Former District Governor visits Rotary
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[The Chester Rotary Club's meeting on September 15 was held at the 'Ol Farm House Café and Bakery. Former District Governor Harry Henderson presented the program. The meeting was called to order by President Danny James. Following the Pledge of Allegiance, the prayer was said by member Bill Rabe. Also attending and welcomed was Assistant District Governor Jim Grant.
President James presented several checks to Dr. Henderson: $100 to the Rotary International Foundation, $700 for "Polio Plus, $100 for "Shoes for Orphan Souls", and a $50 check to go toward the cost for a Rotary float in the Rose Bowl Parade. Dr. Henderson presented Rotary pins to Vice President Steve Hayes, Treasurer Allen Kaisor, and Secretary Linda Sympson. Rotary theme pins "Building Communities, Bridging Continents" were passed out and members asked to take one and wear it. The theme was designed to tell non-Rotarians what we do "Build Communities" and to remind Rotarians what we do best - "Bridge Continents". President James presented a Chester, Illinois "Home of Popeye" banner to Dr. Henderson.
Members and guests enjoyed a wonderful buffet lunch of fried chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, slaw and dessert.
Following lunch, Dr. Henderson expressed his pleasure at being asked to visit and speak at the Chester Rotary Club. He mentioned Chester's growing membership and expressed gratitude to President James and everyone for their efforts in keeping current members and adding new members.
Doctor Henderson opened the program with a brief over view about District Governor Grey Yank. He is a member of the O'Fallon Rotary Club. This year's Rotary International President is Ray Klinginsmith, a member of the Kirksville, Missouri Rotary Club. President Klinginsmith stresses the importance of the five avenues of service: Club, Community, Vocational, International, and the fifth, "next generation" was recently added to recognize the importance of Rotary's work with youth.
There are 33,000+ Rotary Clubs. In order for Rotary to continue to service our communities and the peoples of the world, our clubs need to be "Bigger, Better, and Bolder". Doctor Henderson handed out copies of this year's Presidential Citation which has been designed in the form of a questionnaire to help measure how well our Rotary Club is doing in sharing the spirit of Rotary Service. He asked that the questionnaires be completed and returned to Governor Greg Yank and/or the club's Assistant Governor no later than March 31, 2011. Each member is requested to bring a guest to an upcoming meeting and that each club grows by at least one member.
He talked briefly about the "Shoes for Orphan Souls" project which is an opportunity for clubs to do something special for an orphan in need. Governor Yank hopes that each Rotarian will provide three pair of shoes and bring them to the District Conference in O'Fallon on October 29, at the Drury Inn. Everyone is invited and urged to attend. Registration forms will be available at our weekly meetings.
Another major project is for the district to provide eleven water wells in the South of India. With that, Doctor Henderson brought out his "magic hat" and passed it around with a request to "put a few dollars into it". Money collected will be sent to the Rotary Foundation to help provide clean, safe drinking water for thousands in India.
In 1985, Rotary started an effort to eliminate polio from the world. Doctor Henderson said he was happy to report that "As of September 7 there have been just 97 cases of paralytic polio in the endemic countries (Pakistan, India, Afghanistan and Nigeria)". However, there have been 544 cases in non-endemic countries which show the need to completely eliminate polio from all countries. Twenty two months are left to raise 59 million dollars (already having raised 141.2 million) to fulfill the pledge of $200 million made by Rotary to match a gift from the Gates Foundation. Each Rotarian is asked to contribute $80 to the annual programs fund and $50 to polio plus.
In closing, he said "he would like to remind that Chester is a better community because of our club, that our world is a safer, kinder and healthier place thanks to clubs like ours. He challenges each of us to do what we can to make our club a "Bigger, Better and Bolder" Rotary Club. He challenges each member to use our Rotary service to "Build Community and Bridge Continents".
The Chester Rotary meets weekly at the 'Ol Farm House Café. Anyone interested in learning more about Rotary is invited to sit in on any of the lunch meetings that begin at 12:00 noon. For additional information, contact either President Danny James at 826.5334 or Secretary Linda Sympson at 826.2721.