A very pleasant visit to the Pleasantburg Rotary Club!

Kathy and I had a very enjoyable visit with the Rotary Club of Pleasantburg. President Susan Hughes, a retired principal and high school math teacher, prepared a superb Planning Guide for Effective Clubs, and the board was excited about growing the club membership and being involved in the community and world. The club is very involved in promoting literacy training, eradicating polio, Adopt a Highway, and assisting needy families during the holiday season. I was pleased to see PDG Bruce Baker and Luanne at the meeting. Bruce looked great and is getting himself as ready as possible for surgery later this month. 

Cathy Ronald was recognized as the club's Notable Rotarian. She has been a member of the club since 2004 but an active Rotarian for 20 years. Cathy has been very active with the club's signature event, Spring Sing, and the youth exchange.She was named the Rotarian of the Year in 1997 and 2008. She supports The Rotary Foundation as is a Paul Harris Fellow, Benefactor, and Bequest Society member. She served as the club's president in 2008-9 and has served as the District PolioPlus Chair and on the District Youth Exchange Committee. Cathy's classification is Parks and Recreation Management, and retired from the Largo Parks, Recreation, and Arts Department. Cathy is a graduate of the University of Florida. She is married to Tom Ronald, has three children – Errin, Marc, and Matt, and has two grandchildren – Gavin and Andrew. She enjoys spending time with her grandchildren, walking, gardening, knitting, traveling, and spending time with her two beloved therapy dogs, Britster and Riley. 

For those of you who choose to visit the Rotary Club of Pleasantburg at the Phoenix Inn in Greenville, please be aware that the Krispy Kreme donut factory is next door and had the "Hot Donut" sign on when the meeting ended! We have a family rule to never pass a Krispy Kreme donut store with  "Hot Donuts" sign on!

Meeting the Rotary Club of Greenville!

The Rotary Club of Greenville -- #1 in membership (309) and a major contributor to The Rotary Foundation. I was a bit nervous anticipating the visit with such a large and prestigious club, but President Bert Strange and the board made me feel right at home within minutes after arriving at the Westin Poinsett Hotel. I enjoyed a lively discussion and great meal with the Board of Directors on Monday night, September 12th. I was excited to hear about their impressive plan to recruit 60 new members in 2011-12 in order to have a net membership increase of at least 31 members! 

Kathy and I enjoyed the regular meeting and were impressed with President Bert's superb organization and ability to cover a large agenda in exactly one hour, even with a 25 minute District Governor presentation! The club recognized about 50 new Paul Harris Fellows and Multiple Paul Harris Fellow in a presentation that these Rotarians wrapped across the entire front and sides of the room. Club Foundation Chair Carol Simpson told an amazing story of the foundation's work in South Africa. I was pleased to recognize the club's Foundation Committee that led this great effort and clearly led by example! They hope to be designated as a 100% Paul Harris Fellow club, and I am confident this goal will be reached soon!

Tim Nanney was recognized as the club's Notable Rotarian. Tim joined the Rotary Club of Greenville on April 12, 2005, and was sponsored by Jill Kintigh.  A Rotary Foundation Sustaining Member, and has served as the Editor for The Greenville Rotarian, the Club’s semi-monthly bulletin, since July 2009.  During his tenure, The Greenville Rotarian has moved into the technology era by becoming an on-line edition (though printed copies are available for members without computer access).  Tim’s keen attention to detail and dedication to excellence have resulted in The Greenville Rotarian being consistently recognized as the best in District 7750.  When President Bert Strange was filling Club leadership positions for the 2011-2012 year, the first person he asked to serve was Tim Nanney.  Tim epitomizes “Service Above Self” as he works diligently behind the scenes to keep the membership informed of what’s happening in the Club and across the Rotary world.

 President Bert also told me about a great program to encourage members to move around and meet as many club members as possible during the year. The member who sits with the most members will have their dues paid by the club next year! Bert developed a form that asks members to write down the names of club members sitting on the right and left. President Elect Elizabeth Lyons is monitoring the cards turned in each week and will insure payment for the prize next year! This is a great idea for large clubs, and I hope the club will post this very innovative idea on our District Blog. 

