Rotary Club of Owego, NY ROTATELLER
Tuesday, June 14, 2005 Gary Williams, Editor

GUESTS:

• Jose and Andres who spoke about their going away picnic.
• Chris Barlow

Tom Wescott, is not a visitor, but Laura introduced him since he doesn’t get to the luncheon meeting that often. Tom thanked everyone for our support of Interact at OFA which is planning for their next year. Our thanks to Tom for his work and also our congratulations on his recently becoming a father.

ALSO, our thanks to Karla and her husband who took Jose and Andres to Bainbridge, stayed up there, and brought them home. Laura passed out a page about "Youth Exchange Responsibilities". It reminded me, once again, of the tremendous contributions which have been made by so many members of our Club over the years.

1. Hosting the student for an evening or a weekend. This can be as simple as having the student over for dinner, taking the student to the mall or to an event (play, baseball game, concert, movies, etc.). What you like to do, the student probably will too!
2. Giving the student a ride to Rotary District weekends or to and from the Rotary Luncheon Meeting. This time spent one on one will help the student get to know you.
3. Sitting with the student during a Rotary Luncheonb Meeting and making every effort to inlude the sudent in the conversation. Make the student feel welcome!
4. Bring in a newspaper or magazine article that might be of interest to the student. Find out what their hobbies are, what interests them.

Pat Hansen sent a thank you to the Club for her Paul Harris recognition.

STRAWBERRY FESTIVAL:

Matt has continued his organization. He will be going out to CA next week to visit his mother who is doing well considering what has taken place. Hal Abrams will be around the booths all day. There will be two adjacent booths. In addition to selling our strawberry shortcakes and drinks, there will be a Rotary Information Booth at which people can sit and relax. There will be information about Rotary and the raffle tickets will be for sale.

• 7:00 AM – 9:00 AM (set-up): Steve Lounsberry, Mike Slavetskas, Richard Kelly, Bob and Lisa Kingston, Judy Kip, Merlin Lessler
• 9:00 AM – 11:00 AM: Bill Moon, Jose, Judy Kip, Al Bingley, Terry Steenburg, Gary Williams
• 11:00 AM – 1:00 PM: Karla Johnson, Paul Stear, Faye Rafferty
• 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM: Gwen Smith, Carl and Wilma Betcher, Harry Rogers
• 3:00 PM – 5:00 PM (clean-up): Laura Costello, Doyle Gibbs, John Spencer, Al Sunderwith

PASS THE GAVEL DAY:

Will be June 28. There will be a party that evening at Judy and Bob’s. There will also be a bonfire and you can bring your painting clothes to fuel the fire if you would like. It begins at 7:00 PM.

Carolyn and Orv are headed to Chicago for the 100th anniversary celebration of RI. We hope that they have a wonderful time and we are looking forward to hearing about it on their return. They will be accompanied by one of our out-bound students.

WINE TASTING:

John Spencer reminded everyone that there will be a wine tasting on Thursday evening to kick-off the Strawberry Festival.

FINES: Mike

A number of us were fined very unfairly, as were all who have not thanked Ed for his work on the signs and all of those who have not worn pink for the last six months.

BIRTHDAY:

I am pleased to have my annual hug from Carolyn, but remiss in that she had her birthday check today and I will not bring mine in until next week.

PROGRAM:

Jose gave an informative and entertaining program about cows --- about his year in the US (and in Spencer). He was interested in becoming an exchange student due to his family’s involvement. Being in Spencer was a challenge because he, like most of the students, came from a big city. He has lived with four families and is thank-ful to each of them. The first was the most difficult because of his English at that time which made it difficult for him to get close to them. He has traveled quite a bit and has gotten to know many people including about 100 exchange students. At home he has short hair and wears a uniform to attend parochial school. He will be returning to that school for two more years. He feels that this experience has changed him significantly. In response to Orv’s question, he started to think in English about 5 months ago.

There will be a Board of Directors meeting this Thursday morning.

Andres will be speaking next week. It was nice to see Jerry West at part of the meeting. He was one of Andres’ host fathers.

50/50 Orv

Annette mentioned Gary Finch getting $5000 for the construction project on the Council on the Arts building. I had an opportunity to speak with Gary a couple of months ago and he recommended I Rose Like a Rocket: The Political Education of Theodore Roosevelt by Paul Grondahl. I have found it to be interesting reading and the following quote is from Roosevelt speaking with Jacob Riis.

Bill Moon told me about a book on Monte Cassino today at lunch. If I remember correctly, Fred Schuler was there with the 10th Mountain Division. I am looking forward to hearing more about the book.

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