August 9, 2010 Minutes
2009-2010 Club Officers and Directors
Directors:
President ……………………..Martha DavisMartha Davis, Jerry Rankin, Al Dunn,
President Elect …………………...Tom PaulVern Forthun, Charlie Browne, Jamie Milne,
Vice President …………………Jamie MilneRosie Chaloux, Dennis Lamothe, Rob Daniels,
Secretary …………………. Roena WhitehillShellie Wright, Charlie Bucknam, Roena Whitehill,
Treasurer …………………. Dennis LamotheFrank Landry, Tom Paul
Today’s Meeting – August 16, 2010
Today’s Program – John Mitchell, Candidate for Congress
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Secretary’s Corner – Meeting on August 9, 2010
$$ HAPPY FINES $$
Rene Rose- Happy to have received her birthday card from Jim Jung – she knew it was her birthday and gave him a check – noting that it was a pleasure to give money to Rotary International
Jerry Rankin- Paid $2.00 – While at the recent Blood Drive event, he was surprised and delighted to see Ginni Lavely and Anne McClaughry giving blood
- Jerry noted Debbie Bucknam’s comment in the bulletin – from last week’s meeting – and he shared that he is a male chauvinist – and he’s sticking to it.
Liz Farr- Two of her nephews, aged 40 and 37, ran the Ironman contest for the first time – and finished the event, too!
Don Bostic- Happy to have been in Ohio last week for his 55th reunion – where there were “a lot of old people”
Debbie Bucknam- Noted that she was accused of being a female chauvinist by Ed Senecal and that “women are taking over” – Debbie noted that “We need more men!”
Roena Whitehill- Happy to have celebrated her husband’s 50th birthday over the weekend
Jim Jung- Noted Pierre’s recent letter to the editor – regarding “doggie” not “doggie” – congrats to Pierre
Laurie Boswell- Happy about her recent vacation in Eastern Europe in Hungry – where she sought out a Rotary meeting but didn’t make – which is a good thing, it turns out – since many Rotary Clubs there are still all male
Charlie Browne- Happy to have Debbie Bucknam integrate into the Club
- Happy that Jerry Rankin still has room for female chauvinists
Shellie Wright- Confessed that she made the “!” to Debbie’s comment last week
- Happy about her family reunion (crazy carnival) over the weekend
- (?) Yesterday afternoon she took her son Jack to a 4-day event at UVM
Martha Davis- Happy and thankful for all who helped with the Blood Drive
- Noted that Scoop was clapping for Jerry Rankin’s fine
- Happy to have spent the week in NH helping their son build a deck – though they ran into rocks and concrete and 90 degree weather – so didn’t get it all done
Happy Birthday to the following Rotarian -
Rene Rose – July 8
Vern Forthun presented a pen to Roena Whitehill, in continuation of presentations from our Changeover Meeting, thanking her for her efforts and assistance during the past year.
Archie Prevost noted that while he has served as the Chair of our Float Committee for the past several years – for the NEK Chamber of Commerce/Fairbanks Museum Celebration, he has a conflict of interest with the date of the event this year and cannot be at the event. He noted that he is willing to help with the float and to assist a new Chair of the committee – anyone interested should contact Archie. The event is scheduled for Sat., Sept. 18 at 2:00.
Martha Davis reminded everyone of the Pure Water for the World event this fall, that she had announced at last week’s meeting – There will be two groups participating in the event – one group that will be going to Haiti from October 24-30 and one going to Honduras from November 8-13. If you are interested in either event, please let Martha know. The cost is $1,000, not including airfare and you would be working on a project with others and representing the Club.
Martha also reminded everyone of the “Change for Change” jar – into which you can deposit your pocket change, if you wish, each week. At the end of the Rotary year, we will decide where we would like to use the funds.
Martha also noted upcoming speakers:
August 16- John Mitchell
August 23 - District Gov. Bill Thompson
August 30- Peter Welch
Tom Paul gave a “last call” for members of the “losing” team – from our recent membership attendance contest – to pay up. As part of the contest, it was agreed that each member of the losing team would contribute $10.00, which would be pooled and contributed to the St. Johnsbury Senior Meal Site program.