Thank you so much for making Kathy and I feel so welcome and at ease in this very impressive club! We look forward to returning to celebrate the club's successes!

Beginning the Greenville Rotary Run!

 I have been looking forward to visiting the multitude of Rotary Clubs in the Greenville, SC area. My run began with the Rotary Club of Greenville East meeting at the City Range Restaurant near Haywood Mall. I arrived before anyone in the club and was directed to a room prepared for about a dozen people (seemed way too small for Greenville East club). I became even more confused when the manager identified this room as the meeting place for the downtown Greenville club (300 members!). We finally sorted out the situation and learned that the Rotary Club of Greenville was having their new member luncheon in the small room, and I was supposed to be in a larger room for the Greenville East club. 

President Robert Hoffman and the board are excited about the 2011-12 year and are already working on enlisting some young new members. This club is a strong supporter of The Rotary Foundation and one of three clubs in the district in which every member is a Paul Harris Fellow! The board hopes to donate at least $150 per capita to The Rotary Foundation, and I suspect they will do even better! PDG Sue Poss is an integral member of this club and also serves as the Chair of our Council of Governors and the District Newsletter editor. 

I was pleased to recognize Mr. David McMurray as the club's Notable Rotarian. David has been a member since 1994. He has done a superb job arranging interesting speakers for each meeting and has served as the club president. David was named the club's Rotarian of the Year in 2000 and is a Paul Harris Fellow. 

Finishing the week in Rock Hill

I finished my week in this area at the downtown Rotary Club of Rock Hill meeting at the City Club of Rock Hill. President Mark White was unable to join us due to the passing of his mother-in-law, so Immediate Past President Ben Galloway facilitated the discussion with the board and presided in the club meeting. I was impressed with the board's plan to conduct special programs for membership and The Rotary Foundation. The club is struggling with declining membership TRF support, but the board has many great ideas to improve these areas. The club is also making a big impact on their local community by supporting a boys and girls club. 

Beth Zamorski was designated the club's Notable Rotarian. Beth has been a member since 1998 and is a Rotary Foundation Sustaining Member. She served with high distinction as Club Secretary for many years and in various community projects. Beth is now active within the District and is dependable to complete all tasks in a timely and accomplished manner.She works as an accountant with Todd, Bremer & Lawson.

According to Wikepedia, the city was named for a flint hill of rock that was in the way of the Charlotte and South Carolina Railroad which was building a rail line from Charlotte to Columbia. Much of this rock was removed to make way for the railroad, which built a depot at the site that eventually became known as Rock Hill. The city dates its history back to April 17, 1852, the day the first Rock Hill Post Office opened, even though the town was not officially incorporated until 1870. Thus, Rock Hill celebrated its centennial in 1952 and its sesquicentennial in 2002.

Visiting the Fort Mill Rotary Club

 President Brian Wilson had a large number of board members assembled when we arrived at the beautiful Fort Mill Golf Club. I was impressed with the club's plans for the 2011-12 year and the list of all the water projects completed in Central America. The Happy Dollar section of the program was also impressive as a multitude of members shared their good news and shared their pride about the University of South Carolina Gamecocks and the Clemson Tigers. I suspect the club will have a generous amount donated this week after two exciting victories this weekend by the Gamecocks and Tigers! 

Geri Rucker was recognized as the club's Notable Rotarian, but Geri was absent preparing for our first District Membership Seminar to be conducted that evening. Geri has been a members since 2003 and is a Paul Harris Fellow, Sustaining Member, and Benefactor. She has served as a club president, board member, Club Treasurer, Club Membership Chair, Scholarship Committee, Auction Chair, and attended many district events. She serves on the District 7750 Membership Development Committee. While I was sharing about Geri during my presentation, the club broke out in laughter. I struggled to discover why everyone was laughing and then noticed the last item on my slide for Geri: "Awarded the “coveted” Dan Mace Award presented to “The finest Rotarian to fill out a dress other than Joel Burns in drag.” I suspect that the Fort Mill Rotary Club has some fun in their meetings! They also have a huge impact on our world! 

