February 8, 2005

NEXT MEETING, FEBRUARY 14…our speaker will be Ken Murphree of the Delta Council.

LAST MEETING, FEBRARY 7… in honor of Rotary’s Centennial Year, Past President Jack Spradling gave us a short history of how Rotary came to be. He followed the happy-go-lucky early career of Founder Paul Harris, who traveled the world and supported himself in a number of different professions before settling down to a career as a Chicago lawyer and founding a new kind of organization – a civic club – in February 1905. That civic club was Rotary, and Paul Harris’ leadership helped form the core tenets that we’ve all come to know and love. Thanks to Past President (and Past District Governor) Bob Berman for introducing Jack.

OUR SWEETHEART BANQUET… was truly outstanding. Food, fellowship, entertainment, decorations – everything was swell. Thanks to Ann Neal and her hard-working committee for a great job.

THE MENTOR SCHOLARSHIP RAFFLE… was a resounding success. We raised a total of $49,000 for these scholarships! Jennifer Hall and her committee are due a lot of thanks – but mostly YOU are due thanks. And if you’d still like to send in a donation, it’s not too late…

WELCOME TO NEW MEMBER… number twenty of this Rotary year. Introduced to the club on February 7 was...
• Eddie Fair, owner of several businesses, and also Hinds County Tax Collector. Eddie was introduced by his proposer, Chris Klotz.

WHAT’S WITH THE POST CARD? New roster books are due to be printed soon. Included with this Rotagram is an information card we really, really need you to fill out and send back to us. Postage is already applied. Even if you’ve updated your information recently, please humor us and fill out a card, so we’ll have everything right in the new book.

PRESIDENT’S CORNER… This month is Rotary’s official 100th birthday. Each of you is to be congratulated on your participation in making this a truly remarkable and memorable birthday celebration. We had a great time of fellowship last Thursday evening at our Sweetheart Banquet. We celebrated our outstanding raffle ticket sales results with an enjoyable evening with our spouses. Thanks to each of you that contributed funds to our Mentor Scholarship program. We didn’t quite achieve the 100% participation goal, but we made a strong showing. Thanks to Jennifer Hall, Janet Scott, and the Raffle Ticket Sales committee. Today, Jack Spradling, one our own, reminded us of how Rotary started, and some excellent background on Paul Harris. This special “Celebrate Rotary” year reminds me of the many reasons I’m proud to be a Rotarian. I hope you are, too. Yours In Rotary, Danny