Martha noted that John Horvatich had shared a book he had received from the GSE team from Taiwan – anyone interested in viewing the book should see Martha or John. Jerry noted that he, too, had a copy of the book, for anyone interested.
ROTARY MINUTE
Jim Jung shared information from an article in the recent Rotarian magazine – dealing with the topic of fundraising ideas. He noted that such ideas as fitness/sports activities, tennis tournaments, cyclethon, walkathon, and talent night events were suggested in the article. Jim also noted that we should have a brainstorming group for new fundraising events – if we wish to have another project for the Club.
Martha noted that we do have a Fundraising Committee in the Club – the chairs of which are Ginni Lavely and Sandy Grenier.
NEW MEMBER INDUCTION -- ROTARY MEMBERSHIP MINUE
Martha Davis introduced Dixie Burns, who she had sponsored as a new member, to the Club. Martha noted that she and Dixie had first met 30 years ago through their husbands, who worked together. Dixie currently works for the 211 Program and has previously donated many volunteer hours. Prior to her current position, she was a French teacher and can speak French fluently.
Debbie Bucknam then presented Dixie with a membership packet, including a membership pin and badge, and a Rotary mug. Dixie shared that she is glad to be joining a congenial group with a few “rebel rousers!” She spoke about her position at 211 – and that this was an extension of her desire to be of continued service to a larger community – beyond her town of Barnet. She noted that we were a group of good company and kind hearts and that she looks forward to being an asset to the Club.
TODAY’S PROGRAM –
Laurie Boswell – Riverside School
Charlie Browne introduced today’s speaker, Laurie Boswell, of Riverside School, who spoke to the Club about a passion of hers – Geocaching. Never head of it – neither had some of us! Laurie is a nationally known math teacher and math book writer, who explained Geocaching as “an adult scavenger hunt.”
Laurie showed examples of cache boxes – from small Tupperware-type containers, to larger, metal Army boxes. She explained that geocaching begins with the Internet --- -- and from there, you begin your search to find the cache boxes located anywhere in the world. She explained that you look for them based upon coordinates information and other “hints” provided on the listed site. Anyone can hide a cache and provide information and hints about its location. She noted that it can be a good way for a business or community to market and promote itself – within the information provided. She shared, for instance, their search for a cache at Town Forest - near the Rotary Pavilion – in which information about the Pavilion was noted. Once a cache is found, the person finding it logs his or her success on the sheet in the cache.
Laurie also noted that individuals unaware of geocaching could often prevent a “geocacher” from succeeding in his or her search. These individuals are referred to as “muggles” – and are people who find a cache, not knowing what it is, and remove it from its hidden site.
Laurie also noted that some geocache items are trackable items – and gave examples of items that have traveled over several countries. In these instances, a trackable item is inserted into a cache – the person finding it then takes the item and logs it – and then drops the item into a new geocache location.
Laurie noted that the activity of geocaching can take you to places that you never wood have known about, and she shared some pictures of places that she has been to find caches. She noted that they take you to places outside the marketed “tourist attractions.”
Is geocaching for you? It is, if:
- You like the outdoors
- You like to solve problems and puzzles
- You are curious or adventurous
- You like to do things with your family and friends
Laurie noted that she became a member of “Geocache” in order to take students on a field trip – to date, she has found over 700 geocaches.
The book, Secret of the Dragon, by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, was donated to the St. Johnsbury Athenaeum in honor of Laurie’s presentation to the Club.
REMINDER:
You can go on-line for make-ups at .
You must sign on and be on site for 30 minutes for it to count for missed Club attendance
Visit our Club’s website anytime at
***Your Username is (as example) Susie.rotarian.1447 (Your first name/dot/your last name/dot/1447)
****Your password is 1447 Once you log on, you can go to Admin and change your password
August 9, 2010 Minutes
Upcoming Speakers
August 23 – District Gov. Bill Thompson
August 30 – Peter Welch