I have always wanted to visit the former PTL theme park in Fort Mill, but ran out of time to see this famous venue. However, we had a great Membership Seminar facilitated by PDG Myles Golden that evening. About 40 Rotarians showed to learn how to grow their club's membership and retain current members. I have never seen so many people at a district membership seminar, so I suspect we are going to have a great year with my push to increase membership by 20% (10% net growth)!  

Reaching out to the edge of District 7750 - Indian Land and Lake Wylie clubs

After partially recovering from the Afghanistan trip jet lag and enjoying a nice Labor Day at home, I headed to the Indian Land, Lake Wylie, Fort Mill, and Rock Hill area on Labor Day evening. The trip was exciting in dealing with very heavy rain, thunderstorms, and tornado watches being broadcast on the radio every few minutes. While researching the location of the Indian Land Rotary Club and viewing the Google Earth satellite maps, I thought my trip would take me to a remote wooded area. However, the GPS took me to the home of AG Babette and Don Sabia located in the beautiful Sun City Carolina Lakes Active retirement complex. Babette and Don were gracious hosts and even installed a new wireless device in their home so I could keep up with my other hospital job!

Indian Land is located in the northern panhandle section of Lancaster County where SC 160 intersects US 521. Its name comes from the fact that the area continued to be populated by Indians – predominantly of the Catawba and Waxhaw tribes – after Europeans settled in surrounding areas. Rock Hill,  in neighboring York County, is the largest city near Indian Land.

On Tuesday morning I stumbled out of bed only 30 minutes before the Indian Land Rotary Club met in the Scout Hut of the local Methodist church. Club President Julie Waters enthusiastically led her club. I was impressed with their Happy Dollar program and thought they might have enough money to designate a new Paul Harris Fellow as the Sargent At Arms moved to each club member. The banter between the Clemson and University of South Carolina fans (led by President Julie) was fun and raised lots of money for local charities. I met with the board following the regular meeting and heard about their various projects such as the quarterly highway clean up project, the school beautification project (weeding flower beds, planting new seasonal flowers, mulching beds), the book worm program (promotes reading in the schools), the dictionary projects for elementary school students, and the Honduras water project.

 

AG Babette Sabia was awarded the Notable Rotarian for the Indian Land Rotary Club. She was totally surprised with this recognition, and I was pleased to hear so many club members praise Babette for her work with the club. Everyone in the club has heard Babette's famous words to describe the Indian Land Rotary Club -- "the best club in District 7750"! I felt the excitement and encouraged the club members to continue to grow their membership, Rotary Foundation donations, and to make a difference in their local community and our Rotary world. The club supports several local and international service projects to include local scholarships, the Red Cross blood drive, babysitter education classes, the Clover Area Assistance Center Food Drive, Adopt a Highway, Adopt a Stream, Shoes of Hope, the Justin Mychals Child Cancer Cancer Foundation, Coins/Cash/Checks for Alzheimer's Research Trust (CART), PolioPlus, Kiva organization, and the Kenya Orphange project. The club plans to contribute $150 per capita to the Rotary Foundation Annual Program Fund and PolioPlus!

I traveled to the Lake Wylie Rotary Club for their lunch meeting. I had a great discussion with the board and met in the sanctuary of the Good Samaritan Methodist Church. The church's pastor and a member of the club provided superb AV support for my presentation. The club honored Charles Ford as its Notable Rotarian. Since the club was chartered, Charles has been a key force in the development of the club.  He has been a valuable resource of Rotary knowledge.  He has shown a strong commitment to Rotary through strong attendance.   When he can’t make our meeting he makes up wherever he is traveling – and often speaks to those clubs during his visit.    He works diligently every week to perform his role as our Club’s Secretary and to make sure all of our administrative functions are complete. Charles offered to match dollar for dollar every contribution that other members made in order to buy our club banners.  He was also the individual who donated the initial investment so that our club could issue microloans to struggling entrepreneurs worldwide through Kiva.org.  When it came time for the Luau, Charles quickly sold his required tickets and more. 

