary got its start. This is an excellent opportunity for our members to get involved on the international level.
         Vice President Jean Patterson is willing to assist anyone who wants more  information and who wants to make a reservation. You can reach Jean at 332-5586,  ext. 1295 or email her at jean.patterson@acbl.org  


Nearby club meetings

Monday
No meetings close to Memphis.
Tuesday
Collierville – Noon, Ridgeway Country Club
Memphis – Noon, Cook Convention Center
Olive Branch – Noon, Olive Branch Country Club
Wednesday
Memphis East – Noon, Racquet Club
Germantown – Noon, Germantown Country Club
Thursday
Bartlett/Cordova –
Noon, Colonial Country Club
*Millington/North Shelby – Noon, Old Timers Restaurant
Southaven – Noon, Boiling Point Restaurant
Friday
No meetings close to Memphis.

*new club



 

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