WE WILL NOT MEET NEXT WEEK, ON FEBRUARY 16.
WE WILL BE CELEBRATING PRESIDENTS’ DAY.

NEXT MEETING, FEBRUARY 23… we’ll have a unique opportunity to hear a Past President of Rotary International. Herbert Brown, who was president of R.I. in ’95-96, lives in Clearwater, Florida. We’ll also be joined by District 6820’s Past District Governors, who will have their College of Governors meeting with us for the occasion. Be here early to get a good seat.

LAST MEETING, FEBRUARY 9… Nick Walters, with the U.S.D.A. Rural Development,

THE SWEETHEART BANQUET… is scheduled for March 23 at the Mississippi Arts Pavillion, where we’ll have a festive dinner and a tour of the Glory of Baroque Dresden. Be sure and send in your reservation (along with the $50 for each ticket).

MENTOR MOMENTS... Committee Chairman Alan Moak told us about the selection process for choosing who will receive our scholarships. We could only award four last year, when we had more than 50 applicants, and we had to turn down some very deserving students. One new wrinkle this year is that we require applicants to have a session with the non-profit Education Services Foundation, which counsels potential college students about the resources available. Alan told us that application blanks are being mailed to high schools in the area this week. Please don’t forget to buy your $100 raffle tickets (each Rotarian is expected to purchase two), which supports this worthwhile program.

THE ROTARY SPOTLIGHT… turned February 2 on Dr. Dan Jones of the University Medical Center, with Wayne Patterson doing the honors. Congratulations, Dan.

PRESIDENT’S CORNER… The Mentor Scholarship Program is THE service project of our club. Your Board reviewed our commitment to this project and unanimously agreed to continue and improve the program. We agreed to better inform you about this program and to modify the awards so that the dollars will assist as many students as possible while continuing to be meaningful to the students. Our goal remains 2 tickets per member which is $70,000. This is tax deductible and should be high on your list of charities. In addition, the raffle serves as an incentive to purchase as many tickets as possible with a special drawing for those buying/selling 5 tickets or more. Help us hit the $70,000 mark! – Haden