On Tuesday evening we traveled to AG Jeff Updike's house and then rode with Jeff on his boat to T-Bones, a popular restaurant on Lake Wylie. Jeff and the Indian Land, Fort Mill, and Lake Wylie club presidents organized this great social event and had over 30 Rotarians come out for the evening!  They had 7 potential new members at the event, and I know several of these will join these clubs soon. I enjoyed spending some time with my dear friend, Al Steele, who has done such great work with water, housing, medical, and educational projects in Honduras and El Salvador.

Afghanistan trip update - Our Final Days

Kathy, DGE Kim Gramling, and I arrived back safely in the US on August 31 after an uneventful trip. We thoroughly enjoyed flying with Lufthansa Airline from Dubai to Frankfurt and also had great United Airlines flights to Chicago and GSP. Ramesh Ferris traveled to Dubai with the team, but he then flew to Copenhagen before eventually returning home to the Yukon Territory, Canada.

Our final days in Kabul were fabulous! We had very cordial meeting with the Deputy Speaker of the Afghanistan National Assembly (equivalent to the US Congress) who pledged his support to eradicate polio in Afghanistan. He offered an invitation to his home and for the Eid celebration, but we later learned that this is not a formal invitation but a polite gesture. We had an opportunity to view the photos of the National Assembly members and were impressed with the large number of female members.

 We were also invited to speak at the CURE International Hospital residency morning report. I enjoyed talking with the residents and faculty about their curriculum and my vision for Family Medicine in Afghanistan. I was so pleased to see the continued impact of our work in this hospital during our 2008-2009 work in Afghanistan. The new hospital Executive Director, Joe Davis, shared my vision for Family Medicine. We also learned that Joe is a dedicated Rotarian (member of the Juneau, Alaska club) who wants to become involved in the Kabul Rotary Club. Ramesh did a great job sharing his story with the residents. The physicians recognize the need to push hard to eradicate polio in Afghanistan. Several of them shared their stories of how polio had affected their family's lives.

On our final night in Afghanistan, Dost Mohammad and one other member of the official Rotary Club of Kabul took us to an Iranian restaurant where we enjoyed wonderful fellowship and great food in a relatively empty restaurant. Most people were anticipating the start of the Eid holiday on Tuesday, August 30th and were already preparing for the holiday and  leaving Kabul to return to their homes. Dost wanted to make sure we were in a very secure restaurant as well. We went through several security check points to arrive at this restaurant, so we felt very secure! I am still in a membership mode, so we invited several potential new members for the club that included two expatriates. 

 The Eid holiday did officially begin on Tuesday, August 30th, so we knew that no additional visits would occur with government leaders. Ramesh Ferris really wanted to meet with President Karzi or the Vice President, but this simply could not be arranged despite multiple attempts. Ramesh came up with a new idea that I think was actually much better -- Rather than visit with the country's president, he asked if we could find some polio survivors in the Kabul streets so we could talk with them, provide some assistance to them, and take a photo for the End Polio Now poster. The guest house driver agreed to take us on this journey, and we headed out into relatively light traffic for Kabul. We drove for over an hour and finally saw two polio survivors. Our driver asked them if we could meet and take some photos. They were grateful for some financial assistance offered. We came home with a renewed sense of the importance of eradicating polio from our world! Stay tuned to hear Ramesh Ferris's story at our District 7750 Conference on March 2-4, 2012. I suspect Ramesh will spend quite a bit of time talking about his trip to Afghanistan and showing you many more photos! You don't want to miss hearing Ramesh! 

Here are a few more photos taken in Kabul that you might enjoy: