President's Pen - October 2014
Posted by Steve Miller
on Oct 29, 2014
October has been a busy month and after a very successful but tiring Arts and Seafood Festival I have finally mustered the energy to write the October President's Pen.
Let me first congratulate Mary O’Neill and the rest of the Arts and Seafood Festival Board and Committees (many of whom are your fellow Bluffton Rotarians) on a very well run and successful Festival. Secondly, I would like to thank all Bluffton Rotarians, their families and friends for all the hard work they contributed to make the Festival and our fund raising efforts a success. I would like to thank Mike Tripka and Bob Prust for stepping up to run the beverage carts. Without everyone pitching in, we would not have been able to raise the funds for our charitable account. Now the fun part begins, determining which organizations we should help.
November is Foundation Month in the Rotary year. We start on November 8th with Happy Feet. We received a $3,000 grant from the District and we will match that grant with an additional $3,000 to provide shoes for the less fortunate children in our community. The $3,000 grant comes from donations made to the Foundation by you and others and returned to the District for projects such as Happy Feet.
The Foundation also awards international grants. Deborah Burt and I have been exploring the process of receiving an international grant in hopes that the Club will choose to do an international project. We are leaning toward a Water and Sanitation project. Once we gather a little more information we will be coming to the Club to gauge your interest in such a project so we can decide if we should move forward. If we get started now we should be able to complete this in the 2015-2016 Rotary year.
November is Foundation Month in the Rotary year. We start on November 8th with Happy Feet. We received a $3,000 grant from the District and we will match that grant with an additional $3,000 to provide shoes for the less fortunate children in our community. The $3,000 grant comes from donations made to the Foundation by you and others and returned to the District for projects such as Happy Feet.
The Foundation also awards international grants. Deborah Burt and I have been exploring the process of receiving an international grant in hopes that the Club will choose to do an international project. We are leaning toward a Water and Sanitation project. Once we gather a little more information we will be coming to the Club to gauge your interest in such a project so we can decide if we should move forward. If we get started now we should be able to complete this in the 2015-2016 Rotary year.
November also marks the beginning of the bell ringing for the Salvation Army at the Kroger in Bluffton. We will have signup sheets soon.
One last point, membership is the lifeblood of any Rotary Club. Please keep that in mind as you go about your day and meet with business associates and friends. Also keep in mind that every person you meet is a potential Rotarian. Please invite them to a meeting, to ring the bell with you or attend another function that we are involved in.