WDM Rotary Bulletin 11/11/2009

 

Rotary Wheel for November 11, 2008

 

Programs

 

This Week: Today is Veteran's Day - 11/11.  The program will focus on the Foundation and will be presented by past District Governor Don Goering.

 

Last Week: Joe Willis , pinch hitting for Melanie Roe, introduced University of Iowa Assistant Athletic Director Mark Jennings.  Mark attended Iowa , and returned to his alma mater where he has worked in the athletic department for more than 25 years.  He is currently help raise funds for a practice gym to be used by the men's and women's basketball teams and the volleyball team.  At present the Mark tells us that all three teams must schedule practice time around class schedules at Hawkeye Carver Arena, fitting the practices around games for all three teams as well as wrestling matches.  Speaking of wrestling Mark also mentioned former Iowa Hawkeye great Jeff  McGinness brother of our own Bryan McGinness (see 3 minute and Sgt. at Arms. below.)

 

Mark also brought us up to date on the Big Ten Network.  It is the first network fully owned by a conference.  After some well documented hiccups last year, the Big Ten Network is now available through virtually all cable services which put it in approximately 70 million homes.

 

Mark also fielded questions about the new "player development" director at U of I.  He explained how the players are carefully watched wherever they go.  And while they may do essentially the same thing as their predecessors from prior years, the extra close scrutiny causes virtually every misstep to be reported.  The director is assisting the players in understanding this and helping them make good life choices.

 

Thanks for sharing Mark.

 

Announcements:

 

Linda Leave announced that we have several service opportunities coming up. 

 

Flood relief project which is likely to be combined effort with other Rotary clubs and which tentatively scheduled for November 15th.  Linda will send out an additional notice when it is available.

 

Bell ringing - December 6, 2008 .

 

Serving for Thanksgiving dinner

 

Adopt a family project in December.

 

Rotary Minute:

 

Al Cross shared a Rotary Minute on the Foundation. November is Foundation month.  It is through the Foundation that we participate in the fourth avenue of service - International Service. Among other things the Foundation provides an extraordinary amount of funds for scholarships, proving move funds than Rhodes scholarships and Fulbright scholarships combined.  Our club has a goal of having each member contribute $116 annually for each member.

 

Three Minute Speaker / Sergeant at Arms

 

Bryan McGinness performed the duties today. Bryan is a native Iowan.  Born in northeast Iowa , and graduated from Mt. Vernon high school and Iowa State University .  Bryan spent over 15 years with Maytag in a variety of positions and locations around the country.  When Maytag recently was merged with Whirpool, he opted to stay in central Iowa , where has been involved in two business ventures.  One is Winestyles, a wine store in West Glen which he considers a hobby and where his wife serves as manager.  He has also been in the lawn and landscape business recently taking the position of CEO at Wright Outdoor. (Ed. Note - the late John Wright, who served as CEO at Wright tree was a long time member of WDM Rotary.)

 

Correction: Oops!.

 

Last week in this space, our newest member was announced.  Unfortunately due to an editorial glitch (yes Virginia that is a technical term), the new member was reported as Jim McCarl, rather than Ken Kremer.  Jim McCarl was Ken's sponsor.