July 30 2008

Lake Murray-Irmo Rotary Meeting Club – July 30, 2008 Meeting Report

The meeting was called to order by Rotary President Eddie Robinson and the invocation was given by Jim Gadsden. There were several visitors that were welcomed for the meeting – Fred Medway was visiting from the Five Points Rotary. Ryan Baskins one of our Rotary Scholarship recipients was visiting. Former long serving LMIRC member, Jim Jeffers was also visiting from Sun City and Past President Beetle Bailey had a table full of visitors most from the Federation of the Blind which he introduced to the group.

Unfortunately Lyman Whitehead’s wife, Joanne, is hospitalized and he was unable to attend the meeting this morning. Please keep her in your prayers. So Eddie Robinson asked Beetle Bailey and Jim Jeffers to share a few stories about his knee replacement for Health and Happiness. Beetle was happy to recommend that you DO NOT wake up early in surgery. Palmetto Health Baptist Hospital has GREAT hamburgers. And, Palmetto Health Baptist is full of Carolina Gamecock fans so Beetle made sure to wear as much orange as possible. Jim Jeffers said he and his wife enjoy living in Sun City in Hilton Head Island area. 85% of the folks in Sun City get around by golf carts including going to the grocery store, drug store or even the golf course. Jim has been taking wood turning classes and is doing more wood working.

Our two classification speakers were Mary Lou Stinson and Lynn Campbell (because Tim Williams was present). Mary Lou was introduced to Rotary in High School through the Interact Club. She was born in Rhode Island but moved here during high school. She attended USC for undergraduate and graduate studies in Public Health and Social Work. Mary Lou believes in and volunteers with groups that assist children with disabilities. She is very involved with the Special Olympics. She is married with two children ages 4 and 6 years of age. Her passion is educating about Colorectal Cancer because it is preventable.

Lynn Campbell was born and raised in Columbia. Lynn’s Dad was the former Police Chief of Columbia. He started his college career at USC but transferred to Clemson. Completed Dental School in Kentucky where he met and married his wife. They came back to Columbia and started his dental practice in 1965 and he still enjoys going to work every day. He has two children and three grandchildren. His daughter is an attorney and a son that is a dentist. Lynn has been a member of the LMIRC since it was founded.

Beetle was called upon to make a special check presentation by Eddie Robinson. Beetle made a check presentation to Frank Coppel from the Federation of the Blind for $360 representing our Happy Dollars collected last year. Frank Coppel thanked the group for the gift and said that the money was going towards helping them replace an ice machine.

This morning’s speaker was Anna C. Huntley, Public Information Officer for the Small Business Administration and was introduced by Patty Cavanaugh. The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) was created in 1953 as an independent agency of the federal government to aid, counsel, assist and protect the interests of small business concerns, to preserve free competitive enterprise and to maintain and strengthen the overall economy of our nation. We recognize that small business is critical to our economic recovery and strength, to building America's future, and to helping the United States compete in today's global marketplace. Although SBA has grown and evolved in the years since it was established in 1953, the bottom line mission remains the same. The SBA helps Americans start, build and grow businesses. Through an extensive network of field offices and partnerships with public and private organizations, SBA delivers its services to people throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, the U. S. Virgin Islands and Guam.

When the U.S. Congress first established SBA, the fundamental question was just what numerical definition should SBA use to define small businesses, industry by industry, to determine what businesses were eligible for SBA's programs. Over the years SBA has established and revised numerical definitions for all for-profit industries, and this numerical definition is called a "size standard" and can be founded in the SIC Standard Industry Codes. It is almost always stated either as the number of employees or average annual receipts of a business concern. In the most general of terms businesses with less than 500 employees is considered a small business.

Anna Huntley spoke specifically about four programs offered by the SBA. #1 Financial Assistance. The SBA can offer loans with capped interest rates, longer repayment period among other options. #2. Contracting Assistance. This program helps small businesses offer their product to the Federal Government. In fact, it is required that 23% of contracts must be awarded to small businesses. In FY 2007 small businesses in South Carolina received 11,901 contracts representing over $1 billion in transactions. #3. Business Counseling. This program will provide services for small businesses at no charge like accounting services or the SCORE Counseling program. #4. Small Business Awards Nominations – This program seeks to award small business owners in their industry for the work they do. There are many awards that are given for recognition such as Small Business Person of the Year or Champion of Causes. Nominations deadline is in the fall and a complete listing of awards can be found on their website at www.sba.gov.

Respectfully submitted,

Maria Hargrave