The Scoop...May 6, 2013
President Jim Osmon opened the meeting at 12: 05PM. Cheryl Deitering offered the invocation and Pledge of Allegiance followed by Micki Vollmer leading the Four-Way Test. Carol Buettner introduced the day’s Member guests, visiting Rotarians and Guests of the Club.
Fellowship was presented by Maria Sanko who claimed nervousness before large crowds but was quite comfortable fining nearly everyone! Those tagged for $1 included anyone married more than two days, persons with business or personal connections to recent Chamber Award winners, anyone annoyed by spam/bulk email, members who have not given a Fellowship report, Rotarians that have not served as Club President, and ALL graduates during Micki Vollmer’s tenure. President-Elect Mike Schoenhofer distributed Member Involvement Forms asking each Rotarian to sign up for least one task team (committee) and project for the upcoming year. Mike also invited everyone to submit program ideas (what you DO WANT) for next year to Dave Collins, David Grimm or Jed Metzger. President Jim announced the Changing of the Guard party will be June 12th with details to follow. Dick Schroeder provided the monthly Every Rotarian Every Year report which included PHF awards to Bob Fett, Mary Lane, Ralph Ellis and Susan Hubbell. Matt Otto introduced ten ALL Youth graduates and extended their appreciation for support from the Lima Rotary Foundation. David Frost presented checks from the LRF to Allen County Retired Teachers ($1,000), Allen County DARE ($500), Our Daily Bread ($1,500), Lima-Allen County College Access ($1,000), MESA ($5,000) and the Rotary Dictionary Project ($1,920). Including these presentations, total LRF awards for the Rotary year were $29,234 to 17 organizations.
Carl Berger introduced the program, a four member Group Study Exchange from Rotary District 3160 in India. The team leader, Gopalakrishna Sadhu, an industrial management consultant, a chemical engineer, a veterinarian and a ship design engineer each took turns sharing PowerPoint slides of their family, workplace, hobbies and special interests. Two members of the group are from one province and two are from another. The provinces do not speak the same language requiring the team utilize English to communicate. Their district, comprised of small rural towns, has about 2000 members. The balance of the presentation reviewed a number of unique characteristics about life in India and contributions of India to the world. Having gained their independence in 1947, India remains 70% agrarian, speaks 325 languages (18 considered official languages), is the seventh largest country in the world, has the fourth largest economy of the world, and is the second most populated. As a Rotarian the group leader is particularly proud of the RI effort to inoculate more than 200 million children with the polio vaccine. India is credited with inventing the game of chess, yoga, the value of Pi, algebra, trigonometry, calculus, and the martial arts. The influence of India can be appreciated by noting that one in seven persons in the world is an Indian. In concluding the presentation a District 3160 flag and a banyan tree leaf painting were presented to President Jim.
With no questions for the GSE team, the meeting was adjourned at 1:05 PM.